Spent $200 on a portable Wi-Fi hotspot and it was a total bust in Bali

I bought this fancy Skyroam Solis hotspot thinking it would solve all my internet problems while I was working from Ubud. First day, it worked fine for about an hour then just kept dropping the connection. Ended up having to use my local Telkomsel SIM card anyway, which cost like $15 for a month of data. Has anyone else had better luck with those GlocalMe gadgets or is it all just marketing hype?

3 comments

3 Comments

murphy.aaron1mo ago

Man that sucks, I feel you on the "total bust" thing because I fell for the exact same hype with my Skyroam Solis. Brought it to a remote beach town in Thailand and it literally refused to connect after the first day, just sat there blinking uselessly while I was trying to get directions. Honestly it feels like these hotspots are designed for like airports and cafes in the US, not actual travel where the signal is spotty. I ended up doing the same as you, just grabbing a local SIM for cheap and it worked way better than this expensive gadget. The marketing really gets you with the whole "global connectivity" promise but it's mostly a lie lol. Don't beat yourself up, we all learn the hard way that local SIMs are king in places like Bali.

the_jennifer1mo ago

refused to connect after the first day"? nah that's actually insane lol

robins831mo ago

The blinking light thing is like the universal sign of "you paid too much for this." @murphy.aaron totally right about local SIMs, my buddy brought one of those fancy hotspots to a music festival in the desert and it just showed a sad little red light the whole time while we all tether off his phone's data.