Traveling Internationally for the First Time!!!

[AnnaTyler]

Hello all!

I am going to be going to Paris in May and I'm still ironing out a lot of the details. I'm going to be camming while I'm there and I'm very nervous about the issue of WiFi. I would prefer to be in more control so I could hop around if I wanted to from place to place so I was looking into using my phone as a hotspot. Has anyone done this (esp overseas)? Is it pricey? Is the connection shitty? Do you run out of data fast?? My other option is to just AirBnB it and make sure that the apartment has good WiFi.

Also, if you have ANY travel tips whatsoever- I am such a noob and I'm going by myself and I have no damn idea what I'm doing.

Thanks!!!!

 

[Fatquack]

I seem to remember they mentioned using hotspots at one of the CamCasa events. Is that correct @caireen?

 

[Mila_]

I am going to be going to Paris in May and I'm still ironing out a lot of the details. I'm going to be camming while I'm there and I'm very nervous about the issue of WiFi. I would prefer to be in more control so I could hop around if I wanted to from place to place so I was looking into using my phone as a hotspot. Has anyone done this (esp overseas)? Is it pricey? Is the connection shitty? Do you run out of data fast?? My other option is to just AirBnB it and make sure that the apartment has good WiFi.

Also, if you have ANY travel tips whatsoever- I am such a noob and I'm going by myself and I have no damn idea what I'm doing.

Thanks!!!!

I travel a lot and finding decent wifi is NOT easy.

Airbnb - hosts will all say they have a fast connection and when you get there you find anything ranging from really fast download and THE CRAPIEST upload speeds to internet that only my granma would consider fast because she compares it to snail mail. So dont ever trust an Airbnb host on internet speed.

Hotspots - the only country I have ever been to with fast and dependable hotspots easily available for a tourist is Japan. In other countries you get the same problems as Airbnb... lots of promises that they dont deliver on.

Phone as a hotspot - this works but it will be hard for you to find a plan with enough data. In Europe 1GB is considered excessive and prepaid plans dont even get you that much. I burned about a gig for every 3 hours streaming at 600 x 800.

Is there a solution? Not really... you will not cam like at home.

 

[Deleted member 37064]

Have zero experience with this from a video/camming perspective. But, if you have access to a physical cable port in your room, and it doesn't require logging in to a sight such as you get at some hotels, or airports, this might be a potential solution:

https://www.anonabox.com/

I have the Anonabox Pro, and initially bought it for travelling to visit my parents. They have cable internet but no wifi. It's small, is powered via USB and has vpn(was HMA but is now PIA) built into it. It's worked pretty well for me at places which provide unrestricted (no login page required) access to the web.

When I travel, I bring the Anonabox Pro, USB cable, and two network cords (wall-Anonabox-laptop).

 

[Just_A_Guy]

Know nothing about how camming will be there but ...

I am going to be going to Paris

Rive gauche and go easy on the absinthe! Good luck!

 

[Dan Epstein]

Lots of the apartment buildings in Europe have a very slow wi-fi, and the tenants usually have no control over the speed of it.
Uploading files can be a menace. I'd focus on the food and fun instead.

 

[Just_A_Guy]

on the food

Hell no!!! Who likes french cuisine anyway? lol

 

[AnnaTyler]

I travel a lot and finding decent wifi is NOT easy.

Airbnb - hosts will all say they have a fast connection and when you get there you find anything ranging from really fast download and THE CRAPIEST upload speeds to internet that only my granma would consider fast because she compares it to snail mail. So dont ever trust an Airbnb host on internet speed.

Hotspots - the only country I have ever been to with fast and dependable hotspots easily available for a tourist is Japan. In other countries you get the same problems as Airbnb... lots of promises that they dont deliver on.

Phone as a hotspot - this works but it will be hard for you to find a plan with enough data. In Europe 1GB is considered excessive and prepaid plans dont even get you that much. I burned about a gig for every 3 hours streaming at 600 x 800.

Is there a solution? Not really... you will not cam like at home.

Thank you!!! I actually found an SD that has 5GB for around 35 euro and then another one with 10GB for 40 euro. That's around 15-30 hours online... Though I do wonder how much data I would burn with HD. Also, I know I'll be using my phone quite a bit just to get around and communicate with friends and fam... we will see.

Also- I'm not sure if this is the same thing as a hotspot (I literally know nothing about networks) but I found a "Travel WiFI" that claims 4G speeds and will give me 3 gigs a day for two and a half weeks for 100 euro... I won't be camming that much though. Plus if this is a hotspot like you were referring too, I'd rather have reliability.

Thank you for giving me this info! I really appreciate it!

Lots of the apartment buildings in Europe have a very slow wi-fi, and the tenants usually have no control over the speed of it.
Uploading files can be a menace. I'd focus on the food and fun instead.

Wish I could but I have to work or else I can't go!

 

[Fatquack]

Orange, the biggest mobile operator is France has several prepaid plans, and their coverage in Paris should be good.
https://boutique.orange.fr/mobile/carte-prepayee-orange-holiday-eng
That one gives 10 G for 40 Euro.
Topups are available at https://topup.orange.com/ and people can even gift you topup vouchers.

 

[caireen]

Thank you!!! I actually found an SD that has 5GB for around 35 euro and then another one with 10GB for 40 euro. That's around 15-30 hours online... Though I do wonder how much data I would burn with HD. Also, I know I'll be using my phone quite a bit just to get around and communicate with friends and fam... we will see.

Also- I'm not sure if this is the same thing as a hotspot (I literally know nothing about networks) but I found a "Travel WiFI" that claims 4G speeds and will give me 3 gigs a day for two and a half weeks for 100 euro... I won't be camming that much though. Plus if this is a hotspot like you were referring too, I'd rather have reliability.

Thank you for giving me this info! I really appreciate it!



Wish I could but I have to work or else I can't go!

Often those kinds of travel hotspot thingeys will have data caps where you will stream at 4G/LTE for the first GB and then it goes down to 3G, things like that.

But those plans 5GB/35 euros etc should be great-- I think with the lowest HD settings I use about 1GB every hour and a half or so. I haven't cammed in Europe in a long time but when I did before I had a hotspot for a while with a good enough data plan. I have bought data plans in Mexico and Colombia that were great recently, sometimes they can be a pain to get and you might need to buy an entire separate plan to get more data but it's usually doable!

Just make sure your phone is unlocked if you plan to use it as a hotspot!

 

[AnnaTyler]

Often those kinds of travel hotspot thingeys will have data caps where you will stream at 4G/LTE for the first GB and then it goes down to 3G, things like that.

But those plans 5GB/35 euros etc should be great-- I think with the lowest HD settings I use about 1GB every hour and a half or so. I haven't cammed in Europe in a long time but when I did before I had a hotspot for a while with a good enough data plan. I have bought data plans in Mexico and Colombia that were great recently, sometimes they can be a pain to get and you might need to buy an entire separate plan to get more data but it's usually doable!

Just make sure your phone is unlocked if you plan to use it as a hotspot!

Thank you soooo much for the reassurance and info!!!! I am stoked to get this started!

 

[caireen]

Thank you soooo much for the reassurance and info!!!! I am stoked to get this started!

Something that might be super obvious but I didn't think of this at first when I started using a hotspot so I'll mention- if you ARE using your phone data to stream, try to not having any other programs running at the same time. Like deactivate any programs that run in the background using wifi (on your computer). If you use spotify or something, use a wifi connection to download a playlist you want to use if you can. Little things like that can really maximize your data- JUST using it for my stream! And I don't watch other people's cams when I am on a hotspot either.

 

[AnnaTyler]

Something that might be super obvious but I didn't think of this at first when I started using a hotspot so I'll mention- if you ARE using your phone data to stream, try to not having any other programs running at the same time. Like deactivate any programs that run in the background using wifi (on your computer). If you use spotify or something, use a wifi connection to download a playlist you want to use if you can. Little things like that can really maximize your data- JUST using it for my stream! And I don't watch other people's cams when I am on a hotspot either.

That is a super good reminder!!! I would probably have forgotten about this and lots of curse words would follow soon after lol.