How to organize the Internet in a car: our experience

Now many people do not think their life without the Internet and, wherever we are, you are always looking for the opportunity to go online, check the mail, update statuses in social networks, tedt something interesting and lay out a couple "Photos in Instagram". This is especially true on long journeys, when friends are followed by your route and simply third-party observers. While you are at home, in the native country, it is not a problem – all cellular operators have very democratic tariffs for mobile 3G / 4G Internet. But it is worth crossing the border as he or becomes expensive, or even ceases to work. In this article we will try to tell about the available options for receiving a mobile Internet on travels and how to get the Internet in the car, based on our own auto-trip experience. If you are traveling without a company, you can hardly need any additional devices except the smartphone, and it will only be enough to read a couple of paragraphs below to protect yourself from unforeseen expenses. It may already look like a banal, but still thousands of people fall into the roaming operator trap, so we first decided to sharpen attention on this topic again.

Roaming abroad

Attention! Use your own SIM card is not categorically recommended, because in roaming tariffs for data transfer to hundreds, and sometimes even thousands of times higher than in the network "home" Region! For example, in Moscow for 300 rubles you can easily buy 3 gigabytes of mobile traffic per month, and on the roaming rate when using your Moscow SIM card, such a volume in Poland will cost you 154 thousand rubles (tariff 5 rubles per 100 kilobyte). And in Thailand for the same volume you pay 1 million 950 thousand rubles! Therefore in advance, Before crossing the border, Disconnect data transfer on your smartphone, or rearrange the SIM card into a simple phone-dialer, not supporting the Internet access. Many mobile operators have a service that prohibits the use of data transfer in roaming – we strongly recommend it to activate before the trip.

When traveling by car it is easy to get into a situation where you seem to be in our country, but your mobile phones have already registered in the network of a neighboring state. This constantly happens on the border car checkpoints and in case you are driving in parallel border with a neighboring country. If you are planned long distillation on a similar track, we strongly recommend setting up your phones for forced use "home" networks, as in the overwhelming majority of cases, the network selection is performed automatically. How to do it, perhaps, we will not tell, but we will advise you to refer to the instruction manual for your phone.

Purchase of a local SIM card

So, our primary task when entering another country is usually buying a local SIM card. In European countries, you can buy it both in operator offices and in large electronics stores of the MEDIAMARKT or SATURN. Sometimes they can even buy them in grocery supermarkets, but it is important to clearly understand what you are buying. It is also necessary to keep in mind that it is not always possible to consult on tariffs, which is called, "in place" – Or sellers do not know English, or simply do not know all subtleties (this sometimes happens even in the same MediaMarkt). For example, you can easily sell a starting package with a SIM card, which will be able to activate only a full-fledged citizen of the country visited.

In many countries, as in Russia, anonymous sale of SIM cards is generally prohibited, but this does not mean that you will not be able to purchase it – it just takes a passport. Sometimes the operator has only one prepaid (prepaid) tariff available to foreigners, and it can be unprofitable on it mobile or inaccessible. PostPaid (postposable, credit) tariffs, naturally, not available for non-residents. There are tariffs in which only data transmission works, without voice calls and SMS – on them, as a rule, the price of Internet traffic is more profitable.

But there are exceptions – sometimes an impressive Internet package is given "For a present" to voice communication and it turns out that it is more profitable to purchase this option. This, for example, belongs to the Polish Orange – at the moment they have rate (The cost of the starting packet is only 20 zlotys, about $ 7), on which the volume "Gift" Internet traffic depends on the amount of account replenishment. When activating this package on the map there are already 1 gigabytes of mobile Internet, and maybe even enough for the entire period of your travel in Poland.

Usually we "Consume" 1GB on average for 2-3 days, but it should be borne in mind that we are very active using the Internet on the way (cards, unloading photos from phones, search for information, hotel armor, reading reviews, and the like), so it is unlikely possible talk about any average meaning – in each case it is individually. When a lack of traffic, the account is usually not difficult to replenish – it can be done almost at any refueling (around the clock) or supermarket / shopping center.

Polish T-Mobile also has an interesting rate, But without voice traffic. Visiting the Poland once again, we decided to acquire in addition to the sym of Orange also the package from T-Mobile for the sake of experiment and comparative testing. The girls in the communication salon were very kind and friendly, but, unfortunately, did not speak in any language except Polish. Hearing a familiar word "the Internet", They gladly sold us the starting package, but due to the specifics of the work of this operator, the activation of the SIM card occurs with a very large delay (sometimes up to 2 days). We could not understand why "it" It does not work, changed the settings, rearranged the SIM card in different devices – all to no avail. But on the third day of the Internet suddenly earned, and it turned out that the problem was precisely in the long activation of the contract. If you need access to the network immediately, we do not recommend Polish T-Mobile.

In European countries as a class is missing such a thing as "insenet roaming". This means that you can safely buy a SIM card at any point of the country – the tariff will be one throughout its territory and it will work similarly. Russia here is rather an exception – this practice is distributed almost all over the world.

V Austria We used the mobile Internet from the national operator A1 and, I must say, it turned out to be one of the best in quality, speed and coverage. But here there is one nuance – the SIM card of this Package (B.FREE bought by us in Saturn) fundamentally does not work in smartphones, Since it is designed for 3G / 4G modems, tablets and wifi routers! We could not find any mention of this restriction on the Operator’s website, and it was found only in an experienced way, after several (as it turned out – unnecessary) account replenishments and attempts to rearrange Sims in different devices.

In conclusion, part of the purchase of a local SIM card will recommend thoroughly to explore the sites Operators For their suggestive tariffs and connectivity features. There you can see the addresses of the service points of service and the time of their work so that it is not going on border towns with a dried language in search of an operator store. Pay special attention to the time and days of the work of the salons – in many countries, the operator retail works very "lazily", compared to the our. For example, in Greece, the salons of Vodafone and Wind operators in small resort towns work only 4 hours a day, 4 days a week! For convenience, print a page with the tariff you like to show it to the Communication Salon Officer to speed up the purchase process.

And do not forget just in case to set up a set of adapters for SIM cards – not always in stores there are cards of the format you need (ordinary minisim, microsim or nanosim)!

Internet in auto and in your pocket abroad

If you are traveling in a company consisting of two or more people, the purchase of a SIM card for each can fly to a penny – the contract cost is rarely lowered below 10 euros. For "Distribution" The internet to several consumers with one SIM card mankind came up with a very practical and comfortable thing – a pocket WiFi-router – Mifi (derived from "Mobile WiFi"). In the photo – Huawei E5776 with support for 4G LTE network speeds up to 150mbit / s.

Mobile wifi router

Mifi-router is an autonomous device with a sim card socket and a built-in battery, allowing it to work without exterior food quite a long time. They differ from each other with a set of supported data transfer standards, frequency band, design and battery capacity. We started with a 3G WiFi-router Huawei E586, issued to us for the test of the Chinese company of the same name. &# 128578; He showed himself quite well in his work, except for not very long autonomous work and very strong heating with active use. For him, by the way, there is a battery of high tank (for example, here), eliminating the lack of weak autonomy.

The scheme of working with the device is simple – insert the SIM card and after switching on, log in in the WiFi-network router. This is usually enough – the settings for working with most operators the box knows itself and selects them automatically depending on the inserted SIM card. If necessary "thin" Settings, it can be made via the router web interface.

Such devices love to sell operators with their contracts, but it is necessary to keep in mind that everything Operator devices are blocked to work only with their own SIM cards. Inserting a different provider to the sim card in the router, he will simply refuse to register in "stranger" Network. Fortunately, almost All such devices can be studied from bad behavior or free, or for a small money (you can see for example here or just google). In any case, it will be cheaper compared to the purchase of an unaccounted router.

Advice: do not buy WiFi Router abroad, except that you do not have the necessary skills, programs and equipment for unlocking it. Take care of this issue at home – for sure you can easily find a unlocked device on the corresponding flea markets on the Internet or do everything in advance. This device is a good assistant not only on travels, but in many other situations and its acquisition will not look ejecting money to the wind. It is also worth noting that such devices have a limit on the number of simultaneously connected clients (usually from 5 to 10).

If you go to a very long pedestrian walk or excursion, then the charge of the built-in battery may not be enough for the whole journey. In this case, we recommend using a Mifi router in a bundle with External battery, Forget for a long time about charging.

Distribution of internet via wifi with smartphone

In addition to Mifi devices, the Internet with a SIM card can be distributed and with the help of any smartphone or tablet with a 3G / 4G module. To do this, you just need to activate the feature of the mobile access point and log in in the created WiFi-network. To the advantages of such a solution, we would attribute the ability to quickly change the connection settings, connect the necessary services or traffic packages (easy to enter the necessary USSD requests) and even call subscriber support service. And to disadvantages – reduced battery life, a small radius of the WiFi network and, in some cases, the full inability to use the service from the operator (see. above about the case in Austria). If you have an old or unnecessary smartphone with another live battery – you can safely take it with you for such purposes.

Wi-Fi Router with Modem

There is another option – "For self-timer". &# 128578; He does not have MIFI mobility, but it has a much greater range of access point, deprived of restrictions on the number of simultaneously connected customers, problems with autonomy and theoretically more universal. We are talking about ordinary stationary "household" Wifi routers with a USB port that are used at home.

Many of them support the use of USB 3G / 4G modems directly "from the box", with factory firmware, and some such functionality can be added using alternative firmware. In the photo – TP-LINK MR3420. USB modems, like wifi routers, in the overwhelming majority of cases are sold blocked on "His" Operator, so everything described above regarding unlocking (unlock) and the purchase of MiFi-boxes, valid for modems.

This option is well suited for recreation in campsites, when you spend a lot of time not far from your vehicles. Connect this design in the campsite is not difficult from the usual outlet of 220 volts, but it is better to put it on the way from the on-board network of the car through the inverter and a complete power adapter, or directly, using a hand-made lace. There is a similar solution and with a built-in battery, but as a mobile (pocket) option, it is less suitable, since larger than MIFI and has low autonomy. In the photo below – TP-LINK MR3040.

All methods described in this article have been used by us personally on trips to various countries and regions of Russia and are fully operable. Probably, it is still worth noting a completely obvious fact that the quality of the mobile Internet directly depends on the network coverage of the selected operator and the supported data transfer standard, as well as the network load at some specific location point. Since data transfer occurs on the radio channel, you should not count on a permanent "reinforced concrete" Connect. This applies to the use of mobile Internet in motion, where periodic can be considered quite normal phenomenon "Ferry", and sometimes the full loss of communication. As for Russia, it happens right here and next to long-distance trails, where even 3G coating is either completely absent, or appears in small "Islands" when driving some settlements.

This article was stolen from http: // poznamka.Ru.

Naturally, within the framework of one article it is impossible to cover all the subtleties and nuances of this extensive topic, and if you have any questions – do not hesitate, ask them in the comments. We will try to answer or advise the solution for your specific situation.

And finally, we wish good luck in travels, a good connect and . Do not switch – ahead of new stories! &# 128578;

How to organize the Internet in a car: our experience 2014-02-08T18: 36: 53 + 03: 00 2021-07-04T11: 45: 07 + 03: 00 Sergey ‘Crasher’