Ever wish you had a wifi hotspot that was completely secure and mobile? One that you could pull out, power up, and jump online without worrying about that slow, insecure public wifi network? One that let you sidestep expensive hotel wireless networks?
I had a chance to try out three different AT&T Wireless wifi hotspots on a recent trip for just these reasons, and here’s how it all worked out…
When I told AT&T Wireless that I was heading to the beautiful city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, they wanted me to try out three of their wireless wi-fi hotspots, the AT&T Velocity, AT&T Unite Pro and the AT&T Unite Explore. All about 2/3 the size of a regular smartphone, they have the same basic design, with power buttons on the top edge, a micro-USB charge connector along the bottom and a modest color screen for status and operation. Each requires a SIM card and a cellular service plan too, which generally runs about $20/mo over and above your existing wireless service plan.
But I was staying in a fancy four-star hotel, the El Dorado Hotel & Spa, at over $300/night for the rooms. Surely they’d have fast wireless Internet, right? I mean, that’s just a basic utility nowadays for modern travelers. Maybe, maybe not.
To find out, I used the simple connection speed test system available at speedtest.net. It looks like this when you’re running it:
It’s easy enough to work with, the click of a button and it whirrs away for a while and comes back with some numbers. So here’s what I found, starting with the hotel’s wireless network:
1.46Mbps download speed. Is that fast? No, actually, it’s quite slow.
Before I show you the other speeds, however, here’s my setup in the hotel lobby:
As you can see, a very swanky joint and even the coffee sleeves are stylish in Santa Fe!
The units are also visible, bottom to top they’re the Unite Explore, Unite Pro and the white one’s the Velocity. The first two units are made by NETGEAR and the third is a ZTE device, if you’re curious.
Back to those performance tests, however. Here’s how the AT&T Velocity did:
Over 5x the performance of the hotel network. That’s a meaningful jump!
But how about the other units? Here’s the AT&T Unite Pro:
Over double the speed of the Velocity, and a crazy amount faster than the hotel wireless network.
But oh, we’re not done! Check out the performance of the AT&T Unite Explore:
BOOM!
Now that’s a faster Internet connection! In fact, if you do the math, the AT&T Unite Explore is delivering a breathtaking 26x the performance of the El Dorado hotel’s free wireless connection.
As it happens, one of the attendees at the conference was trying to upload a video she’d recorded on the hotel wireless and complained that it was going to take two hours to get on YouTube. I offered her the use of the Unite Explore and she completed the entire upload in four minutes. Instead of two hours.
These units are super easy to work with too: push on the power button and the screen lights right up with all the connection information you need:
You can also see how much data you’ve used at a glance too: Even with the video upload, I’m not even 20% into my monthly 5GB allotment.
I’m very impressed with these wifi base units and am planning another trip for later in the summer, a trip where I will definitely bring along the Unite Explore. Because 26x hotel Internet speed is well worth bringing along yet another device in the suitcase.
AT&T Velocity = $0 with data plan. AT&T Unite Pro = $49.99 with data plan, AT&T Unite Explore = $49.99 with data plan.
Disclosure: AT&T sent me all three units for the purposes of this review and writeup.
Hey Dave, So this is an amazing article but I would like to talk about the ping for a second…Ping is the latency between the “internet” and your device. For things such as live streaming (netflix, youtube, movies, etc.) The unite explore is the worse possible unit. You only need about 5mb/s for live streaming but you also need under 50 ping for HD streaming. With this said, the velocity is actually the best “performance” for live streaming and I’m assuming its one of the cheapest models? I am only going based on your findings. Now if you are downloading, emails or business, hands down the unite explore all the way.
Just a little assist, I love the article, Just a little to general for the mass population. I’m actually replacing my satellite with hotspots. It is cheaper for me to have 2 hot spots (one for TV and one for devices) and i get better service with my live streaming. Now I will never be able to do online gaming but at least Netflix actually works.
Dave, I have a 2015 Airstream trailer and I’m looking for a way to increase my wifi signal with a hotspot. I have the white ATT Velocity…good but not great. Would you recommend the Unite Explore?
Also, any thoughts on a signal booster….like the WeBoost 4g/LTE for RVs–omnidirectional antennae, etc. We live in Texas but travel both East and West US.
Thanks for your assistance
I didn’t even know you could get a separate wifi hotspot with a cell phone service plan. I know you can (or could) get a dongle to go with your laptop that connects it with wifi. But I’m wondering if I’m missing something.
I have a Samsung Galaxy S6 with Verizon, and I use it as a wifi hotspot all the time when I travel. It has always worked great, and although I have a 6 gb data plan I’ve never come near using it up. Does this work differently from the devices you are reviewing? I think most cell phones today have this feature, and it seems it would make such devices irrelevant. And since it requires a cellular plan to start with, I’d assume that many if not most users have access to it. Have you ever reviewed such service?