Staying wired while on holidays
Five must-have gadgets to take along on travels
Frightened by the horror stories of $30,000 wireless roaming bills? There’s a solution for that.
Kids fighting over the one Internet connection in your hotel room? No problem, we have an easy answer.
When it comes to your tech travel kit, a little thought ahead of time can save you time, money and travel headaches. Here is our list of five tech gadgets you won’t want to leave behind.
SHARE PORT MOBILE COMPANION, DIR 505 , D- LINK , $ 4 0
When ubergeek Cedric Tetzel travels with his work, he doesn’t have to worry if his hotel puts a limit on the number of wireless devices that can be connected to the Internet. But for family travel, the practice in some hotels of charging for Internet access by the device can make a serious dent in the travel budget.
“I just came back from Edmonton and my hotel there had a limit of four devices, which is OK when I’m by myself,” Tetzel said. “But what if I was travelling with my family, with his and hers tablets, the kids having one each — that’s four devices and there’s no room for a phone.”
For hotels that charge $15 a night per device for Internet access, your wireless bill could be through the roof.
The solution to keep your Internet bill down — and your kids happy — is D-Link’s little mobile wireless router. It turns any wired or wireless Internet connection into a Wi-Fi hot spot, leaving you free to connect as many
wireless devices as you like.
SURF EASY PLUG IN PRIVACY, $ 70
This is a slick little device that looks a bit like an oversized credit card and it’s as handy at home as it is on the road. The brainchild of a Toronto startup, SurfEasy takes care of that problem of keeping your personal data secure when you sign in online at an Internet café, your local coffee shop or other open Wi-Fi networks.
The SurfEasy is a USB key that, once you plug it into a computer, launches a password-protected web browser. Any sign-in information, passwords, websites or other information is protected by the same high-level encryption used by banks.
It also hides your IP (Internet Protocol) address from the websites you visit. When you sign into a website, like Netflix, as far as the website can detect, you could be browsing from the United States, the United Kingdom or another country.
SurfEasy basically offers your own VPN (virtual private network) that you can slip into your wallet and plug in whenever you need secure browsing.
UNLOCKED CELLPHONES, FROM $ 50
When you buy a cellphone with a wireless carrier contract, you get a discount on the price of the phone, but then you’re locked to that carrier’s service. So if you want to use your phone in Europe or the United States or other parts of the world, you could find yourself paying high roaming fees.
My preferred way of avoiding that cellphone bill shock is to have an unlocked phone. It can be a basic talk and text phone at $50 or more. Or it can be a smartphone, like the unlocked iPhone 5, with prices starting at $700.
Carriers will unlock your phone for you — Telus will unlock phones three months into your contract for a $35 fee; Rogers charges $50 and will unlock your phone after 90 days. Check with your carrier if your phone is eligible for unlocking or ask before you buy a cellphone with a carrier if it offers unlocking service. When you travel with an unlocked phone, you simply buy a pay-as-you-go SIM card in the country you’re in.
Another way to avoid roaming fees while you’re travelling in the United States is to use Roam Mobility’s service. The Vancouver startup offers several hardware options, plus phone plans including $20 SIM cards for travel in the U.S. that give you unlimited talk and text for $3 a day and U.S. roaming data plans at $40 for one gigabyte. There’s a useful wireless data wiki online for travellers; check out prepaidwithdata.wikia.com.
INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL ADAPTERS WITH USB CHARGERS , FROM $ 3 0
There are several options when it comes to replacing your collection of plugs for every country with a single adapter that does all.
The Logiix world travel adapter (LGX10280) has plugs for 150 countries, all in a single device. Kensington’s international travel plug adapter with USB charger offers the same plug options plus a USB charger as does DigiPower’s $35 USB Travel AC power
adapter and built-in USB charger.
MINI TABLETS , FROM $ 2 1 0
Since Apple released its first iPad, that has been my mini computer of choice for travelling — whether it’s to upload photos to the cloud, plan itineraries or Skype with home. But that changed with the arrival of the new mini tablets, from Apple’s Mini, to the Google Nexus tablet and now with Samsung’s latest announcement: Its Galaxy Note 8.0 that has a pen for writing on the screen. Some of my globe-trotting friends like to carry e-readers, but if I only have room for one device, I’d opt for a mini tablet, which can also carry my library.
And if you want something that does double duty, keeping the kids amused and giving mom or dad access to a basic Android tablet, check out Ematic’s FunTab Pro, a $150 seven-inch kid-friendly tablet.