Our really special colleague in manufactured spending, Milenomics, wrote a nice piece on how he stays connected online while traveling, his inspiration has me writing about how I do it.
2 ways that I can think of to staying connected:
- If available, you should go to a hotel that a phone for free to use like the Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui
- If you work for a corporation who is willing to foot the international data plan with a bring your own device plan you should do what I do
Your device needs to be any Android device that is on the supported list and get the app called PDANet+ or FoxFi. I bought it when it was just about $15. Now it’s about $8 (at the time of writing this) and it is totally worth it. Wherever I go, I will always have secure device (unless the US Marshals services are intercepting the cell service) connecting to any of the banking institutions that I may need to use while traveling either home or abroad.
I love having FoxFi because now I can tether my laptop or other wireless devices. As for voice? You’ll need to follow Milenomics’ steps for the Google Voice number.
You should check out http://attachearrivals.com – they can send you a local SIM card before you go. We used them for a trip to Paris and it was awesome to stay connected without ducking into cafes.
Thanks for the link! Neat site