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22 Mar '17

25 Mar '17

25 Mar '17
22 Mar '17

Bern

10°C

Switzerland

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What's best internet solution for travelers? SkyRoam vs Global Roaming Data plans

by @alexmarinov | 4yr 3 years ago | 2 comments

What’s up nomads!

What do you use to get internet for work when you travel? I’m trying to figure out the best option to get internet when I’m traveling. For now mostly in Europe and mostly for conference calls with screen sharing. I’m willing to spend $200-300 per month.

I need to:

tether my laptop to my data plan on my phone, or on another device (like SkyRoam which I don’t have yet, but considering)
have data on my phone for essentials like Google Maps when driving around.

My US carrier is Sprint Wireless. I have unlimited data, which I can enable globally at no extra charge but it’s supposedly 3G, but doesn’t really work. Sprint also has a plan called Sprint Global Roaming, which offers high speed internet, but it’s $30 per 1GB which can add up to $500-$600 per month given my usage.

I’m not always close to WiFi or Co-Working spaces. I’m looking for a solution that would basically allow me to get on a Google Hangout or GoToMeeting call on my laptop from my car.

Any experience with gadgets like SkyRoam or similar ones from Verizon or AT&T? How good and reliable are those?

Any ideas? What do you use?

Thanks,
Alex

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677

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✨ Recommended destinations

This is an algorithmic recommendation based on @alexmarinov's trips history to find places they haven't been to yet that other people with similar travels as them also went and liked.

Chiang Mai

Thailand

Chiang Mai used to be N.1 for the digital nomad life. It is still great and you can find really cheap apartments (300-400$) and restaurants (2-3$ for a main). Wouldn't recommend staying there during the burning season. The best area is Nimman, but it's also the most expensive. You can stay in the old city that's very nice but that gets noisy during the weekend for the night markets. Last but not least, very safe city. All in all would go back in a heartbeat.

⭐️ Overall Score

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 Internet 🏎 Fast

😀 Fun good

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 36° 97° 29° 84°🥵AQI 32

$1,104 / mo

24Mbps

Berlin

Germany

Berlin is overall a great city to be. Food is cheap and everywhere, easy to go out and have fun/meet for business. Rent has crept up but still far better value than where I came from. Internet: 36 EUR/month get me 450/40 mbps (cable -> DOCSIS 3.0) Public transport is 2.70 EUR/ticket. No woman I know has said they felt unsafe. Some really odd, xenophobic sounding comments on here. Biggest downsides IMO: service quality at restaurants - not that people are rude, but they don't seem to particular

⭐️ Overall Score

💵 Cost 🙂 Okay

📡 Internet 🏎 Fast

😀 Fun great

👮 Safety okay

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🌧 Feels 14° 57° 14° 57°AQI 23

$2,938 / mo

30Mbps

Prague

Czechia

My husband and I spent about 6 weeks testing Prague in Nov-Dec 2018 as we were considering it as a semi-permanent base of operations for the next year or two. Honestly it was great and we plan on leaving Malta where we have been for the past year. Pluses - transportation is very good and quite cheap, tons of restaurants, lots to do. People are more reserved, perhaps even a bit suspicious, so I would not say it was an OVERLY welcoming vibe, however there are a lot of expats from the US, CA, UK

⭐️ Overall Score

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 Internet 🏎 Fast

😀 Fun great

👮 Safety okay

Tap to open

🌤 Feels 13° 55° 13° 56°AQI 17

$1,944 / mo

31Mbps

Bangkok

Thailand

Don't believe the prices on here for an apartment. 686 usd/month refers to an apartment in a high class condo, right in the city centre and seconds away from the BTS(train station). Just remember this, people working at supermarkets make 2 usd/per hour. If you want to live like a local, then you can save a lot of money. If you don't mind a 5-10 minute walk from the BTS, then you can easily get a one bedroom apartment for 300 USD per month, in a high class condo, plus with free golf cart ser

⭐️ Overall Score

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 Internet 🏎 Fast

😀 Fun good

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 38° 100° 30° 86°🥵AQI 73

$1,430 / mo

25Mbps

London

United Kingdom

London is the best city in the world - you just can't do it on a budget. It's got an amazing tech scene but ALSO world class media, fashion, finance, art industries and many others. If you don't want to live in a tech / expat mono-culture then it's for you. It is a genuine melting pot with a huge range of nationalities and cultures living together (the US has a large number of nationalities but there seems to be hard segregations between them geographically, economically, culturally - so they

⭐️ Overall Score

💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey

📡 Internet 🏎 Fast

😀 Fun great

👮 Safety okay

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 14° 57° 15° 59°AQI 21

$3,884 / mo

20Mbps

Budapest

Hungary

I stayed here for a month in July last year. There's lots of cool aspects to the city but I hated it when I was there. The city has a problem with British stag parties, so if you look like you're a British male and speak English expect to be treated with disdain (it's fair enough) The Hungarians can just generally be unfriendly, especially bartenders. It's a weird experience waiting to be served while 3 people ignore you. Or buying the same drink and getting charged whatever they want (700-1500

⭐️ Overall Score

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 Internet 🏎 Fast

😀 Fun good

👮 Safety okay

Tap to open

🌤 Feels 15° 59° 15° 58°AQI 45

$1,429 / mo

44Mbps

Barcelona

Spain

During winter is quite safe plus much cheaper. Some nightclubs are free and yet there is still a lot of people. Great por lgbtq+ community.

⭐️ Overall Score

💵 Cost 🙂 Okay

📡 Internet 🏎 Fast

😀 Fun great

👮 Safety okay

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 21° 70° 21° 69°AQI 38

$2,837 / mo

40Mbps

New York City, NY

United States

Having spent a total of two weeks in London on two separate occasions and having lived in NYC for two years, both are among my favorite cities in the world. Londoners are quite internationally and ethnically diverse, and seemingly better educated and more intellectual than New Yorkers in aggregate. The city very clean with a stunning mix of modern and historic architecture, and arguably has Europe's best public transit in terms of signage, availability, cleanliness and general efficiency. Meanw

⭐️ Overall Score

💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive

📡 Internet 🏎 Fast

😀 Fun great

👮 Safety okay

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 9° 48° 9° 49°AQI 31

$4,761 / mo

32Mbps