You’re probably reading this article on a hotspot device—your phone! Basically every cell phone carrier offers hotspot data along with wireless data, but the quality and quantity of data you get depends on the plan. If you’re looking for an even stronger mobile Wi-Fi signal, you can opt for devices specifically made to act as a hotspot point. Read on for the best mobile hotspots for digital nomads. You can purchase a laptop prebuilt to include everything you need. (Dell offers this service.) You just need to specify what cell phone carrier you’re using for mobile service and you can get a laptop with the broadband chip and SIM card installed and ready to go. Just like a new cell phone, you’ll just need to activate the service when you get your laptop. **Price only good if you already have a Verizon unlimited plan If you don’t need tons of data, but want high speeds, T-Mobile offers the widest 5G network across the country. As usual, AT&T falls somewhere in the middle between T-Mobile and Verizon. With everything set up properly, you can literally open your laptop just about anywhere and get a Wi-Fi internet connection like you’re at home. If that’s not digital nomad nirvana, I don’t know what is. You can still participate in Zoom meetings, send messages back and forth on Slack, and surf the internet with 5 Mbps, but everything will feel much slower. Expect some lag on Zoom calls and to wait more than a few seconds to open up a web page. The 5G Get More Plan offers 50 GB of mobile hotspot data (the max amount from a Verizon cell phone plan), but it costs you a whopping $90/month. You can save $10/month and get 25GB of mobile hotspot data every month, along with free cloud storage data (another essential for digital nomads) and six months of Disney+ included. Your AT&T coverage won’t feel quite as reliable, especially traveling in more rural areas, but you do get a free HBO Max subscription included with your plan. What’s better than setting up camp and unwinding with some Curb Your Enthusiasm under the stars? You also get an intuitive touch screen that makes setting up your Wi-Fi hotspot super easy. Just be mindful of how much data you have left on your Verizon plan, because 15 devices sucking up data all at once can drain your hotspot data really quickly. The downside to the Nighthawk M6 device is that it currently costs $309.99 on AT&T’s online shop. That price point costs $100 more than the Jetpack from Verizon, but makes up for it with impressive hotspot data speeds. If you’re an AT&T user who wants strong data speeds just about anywhere, the Nighthawk M6 makes the most sense. You can also connect up to 30 Wi-Fi enabled devices at once to this bad boy, so you can basically create a hotspot for a small nomadic village. Again, just make sure you have enough T-Mobile hotspot data to go around. You can purchase the INSEEGO 5G MiFi M2000 hotspot device from T-Mobile for $336. That price point makes this hotspot device the most expensive of the bunch, but you do get fast data speeds and the ability to connect tons of devices at once.
Laptop with mobile broadband chip: You can purchase a laptop with a built-in wireless chip and SIM card. Basically, your laptop will automatically connect to the internet via a cellular network when you power it up. Cell phone plan with hotspot data: You can always use your smartphone as a hotspot device, but make sure you get a data plan that gives you enough hotspot data to use every month. Verizon Inseego Jetpack MiFi 8800L Hotspot: This hotspot device from Verizon costs , $100+ less than comparable devices from T-Mobile and AT&T. Expect decent data speeds between 50 Mbps–100 Mbps. AT&T Netgear Nighthawk M6: The official AT&T mobile hotspot device boasts data speeds 150 Mbps, but it costs $309.99 on AT&T’s online shop. It’s an expensive price tag, but provides fast data speeds as long as you’re within AT&T coverage. T-Mobile Inseego 5G MiFi M2000: Thanks to T-Mobile’s expansive 5G network, you can expect data speeds even beyond 150 Mbps with this hotspot device. The device costs $336, making it the most expensive option here, but your data speeds and overall connection should be consistently reliable.
