Netgear M6 Pro 5G mobile router MR6550-100APS (Unlocked) – fast internet (review)

The Netgear M6 Pro 5G mobile router is great for campers, caravans, tradies, boaties, and more. It brings 4 or 5G mobile internet on the go to your devices.

Unlocked mobile routers are supposed to join Telstra, Optus or Vodafone data networks – not their mobile phone networks. The data plans are mainly for tablets and laptops or devices that don’t need phone access. That means the cost does not include local calls, SMS, MMS, Telstra Air (or similar), and won’t work on an eSIM.

• Telstra Plans (as of 25 November 2023) cost $25/30GB, $58/75GB, $90/400GB with uncapped 4GX/5G.
• Optus offers one $20/20GB monthly uncapped 4G/5G plan.

Note: The MR6550-100APS defaults to the Telstra data network, and the use of other carriers may require manual changing of the APN (Access Point Name).

But many use mobile phone SIM plans.

The kicker here is that these use the Mobile phone network. Mobile plans may be cheaper, but they are much slower (contention ratio), do not have a consistent speed, longer lag times, or are capped at 150Mbps. Simply put, using a mobile plan is fine if you know you won’t get the best performance.

Note: There are several global variants of this, including carrier-locked models. In Australia, it must be MR6550-100APS.

Australian review Netgear M6 Pro 5G mobile router/hotspot MR6550-100APS

Website	Website and Manual
Price	$1299 Unlocked (shop around, but be careful you don’t get a Carrier locked version)
From	Netgear online
Warranty	1-year ACL
Made in	Indonesia
Company	Netgear (Est 1996) is an American computer networking company based in San Jose, California, with offices in about 22 other countries. It makes class-leading Nighthawk routers, MESH Orbi systems, Wi-Fi extenders, switches/hubs, Powerline adapters and a massive range of business and service provider networking equipment. Arlo spun out recently as a separate security camera company.
More	CyberShack Netgear news and reviews

We use Fail (below expectations), Passable (meets low expectations), Pass (meets expectations), Pass+ (near Exceed but not class-leading) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

Netgear M6 Pro mobile router/hotspot Model MR6550-100APS (Specs from Netgear)

• Nono SIM (fits under the battery inside the case).
• 5040mAh battery for up to 13 hours use.
• If mains/charger powered, it increases the transmission range to about 13m x 13m. Battery power is about 9m x 9m range (circular, line of sight, around the router).
• USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 5Gbps (used for charging and data to a PC).
• 4GX/5G support (will access 3 and 4G if it’s the only network available).
• 5G sub-6Ghz and mmWave (only partially implemented here).
• Qualcomm SDX65-0 system on a chip and X65 Modem (all key international bands).
• Wi-Fi 64 AXE3600 (700Mbps 2.4Ghz and 2900Mbps 5/6GHz. Only 5GHz on battery or 5 or 6GHz on power.
• 2.8” touchscreen.
• Ethernet port 2.5Gb.
• 2 x TS9/SMA RF aerial ports.
• Can attach up to 32 devices.
• 105 (square) x 21.5mm (H) x 256g with battery.
• 4G Cat 20 bands: 1/2/3/4/5/7/12/13/14/20/28/38/40/41/42/66.
• 5G sub-6GHz 3CC bands: 1/2/3/5/7/8/20/28/38/40/41/71/77/78/79.
• 5G 8CC mmWave: n257/n258.
• 1-year warranty.
• Netgear Mobile App (not required to use but can be handy) or inbuilt web server 192.168.1.1.

Roaming

Provided it is unlocked (not on a Telstra plan), a full list of countries is here. Roaming requires a local sim.

Placement – important

To get the maximum mobile data signal strength, face the LCD screen towards where you think a tower is. Use the signal strength ‘bars’ to determine the best orientation. Don’t let it face you; the battery side reduces signal strength.

Place it standing up (not flat), as the data antenna works best in that position. If you are on battery, that is not an issue. If you are on power, you may need to make a small stand to accommodate the bottom USB and Ethernet ports.

Never place it inside a cupboard or on a high shelf (about chest height is best), as the construction material will reduce antenna and Wi-Fi strength.

Never place it where other electronic equipment (laptop screen, printer, etc.) can block the line of sight to the tower.

Maximum Wi-Fi is line of sight. Wi-Fi 5 strength diminishes by about 50% each time it passes through plasterboard, a brick wall or an MDF cupboard.

TESTS – Netgear M6 Pro 5G

It has three power modes – Balanced (best battery life), Performance (lower battery life), and Plugged-in – battery removed. We recommend using it in plugged-in mode unless you don’t have mains power. This affects both Wi-Fi and 4/5G reception strength.

Following are screenshots from the web interface.

Wi-Fi Range – Balanced – Pass

On battery, we found the effective range varied between

• 2.4Ghz connection to 20+ metres line of sight – a little less through walls.
• 5Ghz varied from 8-10m line of sight – less through walls.
  • <2m -40/1296Mbps
  • 5m -60/576Mbps (unusable through two walls)
  • 10m -78/148Mbps (ditto)
• 6Ghz – does not work on battery

This is to be expected for a small device. Performance mode gives slightly better speeds.

Wi-Fi Range in-home performance mode – Pass+

Remove the battery, use the supplied charger, and it goes into performance mode after a reboot. This increases transmit/receive power, enables Wi-Fi 6E and maximises 4/5G reception.

• 5Ghz varied from 8-10m line of sight – less through walls.
  • <2m -32/1296Mbps
  • 5m -45/626Mbps (unusable through two walls)
  • 10m -60/313Mbps (ditto)
• 6Ghz varied from 4-8m line of site – no connectivity through walls. If you select this, the 5G band disappears.

After you reinsert the battery, it requires a reboot to go back to battery mode.

Ethernet – Pass+ if you use it

It has a 2.5Gbps (2500Mbps) port that you can attach to a router to redistribute mobile data (repeater mode). We tested with various routers with 1Gb to 10Gb WLAN ports. Its connection speed is 100Mbps on Balanced, 1Gbps on Performance, and 2.5Gbps on Performance mode.

USB-C to PC tethering – Pass+

It connects to a PC via USB-C to USB-A or C cable. It draws power from the PC, so ensure the port has at least 5V/1A/5W. We noticed that the battery only charges to 75% in this mode.

Wi-Fi and Ethernet offloading – Pass+ if you use it

You can select the device to use an existing Wi-Fi network (off NBN) to retransmit the internet signal.

It has Ethernet offloading to swap between Wi-Fi and Mobile data (NBN or Wi-Fi fail-over).

Battery – Pass

It has a 3.85V/5.04A/19.4W battery. The charger outputs 5V/3A/15W, 9V/2A/18W, 12V/1.6A/18W.

This is curious as the maximum charge rate was always 5V and varied between 1 and 2A – 5-10W – not a fast charge. You can connect it to a power bank or a laptop’s USB port that outputs at least 5V/1A/5W.

Charge time varies from 4-6 hours (Charger/PC).

Netgear claims 13 hours; we obtained 12 hours with four devices (Balanced, 5GHz Wi-Fi).

Speed Test  – Pass

Disclaimer: We use a Boost Mobile 12-month SIM that has 4/5G and is capped at 150/150Mbps (DL/UL). The figures are averages over several tests.

DL/UL/ms	Best	Worst
4G 3-bar	60/20/30	10/19/36
49 4-bar	120/20/19	34/20/24
5G within 2km of the tower	150/138/19	125/45/22
5G known strong site	150/150/16	150/78/21

Uncapped 5G DL/UL speeds are reported (elsewhere) at 350-650 DL and 50/150Mbps UL.

To be clear, the advertised 8Gbps speed uses a contiguous 800MHz of 5G mmWave, which won’t happen in Australia. While this is nowhere near the advertised speeds, they are respectable.

External Aerial 2 x TS9 RF aerial ports (not tested)

Netgear has an Omnidirectional MIMO Antenna with two SMA/TS-9 screw-on connectors. It has a 2.5dB gain and is tuned for Telstra 4GX/5G 600-960/1710-5925MHz. It is small at 160 x 120 x 5.5mm, and the 1m cable limits its placement.

Australian sub-6Ghz 5G bands in use include:

• Telstra n5 (850Mhz), n78 (3500MHz) and n258 (26GHz mmWave in selected areas).
• Optus n1 (2700Mhz), n40 (2300MHz), n78 (3500MHz) and n258 (26GHz mmWave).
• Vodafone n28 (700MHz), n5 (850MHz), n3 (1800MHz), n78 (3500MHz) and n258 (26GHz mmWave).

Sub-6GHz uses Carrier Aggregation with refarmed 3 and 4G bands. These extend the apparent 5G coverage area but only achieve 3/4G speeds.

If you intend to use this modem/router in remote areas, boating, camping, fishing, etc., consider an antenna with a far stronger gain – at least 7dB and remember it must be tuned to the Telstra network. If it only supports up to band n78 3800MHz, it may not support future sub-6Ghz bands.

We understand that mmWave requires a different antenna, and n258 (25.1-27.5GHz) and n257 (25.5-29.5GHz) have very short transmission distances.

Connected devices – Passable

While Netgear claims up to 32 connected devices, that is the theoretical limit for Wi-Fi. We found that four 5GHz Wi-Fi laptops all sharing the internet was about its limit at the DL/UL speeds we received.

That limit will increase slightly if you have higher DL/UL speeds.

Startup and Heat

It can take minutes for the device to boot, find a network and start functioning.

We noticed the back can get hot (<40°), so we reiterate standing it upright and out of the sun for heavy use.

Netflix 4K video Spotify audio streaming – Performance mode

The minimum DL bandwidth for 4K streaming is 25Mbps and very often 35-40Mbps. If you don’t have that mobile data speed, don’t stream 4K. By comparison, <10Mbps is needed for 1080p or less.

• HD/FHD TV digital TV station or SDR streaming 10Mbps (4.5GB/hr) all day without issues.
• Netflix or Amazon Prime UHD 30Mbps had frequent buffering and occasional image tearing. Data used approx. 10GB/hour. The device became quite hot.
• Spotify’s Normal streaming of 100kbps (50MB per hour) was flawless.

Reliability – Pass

There are so many factors that influence this. Data signal strength, hunting for 5G (switch to 4G if you know there is no 5G), battery or power, ventilation, placement, etc.

While it met or exceeded all tests over two weeks, there were several times when it inexplicably disconnected and required a power off (battery remove/replace) and reboot. It is a good idea to start on Balanced mode and try Performance mode if necessary. We did not experience any issues with power only mode.

Don’t overload the device. 32 attached devices won’t perform satisfactorily, especially on lower mobile data DL/UL speeds. It is not a substitute for a decent mains-powered router with more CPU power antenna and Ethernet connections. If you plan to add more devices, use Ethernet to a decent Wi-Fi router, and this purely as a 4/5G data connection.

CyberShack’s view – Netgear M6 Pro 5G mobile router MR6550-100APS (Unlocked) – pricey, but who cares?

To use a car analogy, it is the equivalent of a car that can do 200+kph but seldom finds roads to use that speed on. It is the Rolls-Royce sports version of mobile routers.

Regrettably, we can only test capped 5G speeds because we don’t have a Telstra 5G account (given the plan costs, we can’t justify that). Still, the results with capped Boost Mobile on the Telstra Retail Network are impressive.

We also need to clarify that this is the new M6 Pro MR6550-100APS (unlocked), and most web reviews seem to be about the older M6 5G MR6110/6150 or other regional variants – ignore these.

Who is the Netgear M6 Pro 5G mobile router for?

It is a portable mobile 4/5G router that brings internet access where you cannot connect to the NBN.

• Mobile workers would benefit by using it and a VPN instead of hacker-susceptible public Wi-Fi.
• Boaties (Cabin cruisers) can use it, but as our engineer panellist warns, you need to sea-air-proof it.
• Caravans, campers, and grey nomads will find it ideal, especially as it runs on USB power and can easily stream digital TV, emails, web browsing, etc.
• Tradies for site access.
• Remote and temporary offices, mining sites, etc.
• Rural volunteer fire/disaster services.
• Places where you can get a mobile data signal but not NBN.

Who is it not for?

• Joe and Jane Average will complain about mobile data costs.
• Anyone who has NBN access should use that.
• Don’t expect 32 devices and super performance – that is unlikely, but it will perform better than other mobile alternatives.
• It is unsuitable for in-car use when driving – that is more about signal black spots and no external aerial.

Netgear M6 Pro 5G ratings

• Features: 90 – packed full of useful, if esoteric, features
• Value: 75 – it is expensive, so shop around. But if you need it, then price does not factor.
• Performance: 80 (4G) and 90 (5G) even at capped speeds. However, my OPPO FindX5 Pro (same X65 modem) had stronger RSSP/Q -dBm signal strength. Conversely, this has better Wi-Fi hotspot performance. If you delve into the esoteric settings, you will get access to more features and performance settings.
• Ease of Use: 80 as plug-and-play. However, more advanced use and changing settings need some technical knowledge. Correct placement is vital to performance.
• Design: 80 – For a device that should stand upright, it is poorly designed with bottom Ethernet, USB and TS9 ports. These could be moved to one side, and the rear cover becomes a kickstand to help maximise signal strength.