4G LTE Broadband Modem for Primary Connection (LB1120)

First, It works. Great feedback from other customers helped along the way, however, if you are using Total Wireless, reseller of Verizon service, the directions are a bit different. But, it works. Double check your LTE channels. My local area uses Channel 5, so, I'm good. Be sure to check your area first. 1. If you have a phone that is compatible with Total Wireless (Check IMEI for compatibility) and is not currently active on the network then all you need to do is buy the CDMA kit that just comes with a SIM card. Note: You may need a SIM NANO to MICRO converter depending on your phone. This hotspot takes sim card MICRO size, most phones are NANO. Total Wireless will not activate a new SIM card using a device that is currently active on their network. 2. If you don't have a phone already, go purchase the cheapest phone Total Wireless has ($35) from most retailers and it comes with it's own SIM CARD. Note: You will need a Nano to Micro converter to use with this device. TOTAL WIRELESS WILL NOT ACTIVATE A SIM CARD WITHOUT AN IMEI PERIOD. NOT MATTER WHAT, NO MATTER WHEN. THEY REQUIRE ABSOLUTELY AN IMEI NUMBER COMPATIBLE WITH THEIR SYSTEMS. At this point, both options will be same, you will have a phone and a SIM card ready to activate. 3. Contact Total Wireless and up your plan by 1 device. I had a 2 device plan, and upgraded to 3 device. Treat the hotspot as a phone. Don't mention hotspot, don't mention Netgear, don't mention anything except just activating your new phone. You will get a new number, it's not needed really, but, don't worry, it's a don't care later on. 4. Go to Total Wireless, log into your account, and select "Add new device". Follow the instructions (either Activate your phone or a Total Wireless phone depending which path you are on). When the instructions tell you, Insert your SIM into your PHONE (Total Wireless phones come with sim card pre-installed) and follow the instructions to activate your phone on the network, verify it works, call your main number. It should now be added as the 3rd device on your plan. 5. Turn off the phone and transfer the SIM card from the phone into the hotspot. You will probably need the NANO to MICRO converter at this point. This was confusing at first. On the hotspot, open the door and there's the SIM cover, slide it to the left until you hear the click, it only slides like 1/8 of an inch, it makes a clicking sound. Lift up on cover and one side should lift up, revealing the sim card slot underneath. Put in the sim card, push the cover back down, slide the cover to the right until it clicks. Again, very short distance. 6. Connect the hotspot to a computer via the network cable. Change the IP address on your computer to 192.168.5.10, the hotspot runs on 192.168.5.1. Power on the hotspot. Wait for it to boot. It WILL NOT connect to the LTE network yet, we are going to change this. 7. Connect to the web interface by typing in 192.168.5.1 in a browser, password is printed on label on bottom of hotspot. I changed this right away. 8. Go to APN settings, switch from automatic to manual. Select Verizon. Go to your normal phone and check the APN name, mine was TRACFONE.VZWENTP . In the hotspot, click on the EDIT button for the APN and change the APN to the correct one, for me, it was TRACFONE.VZWENTP. Save and reboot the hotspot. 9. Upon reboot, it will connect right up. It's not a wireless hotspot, so, you either need to connect a LAN cable to the device you want to have internet access or connect it to an external router which has WIFI. This device is not a wireless router. Why do this, well, several reasons: -Verizon wants $70 per line, so 3 lines is $210 off the bat each month. Ouch. - You can add a tablet for $10, however this requires a current Verizon account. If you have two phones your total is $150/month. Ouch -You can add a hotspot service but Verizon and Total Wireless limits it to 5 GB of data for $50/month and $10 for each Gig you use over 5gig. Yeah, not an option. Serious Ouch. -Total wireless allows you to add a device for $20 more a month and get shared 60GB of data. So, for $85/month you get 3 lines of service, 4G hotspot access, cheapest solution out there all running on a very reliable and fast 4G network. -In my area, all other providers stink, I tried them all, Verizon network by far is the best. Total Wireless reduces speeds after 60GB of 4G data is uses, downgrades to 3G. For me, I needed a backup for work when my current provider goes down, which is a daily occurrence, and I needed to find a quick solution but didn't want to pay out the nose for one.

You can ignore the meaningless “AT&T Network-Ready” statement. This is an unlocked device and will work with other UMTS and LTE networks in the supported frequency bands. I inserted a T-Mobile SIM card and got connected without any help. The modem has a simple and elegant web interface; I think it’s nicer than what you typically get in NETGEAR routers. (HTTPS is not supported, unfortunately.) Setup is very easy and takes only a few minutes, assuming you understand what you’re trying to do. The device can operate in two modes: router (default) and bridge. The router functionality is very basic. It can act as a DHCP server (with no address reservations) and provide NAT. It also can support a DMZ host, static port forwarding, and port filtering (blacklist or whitelist). There is no mention of UPnP in the manual or the web interface, so I assume it’s not supported, but I didn’t test it. The bridge mode allows you to connect the modem to a real router, just like you would connect a cable modem. I suppose this is what most people will do, myself included. You won’t find any IPv6 settings, but it is supported in both the router and bridge modes. You may need to enable it in the APN profile though. In my case, only IPv4 was enabled by default. Speaking of APN profiles, one should be configured automatically when you insert a SIM card, and you can edit them. The modem can send and receive (but not forward) SMS messages. You compose and read them via the web interface. You can have text alerts sent to up to three numbers when it approaches and/or exceeds a usage threshold for the current billing cycle, as well as when a firmware update is available. The bottom line is: considering its functionality and ease of use, this device exceeded my expectations.

I don't recommend this product if you're in an area with a busy network. I have this set up in my truck right now. I've tried bigger antenna etc.. This thing consistently gets way worse speeds than my Samsung Galaxy note 9. When in an area with a busy network and less than ideal reception, it's basically unusable, less than half a meg down and inconsistent latency spiking into 500ms and even 1000+ whereas the internet on my note 9 is at least enough to watch SD Netflix with stable latency. Sometimes if I've got a bad connection I'm able to switch switch from LTE, 4g, 3g, 2g etc. Sometimes I get a better connection on 3g versus LTE. There's no such option in this modem. You're basically stuck with whatever connection it decides to automatically use. I attached a couple screenshots, if you look at the icons on the right it shows weather I'm using WiFi or mobile data. The WiFi is this Netgear modem, the LTE is the Galaxy Note 9. If you look at the time and dates you can see where I tested both around the same time. These results were taken all across the Western United States. You would expect the modem would get better results since it has ONE JOB TO DO and bigger antenna mounted to the top of my truck. But nope, the phone in my hand gets way better speeds. I've ordered a MoFi modem which I've heard works better, and allows you to manually choose which frequency is used, so if you're getting slow speeds on the default, you can try for a different frequency which maybe has a weaker signal but isn't as busy.

I've been hunting for an L700 compatible 4G LTE modem for months. T-Mobile's L700 is the only band we can receive where we live. Our only internet option is through an entrepreneur who sells 5 mbps (which we rarely achieved) Wi-Fi for $82/mo. I previously bought a Huawei B890-66 LTE modem which is alleged to be L700 compatible but speed was dismal and it would stop recognizing the SIM randomly a dozen times a day requiring resets. I returned it to the seller. Along comes this and it works, plug 'n play! I inserted a T-Mobile SIM I was using in a BLU phone and within seconds of plugging it in had a working modem. Side by side with my iPhone 7 shows it about 10-15% slower. I ordered the Netgear external antenna and will update this review accordingly. I've only had it a day and cannot attest to reliability. I don't know why they seem to promote this as an AT&T device, but to those who claim this is not T-Mobile compatible, you are wrong. We have the 'One Plus' T-Mobile plan and routinely exceed the 30GB ‘unlimited’ threshold, but so far have not seen any evidence of throttling because, T-Mobile tells us, we are in an uncongested area. Update 4/24/2017 I am downgrading my review and recommendation because I find this modem to be consistently slower than my iPhone 7 Hotspot and troubling information from Netgear Support. Side-by-side, my iPhone can be anywhere from 20-200% faster. According to Netgear's spec sheet this modem is compatible with band 12. As far as I know this is the only band which gives us adequate signal and the band my iPhone shows I am using. Netgear support states this modem is NOT band 12 compatible and suggested the superiority of the iPhone 7 is due to band 7. The modem is fast enough to be satisfying and offers other conveniences but I would like to get to the bottom of this. If you go to the Netgear support section for this product you can download a spec sheet and comprehensive user guide. Update 5/1/2017 I received a new 4G LTE modem today from the 4GAS antenna shop. They offer a privately branded model, the C100-T. So far, I have not been able to determine the manufacturer. They previously offered a Huawei model. It is optimized for T-Mobile. Like the Netgear, it was plug and play. At $199 + shipping it costs significantly more than the Netgear. The primary differences are the SIM is inserted from the outside of the case making SIM changes easier, more indicator lights, SME antenna connectors, and more sophisticated web interface. The external SIM is a bit fusser than the Netgear's internal locking approach. First speed test showed about 18 Mbps. I am hesitant to compare it to the Netgear speed because our signal strength seems to vary significantly, test to test. Nevertheless, this would put it on the high end of our typical range. The 4GAS interface has one very handy feature... it reads out signal strength in db, making it much easier, assuming it is accurate, to fine tune location, antenna's etc. It showed a 3-6 db difference between the included 2 external antennas and my external YAGI antenna but only 3 out of 4 bars while the Netgear shows 5 out of 5. 4GAS offers a more sophisticated antenna. I have it on order and will update this review after I test it.

NETGEAR 4G LTE Modem LB1120 I use this with an ASUS AC2900 RT-AC86U Router plugged into the WAN port. We live in an are where we have DSL at 350 kpbs (yes k-bits) or satellite (slow response times and $$$ hardware costs). We don't have any cable or fiber. The only very good alternative for light data users, like us, is to use CELLULAR Internet connection. This model is unlocked LTE ONLY, and is exactly what we need. There is a coaxial version with LTE fall back but no cable means no need for that units flexibility. Set-up is not even really there. Once the authorized SIM card is installed, and you plug in power and plug it into your PC LAN port to check it out, it straight away work getting a cellular internet connection. The SIM card is T-mobile and sees the cellular network just fine, although we get two bars of five on connection...same as the phones. Speeds are variable from 20 MBPS to 60 MBPS download and 10 MBPS to 20 MBPS upload. Compared to 350 kbps DSL speeds, we're in heaven. Even with data prioritized if we exceed our unlimited speed qty, we are no worse than 1 MBPS, so OK for most uses even slowed down. The little box that could is wall mounted out of the way by a window and is about as forgettable as can be, and that's good. The PC grabs the connection straight away every time off the wi-fi LAN system. MAKE SURE you get a cellular modem model with the "magic" WAN port to your LAN or straight into the PC LAN port for single client support. Using the WAN port allows all clients to see and use the modem as a networked device. I trialed a T-Mobile wireless only coolpad SURF to check speeds BEFORE I set-up the wire-less ASUS router and the Netgear LC1120. The coolpad SURF won't work as a wireless only connection, though, in my application. I need that WAN port so the LB1120 provides that. The coolpad SURF worked very well, but even better yet, the Netgear LB1120 is about 20% faster overall than the T-Mobile coolpad SURF device and both are about $80-$100. I highly recommend this little Netgear LB1120 as a cellular device on a router. It works fine with T-mobile, is properly priced, and seems to be as fast as the signal strength will allow. For wireless routers with a WAN port this is the perfect fit for LTE connectivity.

I needed a secondary internet connection for my home in the event our primary one goes out (WFH). Our cell provider (T-Mobile) sold me a SIM with a plan on it for little month per month, so went ahead and tried this unit out. Being a network guy for work, I have been happy with other Netgear products for the home, and this one is on the same par as their other equipment. It worked out of the box, has nice features, and will help keep us connected to the internet in the event of an outage from our primary carrier. You can use it as either a bridge or a router (I have a firewall that I run it thru, so I turned it into a bridge to just get an IP from the carrier and nothing else was needed). You can set up usage alerts that can send emails/texts if your going over your carrier allotment, has external antenna connectors (connectivity was good enough for me without extra antennas - could hold 20-30Mb with no antenna, which is fine for my use case), and can act as a router. The configuration interface was easy to use (web-based). It doesn't use a default password, which is also a plus (password on the bottom of the unit to start with). VPNs (both hardware and software-based) traversed thru it with no issues, and it has additional settings for VPNs if needed. Thought it was a smidge expensive, but it's a bit more of a niche device. It works great with T-Mobile (don't know about other carriers, but probably will work fine with them as well). Had it running in about 30 minutes to test first, so setup is super easy. We can also use it when we travel so we don't rely on wifi from strange sources. Very satisfied with the unit. No issues that I can find so far, and it should hold up well.

My experience is with t mobile sim and most likely my issue was with weak signal. However due to the fact its missing some T-mobile lte radio frequencies I did not want to waste time trying out antennas. Sporadic signal and would drop constantly and then come back on. Easy to use interface with bridge connection mode. I can see this working well some and not others. After weeks of research and recommendations from other reviewers I decided to try a more DIY solution. For a stable, strong and high download speeds I recommend building your own with part from lte fix website. I ended up buying sierra wireless modem em7565 (cat 12), router (NEXG H721), pig tails and antennas seperately and assembling my own final router. It was roughly under $400 without getting wifi cards for the router (using my own router for wifi) which would add another $20 to $50 to make it a complete router with dual band wifi and gigabit ethernet ports. I recommend pigtails and possibly antennaes from amazon for better price but in general lte fix prices are very good. Firmware is goldenorb with lots of features. The support from lte fix is also fantastic. I got at most $20 mbps (unstable) with the netgear lb1120 but I am getting a solid 40-50 mbps download and 25 mbps upload speed (AMAZING!) with my setup. You could consider mofi (which is essentially what I did, done for you with inferior internals) or pay upwards of $800 for a cradlepoint type commercial router for again not the latest modem but still great products. I saved hundreds but building myself and have the latest modem and a solid customizable router that works very reliably.

So far it seems to be working with T-Mobile. I just popped in the sim and was good to go. I have the T-Mobile One Plus plan with 3 lines and am using one of the lines in this modem. I live out in the country and only have 20Mbps DSL for internet so I like to keep my phones off of my DSL Wi-Fi to keep it fast for gaming or streaming to my PC/laptop/DirectTV. However, I cannot get phone signal in certain parts of my house. I bought one of these modems and put it in bridge mode ( easy to do in the settings) in an area of my house that has signal. Then I hooked it up to an old Linksys WRT54G router I had and am able to now get full internet to my house. I only use it for my phones right now but it is working great. On a good day I get about 10-15Mbps download speed/4Mbps upload so the old WRT54G router is plenty and isn't slowing me down at all. Because I want the range out of the router and the speeds aren't close to max for this particular router I don't mind that it is only a 2.4Ghz router and not 5Ghz. I just made sure to put my WRT54G on channel 6 in the router settings and I put my DSL router on channel 1 so the signals aren't overlapping or interfering with each other. I live in the country and my routers are the only routers within a mile of me so I don't have to worry about interference from other people. I'll have to keep an eye on things for awhile to see if T-Mobile has an issue with how I am using this line. I am hoping since I am only connecting with my phones that they won't have an issue like they might if I was using it with my PC or laptop since I think T-Mobile requires a certain amount of data to come from a mobile device unless you specifically sign up for a hotspot plan. If you are using a mobile phone plan exclusively as a hotspot they might have issues even if you're staying under the 10GB hotspot limit if more than half your data is coming from hotspot use (or whatever limit your particular plan may have)