Pros & Cons
-
- Excellent battery life.
- Supports 15 devices.
- External antenna port.
-
- No international LTE bands.
Verizon Jetpack MiFi 6620L Specs
| Battery Life | 15 hours, 17 minutes |
| Number of Devices Supported | 15 |
| Service Provider | Verizon Wireless |
| Wireless Specification | 802.11 a/b/g/n |
The new Verizon Jetpack MiFi 6620L ($199.99, or $49.99 with contract) is almost everything you could want from a mobile hotspot. It supports more devices, for more hours of use than anything else we've seen, and it has plenty of useful bells and whistles. With Verizon's superior XLTE network, which we rated as best in the nation in this year's Fastest Mobile Networks tests, this is clearly the hotspot to get for national and international business travelers and our new Editors' Choice.
Physical Features, Battery, and Service Plan
The MiFi 6620L ($49.99 at Verizon Wireless) is a chunky but handsome matte-black device at 2.6 by 3.7 by 0.76 inches (HWD) and 4.74 ounces. On the front, it has a 2-inch, non-touch color LCD with three navigation keys below the screen. The hotspot's home screen shows you signal strength and data used up-front, and you can drill down into the interface for more detail on signal, battery, and connected devices. You can't switch Wi-Fi passwords using the on-screen interface like you can with touch-screen AT&T hotspots, but you can switch between 2.4 and 5GHz to alleviate crowded-network emergencies.
The Web-based management interface has far more options. There's the usual VPN passthrough, manual DNS, firewall, port filtering, and forwarding, but there's also a parental control system that lets you block and whitelist specific Web sites by device, and "WiFi privacy separation" which prevents peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connections between devices using the hotspot. You can hook up 15 devices, five more than many other hotspots.
The 6620L's 4000mAh, removable battery is a wonder to behold. I got 15 hours, 17 minutes of video streaming on the device. That's slightly longer than our previous Editor's Choice, the MHS291L ( at Amazon) , because Verizon is using a newer, more power-efficient Qualcomm chipset here, moving up from the MDM9615 to the MDM9625. Verizon doesn't sell additional batteries yet, but I'm sure they'll come.
On the front of the hotspot, there's a slider which switches between a micro USB port (for charging the hotspot) and a full-sized USB (for using the battery to charge other devices). In the UI, you can monitor the battery status by percentage full, and secondary charging cuts off at 25% battery. It's very well-thought-through.
Let's just take a moment to remind you that mobile 4G hotspots are not for primary, home Internet access. They're just too expensive to use. A 6GB plan, which I'd consider the minimum for healthy business travel, is $60/month on Verizon. 10GB is $80, and 20GB—probably the minimum for home use—is $130. If you're looking for a home solution with Verizon, consider the company's home LTE Internet, which costs $90 for 20GB (and can also be combined with multi-device plans.)
Networks and Performance
The 6620L supports 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi on the 2.4 or 5GHz bands, with 20MHz or 40MHz channels. It also has GPS. In standard 802.11n, 2.4GHz mode, I found that, like with other hotspots I've tested recently, performance dropped off sharply at about 40 feet.
Speeds, of course, vary depending on your Verizon network coverage. I found a spot just opposite an XLTE tower so I could pull down 23Mbps down and 31Mbps up, but your mileage will most certainly vary there. I was happy to see an external antenna port on the back, which could be used with an extra $19.99 antenna (sold by Verizon) to further boost signal if needed.
Band support is designed for Verizon's network and decent, if not ideal, global roaming. That said, none of Verizon's other hotspots can roam globally at all, so we're leading the pack here. The 6620L has LTE bands 4 and 13 only—that means Verizon's LTE network, but no international LTE systems. For global roaming, you have quad-band EDGE and HSPA, which will keep you in good stead throughout most of the world at speeds of at least 5-7Mbps down.
Comparisons and Conclusions
Verizon has a solid array of mobile hotspots and modems. The 6620L is superior in every way to the MHS291L, the 5510L , and the Ellipsis Jetpack ( at Amazon) , with a better UI, better battery life, and better global compatibilty. Its large battery means that the Jetpack is a better option than the hotspot feature on your phone—not only will it last much longer, it'll charge your phone while it's working.
Hitting all the marks with few compromises makes the Jetpack 6620L an easy Editors' Choice on Verizon Wireless, and one of our favorite hotspots all around. It's a serious device for getting serious work done.