justretired

Hi, My husband and I are traveling to Puglia in September for 2 weeks and want to get a rented MiFi hotspot. In looking at the various sites that supply these devices, I found the following:
https://www.expressowifi.com/wifi_in...FYcfhgodttMOzw

The price is 5E/day for 2 weeks, which is cheaper than others I have seen online.

Have any of you used Expressowifi or any other competitors, and if so, what was your experience, particularly in Italy? Do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks.

bvlenci

For the cost of that rental, you could buy a cheap Android phone and use it to tether your other devices. Then it would be yours for other trips. You could also use it as a phone.

StCirq

I have never understood the need for MIFI in Europe, at least not Western Europe. As bvlenci says, a cheap Android will serve the purpose, and others as well. Plus there are Wifi spots galore all over.

greg

MiFi is useful if you are dealing with a large fan-out such as a bus full of people. Another special case is in countries where sales of SIM cards are restricted to visitors. For a small fan-out, tethering would be both cheaper and more useful as you don't have to carry MiFi if all you are powering are your phones. If both of you have unlocked smartphones, you can get two SIMs are the fraction of MiFi rental and allow you to access network if you are separated.

justretired

Unfortunately, our phones are not unlocked, so using a SIM card will not work. Also, data on SIM cards can be expensive, and possibly more than the 5 Ea day that the mifi offers. In the past, we have used Verizon international plans, but it isn't cheap and you don't get much data.

We want to be able to use Google Maps while driving and walking (yes, I know we can downlaod Maps while we have access to wifi, which will be limited in the agriturismi where we will be staying). We want to be able to use Skype or wahtsapp to call family, make reservations, check sites, etc.

Thanks.

Andrew

justretired: <i>Unfortunately, our phones are not unlocked, so using a SIM card will not work. Also, data on SIM cards can be expensive, and possibly more than the 5 Ea day that the mifi offers. In the past, we have used Verizon international plans, but it isn't cheap and you don't get much data.</i>

Are they fairly recent Verizon smart phones? What make/model? Verizon isn't allowed to lock their 4GLTE smart phones per agreement with the FCC, though depending on the make/model of the phone, using the phone on a GSM network with another SIM may not be simple. (But it might be really simple.)

I have been using a Verizon Moto E on T-Mobile networks for over a year. This is one of the phones that "wasn't simple" to use on GSM, but I didn't need an unlock code from Verizon to use it. In fact, I've never used the phone on Verizon.

StCirq

You can't get the phones unlocked?

How much data do you need while trying to enjoy an agriturismo vacation in Italy? I understand wanting to be connected, but apart from necessities, how about taking a break from the data fix for a few days? Especially in an agriturismo, the whole point of which is to have an eco-vacation away from those things.

StCirq

You can't get the phones unlocked?

How much data do you need while trying to enjoy an agriturismo vacation in Italy? I understand wanting to be connected, but apart from necessities, how about taking a break from the data fix for a few days? Especially in an agriturismo, the whole point of which is to have an eco-vacation away from those things.

justretired

Thanks, all. We both have Verizon and a Samsung Galaxy S3, maybe 4-5 years old-we guess we can have it unlocked (not easy, if at all possible), but decided to not bother. We are replacing our phones when we return from Italy with a phone that will be unlocked. Getting the mifi is just a luxury.

St Cirq, I do understand the point of detaching from technology for a short vacation. I will not be a person in a restaurant viewing my phone to check social media. But, I will want to check in on the news, get directions, make reservations, and be in touch with home a bit. As I said- a luxury, but not an expensive one.

StCirq

I get that, but a cheap phone with a local SIm card should suffice - like for 15 euros for your entire vacation. You are making this much more complicated than it needs to be.

I live in France. I have a $20 Blu phone with an Orange SIM card for which I pay 14 euros a month for data, email, SMS, phone calls. There is free Wifi everywhere I go, and I'm in the middle of nowhere. My husband Skypes with his colleagues in the USA several times per week. We get directions by looking at excellent paper maps. We make reservations by making phone calls. We are in touch with home by Skype from time to time, at no cost -we do it on our laptops.

greg

According to http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_gala..._cdma-4799.php, Verizon Samsung Galaxy S3 is CDMA only with no GSM capability. There is nothing to unlock. It has no SIM slot.

Whatever is the reason keeping you from upgrading to GSM capable unlocked phones, if you decide to upgrade now, is the cost more than 5€ per day? Look at the numbers. 5€ x 14 days = 70€. Now look at this: www.tim.it, enter "Welcome" in the search box above and click "TIM Welcome Internet." How much do TWO lines cost? Is it more than "70€"?

In case you have not gone through a trial MiFi rental process at the site you mentioned, you will find that there are more to it than 5€ per day.

1. You have limited number places to pickup the unit or have it delivered at authorized accommodations.
2. There is additional charge to pickup/deliver the unit.
3. You have limited number of places to return the unit.
4. There is yet another additional charge to return the unit
5. There is a 100€ security deposit.
6. You will be charged unspecified amount for the loss or damage
7. You are REQUIRED to file an official police complaint within 24 hours in case of a loss.
8. They don't specify which carrier is providing the service.

justretired

Hi, all. Larry here - Margie was the original poster (we both post as "justretired"). I'm posting on this thread to let everyone know what we did, and how it worked out.

We did rent the ExpressoWiFi device for 14 days, and liked it. We found it most useful on the road, where we used Google Maps for navigation. Maps did much better than my Garmin GPS, which was hampered by out-of-date maps (Puglia seems to have added a lot of new traffic circles). After using the Garmin GPS to drive from the Bari airport to our first hotel, we never used it again.

We prepaid for the ExpressoWiFi device on their web site, and there were no additional charges. It was waiting for us at our first hotel in a sealed envelope upon our arrival, and we left it at our last hotel for pickup, in another sealed envelope that had been provided, with a prepaid and pre-addressed label. Some sort of courier service was used.

The carrier used by the device was TIM. A WiFi device like this is sometimes called a "hotspot", and in rural Puglia, that name was quite apt - the device was often hot to the touch. I imagine that it was working hard to connect to rather weak 4G signals in the area. On our one day in Matera, in Basilicata, it ran much cooler. We kept it powered when in the car, so we had no problem with battery life even in fringe areas.

Greg, our Samsung Galaxy S III phones are CDMA in the US, but they do also have a GSM capability, and have an internal SIM-card slot. But they are several years old, and are indeed locked. Despite the GSM hardware, they didn't work in Europe when we first got them, due to a software issue. But the following year, the software was upgraded, and we were able to start using them on GSM networks when travelling.

The ExpressoWiFi device provided WiFi to our two phones and Margie's tablet, wherever we were, for 5 euros a day. Data plans with an adequate data allowance from our US carrier, Verizon, would have cost more. Our first week, our hotel only had WiFi in two public areas, so we used the device in our room (and were able to look up the web sites of places we were planning to visit on Margie's WiFi-only tablet). It was less important the second week, when we had a high-speed WiFi connection in our room, but we still used it daily for navigation on the road.

Since ExpressoWiFi had no drop-off point at the Bari airport, we left the device at our last hotel for pickup. We then turned on Mobile Data on our phones for the last day only, and used Google Maps to navigate back to the airport (which would have been pretty simple even without Maps). That was easily within the 100 Mbyte limit of our inexpensive Verizon International Plan, which also gave us essentially unlimited calling and text messages.

All in all, we were quite happy with the ExpressoWiFi service.

Andrew

Verizon should still unlock those old phones so you can buy a SIM card directly from TIM next time and use them in Italy without using Verizon to roam at all - if you still have those phones on a future trip.

Google Maps can do GPS-like navigation without any mobile data. You can pre-download a map area while you are on WiFi to get around, though there are a few limitations. (Can't do public transit routing on-the-fly for example.) But just to use your phone as a GPS in the car with Google Maps, you wouldn't have needed a device like ExpressoWiFi.

ROY77

Reply for Justretired.
I was in Italy last June and I rented a mobile wifi service.
Before my departing, I made a research and finally I choosed WiTourist.
Witourist is a bit cheaper than any other and has the best reviews on facebook, google, and Tripadvisor.
since I am a fan of technology, I noted that they use high performances TP-Link devices with a wide LCD screen and not a basic MiFi.
Here the link to learn more: www.witourist.com

starrs

Reply for ROY77 -
Their trip is over and they reported back on the service they chose and their use of it. See the post of 9/29/16.

nochblad

ROY77 is a spammer

MFNYC

We have used that service in Italy (Pisa/Bologna/Parma/Milan). We actually did have an issue with the 1st device they sent us, but we called and they did send a replacement to out B&B. My son also used them in Rome/Sorrento/positano and it was fine. We like having the wifi so we can use google maps as we're walking around and be able to lookup info on restaurants, sites, etc. I can also use iMessaging any time. I personally don't like using free public wifi, especially for anything that requires logging in.

We have a cheap Europe phone for calls (we buy minutes), but it's not a hotspot and doesn't allow apps. Our regular phones, are much pricier than the mifi to use as a hotspot.

Andrew

MFNYC, it sounds like you have the worst of all worlds there: home phones, Europe phone, and a portable hotspot!

Why not just buy a cheap Android phone to replace your "Europe phone?" They don't have to cost hundreds of dollars. I've bought a few decent Android phones for under $50 USD (deals come and go). And they work great as hotspots in Europe.

whitehall

Old thread. Is this latest post just spam?