Hands-on: Verizon’s Jetpack LTE Mobile Hotspot 890L is fast

LTE is fast.

Well, at least it is when you’re on a network relatively uncluttered with other LTE users. Imagine a wireless broadband network is an interstate highway. Under the best circumstances, using Verizon’s 4G network is like barreling down Interstate 80 in western Nebraska going over 80mph. I should know—I’ve driven that stretch of highway far more often than anyone should, and I’ve even used Verizon’s network there from the passenger seat thanks to the Verizon Jetpack 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot 890L. The Jetpack is speedy, and its battery has a greater capacity than an eight-year-old’s bladder.

If you work for Ars, you work from home. Or Starbucks. Or anywhere you can find a broadband connection. Feeling the need to have backup broadband at home and broadband I wouldn’t have to share with folks at the local Panera and Starbucks, I purchased a Sierra Overdrive WiMAX hotspot from Sprint in May 2010. That device had some irritating quirks, but I was satisfied with both local coverage and the speeds (around 3-5Mbps). But WiMAX is on the road to obsolescence, so when faced with the expiration of my contract and a vacation to a place where Sprint’s 4G network didn’t reach, I decided to move to LTE.

If you want LTE in the US, you’re really limited to Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and Metro PCS at this point. Sprint’s LTE coverage is currently minimal (but growing) and Verizon’s is the broadest. But Verizon also has the most restrictive broadband caps. In my case, coverage trumped other considerations (Verizon is the only telecom with LTE coverage in Breckenridge, Colorado, where I spend time every year), so I went with the Jetpack 890L.

Usage

Priced at $19.99 with a two-year contract and including a $50 rebate, the 890L offers battery life of up to five hours and supports up to 10 WiFi connections at once when on LTE (this drops to five if you’re using 3G). It has a not–terribly-bright OLED display that will, at a glance, communicate signal strength, battery life, number of WiFi users, and the existence of new messages. There are three buttons on the front that allow you access to some basic device management features.

Like just about every other router on the market, you can configure the Jetpack through your Web browser by navigating to 192.168.1.1. The interface lets you do the usual stuff like changing the password, modifying security settings (WPA2 is supported), and tweaking the WAN defaults (Global, CDMA/LTE, and GSM only).

After bringing it home, I plugged it in (the AC adapter connects via a Micro-USB B port), fired it up, and logged in to change the network name, password, and security settings. The Jetpack rebooted quickly, and I was off and surfing.

As any good geek would do, I immediately went to speedtest.net and tested my connection. The Jetpack display showed four of five bars, and speedtest.net reported my download speed as 7.71Mbps (I got 6.03Mbps up). That over double what I was able to get on WiMAX at my house (typically about 3.5Mbps). Latency at home ranged from 60-80ms—slower than cable, but definitely acceptable for my usage. At my local Starbucks, a half-mile away, speeds were frequently above 10Mbps with latencies as low as 39ms.

The real test came when we hit the road. With my wife at the wheel, I settled into the passenger seat (a rare treat on road trips) with my 11” MacBook Air and LTE-equipped iPad. While in suburban Chicago, speeds were downright snappy, up to 9Mbps. When we drove from areas of LTE coverage into areas with just 3G coverage, the handoff was transparent. In contrast, my old WiMAX WAP struggled with the WiMAX-to-3G handoff, often dropping the signal. Coverage in Breckenridge was fantastic, as I was able to get speeds between 6-8Mbps consistently.

To get a sense of how AT&T and Verizon’s LTE networks compared in terms of speed, I ran the Speedtest app on my iPad. Verizon was consistently around 20 percent faster, with the screenshot below representative of the typical difference for me both in suburban Chicago and suburban Denver.

Verizon’s LTE coverage does appear to be significantly broader than AT&T’s. But when I went out of LTE range, AT&T’s HSPA+ network provided me with a faster surfing experience (as high as 5Mbps) than Verizon’s 3G network.

After about two-and-a-half hours of interstate driving, my son informed us of his urgent need to find a rest stop. His bladder was full—and the Jetpack’s battery was still over half full. I consistently get over five hours of battery life from the Jetpack, and on the return trip from Denver, we managed over six hours (almost all in 3G coverage areas). When using it during a downpour, I did not observe any significant speed drop.

Caveats

The downsides to the Jetpack are few, but one may be a deal-breaker. First, after about three or so hours of consecutive use, pages began stalling as they loaded. Manually reloading fixed the problem, but it was a pain. Slow page loads are something I’ve experienced on three different occasions in two different locations. Second, if you use Dropbox or some other file-syncing solution, be aware of your syncing settings. The first time I fired up the Jetpack, my MacBook Air performed a Dropbox sync that managed to use up 75 percent of my monthly bandwidth allocation.

And that leads me to the biggest drawback to the Jetpack: Verizon’s bandwidth caps. Verizon charges $20 per month for monthly line access; data is extra. I went with 4GB of shared data (although this is my only Verizon device) for $30 per month. 6GB is $40 per month, while 8GB costs $50. You can add data in 2GB increments up to 20GB for $110, and if you go over your allotment, you’ll pay $10 per GB.