CR5 Issue 171 August 2019

How to get online on holiday
We make sense of mobile data and dongles.
Going online
is a necessity for
many travellers. It
enables us to get
accurate weather
predictions, to check
flight statuses and to
find out about local
tourist attractions.
So how do you get
connected when
you’re far from
home?
Many hotels, resorts
and attractions
promise free Wi-Fi,
but in some cases
the Wi-Fi is limited
to a single device,
and you’ll often find
that the service is
too slow to stream TV
programmes. In some cases the Wi-Fi will block
specific servers and websites.
You can get around the single-device limit if you
have a smartphone with a Personal Hotspot
feature. This creates a Wi-Fi network that other
devices can connect to, but all the data runs
through the phone. It won’t change any blocks
on streaming – if you’re determined, you can get
around them using Virtual Private Networking
software – or speed up very slow internet
connections, but it does mean the kids can
connect their Kindle Fires or other devices when
the weather isn’t brilliant.
Sometimes, the best way to go online is to use
your phone’s data connection – 4G coverage in
most big holiday destinations is very good. The
main concern is the potential cost, with some
tourists running up massive mobile phone bills
during their holiday.
But mobile data needn’t be expensive. It might
even be free. Each major operator has a list of
countries where you don’t need to worry about
big data bills, so for example Vodafone offers
free roaming across 48 different countries on
Pay As You Go and 77 countries on contracts
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that include Global
Roaming Plus. Always
check before you
go: if your phone
contract doesn’t
include roaming
you can usually
buy a roaming
add-on, such as a
certain amount of
data for a fixed fee.
It’s usually much
cheaper to buy a
data bundle than to
incur charges when
you’re abroad,
and if you need
more you can buy
another one via
your provider’s app
or website.
But check coverage
– you can’t use your phone if your destination
has no signal.
If you want to connect laptops or other devices
and your phone doesn’t have the virtual hotspot
feature, another option is to invest in a data
dongle. This can be a device that plugs into your
laptop’s USB port to give it mobile data access,
or it can be a dedicated device that creates a
portable Wi-Fi hotspot. At the time of writing,
Vodafone’s mobile Wi-Fi hotspot is £50 on Pay As
You Go. That price includes 15GB of mobile data,
which lasts for up to 90 days before expiring.
If you’re using public Wi-Fi networks, be very
careful: it’s really easy to set up a convincinglooking
but fake Wi-Fi hotspot to intercept
people’s internet traffic.
If you need to do secure things such as online
banking, consider investing in an app such as
Tunnelbear. It creates a secure, your-eyes-only
tunnel between you and the site or service
you’re using.
Images: top left clockwise - Personal Hotspot on
an iPhone,Vodafone mobile wi-fi dongle, Vodafone
roaming promo, Anker Powercore portable battery
pack.