WiFi Hotspot advice for travel in Germany

Hi Debbie. Just wondering.... you say 'Since I will be traveling with a mobile Rail pass, I need to have internet available...'. What is the need to have mobile internet? Can't you just store the rail pass info on your phone, and show it to conductor when needed?

Apart from what Bob has pointed out, the question(s) I would ask are:

• is your phone is a dual SIM phone
• is your phone unlocked

If you have a dual SIM phone, you can purchase a data-only SIM card/plan, insert
it into your phone, and consume data that way. You wouldn't need the hotspot
device. If your phone is unlocked, you can buy a voice and data plan and just
plug that SIM into your phone (thus removing the need for dual SIM). Maybe even
remove the AT&T SIM during the trip so there is no chance you'd use that plan.

If you buy a hotspot device, the plan you want is not something we can answer
without some knowledge of what you plan to use it for. From the sound of it, you
won't need it for much. Plus, it's another thing you have to carry around.

In addition, many inter-Europe trains have wi-fi capability. Not so much on regional
trains.

Finally, you could just purchase a burner phone/plan and use it during the trip,
completely turning off your existing phone.

Debbie, what pass do you plan on getting that you need on train connectivity for? For the Deutschland ticket won’t a screen shot suffice?

I think the bigger picture is, does your phone plan work in Europe? Will it cost an incredible amount of money to just use your phone? Perhaps you should change plans to a more typical unlimited talk/text/data plan and then add the travel component.

Or sign up with T Mobile and just keep them long enough for your trip.

Thank you all for your thoughts and questions. I do NOT have a dual sim card and my phone is NOT unlocked. I don't have a phone contract, but a pay as you go plan (it is cheap!) but basically no support at all for international travel. I would like to have internet primarily for times when I need to check train schedules and for my rail pass (yes, it seems a screen shot should be ok). I will be traveling basically all over Germany and at times, when a connection is tight, or for missed connections it is nice to have wi-fi to check for other train options. I appreciate all your advice-- at this point I am checking costs and possible options.

I was in Italy in the fall and not having wi-fi was a real pain. "Free" wifi in the airports but I needed to get a code by "TEXT" (which I couldn't access) to get the wifi etc. I know Germany is not Italy but the experience left me feeling as though having a reliable wifi source would be nice if it isn't too expensive.

Has anyone had experience with using a portable hot-spot? If so, can you recommend a company?

Just an additional thought - how long have you had your phone? It used to be that after
a certain # of months (6?), your phone can be unlocked, AT&T will send you an unlock code
to do this.

Debbie, for reasons too complicated to go into here, I needed a mobile hotspot a few years ago while traveling in Europe. I used the Solis brand (available on Amazon, or at least it was back then), which is roughly the size of a hockey puck. I don't recall how expensive the data plan was per day, but the unit itself is a little spendy. Did it work? Yes, quite well. Would I recommend it? Only if you literally have no other option, because it's one more thing to carry around, keep charged, etc. I'm not sure this will help, but I thought I'd throw it out there. Good luck.

Since my last post I have found out how to unlock my phone and found out that I actually DO have the capability to add an additional e-sim card to my phone. I plan to use WhatsApp to contact friends and family and need to be to have wifi access. Does anyone have an esim provider in Germany they would recommend? I will be in Germany for about 1 month.

I don't have your answer (luckily my UK phone plan roams on the basic rates in Europe) but I just wanted to congratulate you on the breakthrough.

I think the Technology section of the forum may be able to help you, at the least
I have seen comments about eSim purchases there.

Also, while I understand the need for wifi access, that comes on your phone by
default, so not sure why you'd be concerned about that. In addition, if you have
a data eSim, technically you can survive without wifi at all.

Thank you!