I have the AT&T-branded version of this router, which is significantly cheaper, even when unlocked. (Got mine for $300 or so each. They retail for $450 at Best

I have the AT&T-branded version of this router, which is significantly cheaper, even when unlocked. (Got mine for $300 or so each. They retail for $450 at Best Buy, but good luck unlocking them. The AT command sequence to do so sends an encrypted challenge, and only one person knows how to solve it.) It's extremely locked down and its UI is absolutely terrible, but it is, by far, the fastest mobile hotspot and travel router on the market right now. The only thing that comes close is GL.iNet Puli XE3000, which is slower (Mediatek CPUs vs Snapdragon X28) and only available on GL.iNet's website for some reason (most of their other stuff is on Amazon). Updating the AT&T branded version is a nightmare. First, you need to have an AT&T SIM with active service to contact the update server. (AT&T Prepaid works fine.) Then, you have to be lucky enough for the server to actually decide to send an update to the device. If you're unlucky, you have to contact someone at NETGEAR in order to get them to talk to AT&T to push the update. Any settings changes to Wi-Fi or cellular triggers a radio/modem restart. This can take 30 seconds. That includes things like switching from mobile-only mode to mobile+"Wi-Fi offloading" (i.e. wifi repeating). Some settings require an entire router restart, which takes two minutes. I have two of them. I'm going to get the Puli and return the Nighthawks.