It’s a common belief that overseas there is WiFi everywhere, so you can stay connected with ease. Wrong. Sure, there’s cafe’s with WiFi, and the airport too, even your hotel – but when you’re at a big tourist location or a random park in the city – there’s no guarantee you can get connection.
If you’re a Vodafone customer, there’s nothing on the market that beats their $5 roaming, paying $5 a day to use your standard data and call plan from home. But – there’s something new out there for those who aren’t Vodafone customers – the Roamer from WiFi2Go.
I was sceptical about this, a little device that I can take overseas and get internet?
This week, I arrived in Seoul, South Korea, with the Roamer in my bag. I had activated it for three days.
Off the plane, when I would normally turn the phone on and get connected, I waited – got past the gates and close to the immigration desk. In the long queues, I turned on the WiFi Roamer.
About five minutes later, connected! A mobile signal appeared, and it said LTE – and “South Korea”.
Press the power button twice and the WiFi password appeared. I connected my phone and bingo – in came all my emails, tweets and Facebook messages.
Up to five devices can connect at any time, so I offered the password to others and off we went, connected from the airport to the hotel.
Now in the Hotel I’m using the free WiFi of course, but today, travelling the sights of Seoul, I was able to share photos on social, and keep in touch with work emails all with a simple little device stuck in my backpack.
It’s quite small, about the size of an iPhone, but about 1cm thick.
The kicker is the price. You can rent the device from WiFi2Go if you’re not a regular traveller – for $10 a day you’ll get unlimited data use.
Businesses (with an ABN) can buy outright for $250 and pay just $7 a day for unlimited use, or you can buy one for yourself for $170 and pay $9 a day for usage.
There are and will be more and more customisable plans, including different speeds, but the basic principal is excellent.
4G speeds up to 500mb a day, and while a slow down might be a pain, you won’t notice it for those basic connections for email and social media.
I was worried it would be frustrating to not have phone contact, but in reality, I use online communication more than I do phone and text. With WiFi my iMessages, WhatsApp, Skpye, Facebook and Twitter among many more are working fine.
This is the perfect travelling companion, especially for the hyper connected, for families and for Telstra and Optus customers looking for global roaming data options.
It works in 100 countries, with places like the Pacific Islands not generally covered.
Web: WiFi 2 Go
Countries where WiFi 2 Go Roamer will work:
Trev is a Technology Commentator, Dad, Speaker and Rev Head.
He produces and hosts two popular podcasts, EFTM and Two Blokes Talking Tech. He also appears on over 50 radio stations across Australia weekly, and is the resident Tech Expert on Channel 9’s Today Show each day and appears regularly on A Current Affair.
Father of three, he is often found down in his Man Cave.
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