How to Use Your Cell Phone in Another Country

This may sound a little extreme, but I’ve actually been researching how to best use your cell phone in another country for the last two years. It all started the first time I wanted to take an international road trip. This one in particular was a road trip through Tuscany. While I had an amazing time, here’s what’s not included in this itinerary. Data service would often go out in the middle of a back road, and I’d have to guess our next move—not a pretty picture. On my next road trip in Portugal, I had the genius idea of renting a GPS from rental car shop. They must have the most up-to-date technology, right? Wrong. About 10 minutes into our trip, the GPS stopped working. We had to use GPS on our own phones the rest of the trip. And thus began my quest for not just adequate cell service abroad.

The Trouble with Your At-Home Service Provider

I wanted the same reliable service that I’m used to at home. In order to get it, I figured I’d start with my US-based cell service provider. (It’s one of the big guys, for reference). I’ve now used their provided service in six countries across three continents to varying degrees of success. These were the guys who went dark on my road trip in Italy, after all.

Aside from spotty service with your normal cell service provider, the other concern is the cost. My cell service provider charges $2 a day in Europe and $40 for the month on other continents. Sounds reasonable, but don’t forget to read the small print. For this amount you usually get 100 minutes, 100 texts, and 100MB. That last one goes faster than you think. I was recently upcharged $25 for checking my email and sending three photos. I’m sure you can tell by now that calling your service provider and upgrading to international data isn’t the best answer.

WiFi Is The Answer

Enter WiFi. At this point, most savvy travelers know you have to get a hotel with free/included WiFi. Unfortunately, that solid signal fades the minute you hit the streets. If you’re like me and you like to be able to wander (and even drive!) through/to the sites as you please, you need that signal in your pocket. (Read: I’ve rented a car and driven in Italy, Portugal, Scotland, England, and New Zealand to date. I’ve fallen in love with the freedom having a car gives you to see the less touristy spots—more on that too in a future post!)

On my most recent trip to New Zealand, I tested out one of the take-and-go WiFi solutions for travelers—Skyroam Solis. It was a game changer not only for our road trip throughout the northern island of New Zealand but also once we got back into Auckland. Not only did we never lose service, but each day pass gives you unlimited data for up to five devices. Having access to Google Maps really makes all the difference when you’re trying to concentrate on staying on the right side of the road. Bonus: You’ll also be able to quickly search and find an amazing milkshake spot hidden in a non-touristy neighborhood on your drive back in to town. Win/win!

 

Using Your Hotspot

Buy or Rent

So here’s the good stuff: Let’s get technical on how to get one of these WiFi hotspots and use it on your next trip. First things first, make sure service will be available in the countries you’re visiting. Skyroam is available in 100 countries, so it’s likely you’ll be covered. Next, get your hotspot. You can buy or rent, so you have a choice based on if you’re a regular international traveler or not. The coverage is the same whether you buy or rent the hotspot. You can share the device with your spouse, siblings, friends, etc., so it’s a no brainer if you’re traveling with a group.

Set It Up

The hotspot will be mailed to you before your trip, and I can’t emphasize this enough—you have to set up the device while you’re at home with your normal WiFi/service before you leave on your trip. I made the mistake of not doing this (despite Skyroam recommending it!), and I ended up spending an hour chatting with customer service in the LAX airport on their truly horrible WiFi/no data service. To spare yourself, follow the instructions, which start with charging the hotspot. The Quick Start Guide that comes with the Solis says it takes 4-8 hours to charge when you first get it, and they ain’t lying. Ours took just shy of eight hours to charge up for the first time.

Registration

The next step after getting the hotspot powered up and turned on is to try to register your hotspot. This is why you need to be in a place where you have service. You have to go to a specific website to connect your phone, laptop, etc. to the hotspot, and you won’t be able to do this without already having a connection. I know, seems counterintuitive, but the reason we spent so long troubleshooting the first time out was because we couldn’t get online to register our device. Learn from my mistake! If you register your hotspot at home, it’ll take about five minutes to load up 100% (see below example).

And You’re Off!

Once you’re at 100%, it’ll switch over to the below screen to let you choose if you want to go online.

It’s as simple as that! Make sure to keep your phone in airplane mode the entire time you’re away to avoid any roaming charges.

I can honestly say we had the best day road-tripping around northern NZ because of the Skyroam Solis. I can’t wait to use it on future trips.

Here are all the places we hit that day:

This post was created in partnership with Skyroam.