So I said the Mudi 7 was the perfect device, right?
Well, it turns out the NETGEAR Nighthawks can also do WiFi as WAN: they call it “data offloading”. So, since the Nighthawk M7 (non Pro) has significantly greater band coverage, I’ll pivot to that device instead.
The M7 has a single USB-C port for external connectivity, and there are two options for getting this connected to Ethernet like the MR1100 and the M5: a USB-C splitter that splits out to USB-C and Ethernet ports, or using the new Mobile Hotspot Cradle. I’ll probably end up getting both and mounting the hotspot cradle in the case proper. One thing I liked with the USB8 is I could plug it into a USB extension to get it closer to a window. It’s probably not going to be as much of an issue as in the past with improved coverage and these devices covering all the bands T-Mobile, my primary carrier, uses. Note: I only had one business trip where the USB8 fell flat and that was because it was missing both Bands 41 and 71.
One really notable thing with the M7 is the its ability to use eSIMs in addition to a standard physical SIM, so if I’m somewhere Shield doesn’t work, I can grab an eSIM off the NETGEAR eSIM market, Airalo, Saily, or some other eSIM service if I want to use LTE/5G vs. WiFi.
Things keep changing, but that helps keep this exciting!
Until next time!