Join the debate

READERS SHARE FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCES AND TRAVEL SOLUTIONS

INTERNET CONNECTION FOR TRAVELLING POST MAX11

I’m travelling to three countries in Southeast Asia next month for business meetings. Any recommendations on how to have internet connection?

➜ GIN & TONIC

Assuming you need connection primarily for work and keeping in touch with home, the wifi available at the vast majority of hotels and cafés is more than suitable. If you want to stream Netflix, etc, then that’s not always so good, but for day-to-day email, FT or Skype you will be well covered.

➜ CAPETONIANM

Hotel wifi is the obvious solution but it’s not secure. I would never do banking or anything security sensitive on anything other than a known private wifi network. For security I would recommend either getting an unlocked 4G dongle and putting a local SIM card with data into it, or using a smartphone, again with a local SIM, as a hotspot.

➜ HUIT-SIX

Hotel/restaurant connection is usually fine. I use these to connect my laptop and write a few emails on the go. But if you are an “internet addict” like me and need constant 4G connection everywhere, I would definitely recommend you get a SIM card at the airport. These are generally easy to find and quite cheap. The only exception is Jakarta CGK airport, where it is not only difficult to find a local SIM card but it is also ridiculously expensive! I’m talking US$20 for just a few days, bearing in mind this is a country where locals often pay less than US$5-$10 for their monthly plans. This is why I have a phone with a double SIM slot: one SIM for data access and local calls when travelling, and the other SIM for my home number, so that it’s always available in case someone calls me on that line.

➜ LUCKY ONE

I travel to SE Asia about every 1-2 months – it really depends on the countries you go to.

Singapore: Wifi is widely available everywhere (including Changi Airport) and a local SIM card is relatively cheap – about S$30 for ten days. You can easily get a local SIM card from a 7/11 convenience store. Orchard Hotel (where I stayed) actually provides a free Handy phone gadget (handy.travel) with unlimited local and international calls, unlimited mobile internet, indispensable city guides, etc on a smartphone that is pretty much like an iPhone8 or X, for Premier Room rates and above.

Kuala Lumpur: Wifi is also available in KLIA Sepang Airport, on the Airport Express train and even local cheap express buses to Sentral station. Local SIM cards are on sale in the airport straight after you clear immigration. Maxis (hotlink) is the largest privately owned mobile carrier in Malaysia. Other carriers are Digi and Celcom. My roaming via Vodafone used Digi for this trip, but my roaming line was actually super slow and sometimes my iPhone just went silent during international roaming calls.

Bangkok: Wifi is available for free in Suvarnabhumi Airport. I generally buy a TrueMove SIM card, which is the largest and most efficient mobile carrier in Thailand (available on the second floor when you arrive). Other mobile carriers like Dtac and AIS aren’t as good if you are travelling outside the tourist areas and BKK itself.

➜ LUGANO PIRATE

For additional security if worried by hotel wifi, use a VPN such as Norton or AVG.

➜ CHRIS IN MAKATI

If you travel outside Europe frequently you may want to consider one of these 4G mobile portable wifi devices. The one I have is Pokefi. Once you’ve bought the unit, for US$15 you can buy either a five-day pass or 5GB of data (to be consumed within two years of purchase). I’ve had this for several months and it has worked well so far (mypokefi.com). There’s a similar device available called Skyroam Solis. It has coverage in more countries than the Pokefi, but you can only buy day passes for this, you can’t buy blocks of data. I can’t comment about how well it works as I don’t own one (skyroam.com). I’d agree that the cheapest option is to get a local SIM card. Sometimes these are easy to obtain, but as someone stated earlier it can also be a bit complicated. These portable devices eliminate any hassle as you just turn them on when you land and they’re ready to go immediately. If you don’t want to fork out the capital cost of buying one of these devices, another option is the Birdie Travel SIM, which is available from Hong Kong. This is basically a data-only roaming SIM, but the rates are excellent. For example, in Japan, Taiwan, Macau, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia it’s HK$12 (US$1.5) per day.

➜ JEFFREY

For me AIS is the best mobile provider in Bangkok, good 4G coverage and cheap plans, including plans that give free AIS wifi access at all malls and shopping areas.