While we love traveling the world, one of our biggest challenges is finding fast and reliable Wi-Fi. Like so many of you, we rely on internet access to keep our business running smoothly, post pictures on Facebook or Instagram, and keep in touch with friends and family. Unfortunately, the free Wi-Fi in cafes and hotels/hostels doesn’t always cut it.
Dealing with spotty Wi-Fi can be expensive and inconvenient, and nobody has the time or money to keep buying SIM cards in every new country.
This is where our new best friend, Teppy from TravelWifi (formerly Tep Wireless) comes in to save the day.
Update 2021: TravelWifi is currently undergoing a rebrand, so some section in this article may no longer be accurate. We will update the article as soon as we know more.
What is TravelWifi?
TravelWifi is the answer to international roaming fees and buying millions of sim cards. To be more specific, TravelWifi rents/sells little magic boxes (some refer to them as pocket Wi-Fi :D) that give travelers unlimited Wi-Fi whenever or wherever they go for a flat rate. With TravelWifi you don’t have to worry about searching for internet during your trip or how much you will pay in roaming fees once you get back home.
How Does TravelWifi Work?
It’s pretty simple really. You just go to TravelWifi.com, hit the pink “Rent Now” button in the upper right corner, enter your destination and dates of travel and pay. Within a 1-2 days, your portable TravelWifi hotspot will be sent to your home, or wherever you’d like.
Once you’ve reached your destination, all you have to do is power it up, connect your laptop/phone/tablet and boom, you have unlimited secure Wi-Fi.
When your trip comes to an end, just pack up the device and everything it came with and mail it back to the company using the included prepaid shipping label. And that’s all folks, easy and hassle free!
More Facts About TravelWifi
1. How Much Does TravelWifi Cost?
It costs only $9.95 USD per day to rent the device and receive unlimited Wi-Fi. Also, upon checkout you can add extras like insurance or an external battery for an additional fee. If you travel often like us and prefer to buy the hotspot device instead of renting it, the fee per day is reduced to just $8 USD.
2. What’s the Battery Life & Wi-Fi Speed Like?
TravelWifi’s portable hotspot has a battery life of 8 hours while in use or 20 hours on standby. As for the speed, TravelWifi states they “partner with the biggest network providers worldwide to ensure that you always have the best and fastest connections available to you”, so you can expect it to be good and fast. With 4G LTE speeds you don’t have to worry about missing your favorite TV shows on Netflix either. We have watched a handful of our favorite travel movies and shows with no interruptions.
3. Where Can TravelWifi’s Portable Hotspot Be Used?
You can use TravelWifi in over 130 countries all for the same rate, so there’s no need to constantly buy or change sim cards!
4. How Many People Can Use Trave?
With TravelWifi you can share the Wi-Fi love with others or keep it to yourself for all of your devices! Yes, that includes your laptop, your phone, or your tablet! After all, you can connect up to 5 devices.
What We Like About TravelWifi
1. Secure
TravelWifi isn’t like public Wi-Fi where anyone can hop on the network and potentially steal your personal information (have you seen the TV show “Mr. Robot”?) With TravelWifi, no one can access your network unless you give them your unique password. No more free Wi-Fi scavenger hunting and praying there isn’t someone sitting on the other side waiting to steal all your information.
2. Convenient and Reliable
I can’t tell you how many times TravelWifi has saved my butt while I was teaching an online English class with VIPKID and the hotel Wi-Fi suddenly stopped working. It has saved me over $40 in penalty fees. It’s seriously an ideal backup plan as we have found it to be fast and reliable, and in our line of work we need that. According to TravelWifi, the upload speed is around 9.0 Mbps while the download speed is around 18.6 Mbps when connected to a 4G LTE network. However, this varies depending on the network connection and the amount of devices connected.
3. Easy to Use
There are no wires, no complicated start up process and with just a press of a button you can have unlimited access to Wi-Fi. So easy a baby can do it. But really, the device is foolproof!
4. Portable
The size is perfect. After all, it is called pocket Wi-Fi! Just slip it in your pocket and off you go. The portable Wi-Fi hotspot will take up little to no room in your travel backpack or carry-on, which means you’ll have more room for other things like your cute inflatable pool floats or a six-pack. Just kidding, or am I?
5. No Commitments
As a spontaneous traveler, one thing I don’t like are commitments, plans and contracts, so I was pretty excited that TravelWifi doesn’t require them. With TravelWifi you only pay for what you use or intend to use, and if you don’t like the service you can cancel it whenever you want, and there are no cancellation fees. They even have a 100% money back guarantee policy :).
Where TravelWifi Can Improve
1. It’s Kind of Expensive
The $9.95 daily rate can get expensive quickly, especially if your trip is longer than 2 weeks and you plan on staying in just one location. However, if you are a frequent traveler or someone with an online business who needs to be connected at all times and have reliable and fast internet, you can look into the “Frequent Traveler plan” for a cheaper option. With this option you buy the device for a one time fee of $99 and pay only $8 per day when you use it. So for the days when you end up in a remote area and there is no Wi-Fi, you have a backup.
2. No Rollover!
With TravelWifi, you are not charged per hour but by the day, which sucks when you want to use it for only a few hours and not a whole day. So if your hotel’s Wi-Fi goes offline for an hour or you need it to get directions to somewhere for a few minutes, you’re still charged for a full day even if you don’t use the full day. So no rollover hours or hourly fee!
3. It Doesn’t Replace Cell Service
TravelWifi doesn’t replace cell service, so you can’t make phone calls or send text messages like you would with your cellphone. But that’s not as big of a deal these days since you don’t need phone service to call or text people. When you have apps like WhatsApp, FB chat, or Skype, you can access them via Wi-Fi!
Is TravelWifi Right For You?
It’s really up to you! Weigh the pros and cons, know your budget and decide whether or not you will need to stay connected during your trip! We personally love our TravelWifi portable hotspot but then again we are Wi-Fi addicts :D
This post is proudly produced in partnership with Tep Wireless.
Great article! I was wondering if there was a difference in the internet speed between using a pocket Wifi and using my smartphone as a hotspot? Does a pocket Wifi provides a faster internet speed ? Thank you!
Can I puchase or rent and use this from the Philippines where I will be or does it have to be setup prior?
So it says you only pay for what you use, so if you teach online four days a week and have three off, do you not have to pay the other three days? Or is it $9 a day just to have it in your possession?
No you don’t have to pay for the other three days. You only pay for the days that you actually use it.