Global Gringo's Travel Pro-Tip: Wi-Fi Anywhere

One of my goals for this trip was to make sure I could stay connected to the internet whenever I needed it.   Part of this was to stay connected with the world.  While tt's a pleasant luxury to have,  more importantly, I wanted to be able to access vital information whenever I would need it: say to look up information about a hotel or to use the maps app on my phone to navigate.   I also wanted it to be cost-effective.  Here's how I did it.  

Mobile hot-spot phone (left) and external battery.  On the bottom, you'll see my left foot; not yet sunburned. 

Procuring a router

Before leaving, I pulled out an old smartphone running Andriod OS (i.e., what practically every other phone that isn't made by Apple runs on) that I had laying around and checked to see if it still worked.  After charging it up, everything seemed to be working fine, so I packed it along with an additional charger cable.

Getting a provider

Once we arrived in Bangkok and got settled in, we set out looking to get a local number and SIM card to put in the phone.  I did some research beforehand and made my choice from this list of carriers and plans.  In the end, I went with the 'Happy SIM tourist pack' from the provider DTAC.  Under this deal, I got 6 GB of 3G speed connection for 30 days.  If I run out, I can buy a top-up card either at a DTAC shop or at almost any convenience store such as 7-11.

Configuring the Hotspot

After putting the card into the phone, I needed to go into the settings, create the connection, and enable a Wi-Fi hotspot.  From there, I had to give it a name and password.  Once done, I could connect my phone and laptop to my newly-created network, and as long as I had cellular service, I had an internet connection.  All in all, it took under five minutes to get it up and running.

Keeping it up and running

To make sure we had the connection when we needed it, we bought an external battery that gives us an additional 24 hours charge on top of the 18-24 hours we get on the phone.  This gives us almost two days of non-stop connection should we absolutely need it (or more accurately feed the technology addiction that we've all developed).   When we're connected to another network, we put the phone into airplane mode or turn it off to save battery to make sure we have it when we need it.

For now, the system is proving its worth; we used the connection to navigate from the bus stop to the hotel we've moved to, and as I write this, I'm connected to the portable hot-spot as the hotel's Wi-Fi is too weak to use.   Additionally, I have a local phone number so if I need to make a call, it won't cost me a small fortune.   And although the data limit isn't that high, as long as I'm not streaming music or videos, I don't have to worry about quickly going over it.

Not every smartphone has the function and if you're in doubt, Google your model with the phrase "portable hotspot" to quickly find out.  If yours doesn't many budget phones under 100 EUR, have this functionality so it might be worth picking one up (as an added bonus, you'll have a backup phone should your main one stop working or get stolen).

So voila! You can use this trick to keep yourself connected to the world wherever your travels take you without having to pay the exorbitant costs of data roaming.