I am reading about some wi-fi options abroad and would be interested to hear any stories about using mifi versus tethering to your phone, specifically in France if that matters.
It sounds like mifi lets you carry a hand held mifi, but others seem to recommend just using your phone to tether your laptop for wi-fi. Anyone tried either one abroad?
I like using a mifi. I have one that 5 other pieces of electronics can be tethered. It’s great if you are traveling with a few family members. I usually purchase a prepaid data only SIM card that is rechargeable and it has worked well. We just put the mifi in a pocket and we can get wifi at will. I have an iphone so I can also do iMessage and Facetime as well as using Skype using the mifi.
Read this for more information.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-technology/1447534-prepaid-sim-france.html
I have a Huawei mifi that I bought an extra battery just in case.
You’re talking paying for cellular no matter what so the issue is your need. If as with breeze, you need to connect a bunch of people, that’s obviously a mifi. If you are just checking a few things on your own, a quick tether is great. If you worry about your phone battery, then a mifi might be better (though you should carry a backup charger like something from Anker).
The other thing is not all cell plans ALLOW tethering. The unlimited data plan we had with Sprint didn’t allow it but the much cheaper plan we switched to with TMobile DOES allow tethering.
So far, we’ve avoided the mifi and have wifi at home and TMobile for our phones. We could tether if needed but see no desire to pay for and pack one more device. Most places we go offer free wifi and we don’t want to pay for a mifi device and more data.
Here’s a link with some of the mifi options.