Three of us will need gps and internet searches for our fall trip on late October. Are there reliable reasonably priced portable wi fi companies you could suggest. Or would SIM cards be better? Thank you!

for gps you don’t need wifi or connection to the cell network.

You do need
a) line of sight to satellites, and
b) maps on your smart phone.

Download the maps before you travel.
I use google maps for this purpose and if works fine.

Thank you!

Regarding your other question about pocket portable wifi.
On my last trip to Italy (2019) I had a handheld wifi unit that was provided by our rental car company (Hertz) so I can't tell you how much it would cost for you to rent from TIM or another telecom company. It was basically a cell phone, but for wifi connection only...

We carried it with us in the car as well as walking around, and in our apartment and it worked very well for us. Anybody in our group of 5 had internet access with fast enough speed for browsing, email, music streaming, etc.

So maybe check with TIM to see if they offer any rentals.

An alternative as you suggest is to use a local SIM, or even just roaming plan from your own cell service. That last may be the simplest, but maybe not the best price. The benefit of a mobile wifi is that several of you can share it.

Any portable internet device you buy or rent will operate with a SIM card, even if you don't buy it separately. So it really makes more sense just to use a local SIM card, or a good roaming plan with your regular provider.

It would help to know where you'll be traveling.

I don't think so, I believe SIM cards are only for phones. I don't use GPS, I just use regular maps when I drive. And in Europe, I take my Samsung tablet if I want to make/change train or hotel reservations and it works fine wherever I am if there is Wifi available. I also like to read my email and check newspapers or read on it at the hotel at night. I don't carry it around during the day, though.

We always purchase a local SIM card for each of our phones. We typically order from Amazon before our trip and then put the SIM card in once we're there or on the plane. You can check what your phone service offers for international plans, but for two of us, it's always been much less expensive to get a SIM card.

SIM cards can be used in various types of device that need to connect to the internet. Many tablets can use SIM cards, as well as other devices like cameras or watches. There are now e-SIMs, which function like a SIM card without the physical card.

If you have a SIM card in a phone, you can use it to create a WiFi hotspot that other devices can connect to. This has made those portable WiFi devices obsolete. In fact, a portable WiFi device uses a SIM card to connect to the internet.

I don’t see the point of a pocket wifi when these days you can get such good connections with 4G, or even 5G in some places, on a phone. This thread is tagged for Portugal, so that’s where I assume you are going. I always wait until arriving in a country to buy a local SIM with the data and air time I will need, and that usually works out cheaper than an international SIM. I can use my iPhone as a hotspot for my iPad if I want, but since my iPad is wifi + cellular I usually buy SIMs for each so I don’t have to keep the two devices within Bluetooth range.

Just in case you do want a dongle (portable wifi device) I've used https://www.portugalinternet.com/ for two-week stays, and it's been great for our group of 8 or so, as everyone can access the device, unlimited data (though they get upset if the person holding the dongle gets up and heads off to the bathroom as it fits in a pocket). Charged overnight it easily lasts the whole next day; it was strong enough to work through walls for adjacent rooms; fast and very easy - - just log on once with the simple password and after that you are logged in automatically on phone/laptop etc. PIckup can be arranged at airport or hotel, and when you're done you pop it in the envelope they give you and drop it in a postbox.

Dfourh, good info! I know a dongle can be plugged into a laptop, but can you use it if you only have a phone or tablet?

I used to buy SIM cards on arrival, but with the advent of e-SIMs and dual SIM phones, if you have an unlocked iPhone of recent vintage, you can order your e-SIM online, install it, and go live with the "flip of a switch" while you are on the flight over.

​​​​​Dfourh is referring to a portable WiFi device. It doesn't get plugged into anything. It creates a WiFi hotspot which your laptop or tablet, or a different phone, can connect to.

Anything a dongle can do, your phone can do, if you put a SIM card in it. (The dongle has a SIM card in it.) Both create a WiFi hotspot that anyone in the vicinity can use. The main difference is that if you have a phone, the local SIM card is much cheaper. Another difference is that you can use it to make local phone calls, for instance to call a taxi or make a reservation.

​​​​​In Portugal, you can get a Vodafone Traveler's SIM card for 30 euros, which is good for 30 days, and gives you 20 GB of data, which would normally be far more than you need. It also gives you 500 minutes of phone calls and SMS. It can also be used in any other EU country if you're going somewhere else after Portugal.

In comparison, the "dongle" that Dfourh mentioned would cost €42 for one week. (The company could also give you just the SIM card, which would cost "only" €35 for one week.)

I don't understand why anyone would consider renting one of these things. If you don't want to put a SIM card in your usual phone, buy a cheap burner phone. When you buy the SIM card, the shop owner will put the SIM card in it for you, and you have your own personal portable WiFi device, or dongle, or whatever you want to call it. You can use it on all your future trips, just buying a new SIM card if your original one is expired or if you're traveling outside the EU.

Not a real dongle then.

I'm a bit confused now. I used to have a dongle, which I plugged into the USB port of my laptop. That was a long time ago. It had a SIM card, for which I think I got a data-only plan designed specifically for dongles.

Dfourh seems to equate a portable WiFi hotspot with a dongle. What exactly is the difference between the two? Is it just that the portable WiFi device creates a WiFi hotspot?

About three or four years ago, we were ready to install an Orange Holiday Sim for our Paris stay, but it turns out our Paris hotel offered the use of a portable WiFi hotspot. That worked out great since my husband and I were rarely apart. It was painless for this trip. I just handed the SIM to other members of our Paris trip to use.

A year or so later, we bit the bullet and did our Orange Holiday SIMs for a trip to the UK. I made sure to read every possible thing that could go wrong, which usually involved not registering the number before we left and not adjusting the phone settings once one activated the SIM on the ground. My husband and I did the activation together before we left the destination airport. No blips except some annoying messages in French, which I know enough to get by.

What are we going to do for our upcoming trip? Yep, an Orange Holiday SIM. My husband, who is more "frisky" than I, doesn't have to worry about escaping with the hotspot while I'm in the shower. And this way, when he gets lost (he may be frisky, but his sense of direction is questionable), I can call him to find out where he thinks he is at the time.

I am going to see if our phones will work with an e-SIM.

You can order the Orange SIMs from Amazon which is also handy.

Kureiff--You read m mind. Since our newer phones have eSim capabiities, I'm going to get the eSim version of the Orange Holiday this time.