THE BEST MOBILE ROUTER & ANTENNA I've used for over 4 years

Hi John. Based on your best setup I have bought the same Netgear Mr2100 router and Bingfu Mimo antenna. Unfortunately in all my tests, the external antenna has made absolutely no difference whatsoever. (I have a Smarty SIM on 3 by the way). The router is great. Have you any suggestions?

I also have the M2 and it’s been the best hotspot I have ever had, mainly used in the Westcountry. Steered (quad sims) if the price ever becomes viable for high data usage solves the network connectivity issue. We used EE as the steer, but there were a couple locations we had events at where there was no EE but Vodafone or three were available and pre-purchase 30 day sims from different networks and later steered sims were ideal for those

seen you loads of times but 1st time subscribing propa great vid john many thanks answered a lot of questions thanks pal keep them coming looking forward to watching you more ,i used to see you with darren urban van life cheers pal 10/10

Hi. Thx for the video! Is this info still up-to-date? 8 months is a long period in this fast evolving business. I see for example tht the router M6 pro already exists, so i don't know if it's still worth it buying the M2. And what about the antenna? I guess ther are newer (better) types already. Thx for yr reactions! Harry - Belgium

The new “door stop” antenna you’re using. Can it be fit at a 90degree angle?
To explain, I’d like to fit it to the side of my solar panels. These panels can tilt, from flat, obviously, to almost 90 degrees to the van roof. If you recon using it that way would interfere with its performance, please let me know.Look forward to seeing you both at Willow Fields again soon. Would be nice to know when,lol

Not trying to be negative but surely after 4 years this kit is out of date and there are better options?

Thanks for a really useful video. Would be interested to know if you’ve tried any of the AVTEX WiFi router products too? Thanks again. 👍

Hi what aerial supplier/type is it

Hi
Brilliant video, my question is, we do a lot of camping , would the M2 router work on it's own without the antenna, I didn't want to make a hole in the tent 😉. I am with EE also.
Cheers

I dont think your getting on too bad with your connection i live in a smallish town which hasnt got 5g yet. It will randomly say it on my phone but then drop of so maybe a small amount of coverage. Its pretty much midnight im get 13 up and 0.3 down. During rhe day it can be around 2 up its absolutely shocking. The area doesnt have enough capacity for all the people. Go back a few year when i originally swapped to three we were seeing over 100 i switched from ee because that was getting about .4 down. Now ive tried multiple different networks and they are all the same . Luckily weve recently got fibre to the premises so we only need the 4g as a backup and being a small independent fibre provider its reliability isnt 100%. I cakt wait for 5g itll be a game changer.

your phone tries to find satellites to make calls through satellite if you don't have reception? what phone did you have?

Thank you good info' God Bless

I watched your video and followed up with the atena you suggested. From 2mb too 23 mb wow was really pleased

Great video John. I've been looking for a static home set up because we're rural Devon with awful broadband speed. Trying TP-Link M600 router and getting about 60 to 100 MPPs with EE. SIM ( day 1) without connecting the Poynting antenna yet. Much better than the 6 to 10 Mbps on the broadband connection so overjoyed so far. Useful info too on you experience with SIM cards. I've seen those preloaded EE sims on Amazon and did wonder about them. Found your video very useful and explained in nice simple terms. It's certainly not my area of expertise so great to have someone like you giving this information on the kit you've tried. Any updates would be most welcome too.

Hello , what an informative video - thank you. Can I ask , how would you fit this antenna to a caravan that has no rails?
Must admit Im a tad worried about hole drilling in my roof (warranty etc) but equally following an insect infestation after a trip to italy having windows open allowing for cables to come in. Gosh in a quandry!
Thanks in advance
Jo

Would expect to be good at that price 😮

Thanks John very helpful!

Hi John, regards Star-link, can you connect internal cameras to Star link to watch on your phone? Eg, I have the cameras connected to a router, but don’t always get a signal. Thanks in anticipation. Love your u tube information. Brendan

Just checking as this video is not new. Is there an update or would you still recommend the same gear today. I am arriving from Australia in September and have no knowledge of this English, so I intend to follow your recommendations to the letter.

Hey, thanks for this video.

Do you get rate limited on your normal dedicated? I see it's 650gb in a month.

Thanks

Thank you John I'm looking for a router to install on some boats. This video has made my life much easier. 2 thumbs up for you.

Very helpful - Thanks!

Thank you for a very interesting and helpful video! I have ordered the Bingfu antenna and was wondering if I fitted it directly to the roof of my van (I already have a hole) or if it needs to be on the bracket to get the best reception? Thanks.

Great video John, what was the name of that last antenna that you recommended I didn’t hear you mention the name , the litte black dome one please

Dbi. ... Faraday cage .... your certainly clued up john.

I've also found the M2 performance to be better overall than the M6.

I had upgraded to the M6 assuming because it supports 5G, I would get the same 4G performance as I do with the M2 plus the addition of 5G to use if and when I have 5G coverage.

However, that wasn't the case at all. It is almost as if in order to include the 5G functionality, they had to compromise on the 4G modem.

I am back on the M2 now and I'm staying with it for the foreseeable future.

With the M2, I have also experienced dreadful power issues and even wifi radio failure. What I have found is that by running the M2 permanently plugged in to the charger with the battery removed it runs perfectly 100% of the time.

I even purchased a new battery for it and tried that, and still, runs like crap whenever the battery is connected.

I believe it is a hardware issue that will not be resolved.

If I do need to run the device without power connected, I use a 20,000 mAh power bank instead, which also has the added bonus of far greater capacity than the internal battery.

What download speeds were you getting from this nighthawk? It says its only capable of 2gbs? Less than ideal if it only runs at that speed

Any idea if this would be a good set up in the Western US with verizon?

GET TO THE POINT.😡

Hi John, I need a bit of help regarding a Netgear 2 I’m trying to it set up.The connection keeps failing when trying to pair my phone to it. Could it because I use a regular SIM card instead of a data one. I appreciate your opinion .

Great and informative video John. I'm looking to ditch my landline broadband soon and this has been extremely helpful.

I don't see that Bingfu antenna for sale anywhere, except perhaps on Fruugo.

I'm only 7.5 minutes, and I like your intentions and motives for posting this.

I shall now watch the rest of the video, cheers fella
👍 👍 👍

Well presented with such detail as usual.Honest and accurate

Absolut fantastic video and information. Thank you !!!

Great video, thanks! Can I please ask if you have tried any of the teltonika routers; had been ready to buy one until I saw your video. Just wondered if they had been compared to the Netgear M2 and been found inferior or if they just hadnt been included in the types you have tested over the years?

Nice 1 mate, I've thinking of going to home land Pakistan, we live in a village far away from the city, i will take this antenna and router and see if it works,we only have 4g in Pakistan, I don't know about the village, thank you

Hi John. Excellent work. I’ve tried loads as well. Taking your findings to logical conclusion it may be best to house an old iPhone on top of roof in a plastic enclosure with usb charger? Wouldn’t it? 🤷‍♂️ I guess it won’t keep its hotspot on indefinitely this may be the stopper?

thanks for a fantastically clear and useful video! Have you tried or considered trying the zyxel NR2301 or the ZTE MU5002? I just bought the latter and am wondering/hoping I made the right choice :)

Interesting, I did skip through the video a little as I was primarily interested in the antenna aspect. I've acquired a GL.iNet X3000 and it's been working fairly decently. (Consistently) What sold me on the device was that it ran the open-source OpenWRT software. :-) I do appreciate your video's and hope to see more. I noted that the antenna you settled on was pretty neat looking and would suit my black campervan perfectly, all but the fact that it seems to be aimed at the 4G device market. Why go to the expense of a 5G device only to pull it back with a 4G antenna? The frequency bandwidth of 5G is greater than 4G so the antenna's are apparently quite different? Although I admit to limited knowledge on this topic. Another factor I believe greatly affects the data throughput can be the carrier side of things. I worked for many years in the States as a systems administrator for a couple of ISP's and was a ware of occasional slowness on the networks themselves. SO it's not always the end users last mile connection at fault. You might note that the Internet gets faster locally in the AM? 🙂 So would you still honestly recommend this Bingfu 4G LTE Antenna for 5G type connectivity speeds? Just an honest question, not loaded. As I am sitting on the edge of my seat pondering the purchase. 🙂

I have the nighthawk and have used a couple of sims and find EE are the best for reception

That antenna has 1 cable but my router has 2 ports. Would it still work ok with just 1 cable please?

Hi John what is the make of the antenna suited to the night hawk the upside down plant pot .

Great video
I’ve gone and bought the Bingfu after watching. Not had chance to try yet tho. Just wondering have you tried the Pointing Mimo 3 ? I’ve seen that has good reviews

Is there a way to increase the WiFi range of the M2 router to cover a large building?

really informative thank you, but I'm worried why the bingfu antenna has a lot of bad reviews on amazon! any idea why other people may not be having the same success a you? Van internet seems like a total minefield for me atm!

Great video. Always a mine field deciding what to buy for mobile viewing. Nice to know what works. I am also with 3 and have used my card abroad at no extra cost for around 3 years, and it still works. I do not kick the arse out of it and always stay within 80gb a month, never had an issue yet... However signal strenght in Scotland can be a joke with 3..

Hi John, a question, do you leave your nighthawk M2 router powered up continuously? I've just fitted one to our van and I noticed that it's asking to be removed from the power when it's at 100%. I know some people say these types of batteries don't like being on charge continuously, so have you noticed any issues with yours, or do you unplug it when it's at 100%? I noticed that it loses charge quite quickly off charge just monitoring the two camera blink system, and probably wouldn't survive a couple of days off charge. Cheers. 👋

Hay John I have the m2(ee) with the poynting puck for normal driving around and when we park up I have the poynting 5g antenna and if we say for more then 4 days I have a 4m pole with a directional kaser 4g with no issues on any of them we use it for streaming to and some work when we are way in wales and streaming the cameras in camp when we leave for the day best system tbh for people on the go. Great vid