Now more than ever I’m feeling eternally grateful that I have the kind of career that allows me to work from anywhere. And for an increasing number of people this work from home lifestyle isn’t just the dream, it’s an absolute necessity. (Admittedly, it was more appealing when it was a choice and not compulsory due to Coronavirus!) 

But I’m not here today to talk about the joys of working online, I’m here to talk about a nifty little gadget that allows you to get online from anywhere to do that all important work….or watch Netflix and scroll through Instagram if you prefer! I’d like to introduce you to the Nighthawk M2 Mobile Router.

The Nighthawk M2 Mobile Router is a portable router, that’s a WiFi router in your pocket. Yes, wifi anywhere, anytime. You might not have many options about where you’re working right now (kitchen or living room?) but this router is also ideal for people struggling with their home WiFi connection. It’s also the world’s fastest 4G router – which is what makes it so great for both travelling and at home. It’s so fast it could easily replace your home internet and is a great option for the millions of people suddenly working from home. In the UK, it is estimated that only half of homes have access to ultra-fast wifi! But four out of five homes and businesses can get reliable 4G coverage from at least one provider, so a mobile router like the NETGEAR Nighthawk M2 would work in the majority of homes. And if you’re reading this from across the pond, you might be one of the 164 million Americans with unreliable wifi connections.

Travel Hack Tip: If you’re working while you travel and not using your own portable router, you might want to look into VPNs to protect yourself online.  If you’re an android user, look at VPN download android for more info!

Using the Nighthawk M2 means…

• No more connecting to dodgy public wifi.
• No more unbearably slow wifi.
• No more fears about being hacked when you log in.
• No more worries about entering your bank details when on public wifi connections.
• And, my personal favourite, no more being logged out of the wifi each time you lock your phone!

I’ve been using the Nighthawk M2 Mobile Router for a few weeks now and here’s what I’ve been finding it really useful for. I started using it well before the current Covid-19 restrictions came into place so I was using it to work when I was out and about and we also took it on a family holiday to Tenerife!

Working in the garden – My personal favourite use for the M2 is in the garden (a place where I’m spending a lot of time at the moment!)

Our home wifi doesn’t stretch out into the garden and with this glorious weather we’ve been having (and that small matter of being confined to our houses!) I’ve been using this a lot out in the garden. I’m dreaming about using it in other outdoor spaces like at the beach or on the top of a mountain!

Working in cafes – my local cafes all have really bad public wifi so it’s tough to work if I keep getting kicked off the network. It’s so much easier to work when you have a constant and reliable wifi connection. When we’re allowed back into cafes I’ll definitely be taking this with me!

Road trips – It works really well in the car and, as someone who spends a lot of time in the car, I can use this time productively to work. Or unproductively to watch YouTube and play games – which is just as important in my book! The boys mostly watch YouTube on their iPads so it’s amazing for long car journeys as they stay connected all the way there.

Data sharing and streaming – You can share media via the router (I’ll explain that more further down!)

Reliable wifi abroad – It was brilliant during our recent holiday to Tenerife as it allowed us all to stay connected 24/7. We went away with my parents and we had 10 devices with us and they all connected perfectly.

At my parent’s house – For some reason my parents have the slowest home wifi! They blame it on their rural location but I found the Nighthawk M2 Mobile Router is faster than their home wifi. As a ‘work from home mum’ I often pop round to my parents house and sneak off to do some work when the kids are busy with their grandparents, so taking my wifi router with me has been amazing.

At our caravan – This is going to be great when we get back to our caravan, and it would also be ideal for second home owners too. Our caravan site has wifi but it’s really slow, especially when everyone is logged in during those busy summer months! So this mobile router will be fab to stream movies and keep us all connected.

Hotels – Lots of hotels do have fast wifi speeds but lots of people prefer to be on a private network for security reasons. It’s much easier to hack into someone’s devices if you’re on a public wifi network.

If this sounds like a gadget of dreams then keep reading to find out more about the Nighthawk M2 Mobile Router.

Here are some of the features of the Nighthawk M2 Mobile Router:

 

Easy set up

The first thing I really liked about this device was how easy it was to set up and start using. I literally just charged it, put the sim in, turned it on and connected. The device has a smart, intuitive touch screen and a simple app you can easily connect to. I needed to add the APN details but it was really easy and was explained in an email when I activated my sim. 

Connecting is as simple as it is to connect to any wifi network, particularly as the WiFi name and password are displayed on the homescreen of the device so you don’t need to go hunting around for it.

Once you’re logged in, it is recommended that you change the name and password for security reasons.

Speeds of up to 2Gbps on 4GX LTE

It’s fast. Really fast.

I’ve mostly been using this at my parent’s house where their WiFi is OK but not great and I’m finding the Nighthawk M2 Mobile Router is so much faster than their home WiFi.

Connect up to 20 devices

This makes the Nighthawk M2 Mobile Router ideal for both family trips and work trips too. All of your colleagues can connect to the router and during family trips you can have phones, laptops and tablets all connected at the same time.

Can be used on any mobile network

The Nighthawk M2 Mobile Router isn’t locked to a specific network so you can use any sim. If you’re travelling with it, you can pick up a local sim for each country you visit to avoid international roaming fees and keep your data costs down.

I’m using this sim with o2 and it works perfectly. 

If you think you’ll use a lot of data then it’s worth checking out Smarty. For £20 a month you can get a sim with unlimited data and you’re not tied into any contracts.

Small and easy to travel with

The router weighs just 240g and is small and slim so it’s easy to pop in your bag or pocket and travel with it.

Data offloading

You can use the router to connect to your hotel internet via WiFi or an ethernet cable (yes, they’re still a thing!) and then route that to your devices, meaning you save on data costs.

All day battery life + jumpboost ability 

Even with a few devices connected, the router has a battery life that lasts all day. It also has a USB port so you can use it to charge other devices via USB.

Parental controls

You can use the NETGEAR app to enable parental controls to ensure your children are viewing safe and appropriate content when they’re online. You do need to set up an OpenDNS account to do this.

The NETGEAR mobile app

The app is brilliant. It’s really clear and easy to use and simple to see how much data you’ve used and remaining battery life. You can also use the app to stream media to all your connected devices. You just plug an external hard drive into the router and use the app to find the media you want to stream to everyone connected. 

Secure wifi

We’re regularly reminded that it isn’t always safe to connect to public wifi hotspots because it’s easy for people to hack into our devices and steal personal information. Having a VPN (virtual private network) gives you extra online security and the peace of mind to browse the internet without worrying. 

So does the Nighthawk M2 Mobile Router actually work?

The question you really want to know the answer to…right? Does it work?

Yes.

It’s a pretty simple answer! It works and it’s brilliant.

It’s fast, it’s reliable, it’s simple to use and it gives you access to wifi in most places.

It’s worth remembering that it works off a mobile sim so there are some areas where you don’t get mobile coverage. Just like with your mobile phone, if you don’t get mobile signal there then a mobile router won’t work there either. EE has 84% 4G geographic coverage in the UK so you will have a strong network in the majority of places in the UK.

There’s my review of the NETGEAR Nighthawk M2 Mobile Router. To quickly sum it up for you – it’s fast, reliable, portable and easy to use, making it a great wifi router for use at home or abroad.

Click here if you’d like to find out more about the device.