I’ll be honest: until recently, I’d never even heard of a mobile router. I’d heard of tethering, of course, and those old USB dongles that plugged into laptops, but the phrase “mobile router” meant nothing to me. I assumed it was something techy that I didn’t need to bother with.
Turns out I was completely wrong.
A mobile router — in normal, non-techy terms — is basically a portable version of your home Wi-Fi router, except instead of connecting to broadband through a cable in your wall, it connects through a SIM card, just like your phone does. It then creates a proper Wi-Fi network that all your devices can join: phones, tablets, laptops, games consoles, smart TVs… whatever you’ve got.
Think of it as your own little travelling Wi-Fi hub that you can use at home or on the go. It runs off mobile data rather than a landline, and it doesn’t drain your phone battery or overheat your handset the way tethering usually does. Once I understood that, the whole thing suddenly made sense — and after trying the Netgear Nighthawk M6 Pro, I realised just how useful something like this can be for a busy family of five.
What the M6 Pro actually is
The M6 Pro is a compact 5G router that supports Wi-Fi 6E — one of the latest, fastest Wi-Fi standards. It can handle a surprising number of devices at once, and it’s powerful enough to work as a temporary home router if you need it to. It’s light enough to pop in a backpack, has its own battery, and doesn’t rely on any fixed broadband setup at all.
Slot in a SIM card and you’ve got instant, private Wi-Fi.
For our family, which includes two adults and three kids with very different online habits, this already sounded promising. But it wasn’t until we actually used it that I realised just how much smoother it made everyday life.
Why it’s great for a family of five — especially one that games
Gaming is probably the number one reason I’d recommend the M6 Pro to anyone with kids (or grown-ups!) who play online.
Before this, whenever one of the children wanted to hop on the console for online matches and someone else was streaming, it was a bit of a mess. Latency would spike, downloads would crawl, and inevitably someone would shout, “WHO’S ON YOUTUBE?!” across the house.
With the M6 Pro:
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It handles loads of devices at once. Up to an impressive 32 in fact! Even when we had multiple phones, tablets and a console connected, the network stayed stable.
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Wi-Fi 6E really helps with congestion. Everything ran more smoothly, especially when two or three of us were doing data-heavy things at the same time.
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There’s a wired Ethernet port. For the competitive gamer in the family, plugging the console directly into the router gives a lovely, low-latency connection that’s far more reliable than tethering or older portable hotspots.
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It takes the strain off our phones. No more overheating mobiles or battery-draining tether sessions. Each device just connects to the M6 Pro like you would at home.
The difference this made to our evenings was genuinely noticeable. The kids could game without interruption while we streamed a film — no complaints, no stuttering, no “the Wi-Fi’s gone weird again!” chaos.
Daily life with it — streaming, work, and visiting my parents
Outside of gaming, it’s simply become part of our daily tech setup.
One of the biggest unexpected benefits is when we stay with my parents. They don’t have home Wi-Fi — never have, and probably never will — so every visit used to mean all five of us piling onto my mobile hotspot. My phone would practically melt, the battery would drain in hours, and we’d have to take turns connecting because everything slowed to a crawl.
Now? We just bring the M6 Pro with us.
We switch it on, everyone connects in seconds, and that’s that. My parents even join it when they want to check something online. It’s absolutely transformed those visits — no more juggling phone hotspots, no more kids complaining they can’t watch something or do a quick download, and no more drained phone from acting as the family’s personal mast.
It also means I can work from their place without faff. I can join video calls, upload files, and get things done without relying on a single phone hotspot wheezing its way through the day.
Travel: where it becomes even more valuable
We recently took the M6 Pro abroad and it genuinely made our trip more relaxed.
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Using a local SIM abroad was simple. Pop it in, switch it on, and within minutes we had affordable local data instead of expensive roaming charges.
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Hotel Wi-Fi is optional now. And honestly, often terrible. Instead of wrestling with unpredictable connections or per-device limits, we had our own fast, secure network for all five of us.
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Battery life is genuinely useful. It lasted through long days out, streaming music in the car, letting the kids watch something on tablets, and keeping our phones off public Wi-Fi.
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Security felt far better. No more logging into random café Wi-Fi or desperately trying to get through captive portals.
The kids were happy, we stayed connected without stress, and it felt like one of those gadgets you don’t realise you need until you’ve actually used it.
Pros — and a few practical notes
What it does brilliantly
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Gives fast, stable internet through 5G without touching your phone battery
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Handles lots of devices — perfect for a family of five
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Great for gaming thanks to its low-latency and wired-connection option
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Hugely convenient for travel and visits to places with no Wi-Fi (like my parents’ house)
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Feels more secure than public Wi-Fi
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Easy to carry, easy to charge, and easy to set up
Things to keep in mind
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Performance still depends on the quality of 5G/4G signal in your area
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It’s a premium device with a premium price tag
Final thoughts
I started out not even knowing what a mobile router was — now the M6 Pro feels like one of the most unexpectedly useful devices we own.
For a family of five that games, streams, works, travels, and regularly stays somewhere without home Wi-Fi, it’s been an absolute game changer. Instead of rationing out hotspots, arguing over lag, or fighting with hotel Wi-Fi, we now have a reliable, portable little router that quietly does its job wherever we take it.
If you’re interested in discovering the Netgear M6 Pro for yourself, you can find out more at or you can purchase via Amazon.