Newbie needs help with MR5200

[jsmith102]

Hi all,

First, let me start off by saying that I'm not a 100% stranger to hotspots. I used to have a Verizon MiFi Jetpack and it worked well for some years until I no longer needed it. Now I found myself needing a new hotspot, and so I initially bought another Verizon Jetpack (8800L) which seems OK but AT&T seems to have a little better coverage where I'm at, so I started looking at other options.

Long story short, this lead me to purchase the new MR5200, which seemed like the "cream of the crop" both in terms of price and also the literature (Netgear stated it is recommended for AT&T with 5G, etc).

A bit more background:
----------------------------
So now I have this new $700 hotspot and I wanted to get data for it. Well, last night I went into ATT store and ask about getting a prepaid plan (100GB for $55/mo). The lady says sure, we can do that. But then after looking up my account (I already have a phone plan with them) she says that I have a legacy plan and it would need to be updated to "unlimited" (my plan was for 2GB of data, yeah, very old plan). Well that would cost an extra 50/mo so I said no -- what about just pretending I'm a "new" customer? So she goes about creating a separate account just for the hotspot. I thought this would solve the issue and it gets configured, so I walk out the door thinking things are going to work.

Well the next day I get an email saying now I have a plan that will cost me $125/month! Not even close to $55/mo for 100GB. I would have said something at the store, but she only handed me a receipt with $0.00 charges saying I would see them on the first bill. Anyway, this gets straightened out: I go back into the store and a different person says she can get me fixed up by getting rid of the separate account and merging the hotspot and phone plans under the same account, but as two separate "plans". And then somehow after discounts it winds up being that the total is $104/mo for both. So, that seemed pretty good. The hotspot is under an "Unlimited Elite Plan" and my phone is under an "Unlimited Starter" plan.. She did not go into any detail as to the differences, but supposedly both have a reasonable amount of data.
----------------------------

OK -- now for the more "hotspot"-centric questions. My phone indicates that it is now getting 5G, as indicated in the upper-right corner. But my MR5200 hotspot still only gets "4G", sometimes "4G+". I cannot figure out how to get it into 5G mode. There is the "APN" setting, which by default has the following:

broadband
firstnet-broadband
nrbroadband
pioneerms

The only one that seems to work is "broadband", but again has only 4G capability.

I found some other APNs to try, such as:
NXTGENPHONE
ENHANCEDPHONE

Only "NXTGENPHONE" seems to work, but like "broadband", it also only gets 4G.

So, question 1:
Is there some other "APN" I should use with AT&T in order to get 5G to work on my MR5200? Again, my phone (iPhone 12 Pro) seems to indicate it is getting 5G, so I don't see why the hotspot cannot.

Question 2:
I've been reading about the MR5100, which I did not buy because it seems unavailable (at least on Amazon). But, perhaps since I'm already using AT&T, it would have been better to get the AT&T-focused MR5100 instead? But I thought both models are 5G, so is there any reason not to use the MR5200?

Question 3:
My main focus right now is just trying to find a hotspot+data plan that delivers low latency (low pings) and at least 40mbps download and 6mbps upload.

The 8800L Verizon Jetpack seems to average the following:
Ping=45ms, Jitter=8ms, DL=20mbps, UL=5 mbps

The MR5200, limited to 4G, averages:
Ping=28ms, Jitter=5ms, DL=63mbps, UL=16 mbps

Interestingly, when I do speed test on my phone, which actually can get "5G" (or so it says), I get:
Ping=75ms, Jitter=55ms, DL=54 mbps, UL=4 mbps

So, the "5G" that my phone now has is getting a very high ping and high jitter, and the DL/UL rates aren't particularly great either. But, that could be because it is on the "Unlimited Starter" plan, so maybe they throttle 5G on such a plan. Prior to this "upgrade", when my phone was on LTE, it used to get pings of around 29ms and jitter of 9ms, so something has differently changed here.

So the 3rd question is: Is it normal for 5G to have higher latency than 4G? If so, I suppose I would be happy just to stick with 4G for my hotspot, but then it seems like I waaaaay overpaid for such a device.

And fourth question:
When I look at the account overview after the AT&T lady put both the hotspot and phone under the same account, both plans are listed as "Smartphone" devices. She knows I have a hotspot (I brought it in the store with me and showed it to her as the reason for going in), and she even gave me a SIM card to put into the hotspot. So do I need to worry that the hotspot is showing up as a "Smartphone" on the account or is that just a typical thing that they do? I ask because I guess the carriers can kick off hotspots from the network if they are using a phone SIM card.

Any thoughts/ideas/opinions would be appreciated!

Thanks

[guest00x]

I think mr5100 is better for at&t due to mmwave band. Mr5200 is better on tmobile for n41, n71 5g. Most importantly, is at&t 5g+ available in your area? Mind that 5g+ and not 5Ge.

[jsmith102]

I think mr5100 is better for at&t due to mmwave band. Mr5200 is better on tmobile for n41, n71 5g. Most importantly, is at&t 5g+ available in your area? Mind that 5g+ and not 5Ge.

Hmm, any good way to determine that? All I see from my phone is "5G", no "5G+" or "5Ge".

[jsmith102]

Also, what kind of latency (pings) and speeds (DL/UL) should one typically expect with this kind of hotspot? Certainly it will depend on a variety of factors, but maybe if others can post what performance they typically see, it would be interesting to compare to the numbers I already posted.

[mtl26637]

What a headache right? I guess the first thing I would do is find out exactly what 5G services that AT&T is providing in your area as its probably all for nothing. I did the same thing and set up another line for 5G etc etc all to find out that its slower than their 4G offerings. I know in my location and surrounding areas that at&t 5G is only 5mhz wide bandwidth, which means its about 1/4 the speed of a single at&t 4G band since they are typically 20mhz wide. If you only have the 5mhz available I'd forget about the at&t 5G as their 4G speeds are much faster. As far as plans go, yes I would think it would show up as a hotspot device on your plan. Sounds like they just added another 'phone' plan/line rather than a data plan. In reference to your latency, my average 4G latency is about 30ms. I've found that the APN can affect this quite a bit with certain carriers. The plan would control what apn to use also. The data plans typically use "broadband" apn and the phones use "nxtgenphone". Not sure about the 5G apn's.

Just as fyi, 5G in my area is as follows:
at&t = joke (5mhz wide band) (slower than 4G)
verizon = not available (only available in large cities for the most part)
t-mobile = actually worth the effort if you are close to one of their 5G towers

[Didneywhorl]

Use NRBROADBAND

[jsmith102]

I tried using "NRBROADBAND" for the APN but it doesn't seem to work for some reason. I've only had luck with "broadband" and "NXTGENPHONE".

[Didneywhorl]

Hmmm, no experience with it myself, but I've read that typically means the SIM/plan/account isn't 5G provisioned. If the device initially provisioned/registered to the SIM isn't 5G provisioned that could be an issue.

[jsmith102]

Yes, it seems that they did not provision for 5G, I guess because it's the MR5200 which does not show up as an AT&T-blessed device. So, I should have gotten the MR5100 instead.

But now the lady at the store is saying she could put me on the "FirstNet" plan and I would get the black FirstNet SIM card, which could be interesting but I'm not sure that it is any faster than regular AT&T cell service. In other words, it may be more reliable, but potentially slower (maybe no carrier aggregation etc).

So, if band 14 turns out to be slower for me, would I still be able to have my hotspot use a different band if I choose to use the FirstNet black SIM card? I guess I would also get an AT&T-blessed hotspot such as the MR5100, or actually she even mentioned they have a newer Nighthawk "M6 Pro" which just very recently came out, newer than the M5 and I cannot seem to find much info on it.

[sjura10]

If you're able to get a FirstNet plan with unlimited data you're pretty blessed. I have a Nighthawk MR1100 and I hacked it to lock onto band 14 and I would get 40-45 Mbps down and about 12-20 Mbps up. I hooked up 2 Yagi antenna's to achieve that but I'm 3 miles from the tower with trees in the way so if you are closer with line of sight you wouldn't need antenna's or maybe just a cheap 2x2 Mimo antenna that you can put in the window. Band 14 has quite a bit of bandwidth and it's very reliable and consistent since it is built for first responders and not a lot of consumer traffic on it. I know thats not the 5G you were hoping for but it would most likely meet your needs as you stated.

What I would do to test for 5G capability on your device is go use it at the AT&T store as they generally have the best signals there. If it won't hook up there then it's not setup/provisioned correctly. If it does connect then you know it's an issue in your home area. Then go find your local tower (use cellmapper.net for location) and test for 5G right near the tower. It's best to be a few hundred yards away as right under it will shoot the signal over you. If you get 5G there then you will likely need good antenna's to get the signal at your home. If you decide 4G is what you're stuck with, you can get an MR1100 for 25-30% of the price you paid and it'll work just as well on LTE bands. Then just return your MR5200 or sell it. I would consider buying it but I would need to do some testing in my area first.

If you need antenna's, see TheWirelessHaven.com as they have everything you need. If you need something powerful I would go for 2 of these Yagi's: https://thewirelesshaven.com/shop/anten ... l-antenna/ they have the most range of frequencies for future proof and they are fairly cheap and powerful. Keep in mind your MR5200 can only do 2x2 mimo for antenna's (4x4 mimo is only capable with internal antenna's) so don't waste your money on a 4x4 mimo antenna. You will also need conversion cables to connect antenna to MR5200 TS-9 ports. Personally I put my device in an enclosure attached to the same pole as the Yagi's so I have minimal signal loss with short cables. Mount the Yagi's in a 2x2 Mimo configuration, just google and you should see. I can send pics of my setup if you need. Then run Cat6 ethernet to your home router. Best of luck.

[jsmith102]

Okay, it looks like 4G is what I'm realistically going to be getting in my area for the time being. So if you find you are able to get 5G then sure, I would be willing to sell you the MR5200.

I'll also see about getting that antenna you linked. Although it does seem to come with RG58 coax which I think I might try and replace with LMR400.