How to use mobile broadband abroad without paying a fortune

Overview

For many people having internet access when going abroad on holiday or travelling the world is becoming more of a necessity. Unfortunately the costs can be extremely high, with unsuspecting mobile internet users coming back home to bills in the £1000’s.

The title of a recent article in a UK newspaper:

 ‘Britons abroad charged 1,000 times UK rate to surf the web’

This is no exaggeration!

For example, Three (UK) charges £7.50 a month in the UK for 1GB of data. If you travel to Canada and use 1GB it will cost over £10,000....ouch

In Europe, officials have put a cap on the amount international data roaming users can be charged by mobile network operators inside the EU. Currently the maximum limit is set at €50. This will stop the large bills, but it doesn’t help much if you’re travelling outside of the EU or require a greater data allowance.

At best €50 will only pay for about 40MB of data, which isn’t much. This amount of data can easily be used in one day by doing some general surfing and emailing.

As a rough guide 1MB equates to about 5 minutes of basic web surfing or emailing. Obviously if your emails have attachments or your start downloading files (e.g. MP3, YouTube etc) the amount of data you use will increase very rapidly.

How to get cheap internet access

Getting cheap mobile internet access abroad is really very simple, just buy a SIM card local to the country you’re visiting. Most mobile networks operators provide data SIM cards on a Pay As You Go \ pre-pay basis, which is ideal for holiday makers and travellers.

There’s nearly always a mobile phone shop at international airports which will sell data SIM cards. The big advantage of buying at the airport is most shop staff speak English which can save a lot of time if you don’t speak the local language.

Getting connected
If you already have a modem or mobile WiFi device you will need to get it unlocked before using it with a SIM card from another network. To unlock your modem simply go to our home page and either select the modem manufacturer using the menu on the left or do a search (top right) for the model.

Armed with a unlocked modem and a pay as you go local SIM card, cheap mobile broadband is yours for the taking. No more worries about large bills or constantly monitoring the amount of data used.

Tips:

-          Don’t buy ‘Data Traveller’ or ‘International Roamer’ type packages from your home mobile network operator. They may look reasonable but the data allowance is usually very low and if the allowance is exceeded you will soon start paying a heavy price.

-          Never use your home data SIM card in another country, unless you want to go bankrupt.

-          Don’t think that using the internet on your phone is any cheaper than using a modem with your laptop