Is it time to subscribe to a printer service from HP?

Ever since my dad brought home an...

What’s the best way of buying a phone today?

How did you buy your latest phone?...

MWC: What device highlights did you miss?

So, early last week I predicted that...

Unlimited data in 21 countries for $15/day – finally

Finally. Finally someone has setup a useful worldwide data roaming service at a reasonable charge. Vodafone’s international service doesn’t quite cut it for me, especially when I’m only getting 25mb for whatever it is, £5 or something. I use 25mb of data just getting out of bed in the morning.

Enter XCom Global. They have done the arsing around on your behalf. All you need to do is hire the USB broadband stick or MiFi unit and pay them the fee ($14.95/day for the USB stick and $17.95/day for the Novatel Wireless MiFi unit).

Genius.

Granted, $17.95 will add up. But that’s proper use. Proper data use. Unlimited fair use. No stupid silly limits. If you’re going to America for 10 days and you want unlimited data, that’ll cost you $179.50 (if you’d like a MiFi) or $149.50 if you just want the USB stick. First let’s convert that into pounds. £125 and £104 respectively.

Let’s compare that with paying Vodafone for international roaming in the USA at their published rate of £3 per meg. Assume I end up using an average of 70mb per day, right? That would cost me £210 per day or £2,100 for the 10 day trip. Now the XCom rates look positively saintly.

Of course you could just buy a MiFi and buy a local sim card when you arrive in the States. But if you don’t want the hassle, do consider the XCom offer.

11 COMMENTS

  1. Ahh rubbish if that's the case, Pat! I thought someone had cracked the whole one-sim/one-deal-for-every-country :/

    How's MAXroam international data doing these days?

  2. Still Ewan, if you are going to a.n.other country for a number of days, and you are going to be using that amount of data (which I would say is any normal “Internet” user), you would want to look at something cheaper, like a local SIM, or a Maxroam SIM.

    Looking at their Ts&Cs webpage (http://www.xcomglobal.com/terms/) they do seem to retain ownership of it completely, and they also look like they charge you for almost everything.

    I’m agreeing with you on the high charges local operators will heap on you when roaming with data, but this service is still high priced.

    According to one mention of their service on the Interwebs, it is multi-SIM, like Pat said:

    “You choose the country where you’ll need service, and Xcom Global will provide the appropriate SIM card” (http://is.gd/cpJWX)

    So, they charge you 17 quid a day, and make you carry around 21 SIMs, or worse, send you the SIM each time (“coz our delivery always gets there!”)

    Nope, they don’t seem to have done enough arsing around to charge me 17 quid! 🙂

    Bernard

    (My thoughts are my own, not of my employer, etc)

  3. You are kidding right?

    $179 for 10 days data access? And its a rental fee? So presumably you don't actually own the equipment?

    $15 a day for unlimited data? Sorry but that is an outrageous price. For $15 a day they would want to write the e-mails, look at the webpages, talk on the Skype calls for me! 🙂

    I go to the UK weekly. I bought a pre-paid SIM from a well-known operator. I pay 1 pound, that's $1.44181, and I get on average 170-250Kbps unlimited. ALL DAY. 7 days, 7 pounds.

    Even with the hassle of carrying 2 or 3 sims, that hassle is worth not paying $15 per day for “unlimited” data.

    Leaving aside they is no mention of what download speeds they offer.

    Sorry for the rant, but this is definately not value for money.

    Ah, you *are* kidding. 😉

    Bernard

    (My thoughts are my own, not of my employer, etc)

  4. Sorry, no I was just in meetings Bernard and since you don't have a disqus account and you didn't use Twitter/Facebook to authenticate, the system needs me to approve everything. Sorry!

  5. I thought it was going to be some boring old post, but it really compensated for my time. I will post a link to this page on my blog. I am sure my visitors will find that very useful. Thank you!

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Recently Published

Is it time to subscribe to a printer service from HP?

Ever since my dad brought home an HP LaserJet printer (version 3, if memory serves), I have been printing with an HP. Over the...

What’s the best way of buying a phone today?

How did you buy your latest phone? I'm asking because I'm thinking about what I should be doing. When I was living in Oman, I...

MWC: What device highlights did you miss?

So, early last week I predicted that next to nothing from Mobile World Congress would break through into the mainstream media. I was right,...

How Wireless Will Pave the Path to Neobank Profitability

I'm delighted to bring you an opinion piece from Rafa Plantier at Gigs.com. I think it's particularly relevant given the recent eSIM news from...

An end of an era: Vodafone UK turns off 3G services

I thought it was worthwhile highlighting this one from the Vodafone UK team. For so long - for what feels like years, seeing the...

Mobile World Congress: Did the mainstream media notice?

I resolved this year to make sure I wrote something - anything - about Mobile World Congress, the huge mobile industry trade show taking...