Always stay connected – Internet on the Road With GlocalMe

Internet on the Road with GlocalMe – The small device looks a little bit like a smartphone, almost fits in your pocket and is the solution of one of the biggest problems nomads have while traveling: Internet!

There are several disadvantages to this:

1. I can’t go online from the very first moment. For example, I can only call an UBER* from the airport to get to the place where I’m staying if I got a SIM-Card at the airport or if they have Wi-Fi that is working outside of the terminal as well.
2. I’m not available under my „normal“ number. This can be a problem not only when people want to call you but as well if you’re managing your social networks with two-factor authentification. This means you get an SMS with a code to log in. Obviously, you can’t get an SMS if you have the SIM-Card in your wallet…
3. I need a new SIM-Card for every country. With more than 20 cards my wallet is FULL of SIM-Cards. Since I didn’t label them properly I don’t even know anymore which card belongs to what country.

For quite a while now, I have been researching possibilities for international mobile internet solutions. And now I tested one: GlocaMe!

What is GlocalMe?

GlocalMe* is a device, which does three things:

#3 It’s a Power Bank!

I do have a power bank with 20.000 mAh but it’s always good to have a backup.

Mobile Internet on the Road With GlocalMe

The device itself doesn’t look very different from my iPhone SE*, although it’s a lot thicker and heavier.

The cost is 154,99 Euro.

What Data Packages do They Offer?

If you don’t buy a SIM-Card you can use the packages GlocalMe offers.

I got a package for 1GB for Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. It was super practical when I entered Singapore by bus and had therefore no possibility to buy a SIM-Card immediately. Still, I was able to stay online the whole time. I got my local SIM-Card three days later because I didn’t feel the pressure to do it right away and stress myself by searching for a place.

Normally, there are packages of 300MB (around 4 Euro), 1GB (around 7 Euro)  and 3GB (around 19 Euro). You can usually either get a package for one country or pay about 1 Euro more to get a package that is valid in several countries (like my Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore package). If you want to have a package that is valid in the whole world, it’s 29 Euro for 1GB.

How Does the Payment Work?

First of all you need the GlocalMe app! With the app you:

You can either put money on your account via Paypal, which you can then use to buy packages. If you don’t get a package you pay per MB. Anyways, they only offer Paypal and Alipay as payment methods.

My Conclusion About Internet on the Road With GlocalMe?

I tested the device with the packages of GlocalMe for about five weeks. Unfortunately, the connection was not always the best and pages were often loading very slowly. Additionally, the device consumes data when it’s only in standby mode, which costed me 20 Euro in the first days because I thought it was switched off. And one more advice: The smartphone is not recognizing the created Wi-Fi as a mobile hotspot. That’s why there are things happening in the background that consume a lot of data!

But there are three reasons why the GlocalMe device for me is a great add-on to my travel gear:

1. I can arrive to a new country and go online without having the pressure of finding a store that sells SIM-Cards immediately.
2. The two SIM-Card slots allow me to leave my German SIM-Card in my smartphone and be available on my German number all around the world.
3. I have a backup power bank, which seems very useful to me.

That’s why my GlocalMe device will from now on be part of my travel gear.

What’s your solution for mobile internet?

PS: GlocalMe supported me by sending me the device for free. I didn’t get any financial compensation for this collaboration. My opinion is my own and not influenced by this.