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Question

International (Australia) Portable Wifi from the US?

Apr 25, 2018 7:57AM PDT

Is there such thing as a device that gives wifi and you can bring it around everywhere you go?

I’m in a long distance relationship and my girlfriend (who lives in Australia) is tight on money (doesn’t have enough money to pay off her phone bills/have data and something happened to their modem in the home and can’t afford to fix/replace it).

I’m just wondering if there’s a portable wifi device that I can send from the US to Australia that I can pay for from here (US) so that she has internet connection over there (something fast and strong enough for steady skype video calls on her laptop or even kik messaging on the iphone). Maybe something like $50-75 a month for wifi use?

Thanks a lot!

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Nope.
Apr 25, 2018 8:13AM PDT

It's the same answer though as getting your internet from ISP or cellular. You shop around until you find your deal.

It's a shame you limited yourself to Skype here. I own a FreedomPop SIM that is zero a month and has unlimited Whatsapp plus 200 minutes of talk and 200 text messages. It cost me $9.99 and no monthly fee. It's coverage is well, you can research that. But what about????

Chatsim which has Australia covered in Oceania at https://www.chatsim.com/personal/coverage/unlimited

You do have to be careful with these systems to avoid buying their upgrades but pop these into some 99 buck Android phone and you're done. For cheap.

But no Skype. Why Skype for this round?

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Not what I asked
Apr 25, 2018 4:01PM PDT

Well that’s not what I asked haha I wasn’t asking for your opinion on the “best” way to communicate. I was merely asking if there’s anyway I could pay for her wifi, which you already answered in short “Nope.”

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I had to guess you didn't want to pay her internet bill.
Apr 25, 2018 4:15PM PDT

You could do that without asking so I took it as stated above where you wanted to ship something to there. If you had asked about shipping a router or modem+router we could get into that but that's not what I read above.

This is more than opinion I offered. Theses are solutions I use on travel along with many others.

So can you clarify your question. If you want to buy them replacement gear, for the modem and router it will have to be compatible with their ISP and same as here, the ISP sets what works. If you want to buy that gear, you don't have to ask here.

Let's hear more.

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Again
Apr 25, 2018 9:11PM PDT

“I’m just wondering if there’s a portable wifi device that I can send from the US to Australia that I can pay for from here (US) so that she has internet connection over there (something fast and strong enough for steady skype video calls on her laptop or even kik messaging on the iphone).”

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Re: WiFi
Apr 26, 2018 12:53AM PDT

WiFi, alas, only connects to a modem that's connected to the internet and no more than, say,30 meters removed. It doesn't connect to the internet itself. So "a portable wifi device ... that ... has internet connection" on it own doesn't exist.

Maybe you're looking for something else? Than let her choose a 3G or 4G or 5G (whatever is offered where she lives) provider (like AT&T or Verizon in the USA), ask them for a recommended dongle for her laptop and take a subscription for the right number or GB (the more, the more expensive). Then pay her for the dongle, and maybe for the monthly subscription, but that's up to you.

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Thanks
Apr 26, 2018 7:08AM PDT

Thanks for actually taking time to read my question and giving me an actual answer. Much appreciated. Exactly what I was asking: “is there a device?” which you answered.

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The solution I noted
Apr 26, 2018 8:11AM PDT

With ChatSim does turn a phone into a device that you can use WhatsApp to chat with for very cheap to free. It doesn't replace the usual ISP but could fill in the gap.

If you pay for more, then you can get it to be a hotspot and then it could be that device you are asking for.

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Case is Closed
Apr 26, 2018 9:32PM PDT

Not interested in your responses. Take care