Mi-Fi portable internet?

[tamarabannon]

I'm Canadian, I have an iPhone with Bell Canada -- Data Roaming is THE most ridiculously expensive thing EVER. I can access phone service and texting service, but I cannot upload a pic.

We will be staying at POP where 24 hours of internet is $10.

I've read about Mi-Fi, portable internet, however, to get it from Bell, it's incredibly expensive! (aka Rocket Stick)

Are there any US companies I can purchase a small amount of internet from? I know walmart offers a $20 card for virgin customers. I would have to use it as WiFi in case we took a great pic and wanted to upload it to our friends etc.

Thoughts?

 

[LynneyPooh]

DH and I use Virgin Mobile wi-fi and love it. He also uses virgin as his cell service. We live on the east coast (South Carolina), and have not had any problems with either. You stated that you could get a $20 card for virgin, but I am pretty sure that you'd have to have either a Mi-FI or a virgin phone, or am I misunderstanding what you mean?

The Mi-fi we had to buy for internet was around $150. Monthly service - no contract is around $50.

DH uses their cell service, we pay around $25 a month for unlimited text, data and 300 min. talk time. (However new customers may be $35, check their website virgin.com). As long as you can use it for communication back to Canada this is prob. your best deal. Once you hit the US boarder you can use this. You did not indicate if you were driving or flying, and how long your trip is. I would factor this in to see if it is worth it to purchase a phone or mi-fi, then pay for service.

That being said, if you choose virgin, we have been very pleased with service and customer service.

 

[formill]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2817221 Looks like they are starting to offer free wi-fi in Disney. Not everywhere yet though.

 

[roxysmum123]

You'll probably have to buy a device on top of the internet time through which you can access the internet, similar to the Rocket Stick which will cost over $100 regardless of the company you go with. If you're just wanting to send a photo or two home, I wouldn't bother. I'd probably decide, halfway through the trip, on one day to hook up at my hotel for that 24hr period and send an update to friends and family that way. Over the week, compile the photos and stories into a document, convert it to a PDF and you'll be good to go.

 

[Sue M]

I think if you buy a stick here, you'll still pay data roaming if you use it in the U.S. We ended up buying a stick from T-Mobile in Florida. But reception depends on where you are! We stayed at POR & BC. Reception at POR was poor and I had to drag a chair out to the walkway in front of our room to get reception, but at BC reception was great.

Another thing with T-Mobile, I have Shaw e-mail and it wasn't compatible. I could recieve e mail but couldn't send so I ended up setting up a G-Mail acct so I could send e mail.

I think the stick was $60

 

[Tanooki]

We bought the Virgin Mobile Mifi on Ebay before our last trip (about 100$, the trickiest part was finding a seller that was willing to ship to Canada) and we stopped at Walmart to get a Virgin Mobile Top-Up card for 50$ which gave us unlimited Internet access for 30 days (we came back before that...). Since we drive, it gave us acess in the car for the whole trip as well as when staying at Pop. It worked very well and we are very pleased with our purchase but I know someone on this board had a bad experience with the device, he wasn't able to get it reset (since it was used like mine, bought on Ebay) by Virgin. We had absolutely no problem with Virgin on our part. Certainly beats the roaming charges with Bell! Although we do get the US voice plan for our cellphones before we leave (40$/200 minutes).

 

[dancin Disney style]

I'm not a Bell customer so I have not idea what they currently offer but....can't you just get a 30 day add on for use in the US that eliminates the roaming charges????

 

[tamarabannon]

Dancin Disney -- I never thought of that! :O Considering all I want to do is to upload pics occasionally, this might be the way to go -- I found a package as low as 100 mb for $10. Thank you!

 

[eculmone]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2817221 Looks like they are starting to offer free wi-fi in Disney. Not everywhere yet though.

going to GF next month AND DH is self employed and needs to stay connected so we have always paid for in-room as it is too much of a hassel to go down to lobby etc. to check in at work. This is AWESOME.

 

[Sue M]

I'm not a Bell customer so I have not idea what they currently offer but....can't you just get a 30 day add on for use in the US that eliminates the roaming charges????

I'm with Telus and get the US roaming pkg for voice & texting. The Data roaming is still expensive, $10 + $1.00 per MB

 

[jba2]

I wrote about my bad experience purchasing a mifi device on ebay. The seller sold me an item that was stolen. When I tried to set up the device, the Virgin rep. told me the mifi would have to be returned to the Walmart where it was "purchased" along with the receipt so that the device could be unlocked. I was able to return the item to the seller and get a refund after I complained to ebay.
On my was down to Florida, I ended up purchasing a mifi and was very happy with the product. Five devices can be connected at a time.

 

[mom_rules]

So if they have wireless in some of the resorts now we should be able to connect Ipads and Playbooks?

Anyone know what it costs now?

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Another satisfied Virgin MiFi user here ... picked it up at Walmart in Orlando in May and used it again on our trip 2 weeks ago. You can pick up the Virgin Top Up cards almost anywhere (we got ours at Walgreens) or I've heard of people ordering them from Walmart.com and they send you the top up codes by email.

Just for your info, the only resorts currently testing the free wi-fi are:
Animal Kingdom Lodge
Beach Club
BoardWalk
Contemporary
Coronado Springs
Grand Floridian Resort and Spa
Old Key West
Polynesian
Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa
Wilderness Lodge
Yacht Club

Those same resorts are offering free wired internet until October 24th. There is no free wi-fi anywhere in the parks.

 

[eculmone]

So are you saying free wi fi will not be available AFTER Oct. 24th? Our trip is in November... please say it isn't so

 

[eculmone]

ok, so I guess I should figure out mi fi vs. wi fi paying inroom? Is it worth it to get one in states at local wal-mart? Then do I have to buy additional time for using it? VS. paying $10 a day in room?

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

So are you saying free wi fi will not be available AFTER Oct. 24th? Our trip is in November... please say it isn't so

no idea ... all that was announced is that beginning October 14, complimentary wireless internet would be available at resorts listed above. I don't think anything was said about how long this would be for or if it was permanent.

They did say that complimentary wired internet will be available at those same resorts until October 24.

Rumor is they are working on adding more comprehensive wireless internet to ready the area for the "Next Gen" program currently in development.