Wireless internet while travelling around?

[SussanisCruisin]

Hey everyone Thanks for the warm welcome I received from you all on my first comment. What a wonderful community!

I am planning my next trip to Aruba and will be taking some pictures and writing some articles for travel blogs while I am there. I plan to be travelling around quite a bit; no set itinerary as of yet but I will not be in one place for too long if I get my way! As I will have to keep writing and uploading things when I am out I need to have a suitable internet connection and preferably one that I could use at all times( even during transport) so I am looking at getting a mobile 3G router to bring with me. Are there any portable routers that people have had trouble using in the past that I should stay away from? When I spend 6 months in Cambodia I had to get rid of the one I had purchased in Vietnam and I don't want to buy a really good router at home then have to either chuck it or lug it around with me until I get home. Also, any recommendations for a good mobile company to purchase a SIM card from once I am there would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all in advance you wonderful people

Thanks to everyone who advised me to hotspot my phone, I went to my carrier the other day and had it unlocked so it should be no issue when I go abroad. Just as a backup though I have purchased an LTE mobile router that I saw on http://www.for-sale.co.uk/lte-router. The price was good and I did not want to get into the situation of my phone not working as a hotspot as that would ruin my trip (at least for a couple days!). Thanks again for all the advice everyone, maybe I will be able to meet up with you in the future and show my appreciation in the form of a drink!

[Andrea J.]

my suggestion is using your smart phone as a hotspot (aka mobile device)

digicel in aruba has 0 hotspot devices and referred me to Luckys electronics.

setar in aruba said they do have devices, but were out at the time and they too referrred me to lucky electronics.

then once you have the device, go back to setar or to digicel for the sim card.

what i did was i bought the sim for my iphone 6s+ from digicel and used that as the hotspot device.

both setar and digicel are located at the airport outside of the luggage/aruba customs area.

3gb of data is $28.

lots of places including numerous resorts have free wifi.
most places, the internet is slow making for almost impossible uploading of photos. (at least that was my experience at Bananas and Lacabana over recent stays)

Hey everyone Thanks for the warm welcome I received from you all on my first comment. What a wonderful community!

I am planning my next trip to Aruba and will be taking some pictures and writing some articles for travel blogs while I am there. I plan to be travelling around quite a bit; no set itinerary as of yet but I will not be in one place for too long if I get my way! As I will have to keep writing and uploading things when I am out I need to have a suitable internet connection and preferably one that I could use at all times( even during transport) so I am looking at getting a mobile 3G router to bring with me. Are there any portable routers that people have had trouble using in the past that I should stay away from? When I spend 6 months in Cambodia I had to get rid of the one I had purchased in Vietnam and I don't want to buy a really good router at home then have to either chuck it or lug it around with me until I get home. Also, any recommendations for a good mobile company to purchase a SIM card from once I am there would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all in advance you wonderful people

[act1966]

We bought this one and have used it successfully with a SETAR SIM card in Aruba:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-4G-N12...70_&dpSrc=srch

Is there a reason you need 3G and not LTE?

An unlocked phone can accomplish the same thing (which we’ve also done using SETAR) and support multiple devices as a hotspot.

[SussanisCruisin]

I would have to get my phone unlocked if I wanted to use if for hotspoting as I recently got an upgrade but I guess that would be a worthwhile business expense.

I have previously not had much luck with LTE overseas. Some places I have even paid for an upgrade to LTE services and ended up only getting 3G as the areas I was in had no LTE but I am guessing it is quite prevalent in Aruba at the moment? It has been a couple years since I was there.

[act1966]

I would have to get my phone unlocked if I wanted to use if for hotspoting as I recently got an upgrade but I guess that would be a worthwhile business expense.

I have previously not had much luck with LTE overseas. Some places I have even paid for an upgrade to LTE services and ended up only getting 3G as the areas I was in had no LTE but I am guessing it is quite prevalent in Aruba at the moment? It has been a couple years since I was there.

SETAR only has LTE mobile. I think Digicel still runs 3G. We’ve found mobile connectivity superior to land lines in Aruba in a lot of cases.

Given that you’re considering buying a mobile router, it might be prudent to weigh it against the cost of unlocking your phone. These routers aren’t small and schlepping it around and worrying about sand penetrating the device won’t be fun.

Good luck!

[Andrea J.]

yes Digicel was 3g

next time we are in aruba we will be using a setar sim card for the LTE and still using our phone as hotspot once in a while.

SETAR only has LTE mobile. I think Digicel still runs 3G. We’ve found mobile connectivity superior to land lines in Aruba in a lot of cases.

Given that you’re considering buying a mobile router, it might be prudent to weigh it against the cost of unlocking your phone. These routers aren’t small and schlepping it around and worrying about sand penetrating the device won’t be fun.

Good luck!

[Aruba4ever]

Thanks for educating me. I had no idea what all of this meant but after a quick google search and a check of my Iphone I figured it out quickly what a personal hotspot was.
Who says old dogs can't learn new tricks

SETAR only has LTE mobile. I think Digicel still runs 3G. We’ve found mobile connectivity superior to land lines in Aruba in a lot of cases.

Given that you’re considering buying a mobile router, it might be prudent to weigh it against the cost of unlocking your phone. These routers aren’t small and schlepping it around and worrying about sand penetrating the device won’t be fun.

Good luck!

[SussanisCruisin]

I guess LTE would definitely be the way to go then! Still going to take a look for some LTE portable routers as some of the ones I have seen are quite small (pocket sized) and hold a battery waaaay better than my Iphone but if I don't find any maybe I just need to consider a battery backup instead.