Best Mobile Wi-Fi Routers 2022: Mobile Hotspot Buying Guide

TP-Link’s M7350 is a solid 4G mobile router that has the big benefit of being network-unlocked. That means although you’ll pay in full upfront, you can choose any data deal from any UK network operator, and you aren’t tied to a contract.

The TP-Link supports all three UK 4G LTE bands, with up to 150Mbps download speeds and 50Mbps uploads. It can create a wireless network for up to 10 devices, and supports a microSD card for shared storage and has an LCD that tells you the signal strength, how many devices are connected, how much data you have used of your total limit, plus the remaining battery capacity.

You can also use the LCD to cycle through a menu that caters to such options as toggling on or off data roaming, switching between 2.4- and 5GHz output, and choosing between 4G, 3G or a mixture of both.

A final option displays a QR code that takes you directly to Google Play or the App Store to download the tpMiFi app, which lets you manage users, alter the range, share files and read text messages. 

The TP-Link’s 2550mAh battery should be good for up to 10 hours of 4G connectivity, but lasts days on standby.

Available on contract through Three, the Huawei E5576-320 offers such great value that you’d be crazy not to simply buy the network-unlocked version outright.

This is a 4G mobile router that lets you connect up to 10 devices, with its 1500mAh battery offering a standby time of up to 350 hours and working time of up to 6 hours.

It’s small, compact and easily portable – but, more importantly, it’s functional, with up to 150Mbps download speeds and 50Mbps uploads.

There are no fancy extra features, with this affordable mobile router from Huawei instead concentrating on one primary task: getting your mobile devices online wherever you are.

TP-Link’s M7220 is a no-frills mobile Wi-Fi router that supports 4G FDD-LTE/TDD-LTE and 3G networks. It’s SIM-unlocked, so you simply unclip the back panel, pop in your SIM, and switch it on. It’s that easy to set up.

The 2,000mAh internal battery can last up to 8 hours in use, but significantly longer on standby, and you can share its 2.4GHz mobile Wi-Fi connection with up to 10 devices.

This is a rather plasticky device, and we were worried about snapping the rear panel when trying to prise it off to insert the SIM, but it’s tougher than it looks. The Wi-Fi network name and password are hidden under this panel, however, so you might prefer to make a note of it than to have to keep pulling on and off the panel every time you want to share the network.

The LCD can’t display stats about how much data you’ve used and so forth, but three status lights keep things super-simple: you can see how much battery remains, whether you’re connected to the internet and if it is sharing a Wi-Fi network.

Should you want to access more settings you can use the free mobile app or connect to the router via its login page on a browser, but otherwise the TP-Link keeps things simple for those who just want to turn it on and get online.

The TP-Link M7450 is a newer, more advanced version of the M7350, but it’s also more expensive and we think the older model currently offers better value.

Like the M7350, it’s sold unlocked and should work with any major network, either in the UK or abroad. It supports Cat6 LTE, with 300Mbps downloads (double the M7350) and 50Mbps downloads; you can pick between either the 2.4GHz or 5GHz Wi-Fi bands; and you can connect up to 32 devices simultaneously – way, way more than most people will ever need.

Menu navigation is simple, and the clean UI makes the most of the two buttons and small screen to give you the info you need. For more complex setup – including USSD support, useful for connecting to many foreign networks – you can use either the web portal or free smartphone app.

The 3000mAh battery should give you an impressive 15 hours of working battery time. You even get a microSD slot, which supports cards up to 32GB and can be used as a quick way to share files between devices.

Compact mobile routers that support 5G are still relatively uncommon. They are significantly more expensive than 4G routers, and 5G connectivity is not yet available everywhere.

However, if you are routinely within reach of a 5G signal, a 5G mobile router could offer a cheaper way to access faster mobile data speeds on all your 4G mobile devices than having to upgrade each one. 

Huawei’s 5G Mobile Wi-Fi Pro is available network-unlocked or on contact through O2. Buying it SIM-free will allow you to choose your own data package, stopping you being tied into a contract for longer than you’d like.

This is rather a chunky router with an 8000mAh battery inside, but it can also act as a power bank and offers 40W SuperCharge and both reverse wired (22.5W) and wireless (15W) charging.

Also housing a Balong 5000 chip, Huawei claims theoretical download speeds of up to 1.65Gbps.

Many of the options in this chart are suitable for those who will regularly need the use of a mobile Wi-Fi router, but MyWebspot is more appropriate for those who have a one-off requirement.

If you’re going on holiday abroad (potentially outside the realms of free roaming in Europe) and have several devices to get online, the service allows you to hire a hotspot for use by up to five devices in more than 100 countries.

Daily charges are calculated based on where you are going and for how long. At first glance they might seem steep, but they are nothing compared to what your mobile operator will charge you once you overstep your data allowance. It can also be very expensive to connect to Wi-Fi provided by some holiday resorts, which is often slow and time-limited.

The data is technically unlimited, but once you exceed the fair usage (1GB/day in Europe, US and Canada; 2GB in Mexico; fully unlimited in South East Asia; and 512MB everywhere else) the speed drops to an almost unusable 256kbps.

Setup couldn’t be simpler. The device can be delivered directly to your resort (or home if you prefer), then you turn it on, wait a moment for it to connect to a local 4G LTE network, and pick it up on your mobile device as you would any other Wi-Fi network using the SSID and password printed on the label on the back. On your way home you pop it in the post box using the prepaid envelope.

MyWebspot claims download speeds up to 100Mbps, and uploads of up to 40Mbps. In our testing in Lake Garda, Italy, we recorded an average download speed of 33.5Mbps, and upload speed of 26.8Mbps. Naturally these speeds will decrease as you add multiple devices.

You’ll get about eight hours battery life from the Mi-Fi router, which is supplied with the appropriate local charger for your holiday destination.

There’s no companion app, which means even technophobes will get along with MyWebspot, though it would be handy to have some way of monitoring usage across multiple devices given that there’s no LCD screen.

If you’d rather buy a mobile Wi-Fi router on a contract, Three has some of the best deals right now. It uses the Huawei E5783B-320, and pairs it with some great data bundles.

We like the fact you can subscribe to a one-month rolling contract, because the way the world is right now no-one really knows how much they’ll be traveling over the next couple of years!

Three offers great value on unlimited data, with the one-month plan costing £27 per month (plus £29 upfront), the 12-month plan costing £26 per month (no upfront cost), and…