NETGEAR4G LTE Broadband Modem - Use LTE as Primary Internet 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.

We live in a rural area and because we are so far back from the main road our local cable company would not run service to our almost 200 year-old home. This meant our only internet option was the phone company's DSL service, which has been far from reliable or fast. I purchased the Netgear 4G LTE Modem as a trial replacement for that expensive DSL service that has only able to achieve 11MB down and 1MB up max at best and constantly requires a reboot of the DSL modem to get it working again.Using T-Mobile's 4G LTE service, I was able to get the modem up and running in minutes without any configuration (essentially plugging in the micro SIM card and powering it on), and the signal strength LEDs on the unit indicated 3 out of 5 bars. Putting the router into bridge mode via the router's web interface (comes shipped in router mode), I then connected it to a dual band Wi-Fi router (2.4GHz and 5GHz) and commenced to test it out. Running Speedtest on an iPhone 6s while connected to Wi-Fi, I was able to achieve 51MB down and 18MB up when connected to 5GHz, and about 18MB down and 6MB up on the 2.4GHz connection. Already I was getting better internet speeds than with my current DSL service.My next test was see how it would perform with streaming HD (1080p) video on my Roku 4, since I knew that would consume the most data of all of my usual internet activities. Initially, Netflix and Amazon video would take a really long time to load and when streaming the quality kept dropping to where the picture would get blocky and dark. Even with my slower DSL service this did not happen so I was a bit confused as to the reason for this. After some online research, I learned that with T-Mobile the "Binge-On" video streaming feature (which is enabled by default) allows you to watch all the video you want without counting against your 4G LTE allotment, but the downside is that it only streams at slower 3G speeds. However, you can disable this by enabling HD video in your T-Mobile account (if you have that option with your service). Please note that if you do this and disable the "Binge-On" feature, streaming video will then count against your 4G LTE monthly allowance. Additionally, T-Mobile sees this router as a mobile hotspot so once you reach your monthly Hotspot 4G LTE data allowance, it will drop your hotspot internet speed down to a crawl (512kbs). I learned this quickly after streaming a bunch of HD shows and movies in my Roku 4 and chewed through my 10GB/month mobile hotspot allowance in two days. However, it's interesting to note they do not throttle LTE speeds on your mobile devices, just your Hotspot speed. What this translated to using my current setup was this: after they throttled the hotspot speed, I ran Speedtest on my iPhone while connected to Wi-Fi and was still getting great download and upload speeds (no throttling noticed). Then, when I ran Speedtest on my Mac and PC while connected to the same Wi-Fi, those results were down to an abysmal crawl (like 0.3MB down and 0.1MB up). So connected mobile devices are not affected after the hotspot throttling using this modem with T-Mobile, only PC and computers seem to be impacted. I am thinking of getting a T-Mobile CelSpot (which T-Mobile currently provides for free with a deposit) to see if I can reach 4 or 5 bars on the router to see if that further improves my internet speeds.I have yet to reach that data consumption plateau (>32GB/mo) where T-Mobile states they may "deprioritize" LTE data usage, which means LTE data speeds could drop as other customer's DSL data use is prioritized before mine. However, I will provide an update once I have had more time to test this unit as a viable home cable or DSL internet replacement solution.PROS:Small footprintEasy setupGreat 4G LTE data speedsRouter placement not dependent on cable or phone line locationCONS:Data use counts against your Mobile Hotspot plan (T-Mobile)Best LTE signal may require moving router around your home