Recently while traveling in Europe I wanted to see what options I had to get a data roaming packages and I always annoyed with overcharges. Looking around TEP Wireless seems to have the solution I needed, I wanted a Mifi type device that I could take with me wherever I am going and have internet the moment I land. They used the Huawei device for the connectivity which is standard use by telco companies.

What they are good for?

If you are traveling through multiple locations through Europe and need internet connectivity, they provide a good solution. Keep in mind that the service is based on the carrier such as Vodafone, Orange, or O2, not their own native network. If you want a smartphone when you travel you can also rent it from them but there are a few short comings which I will point out below. Overall for mobile network they did the job.

What they aren’t good for?

I was looking to get a chip for an iPad or iPhone, or a chip for BB service while roaming. They don’t provide this service which would have been very useful, they provide you a full smartphone or blackberry but not the sim card by itself, so with a Blackberry its useless, your groups and emails are synced to the device not the sim.

Overall:

For 75 GBP I had roaming internet at a very 2 to 6 MB speed which is very good, but when the cell service is bad you don’t get any connectivity. I had it working in a few remote locations which isn’t bad, and the device worked fine but after a few hours of being on it would hang so I would have to restart it every few hours but thats a problem with the device. I think its worth it if you are roaming a lot and need data connectivity, but if you are only based in the UK you have other options.