Tell us about your experience using cell phones as hot spots in other countries?

[Onemoreproject]

Well folks, it seems like not many people have much to say about the Wireie Pro yet. Maybe the price is impeding sales.

So perhaps people might have more experience and comments regarding the use of cell phones as hot spots in other countries.

I'd like to hear about the quality of connectivity, costs and ease or difficulty of acquiring sim cards in different countries and harbors.Particularly in Mexico, French Polynesia, New Zealand and Australia.

I am also interested in knowing if sim cards can be used in any old unlocked phone or if you need a special one for each country you visit?

Thanks in advance for your input on this subject!!

[StuM]

Australia: I'm currently on line on my laptop in Cairns with a 4G SIM in my Sansung S5 as a hot spot. Costs me $30 for 3.5GB of data. Telstra have the best coverage up the East Coast. YOU can buy a prepay SIM in just about any convenience store, or in a cell phone store in any major shopping centre where they will get operational before you walk out

Heading back north today to PNG, and since I have Vodaphone, I will lose it after Port Douglas

Once I get 20 miles out of Port Moresby, I will swap in my PNG Digicel SIM and have coverage again. I use Digicel for all of my internet in PNG, it's the same cost as any other connectivity there ( a lot more than in Aus )

[clownfishsydney]

Last year when sailing up the East Coast of Australia we used a combination of our iPhones as a hot spot (till we used up free data on our plans) and then a separate prepaid SIM in our WiFi router on the boat. Sometimes when out on Great Barrier Reef we used iPhone hauled up the mast as this was the only way to access network.

For all of the above we used Telstra as they are the only ones with decent access outside cities in Australia.