Using a Portable Internet Access Device While Traveling Internationally

A number of our traveling companions that we have met have requested that I do a write-up on how I use our little GlocalMe device to access the internet while traveling internationally.  This little posting will attempt to do that, but first let me give you a little background.  My wife and I have been extensively traveling internationally for the past 6 years.  We travel extensively by motorcycle in Europe and are frequently aboard cruise ships all over the world.  So for us, it was important to figure out how we could obtain international data access at a reasonable cost.  What I have found is that there are the following options:

1. Use our cellphone carrier’s international data plan.  We are very long time Verizon subscribers and they offer us a $10 per day international access plan in selected countries (cheaper in Canada and Mexico).  This plan gives us access to our unlimited data plan, but over the course of, say, a 30 day trip, the cost would be $300 for the data access which is quite expensive.
2. Switch carriers to, say, T-Mobile, which has an unlimited international data access plan for $70 for 2 phones.  Unfortunately for me, T-Mobile does not have as good of coverage as Verizon when we are traveling in the US, so that option is not viable for us.  But I’ve certainly been tempted to switch.
3. Buy a SIM card overseas and replace our Verizon SIM card with it.  Since our iPhone 6’s are unlocked, this actually works quite well when we are in ONE country for an extended period of time.  Local SIM cards are pretty inexpensive and generally they include some talk time as well as varying amounts of data access.  When I do this, I tape my Verizon SIM card to the back of my phone (it’s inside a case) so that I don’t lose that.  Upon my return to the USA, I replace my foreign SIM card with my Verizon SIM card.
4. Purchase internet access on the ship.  This is generally very expensive and for the most part, we’ve found the connection speeds to be very slow.  However, on a recent Royal Caribbean cruise in the Caribbean, they did have reasonably priced unlimited high speed WIFI, and we took advantage of that.  We have found that Holland America (the cruise line we most often use) has very slow time based WIFI, and what they have is very expensive.
5. Search for local WIFI access.  We used to do this, but it was frustrating to have slow data speeds and spotty data access.  While we are traveling we don’t want to be tethered to a WIFI hotspot.  When we are cruising, many ports have WIFI in the terminals, but when 50 to 100 people attempt to log on, the speeds really drop, plus who wants to spend valuable time sitting in a cruise terminal?  We are pretty WIFI savvy travelers and we do know how to find local WIFI and are not afraid to use it while we are out and about.  But we don’t generally go looking for it.  Also, if you are using public WIFI, BE SURE to install and use VPN software so that your activity is more protected.  I recommend EXPRESSVPN.COM and we use the pay version. 
6. Use a portable SIM card device.  This is what we do and it’s proved to be the least expensive and most reliable way to get internet access all over the world.  We use a device called GLOCALME and it’s about the size of a cellphone.  It can be purchased on AMAZON for just over $100US.  In the picture below, we have the second one which currently costs $149.99.   In summary, one purchases the device, sets up an account with GLOCALME.COM, purchases data either pay as you go (not recommended as it’s more expensive) or a package, and then one uses the device for internet access.  It is not a device to be used for telephone calls.  If you need to make lots of international telephone calls, options 1-3 above are probably better for you.  We don’t make a lot of calls while traveling, so the GLOCALME device works well for us.  We used a 3G model for several years, but we are currently using a 4G model and the data access is definitely faster.  We have used our devices all over the world, and there have been less than a couple places where it didn’t work, and that was probably due to the remoteness of the locations.

USING THE GLOCALME DEVICE

For us, we travel with the GlocalMe device for our internet access.  Before we leave on a trip, I purchase the appropriate data package for the area in which we are traveling.  For example, on a recent trip to ASIA, we were traveling to many countries, and I found I could purchase data packages that would cover several countries.  The data cost varied, but it’s about 10 Euros or $16US for a GIGABYTE of data.  A gigabyte is 1,000 megabytes so data costs about $0.016 per megabyte.  That’s cheap!!  Generally, we use about 500 megabytes every week for our data access which is generally to read and respond to email, post to and read Facebook, and use Google Maps.  I don’t recommend using the GLOCALME device to upload or download extensive amounts of pictures or watch movies.  They simply use too much data.  For my pictures, I carry extra SD cards or USB sticks and have software and hardware that allows me to back up the pictures.

When we arrive at the country where we want data access, I simply turn on the GLOCALME device and it finds the local cell tower and goes through a synchronization process.  Once that is completed, I connect my iPhone 6 to the GLOCALME device via WIFI (the connection is password protected and up to 5 devices can share the connection), and I am connected to the internet.  Of course, I have my VPN connection enabled.  After the first time that I connect to the GLOCALME device, I don’t have to re-enter the password.  And I can optionally change the password and even the name of the device that can be seen by other WIFI devices.

The screen on the GLOCALME provides information on the remaining amount of data available and it’s important to always have a spare amount of data in your account so that you don’t accidentally run out of data.  If you do run out of data, the device will stop accessing the internet and you’ll need to find another source of data access in order to replenish your account.  You can have multiple data packages on standby and generally the data period is good for 30 days to a year.

While cruising, what’s really helpful when using this device, is that we can turn it on as the ship is arriving at a port and assuming we either have an outside cabin or go to an area of the ship with window access, we can then access the internet and do whatever we want to do before or during breakfast and not have to waste time sitting in a cruise terminal doing internet activity.  Additionally, we can do the same when we return to the ship in the afternoon.  We can board the ship, go to our favorite lounge area, enjoy some refreshment and take care of any internet activity we wish to do.   Even better, we can use it while riding on a tour bus doing a shore excursion.

The GLOCALME device also can serve as a back up battery for your cellphone and with many of us using our cellphones as cameras, that can come in handy.  We each, however, carry 10,000 milliamp backup batteries (the largest that can be currently carried on an airplane) for our cellphones.  The GLOCALME device gets recharged using a customary USB type charger using a MINI-USB cable.  There’s a meter on the display that indicates the battery charge status.

I hope that this little write-up has been helpful in describing our use of our GLOCALME device.  If you have any questions, please contact me at the link in the blog and I’ll attempt to assist you.

HAPPY TRAVELING!!