Way back in the pre digital dark ages, staying connected while traveling was not a priority. Mostly because it was impractical and expensive. Bills for using a hotel phone to call home were legendary. An occasional postcard was the best that most received. And to receive news from home I used to walk to the American Express Travel Services in Kathmandu, Nepal and hand sort through trays of tattered Air Mail envelopes. In truth it was very serene to be living bubbled entirely in your surroundings, without the grounding of news from home. I persisted with that style until 2010, when I was politely but firmly informed that the Unconnected Traveler era was over. Since roughly that time travelers reasonably expect to be able to stay in touch, access the web, and manage their digital life on the road. The great news is how relatively simple and inexpensive it is now.
As discussed on the Phone page my two plans delivered nearly all the connection that I sought. I had ‘free and unlimited data ’ in a solid majority of the world. Telephone calls without WiFi are rather spendy (but who actually calls anyone anymore). Texting is nearly always completely covered, and data for web access to maps, searching, booking, e-mail, and social media is built into the plan and budget (though, as discussed in ‘phone section, there are quirks that have left me with no access to data services for days at a time). But T-Mobile and Google Fi do not want me as a cell data customer, so I had to look around some more.
Unsurprisingly there are quite a few dark spots in the world. The phone plan free bits do not cover Brunei or Namibia for example (and, surprisingly to me, not in American Samoa), and do not work at all in some embargoed places like Sudan and Somaliland. In these countries you really have to buy SIM cards from a kiosk when you arrive – often conveniently located in train stations and airports (but, obtusely, in Ethiopia, can only be purchased from the local telecom in a major town during limited business hours). SIM cards allow you to use the local cell network, with prepaid data (typically $8-10 per Gigabyte.) Good luck in Cuba.
It is an eye opening event when the connection to the digital universe stops working. So when heading in to a dark zone I research and plan for how to get to where I want to be when my handy fails. Switch off your ‘phone for a couple of days and see how quickly you get lost.
Connection speeds for phone data routinely significantly under deliver on the claims and photos often fail to send.
For that content download that is essential for the bus ride from Petropolis to Rio, WiFi is your friend. Of the three hundred nights I most recently spent in hotels, hostels, rentals, and informal spaces in the last year, roughly 90% had at least rudimentary WiFi somewhere (but only about 60% had hassle free, decent connections). Be prepared to occasionally have to pay for hotel WiFi ($5-20/day). The paradox is that that countries that came late to telephony often jump past fixed connections. They rely on mobile ’phone networks and neglect land line/wifi structure.
Cafes and restaurants commonly have WiFi. And a pleasing number of towns have a free connection (thank you Melbourne), usually with a limit to daily use. Of course availability varies widely from region to region. I subscribe to the Wifimap app and it has found me a few hidden spaces in strange places. But again, be forewarned that the entire system can go down. Very recently, while executing a fast rewind to be in the US for a really important event, I was in Mekele, Ethiopia. Canvassing the dozens of cafes with ‘free WiFI’ signs, the answer was an universal ‘not working’.
Before I settled on the two phone plans I tried out pay to play mobile hotspot options. Products/services like Skyroam’s Solis and GeeFi – may they burn in hell – are a complete waste of money. Their hardware is (was?) bulky and heavy and I thought that they might get better signal. A large part of their weight is a power bank – which I do not need. (I usually have three charged devices that I can switch between, and my feeling is that if I run out of all power I should probably be spending more time looking around instead of at a screen). In side by side testing with my T-Mobile and Google’s Fi services there was no consistent connection advantage and I do not see a reason to choose them over a phone with Fi.
If I were to spend a ton of time in one country I would definitely buy a local SIM card for one of my phones and load up on that for data use.
My placeholder for my US ‘phone number is going to be Google Fi, at $20/mo, using data roaming only in the US, which is capped at about $80/mo.
Burying the punchline at the bottom – try eSIM cards. Companies such as Holafly , Bytesim, Etravelsim, have figured out how to get your Handy access to cell networks without having to swap out actual SIM cards. This is a big bonus for me since I do not like standing in lines at kiosks waiting for the resident genius to sort this out. They typically offer plans for individual countries (just used an Australia only one) as well as regions (currently on a nine country SE Asia plan). They are usually unlimited data, and priced according to duration, from 5 days to a month. They are not the dirt cheap SIMs that I have seen in some countries, but I am looking at $90 for a month of hassle free, no switching in seven countries. That is worth a lot to me.
I only recently discovered this niche and I have a lot to learn. What I know so far is that I make the online purchase, even months ahead of actual need. A confirmation and a QR code is sent via Email. When I am on a stable WiFi network I pull the code up on my iPad and scan that code on my ‘phone. At the point when I need the service, typically landing in the region, I go to phone settings and activate the eSIM. As with any tech there is a bit of art to learn, and the process may require fiddling with a couple of settings or restarting my ‘phone. But the learning curve is steep. Service has been comprehensive so far. I think that this is going to be my top choice moving forward.