Think about how many times you pull out your cell phone on a given day. For many of us, it’s almost a reflexive action. Got a few minutes to kill? That’s enough time to check email. Not sure where you’re going? A map app will give you directions easily and give you traffic updates. The things we can do with our smartphones are near-endless, and technology just keeps improving — but just about all of those things require an internet connection.
Before heading abroad, finding a usable, mobile internet connection is an important part of packing prep. It’s also more difficult than you might think. Most international WiFi options will be priced per megabyte of data, rather than minutes of usage. So, what does that look like, realistically?
Know What You Use
The first step to figuring out how much travel WiFi data you’ll need is to know what you use already. Most smartphones have a data-tracking option that shows how much data you use during a given period of time. Pay attention to what you use your data connection for, so you know what your data usage looks like in terms of apps, video calling, and so on. This is important to notice so you’ll have a good understanding of how much data is used by your map app, video calling, sending emails, and so on.
Plan For More
Even if your data usage is pretty consistent from one week to the next, remember that traveling abroad isn’t going to be a regular week. You may not notice it, but you likely supplement your data usage with WiFi at home, at work, and through free WiFi signals around. You won’t be able to count on finding free WiFi everywhere you go, so anticipate that your data usage will be higher while traveling.
The other element of this is that you’ll want to use your phone’s helpful apps more while abroad than you might need at home. You will likely want to use your map app to find more than just your hotel — it can help you find points of interest, restaurants, and more. You may also need to rely on a translation app for everything from menu reading to street signs, if you’re going somewhere that doesn’t use a Latinate alphabet. Consider all the apps you’re likely to use, and how often you’ll need to use them. Any app that needs video, pictures, or up-to-the-minute updates to operate will use more data than those that are just text.
Getting Travel WiFi
It’s a lot easier to skip your worries about data usage when you know you have travel WiFi you don’t have to pay an arm and a leg to use. The Sapphire internet hotspot is a portable device the size of a smartphone that lets you create a secure, portable WiFi signal wherever your travels take you. Simply turn on your Sapphire travel WiFi, choose your country, and choose the plan that works best for you. Since you’ll pay like a local anywhere you go, you don’t have to worry about cutting back on your data usage. Grab your Sapphire travel WiFi device today!