A mobile hotspot—often called pocket WiFi—is a small device that creates a personal WiFi network you can carry in your bag. It connects to a mobile network and shares that connection with your phone, tablet, laptop, or anything else with WiFi. For travellers, it solves a problem that eSIMs alone can't: giving internet to multiple devices without buying data for each one separately.
You can connect several devices at once
This is the most obvious advantage and the reason most people rent a mobile hotspot in the first place. If you're travelling with a laptop, tablet, and phone, you only need one data connection. Your partner or family can join the same hotspot without needing their own plan. It's particularly useful if someone in your group has an older phone that doesn't support eSIM, or if you need to get a work laptop online without faffing about with hotel WiFi passwords.
Most pocket WiFi devices support five to ten simultaneous connections, though performance does drop if everyone's streaming video at once. For casual browsing, maps, and messaging across a few devices, it works well. If you're travelling solo but carry a laptop or tablet, a hotspot still makes more sense than paying for separate data on each device.
No need to change settings on every device
With an eSIM, you install it on your phone and that phone gets online—but your tablet and laptop are still offline unless they have their own connection. A mobile hotspot flips this around: you configure the hotspot once, and every other device just connects to it like any WiFi network. No installing profiles on your tablet, no toggling data settings on your laptop, no wondering whether your Kindle can even use mobile data in the first place.
This makes life simpler if you're not confident with tech, or if you're sharing internet with someone who isn't. Hand them the WiFi password for the hotspot and they're online. It also means you can switch your phone off or into flight mode to save battery, and your laptop stays connected.
For short trips around the UK or abroad, rentnconnect rents mobile hotspots from as little as one day—no subscription, just pay for what you need. You manage everything in the rentnconnect app (iOS and Android), including topping up data if you run low. If you prefer to travel lighter and only need your phone online, an eSIM from rentnconnect does the job without the extra device. Both options are flexible and short-term, so you're not locked into anything beyond your trip.