Netgear Nighthawk M6 or Maxview Roam X

[Djordje]

Can you help me choose between the Netgear Nighthawk M6 (with an external antenna) and the Maxview Roam X for reliable internet in a campervan? Which one would you recommend, or is there a better option I should consider? I travel across both urban and rural areas.

 

[Jonno1103]

We use an M6 now & previously an M1. Can't fault them in terms of use. Having a coachbuiltwe've never needed to connect to the puck antenna even in the highlands of Scotland but obviously with a PVC being a steel box a MIMO antenna would be a good idea.

 

[TerryReis]

Used a netgear for a number of years with a directional Ariel. Very easy to set up and get connected. Currently using a starlink for ultimate connectivity but not got rid of netgear might come in handy again in the future.

 

[starquake]

Both are excellent although quite expensive for the performance - a left field suggestion of buying a decent antenna and a cheaper router and upgrading it in 3-4 year is likely to produce a cheaper and better solution over 8-10 years.

The key point is most campsites you won’t have 5g today so most of the performance of both you suggest won’t even be usable.

And most 5g deployed in uk to date can’t even perform to same level as the routers selected. ( ie the router is outpacing the network ).

Today the van has a mu5001 from zte and a panorama antenna. We got 280 down and 40 up today - and a better device wouldn’t have got more. I suspect when we are at our next campsite ( on a drive today ) we will get only 4g and any cat20 device with the same antenna will perform similarly. The only downside with the mu5001 is the 4g antenna performance isn’t as good as an older zte we have still in the van. However on 5g it at least works.

Total cost of my cat20 solution that will perform similarly is around 300 inc antenna. Links on forum for the cheap 5001 supplier on eBay.

We will replace the mu5001 with a newer model in 2-3 years for whatever newer 5g frequencies are bound to be available

 

[Millcourt]

Easy to get suckered in with faster advertised speeds offered by 5G etc. However, worth thinking carefully about your needs and where you will be mostly using your onboard router. Also whether or not you intend to use a UK SIM when roaming for streaming UK TV.

Have no experience of Maxview, but bought a Nighthawk M1 a couple of years ago. I have used this extensively throughout the UK, in France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Eire, in both urban and rural (some very remote off-grid) locations. Other than in in the Outer Hebrides where there was no EE network (using an IQGo SIM on the EE network at the time), I never experienced any problems with obtaining a satisfactory 4G signal capable of streaming video to our TV, as well as obviously meeting our fairly modest needs for email, social media etc. We found many rural locations where there was no 5G. As 5G networks use higher frequency signals, the cell size is smaller and many more cells are needed to cover the same area than with 4G. The likelihood is that if you go for a 5G router you will be using 4G a lot of the time for some years to come, especially if your travels tend to be in more remote locations.

Presently, a new Nighthawk M1 costs around £240, whereas the M6 cost around £700. For our use it seemed obvious that the M1 would be suitable. In a few years time, if our needs for more/faster connectivity justify 5G, I am expecting that the price of 5G routers will be very much cheaper and obviously the 5G networks will be much more extensive, we can consider ‘upgrading” then.

One other suggestion I would make is to delay drilling holes for an external aerial until you see whether or not you really need one for the places you visit. We do not have an external aerial. Perhaps we have just been lucky, as so far we have not failed to get a satisfactory signal with 4G.

One other thing to bear in mind if you are streaming TV/video is the data consumed. We watch most UK TV at SD, sometimes HD, but never UHD. With the relatively small screen size in the MoHo (unlike at home), a lower resolution is more than adequate. If you think you might want UHD, you probably need 5G and a fat wallet to meet the costs of the data you use. As a guide, streaming TV for one hour at SD uses around 1GByte, HD 3-4 GBytes and UHD upto 15 GBytes.

Hope our experience may be useful for you. Good luck whatever you decide.

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[CA]

I have the M6 pro (MR6450) - cost about £900 12 months ago. Previously had the M1.
Both work really well - the increase in speed for the M6 was substantial. Use this for work, and move lots of image files around; I need upload more than download.

Also appear to get 5g more and more, and in fact in most places - always check speeds when I arrive somewhere. Regularly see 500Mbps+ download and 70Mbps upload. I don’t have an external antenna, never needed one - and wouldn’t bother installing one.

Have used it across Europe and North America with no issues whatsoever.

It is expensive - but so is a full maxview type install. I like that this small device can go in the motorhome and also just as easily be taken out and packed on a trip somewhere when travelling light.