While not typical of this tech blog, having just tested 5G for a small business Internet connection, I’m including the experience here to save you the trouble. In this case, we’re reviewing the “Nighthawk M6” 5G Router. There is a “Pro” version but we opted for the standard model.
This device is a 5G router with WIFI built in. It supports 1GBit Ethernet.
Our use case:
We installed the device as the Internet gateway sitting in front (Internet side) of a firewall running Netgate pfSense (2100 model). The WIFI has been disabled to prevent security issues and confusion.
My recommendations:
- Remove the battery and power it on. The router will get too hot otherwise, and operating without the battery forces the device to run in the “Optimal” profile.
- Join your computer to the device’s WIFI and visit “192.168.1.1” to reach the web management portal. You’ll be asked to reset the “admin” password.
- Enable the Ethernet.
- Set the Ethernet speed to 1GBit (assuming that’s suitable).
- Complete a firmware upgrade. Our test device upgraded from “NTGX65_10.01.38.00” to “NTGX65_12.01.41.00”. The upgrade process took a long time. While we weren’t timing it, we’d guess an hour. Reboots take approximal 3 minutes.
At this point the device should be configured to meet the needs of the use case described above.