How 5G Laptops Are Replacing Mobile Hotspots

We have all been there! In the coffee shop, in the library or on the train, a wide selection of personal hotspots pop up as soon as WiFi is switched on. With a personal hotspot, the laptop is connected to the Internet via the smartphone’s mobile connection for seamless surfing. …That’s the idea, at least.

Although this Internet connection has become the standard for mobile working, it does not come without weaknesses. Problems often occur when connecting to the hotspot. Once the connection is established, it often breaks because you grabbed a coffee and moved too far away from the laptop, for example. In these cases, a network diagnosis or reactivating the hotspot several times is usually the only solution. That’s frustrating! The numbers confirm this: Almost 400 thousand results via Google search speak a clear language.

It’s 2022: Why do we even bother with this cumbersome form of mobile connection via personal hotspots? The answer is simple: There is a lack of supply. There are hardly any laptops on the market that integrate mobile technology – either via a SIM card slot or thanks to an integrated eSIM.

A quick look into Digitec or Brack reveals a limited number of laptops that can be connected directly to the Internet via mobile devices. Digitec has a dozen notebooks with mobile connectivity in its product catalog of over 2,000 laptops in total. At Brack, there are 50 notebooks out of just under 1,000 laptops in the entire catalog. The big absentee is Apple with its MacBook, which is especially popular in Switzerland. Neither the MacBook Pro’s nor the Air’s, which are praised as the most mobile workstations, have an integrated cellular connection, i.e. a SIM card slot or an eSIM.

This is surprising, as consumers use laptops just as much as tablets for mobile purposes. The pandemic in particular has transformed stationary employees into an army of mobile workers. These individuals not only work from home, but from anywhere. Many retreat to the mountains to work. Of course, if you are settled there, you can also connect on the go using a router and SIM card and get started.

We expect the range of mobile laptops to expand significantly thanks to the advantages of eSIM, and future generations of laptops will increasingly be equipped with eSIM. Apple will also follow suit with its latest MacBooks and equip them with eSIM. The currently ubiquitous personal hotspot will lose out and fade into the background, because we are certain that in the near future, all devices will soon be able to connect to the internet independently.