If you've ever tried to get online while travelling, you'll know that hotel WiFi is patchy and café hopping with a laptop gets old fast. A pocket WiFi device—sometimes called a mobile hotspot—promises to solve that by giving you your own portable internet connection wherever you go. But not all pocket WiFi works abroad, and the ones that do often come with catches you won't spot until you're already at the airport.
Does your pocket WiFi actually work where you're going?
The first thing to understand is that most pocket WiFi devices are locked to a specific country or region. If you bought one in the UK for domestic use, there's a fair chance it won't connect once you land in Spain, Japan or the US. Even devices marketed as "international" often cover only a handful of countries, or charge eye-watering rates outside their home zone. Always check the coverage list before you pack it.
Then there's the question of how it gets online. Many pocket WiFi devices use a physical SIM card, which means you're either stuck with the data plan that came with it (often expensive for international use) or you're swapping SIM cards at every border—which defeats the point of having a portable device in the first place. Some newer models support eSIM technology, which lets you switch data plans digitally without fiddling with tiny plastic cards. That's where things get more flexible.
Renting vs. buying: what makes sense for short trips
If you travel once or twice a year, buying a pocket WiFi device outright rarely makes financial sense. You'll spend £100–£200 on the hardware, then still need to pay for international data each time you use it. The device will sit in a drawer for eleven months, the battery will degrade, and by the time your next trip rolls around the technology will have moved on.
Renting a pocket WiFi solves that problem. With rentnconnect, you can rent a mobile hotspot from as little as one day—ideal for a city break or a fortnight's holiday—then return it when you're done. It's pay-as-you-go with no subscription, no long contract, and no upfront hardware cost. You manage everything through the rentnconnect app (available on iOS and Android), including topping up data if you need more midway through your trip. Because it uses eSIM technology, it works across multiple countries without the faff of swapping SIM cards, and you're not locked into a single carrier's international roaming rates. For short-term travellers, that flexibility beats ownership every time.