Holidays are a great time to relax, unwind and spend meaningful time reconnecting with our loved ones. Recently during our family’s DIY trip to Japan, we rented the Overseas Wi-Fi Router from Changi Recommends and the reliable Wi-Fi connection it provided eased many of our worries and woes. The Overseas Wi-Fi Router is a small and lightweight Wi-Fi router that enabled us to stay connected to the internet from virtually anywhere in the world!
Clarity in Confusion – A fast and stable Wifi router helps us to get to our destination fast by using online navigation services.
Here our experience with the Overseas Wi-Fi Router from Changi Recommends:
1) Trustworthy Connection, Anywhere: Many hotels around the world boasts of ‘Free Wi-fi’ but from personal experiences, even the best hotels may not guarantee that the Wi-Fi connection is always stable, especially from the rooms. Some hotels will reveal to you, upon arrival, that their free Wi-fi is only available ‘at the lobby’, or worse, only at a lounge or café if you patronize it. Sometimes hotel Wi-Fi connection may be slow at peak times (e.g. After dinner or at night) when everyone in the hotel accesses it. In one of our hotels in Tokyo, we could not connect onto the free hotel Wi-Fi at all. The network is simply too busy to accept new connections.
Thankfully, we had our Overseas Wi-Fi Router. It connects us instantly once we switched it on regardless of which hotel we checked into. From bustling Tokyo to quiet Kyoto, connection was fast, stable and reliable. No excuses, no fine prints and certainly no sitting around the lobby area in our pyjamas trying to answer emails or posting updates on Facebook.
Don’t belittle this little thing…It’s fast, stable and brings the whole world to you!
2) Reliable Connection, Anytime: During our trip to the US last year where we went to several states and even up north to Canada, the local SIM card we purchased only allowed us to access data or Wi-Fi if it’s within their local TELCOS’ network coverage areas. This can be a problem when you’re travelling within a big city or inter-states (like we did).
With the Overseas Wi-Fi Router, we were connected regardless of which state we were in and we did not have to fret over local TELCOS coverage areas. In fact, for our Japan trip, we were very well connected even from within the dense Tokyo Subway or travelling at mind boggling speed on the Shinkansen bullet trains across Japan. It came in especially handy when we wanted to get the latest updates on the train schedules or Facetime with family back in Singapore.
This, my friend, is only one SMALL part of the Tokyo Subway map! Thank goodness for stable Wi-Fi that helped us navigate…even from within the deep and dense subway tunnels.
3) One Single Stable Connection: One of the main draw for us was that we could connect up to eight devices with 1 single Overseas Wi-Fi Router. This means our smart phones, laptops, tablets, iPads and even those portable gaming devices that may not take in SIM cards can log onto the Wi-Fi network at the same time. Once enabled, the Wi-Fi network range is approximately 10 metres in radius without any obstacles. The router is slim, small and lightweight. Much smaller than my iPhone 5s and can easily be put in any pocket or small handcarry bag. It does become slightly warmer when connected but not hot.
This provides cost savings for family members or friends travelling together as it means that we need not purchase individual SIM cards. While we were in Japan, we were able to navigate using Google Maps effortlessly, stream SEA games LIVE coverage smoothly while waiting in Disneyland/DisneySea queues and read up travel reviews of our next destination simultaneously on different devices with just 1 single Wi-Fi connection. Impressive!
4) All-day Connection: We left the router turned on during the day when we were out sightseeing and were pleasantly surprised that its battery could last up to 12hours (we were out from 9am to 9pm almost daily, sometimes even later)! Do note that the router does go into a Power Save mode when there’s no device connected after a while but a quick press of the power button wakes it up and everyone can be connected again within a minute.
Note that we left it to charge during the night so it can be fully charged for our next day’s itinerary. The router is still functional (i.e. we could access the internet) even when charging.
Straight, Left or Right? Directions are essential in a foreign land.
5) Urgently-needed Connection: From navigation to translation, forex conversion to travellers’ reviews, travel apps are aplenty and most useful especially for Free & Easy travellers. However these apps are useless if we do not have Wi-Fi connectivity or if our Wi-Fi connection is often lost or unstable. In Japan, we had to occasionally rely on language translation apps in restaurants to understand what the service staff were saying. Once we also relied on the translator app to communicate with a taxi driver in Kyoto who couldn’t understand a word of English. The steady, fast internet connection really saved the day.
With the Overseas Wi-Fi Router’s stable and consistent coverage, we were able to activate apps and use them to ‘converse’ with pedestrians, cab drivers and to navigate our way around regardless how far or how fast we were going. It has certainly helped us when we were lost, either in direction or in translation.
Why rent from Changi Recommends?
We were initially skeptical on how useful the Overseas Wi-Fi Router would be, especially in these day and age where some SIM cards offer 4G and Wi-Fi connection and there claims to be many free Wi-Fi hot spots at most international airports and attractions. However after experiencing the Global Wi-Fi Router ourselves, its steady, fast and convenient connection anytime and anywhere has certainly won us over through and through. From all our travels from now on, it would be first to Changi Recommends* then to our flights.
Hassle-Free
Conveniently collect the router at any of our 24/7 booth located in all three terminals before your flights. (Save on delivery charge)
Waiver for 1st Day
No charge for the 1st day of collection.
Overseas Wi-Fi Router Pricelist
Benefits of using Portable Wi-Fi Router
– Secure Network No longer depend on public hotspot or Hotel Wi-Fi for internet access
– Portability Carry your Wi-Fi device in your pocket, and get connected anytime, anywhere
– Connectivity Connects up to 8 devices simultaneously (Smartphones, Laptops and Tablets)
Reservation, Collection and Using the Router Abroad
How can I place an online reservation?
Click “Reserve Now” at the top right corner of the Overseas Wi-Fi Router homepage to place a reservation. A confirmation email will be sent across 2 days prior to the collection date.
Terminal 1 Arrival Hall, Level 1 Besides Starbucks, operated 24/7 (Public Area)
Terminal 2 Arrival Hall, Level 1 Opposite belt 34, operated 24/7 (Public Area)
You can either email [email protected], Call +65 6922 9508 (24 Hours, Daily) or Whatsapp +65 9427 6977 (24 Hours, Daily) to check on the walk-in devices’ availability. Walk-in and last minute reservations are on first come first serve basis, depending on the availability of the routers. During peak travelling season, it is recommended to reserve in advance.
How can I pay for the Overseas Wi-Fi Router rental service?
Ai Sakura says
Thanks for sharing my post! 🙂 It was really very helpful during our trip too.. Especially when in the Shinkansen/ long queues and we entertained ourselves with watching an online video or 2 😛
Ai @ Sakura Haruka
Lyn Lee says
Definitely a good option on those free and easy trips when we might be on the road for long periods and need wifi to suss out our bearings or next destination!
Bumble Bee Mum says
One of the most common questions I get from readers is, “Should I get a wireless router for my Japan trip?” After reading your post, I am inclined to say yes.
Personally, I am not a fan of wireless routers because overseas vacations are the only times I can be totally free from the internet! I would throw my phone at the side and focus on the scenery and the flowers. And I don’t really care about getting lost – I’ve gotten lost in days before GPS and WIFI came along and that was part of the fun of traveling, and I feel an odd sense of achievement finding my way out without the help of any technology. Just good ol ‘ask whoever comes along for direction’. But in countries with language barriers, as you have mentioned, I can imagine WIFI being a life-saver.
So far I have always told readers, if they are very worried about language barrier or getting lost, then they should get the wireless router from Changi. But always added a disclaimer that I have never used it before personally and don’t know how well it works. But now that I have read this post, I think it is indeed useful and works well! Come share this on Travel Tuesday, I think it’s a great travel tip.
PS: WIFI at Japan hotels are crappy in general.
May says
I was an IT student but I hate to read anything related to technology. hahahah So I sent the link my husband to read it. If I didn’t recall wrongly, you wrote about this before? I thought I sent him a link from here before we went on our Perth trip last month. Hmmmm..
Phoebe says
Have seen a couple of good reviews on this but we didn’t have a chance to use it. Even with our trips to Johor Bahru, we bought the data sim cards as we may not be at the same area within vicinity . There are definitely pros and cons for each.
Justine says
Eh, never occurred to me to get the pocket wifi from SG rather than at the destination that we would be going. It would have definitely come in handy when we were transiting in Moscow a couple of years back! I am terrible at reading gooblygook, and depending on symbols is so subjective! haha
Waiwai says
Wi-fi is a must-have for me when I travel overseas. Not that I want to post photos on social media (I always later-gram instead of instant-gram), I need to find my way!
Susan says
I can’t live without the internet even on holidays and always make the beeline for the telco when I land in the airport. Seems like a very handy option to have for my next holiday but that would mean both persons cant go separate ways to share this device right?
Angie. S says
Hi Susan
we try to disconnect with work and other critical issues while on holidays but connectivity when we want it is still useful. For this overseas Wi-Fi router, you can be apart within 10-metre range.