A new modem from Inseego and AT&T works on AT&T as well as FirstNet – the public safety network. It works at Cat 18 speed or 480 Mbps downloads! It also supports HSPA+ and UMTS for global connectivity. The USB800 also provides onboard VPN and other enterprise security features.

“FirstNet devices and modules go through extensive review, so first responders can be confident that Inseego’s USB800 modem meets our highest standards for reliability, security and performance,” said Bob Sloan, Chief Operating Officer, FirstNet Program at AT&T. “The more tools public safety has access to on their network, the more we can help them achieve their mission.”

“We’re thrilled to work with AT&T to provide our new 4G LTE USB modem to their enterprise customers as well as FirstNet subscribers,” said Inseego Chairman and CEO Dan Mondor. “Our renewed relationship with AT&T enables us to offer Inseego products to their subscriber base for the first time in many years. We also applaud our partners at Quality One for helping us bring this much-needed product to market.”

“We’re proud to earn the FirstNet Ready designation,” said Mondor. “Inseego has a long history of supporting first responders with both our mobile MiFi devices and Skyus IoT devices, and this certification enables us to provide a new, highly secure mobile solution to FirstNet public safety users.” 

We have to wonder why people would need 5G if 480 Mbps is now available on 4G networks. Sure, you may be able to multiply this speed by a factor of two or three but this doesn’t mean the servers you are accessing will comply and download at these peak speeds.

Rich Tehrani

4K streaming, for example, takes about 25 Mbps so this modem will allow about 19 streams at this video quality. This seems sufficient for virtually all applications – unless of course, you have kids on social media, sharing the connection. 🙂

There are other reasons for 5G to be popular of course – denser connectivity for IoT devices and low latency. But 5G coverage is spotty for now so it may not make sense to take the plunge just yet, if 4G meets your current needs.

It is unclear what the latency difference is between this device and a 5G modem. We asked the company for clarification and will update this post when we hear back.

Also – we wish there was a MiFi/Jetpack option for this modem so it can be used with multiple devices.

Hi Rich! I just sent a note your way to schedule a briefing. Thanks for the shout out to the new USB800! In sum, 4G LTE’s 480 Mbps speeds and theoretical < 10-millisecond latency vs 5G’s Gigabit speeds, mass capacity, and the sub-millisecond latency that 5G delivers support very different use cases. And, good news—our MiFi 8000 series, available through Sprint and Verizon, is also Cat 18. The USB800 for AT&T and FirstNet is purpose-built for enterprise and government applications that require single connection use only. There’s something for everyone!

Update: 9/3/2019 5:25 pm from Anette Gaven, Senior Director, Marketing, Inseego

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