This startup is solving the worst thing about your holiday – shoddy wifi

Photo credit: Pixabay.

One of the most annoying things about traveling is hunting for affordable wifi once you leave your home country. The first few hours of a vacation are spent scouring for SIM cards at the airport, comparing data plans, and topping up prepaid credit once you settle on a carrier.

It’s a hassle we’d rather avoid.

Jing Liu built Skyroam to help solve this problem. He’s a serial tech entrepreneur and self-described travel zealot. He has spent nearly two decades shuttling between Silicon Valley and Asia.

During his travels, Jing constantly struggled to find reliable internet solutions that would work on the go and wouldn’t break the bank. After years of frustration, he decided to take it upon himself to broker a solution.

What Jing came up with was a device that utilizes virtual SIM tech to locate local carriers as people move around the world.

The Skyroam device hanging out in London. Photo credit: publicity.

The gizmo comes with a pre-installed SIM card that connects with over 200 mobile telecommunication operators across the globe, ensuring connectivity in over a hundred countries, including 21 in Asia. It acts as a wifi hotspot and allows a maximum of five devices to connect at any given time.

“It can be complicated to use a SIM card: unlock your phone at home; pick the right carrier and plan that is compatible with the bands and wireless technology on your phone; navigate a portal in a foreign language with foreign currency,” explains Eric Plam, vice president of Skyroam. “Our customers appreciate Skyroam’s simple solution.”

Pay per play

The startup’s wifi device can either be purchased outright for US$124.99 or rented for a few days at a time. There are a bunch of ways to acquire it – one is to order it online and pick it up from an airport. If, for example, you’re flying Philippine Airlines, it’ll be presented to you during your journey.

Each device offers unlimited wifi for approximately US$10 a day. There’s no need to purchase extravagant monthly plans – travelers can choose to buy daily passes depending on their requirements.

Skyroam’s team. Photo credit: publicity.