GotW3 is a cellular service that connects to cell towers to offer surprisingly fast internet. But it’s not without its problems—or high costs. Let’s dig in and find out if gotW3’s right for you. That adds up to quite a hefty bill because both plans cost just over $100 a month and your one-time router fee adds up to 200- to 300-something dollars, depending on which model you choose. There is also a $40 activation fee hidden in there. The company will then ship the router to you (it’s not clear if they use standard or expedited shipping). Open the box, plug in the router, and you’re online! Just make sure to prepay for your plan each month.
Urban plan: T-Mobile Rural plan: AT&T
At first it’s unclear why both plans are more expensive than paying for a mobile hotspot from either wireless provider. But the answer is in the unlimited data. Using your phone as a hotspot will eat up your cell phone’s precious battery life and your hotspot data. Plus, your phone’s hotspot network doesn’t reach very far. For example, AT&T’s Unlimited Extra plan comes with a 15 GB limit on 4G LTE hotspot data per month. And T-Mobile’s Magenta Plus plan will only get you up to 20 GB of 4G LTE hotspot data. And since you’re relying on the gotW3 router to connect to the internet and not your phone, you don’t have to worry about draining the life on your Galaxy S10 or iPhone 12. (We should mention that gotW3 does have a Fair Use policy1 that potentially throttles data if you use absurd amounts—like 500 GB a month). Streaming Netflix can use up to 1 GB of data per hour, though.2 The last thing you want when you’re binging Arrested Development is your data cap cutting you off mid-season. In fact, if you compare gotW3’s plan prices to some of the fastest plans from the best internet service providers (ISPs) in the industry, they’re about the same. So you could be cruising at 1,000 Mbps speeds on a fiber-optic network for a similar price. (Of course, you’d have less freedom to travel that way.) In short, if you’re not interested in the unique flexibility of gotW3’s service, then it’s just expensive, relatively slow internet. So how fast does your internet need to be? It depends, but most people are going to want something closer to the high end (45 Mbps) than the low end (1 Mbps) of gotW3’s speed range. One issue with gotW3’s service is that the company cannot guarantee your speed—gotW3’s network will vary greatly depending on your location, time of day, and even weather conditions. We were told by gotW3 that you should see your speed pick up if you leave your router plugged in at the same location for at least 72 hours. That’s because the service tries to find a local cell tower that gets you the best data speed. gotW3 also mentioned the average download speed most users get is 12–20 Mbps, but some lucky people get up to 70 Mbps. Not a bad trade for enjoying the freedom of van life.
Average gotW3 download speed: 12–20 Mbps Advertised download speed: 1–45 Mbps Top-end download speed: 70 Mbps
Part of the problem was we never got the router to establish a wired connection. So all of our testing happened over Wi-Fi, which will almost always be slower than connecting to the internet with an Ethernet cable. We tested our gotW3 Urban America service three ways: a speed test, streaming The Great British Baking Show on Netflix, and playing Diablo 3.
Download speed: 3.55 Mbps Upload speed: 6.34 Mbps Ping (latency): 281 ms
Experience: Streaming Paul Hollywood’s intense stares and the bakers’ sugary delights was pretty smooth. I only got a few seconds of buffering after skipping the intro and again about a third of the way through the episode. Experience: Holy lag, Batman! I tried to complete a tier 13 Nephalem rift on my Demon Hunter character and couldn’t finish. My character stuttered across the screen, and getting some distance between me and the monsters was difficult because of the lag. My gameplay had a lot of graphically intensive spells flashing across the screen nonstop, which likely overloaded both my Mac and my gotW3 connection.
Return fee: If you decide to return your equipment during the 14-day return period, the company will charge you a $50 “restocking fee.” Reconnection fee: If you do suspend your account for a month or two (by not paying), then it will cost you $25 to restart service.
The routers come in two flavors: the C4R400 and the more expensive LTE520. Both are gotW3 proprietary routers, meaning they’re produced by the company itself. The main differences are the following:
C4R400: Comes with 1 LAN port and zero WAN ports. Meaning you can plug only one device into the modem at a time. LTE520: Comes with 4 LAN ports and 1 WAN port. The WAN port is perfect for connecting your router, and the LAN ports can support any devices that need a (hopefully faster) wired connection.
You also have the option of buying extra equipment “boosters,” like an omni-directional antenna. Here’s how those equipment costs stack up:
C4R400 router cost: $227.59 new, or $121.29 if you’re comfortable with an open-box (previously used) item. (The open-box option still comes with a 90-day warranty.) LTE520 router cost: $338.89 for a new router, no cheaper open-box options here.
The company does provide plenty of ways to get in touch if you have an issue, so there’s that. You can contact gotW3 online here:
Online chat Social media
And we’ve got a few tips for your customer service call that’ll hopefully lead to a better experience—and resolution. But if you’re looking for reliable internet for gaming, or for perfect-quality streaming, then our advice is, don’t do it. In those situations, gotW3 probably won’t live up to the challenge.
