Netgear AC810s VS TP-Link M7650

More and more network providers worldwide are upgrading their LTE or LTE advanced networks to LTE Advanced Pro. Comparing with LTE and LTE Advanced, the LTE Advanced Pro adopts more advanced LTE technologies such as 256QAM, carrier aggregation, massive MIMO etc…To fulfill the high speeds for LTE-A PRO, many network equipment vendors presented their LTE advanced Pro devices to the end-users. Netgear Aircard 810s was the world’s first LTE advanced Pro mobile WiFi hotspot, and the Chinese manufacturer TP-link also released its LTE-A Pro MiFi M7650. If you want to change your current mobile WiFi to one of the two LTE-A Pro mobile hotspots, you may ask: What’s the difference between Netgear AC810 and TP-Link M7650? Which one is better to buy? We will review the specs and features of the two LTE-A Hotspot 4G for a comparison to find the answers.

Netgear AC810S VS TP-Link M7650 Appearance and Interfaces

Netgear AC810S had been available in many countries for a couple of years. So many people may be familiar with the Netgear Aircard 810s. On the front, a 2.4 inch touchscreen is available with two buttons available at the side of the display: Home and Back. Like other Netgear 4G WiFi routers, the power button is on the top edge side and the opposite side locates the USB 3.0 port and two connectors for external LTE antenna. The back cover and battery of Aircard 810s could be removed. The Micro SIM card slot is below the battery.

TP-Link M7650 is not as well-known as Netgear Aircard 810s. On the front, there is a 1.44-inch screen but not a touchscreen. The screen would show the signal strength, network mode, data consumed, connected users, SMS, battery status, data rates, monthly data limit etc…The power and home button are on the two sides of the screen. The USB port is on the edge side. But we can’t find the connector for external antennas. Like other TP-link 4G mobile WiFi, the back cover of M7650 could be removed and the battery is also removable. After removing the battery, the Micro SIM card slot and SD card storage slots are there.

 

 

TP-Link M7650 VS Netgear AC810 Specs and features

From the appearance, we can see the two mobile hotspots are very different. Then let’s have a comparison of TP-link M7650 Specs and Netgear AC810S Specs.

 

Model Netgear Aircard 810s TP-Link M7650
Product type LTE Mobile Hotspot LTE Mobile Hotspot
Category LTE Cat.11 LTE Cat.11
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon X12 Qualcomm MDM9240
Data rates DL 600Mbps/UL 100Mbps DL 600Mbps/UL 50Mbps
Supported 4G LTE frequency bands B1, B3, B7, B8, B28 B1, B3, B7, B8, B20, B38, B40, B41
WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band 2.4GHz & 5GHz 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band 2.4GHz & 5GHz
Max support users 15 users 32 users
MIMO 2 x 2 MIMO 2 x 2 MIMO
Connector for external antenna Two, TS-9 jacks No
Buy Antenna Netgear Aircard 810s External Antenna No
App management Netgear Aircard APP tpMiFi APP
SIM type Micro SIM Micro SIM
Battery Removable, 2930 mAh Removable, 3000 mAh
Dimensions 112 x 68.6 x 15.45mm 112.5 x 66.5 x 16mm
Ethernet Port No No
Datasheet download Netgear AC810S Datasheet TP-link M7650 Datasheet
User Manual Netgear AC810S Manual TP-link M7650 User Manual
Other features 3 band CA 3 band CA
Firmware download Aircard 810s Firmware TP-link M7650 Firmware
Drivers Aircard 810s driver TP-link M7650 driver
Reviews Netgear Aircard 810s review TP-link M7650 review
Price 249.00USD 469.00USD

Summary

From the specs, we can see the Netgear Aircard 810s and TP-Link M7650 are both LTE-Advanced Pro mobile WiFi hotspot at the same level. They both support LTE Category 11 and could achieve download speed to 600Mbps. However, the Netgear Aircard 810s is more user-friendly based on the color touchscreen and two connectors for external LTE antennas. They both have the removable battery with almost same battery capacity. The TP-Link M7650 supports more wireless users to 32 devices and it covers more LTE frequency bands on both TD-LTE and FDD-LTE networks. Since Netgear AC810S is an old model now, the Aircard 810s mobile hotspot price is much lower than TP-link M7650 price. If Netgear 810s and TP-Link M7650 both could work with your SIM card, we think the Aircard 810s would be better to buy, but if you want the mobile WiFi to support more wireless users, the TP-link M7650 would be the right one to buy.

 

Netgear AC810 Aircard Software Update Available

Netgear has provided a software update for the AirCard 810 LTE Hotspot. The update is about 84 megabytes in size and is offered over-the-air (OTA) directly on the router. One of the improvements is the following: After the update, the input field for the PIN is displayed immediately and no longer has to be called via the warning message.

Easy installation

A yellow warning is indicated in the display of the AC810 on the update, the download can be started with one click directly at the device. With a fast LTE connection the update is downloaded within a few seconds. The installation does not start automatically after the download of the firmware file, but has to be confirmed again manually. During the update process, the user must not remove the battery from the hotspot as this could damage the device.

In the test, the update of the Netgear AC810 took about 5 minutes; the progress was shown graphically in the display. After the update a reboot took place and the device was then again as usual ready for use. In principle, there would also be a possibility to download the update via firmware file, but Netgear currently does not provide such a file on its support page, but refers to the OTA download directly on the device.

The version number of the update is NTG9X40C_11.14.08.18 (as of 09.03.2017). The previously installed and up to date latest version was the NTG9X40C_11.14.07.00 from 23.02.2016.

Netgear AirCard 810 LTE Cat11 Mobile Hotspot

When the LTE Cat6 are becoming the main stream of wireless mobile gadgets, Netgear sells now the LTE Advanced Cat11 hotspot AirCard 810 in many countries. The mobile wireless hotspot was unveiled at CES in Las Vegas in January 2016 and was now exclusively available for the network provider Telstra in Australia. The Netgear AirCard 810 LTE Hotspot is the successor of the AirCard 790 and has an ultra-modern Qualcomm modem for speeds of up to 600 Mbit/s in the downlink and up to 50 Mbit/s in the uplink. The downlink speed is almost the double of that in LTE Category 6.

Aircard 810s
Aircard 810s

Triple Carrier Aggregation

The Netgear AirCard 810 router has a replaceable, strong battery of 2,930 mAh, which will allow up to 11 hours of operating time. What’s more, up to 15 devices are supplied with an Internet connection at the same time through the WiFi from Aircard 810s, of course the dual-band operation is supported on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz with the current WLAN ac standard. The modem is one of the fastest cellular modems currently on the market: the Qualcomm chipset supports data rates of up to 600 MBit/s in downlink, corresponding LTE category 11 which is being accomplished via Triple Carrier aggregation, ie the bundling of up to three frequency ranges. In many countries, this technology is expected to be commercially available after 2016. Some network providers are already testing this technology in their deploying bands, so as to increase the LTE speed.

The Netgear AirCard 810 hotspot is very similar to the predecessor model AirCard 790 visually and technically, a large touchscreen display on the front facilitates operation. Who wants to know more about the Netgear aircard 790s, you can read the AirCard 790s Review . Since I have the AirCard 810 Hotspot and we can test it soon. A detailed review of the Netgear AirCard 810 follows in the next few weeks.  A PDF data sheet are available on the NETGEAR website.

The router is now available at various online retailers, even in good specialist shops you can order the AirCard 810. You can also buy the Aircard 810 from www.4gltemall.com . The price is of course higher than that of Netgear Aircard 790s. Actually, the speed Aircard 790s is enough for daily use. There are many options in predecessor model of Aircard 790s, such as Netgear Aircard 782s, 785s. So if you need a budget Aircard 4G, you can choose the Aircard 782s or 785s.