I am in Europe right now and am using the Google Fi Unlimited Plus plan ($65) with 50GB of high-speed data for the month. I thought it was a lot but then realized the Wi-Fi in one of my hotels was really slow so I ended up relying on the mobile hotspot a lot, and ended up using over 5GB on some days. However, thanks to the other hotels having much better Wi-Fi, I have been able to conserve my data usage for the rest of the trip. My speeds are really good, around 100mbps everywhere I go, and because my phone supports Dual SIM, I can keep my T-Mobile SIM in to continue using my main phone number.
@@EscapingtheEmptyNest That is not a Dual SIM/eSIM phone meaning you will need to take out your US SIM to use it internationally, not ideal. Most new iPhones, Pixels, and Galaxy smartphones support Dual SIM.
Great insight on the WIFI hotspot. I have used my travel pass via Verizon for the last five years and it worked great everywhere I went. However, as you said it can get kind of expensive as you only get one gig for $10.00 AT A TIME AND IT DOES ADD UP. With that being said, I have learned to watch where and when to use my service when I had a free internet connection which saved a lot of dough. Before the travel pass, the only option that was available was a pre-pay phone which was way more expensive than the travel pass, and Before that were a handful of coins for the phones lol. Thanks for this review as I would like to try one of the companies that you had suggested. :).
I wouldn't use that company in Italy again, but in Germany and Austria, they were good. The more people you have in your group sharing the box, the more sense it makes
Thanks for the review. I've used an Alcatel Link Zone wifi hotspot branded for KeepGo in Portugal, Spain, Italy, France and Greece. They have different plans. It comes with a SIM card but I swapped it with a Vodafone SIM in Greece and it connected. Lasts about 8 hours. Easy setup and admin. You can stop/restart varying plans and packages. But still searching for a backup hotspot so I may try the travelwifi style device.
Interesting idea,this way something I would've never thought about.This is wouldn't be bad to use with my international ATT plan because I could just switch on the ATT international when necessary for $10 a day.I'm considering longer to Europe next time 2 months.
There is a third option if you want to have wifi when travelling in Europe and it's one that I've used. I need to keep my home mobile phone number so that I can be contactable and getting a sim card for my phone isn't an option. But I found that I could bring an old phone (that's unlocked) and then buy a sim card for that phone, I get my wifi from the second phone and can hotspot devices to it, if needed. I rarely do that. I also use it to make calls, so I don't pay the higher prices on my home mobile phone. I usually arrive in the UK first so buy a sim card there, I can use that for travelling around Europe. I do have a wifi box that I own and that gets used in Italy as my family has a second home there, I buy a sim from the Italian phone company TIM (I bought the wifi box from them as well) at the moment they're advertising 40gigabytes for 20euro. That's double what I used last time for a 2 week stay, so it's quite a lot of data.
That's true and I should have brought it up, especially because I actually took another phone with me just in case the wifi Hotspot was a complete fail. I always travel with a backup phone, you never know what's going to happen
Do you know the cell coverage with travel Wifi device in Florence or Tuscany? Also, where would one get a travel Wifi device once you’re in Italy like Florence? Thanks!
@@faltio69 You can buy a wifi box from a cell phone company. I usually use TIM as that's the biggest one in Italy. Last year instead of using a wifi box I just brought an old unlocked phone with me to Italy and then bought a 70 gigbyte simcard to put in it, it was quite cheap.I could tether my computer to my phone. A wifibox and simcard are more expensive. TIM stores are easy to find, in Florence there's one just outside the train station.
@@tmorrison5965 you can hotspot to another device, I hotspot to my computer and also to my main phone. You just use the hotspot password that your phone gives you. If you want another person to use the hotspot, give them the password.
Interesting. I missed the wifi service you used. We've had good luck with it. Last time we were in Europe was Italy only and it worked great! We always do pocket WiFi.
@@EscapingtheEmptyNest I think it's the same thing. I wish I could remember the company we used. I thought I liked them on Facebook, but perhaps they no longer exist after COVID. We used them in 2019.
I’m looking into a Glocalme 4G wifi hotspot. I got burned with a very expensive phone bill when traveling last year in Asia. I have more trips coming up this year, different places in Europe and maybe Asia again. How do I pay or select the plan? Do I do that when I arrive to my destination? Or before hand? I’m in Canada so I’m not sure if the plan is only in USD? Thank you for the video.
Contact the Hotspot company you are considering and make sure that they know exactly what countries you will be visiting. If you want to protect your phone bill, turn off your mobile data while using your Hotspot. You'll still be able to receive emergency texts and calls from home (don't have to answer or reply) but at least you'll know they came in.
For the most part trains had their own wifi service, and it usually worked. We did ride a couple small regional trains that didn't. I was surprised that the bus interfered with the local signal
We’re traveling to Spain and Portugal next month and I’m trying to figure out what to do for data for work and just getting around. We really only use WhatsApp, maps and Uber. Trying to figure out what the best option would be for us
don't use your phone number issued by your carrier. I'm not sure why Whatsapp is not known by Americans. You keep your phone number with any SIM card you purchase.
Some countries are not covered. It depends on the plan you get. The Global Plan covers a lot of countries but not all countries are covered. You have to look at the list to see if the country you're traveling to is covered. If not, you can always get a plan for that specific country. I move my travelwifi and never have any issues.
![Best Portable Wi-Fi Hotspots 2024 [don’t buy one before watching this]](/img/n.gif)
I am in Europe right now and am using the Google Fi Unlimited Plus plan ($65) with 50GB of high-speed data for the month. I thought it was a lot but then realized the Wi-Fi in one of my hotels was really slow so I ended up relying on the mobile hotspot a lot, and ended up using over 5GB on some days. However, thanks to the other hotels having much better Wi-Fi, I have been able to conserve my data usage for the rest of the trip. My speeds are really good, around 100mbps everywhere I go, and because my phone supports Dual SIM, I can keep my T-Mobile SIM in to continue using my main phone number.
That's pretty good. I'm going to have to do some research on that.
@@EscapingtheEmptyNest What phone do you have?
Motorola stylus
@@EscapingtheEmptyNest That is not a Dual SIM/eSIM phone meaning you will need to take out your US SIM to use it internationally, not ideal. Most new iPhones, Pixels, and Galaxy smartphones support Dual SIM.
Great insight on the WIFI hotspot. I have used my travel pass via Verizon for the last five years and it worked great everywhere I went. However, as you said it can get kind of expensive as you only get one gig for $10.00 AT A TIME AND IT DOES ADD UP. With that being said, I have learned to watch where and when to use my service when I had a free internet connection which saved a lot of dough. Before the travel pass, the only option that was available was a pre-pay phone which was way more expensive than the travel pass, and Before that were a handful of coins for the phones lol. Thanks for this review as I would like to try one of the companies that you had suggested. :).
I wouldn't use that company in Italy again, but in Germany and Austria, they were good. The more people you have in your group sharing the box, the more sense it makes
Thanks for the review. I've used an Alcatel Link Zone wifi hotspot branded for KeepGo in Portugal, Spain, Italy, France and Greece. They have different plans. It comes with a SIM card but I swapped it with a Vodafone SIM in Greece and it connected. Lasts about 8 hours. Easy setup and admin. You can stop/restart varying plans and packages. But still searching for a backup hotspot so I may try the travelwifi style device.
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing
Thanks for this review! I’ve used travelwifi twice before and pretty much came to the same conclusion.
It was worth the experience, hopefully this will help some people. Next time I might try a Hotspot with a local SIM
Interesting idea,this way something I would've never thought about.This is wouldn't be bad to use with my international ATT plan because I could just switch on the ATT international when necessary for $10 a day.I'm considering longer to Europe next time 2 months.
The more people you have sharing the box, the better deal it turns out to be. For a family, this could be really helpful.
There is a third option if you want to have wifi when travelling in Europe and it's one that I've used. I need to keep my home mobile phone number so that I can be contactable and getting a sim card for my phone isn't an option. But I found that I could bring an old phone (that's unlocked) and then buy a sim card for that phone, I get my wifi from the second phone and can hotspot devices to it, if needed. I rarely do that. I also use it to make calls, so I don't pay the higher prices on my home mobile phone. I usually arrive in the UK first so buy a sim card there, I can use that for travelling around Europe.
I do have a wifi box that I own and that gets used in Italy as my family has a second home there, I buy a sim from the Italian phone company TIM (I bought the wifi box from them as well) at the moment they're advertising 40gigabytes for 20euro. That's double what I used last time for a 2 week stay, so it's quite a lot of data.
That's true and I should have brought it up, especially because I actually took another phone with me just in case the wifi Hotspot was a complete fail. I always travel with a backup phone, you never know what's going to happen
Do you know the cell coverage with travel Wifi device in Florence or Tuscany?
Also, where would one get a travel Wifi device once you’re in Italy like Florence? Thanks!
@@faltio69 You can buy a wifi box from a cell phone company. I usually use TIM as that's the biggest one in Italy. Last year instead of using a wifi box I just brought an old unlocked phone with me to Italy and then bought a 70 gigbyte simcard to put in it, it was quite cheap.I could tether my computer to my phone. A wifibox and simcard are more expensive. TIM stores are easy to find, in Florence there's one just outside the train station.
with the 2nd unlocked phone with the sim card, could you hotspot to a second person too or just your home phone/ devices?
@@tmorrison5965 you can hotspot to another device, I hotspot to my computer and also to my main phone. You just use the hotspot password that your phone gives you. If you want another person to use the hotspot, give them the password.
This is a good honest review. Solid info here 👍
Thanks Rob! We're just trying to help people out
We are going to Austria in 2 months.. this is helpful!
Glad you liked it! Have a great time in Austria. It was our favorites of all of the places we visited.
@@EscapingtheEmptyNest thank you both. I'm watching the rest of the trip. So many good tips. Have a blessed day!
Interesting. I missed the wifi service you used. We've had good luck with it. Last time we were in Europe was Italy only and it worked great! We always do pocket WiFi.
Is pocket wifi different than travel wifi? We used travel wifi
@@EscapingtheEmptyNest I think it's the same thing. I wish I could remember the company we used. I thought I liked them on Facebook, but perhaps they no longer exist after COVID. We used them in 2019.
I’m looking into a Glocalme 4G wifi hotspot. I got burned with a very expensive phone bill when traveling last year in Asia. I have more trips coming up this year, different places in Europe and maybe Asia again. How do I pay or select the plan? Do I do that when I arrive to my destination? Or before hand? I’m in Canada so I’m not sure if the plan is only in USD? Thank you for the video.
Contact the Hotspot company you are considering and make sure that they know exactly what countries you will be visiting. If you want to protect your phone bill, turn off your mobile data while using your Hotspot. You'll still be able to receive emergency texts and calls from home (don't have to answer or reply) but at least you'll know they came in.
Trains kind of make sense.... wouldn't that typically be like a tin can for reception?
For the most part trains had their own wifi service, and it usually worked. We did ride a couple small regional trains that didn't. I was surprised that the bus interfered with the local signal
We’re traveling to Spain and Portugal next month and I’m trying to figure out what to do for data for work and just getting around. We really only use WhatsApp, maps and Uber. Trying to figure out what the best option would be for us
The easiest thing is to use an international plan from your regular provider. If that's not an option, a wifi Hotspot might be nice
don't use your phone number issued by your carrier. I'm not sure why Whatsapp is not known by Americans. You keep your phone number with any SIM card you purchase.
No reason to not use your cellular number. If you change carriers here, your number follows you.
Some countries are not covered. It depends on the plan you get. The Global Plan covers a lot of countries but not all countries are covered. You have to look at the list to see if the country you're traveling to is covered. If not, you can always get a plan for that specific country. I move my travelwifi and never have any issues.
I checked that before I rented it. Every country I visited was supposed to be covered.
@@EscapingtheEmptyNest Ah. I don't know then. Sorry you had a bad experience.
All in all it was OK until we got into Italy.