Cellhire Mobile Data Mifi. Why, Or Why Wouldn't You?

With the proliferation of massive data bundles, free EU roaming and public WiFi you might think that a service which offers you the oppoirtunity to pay to rent a wifi dongle is solving a problem that doesn't exist. After all why pay when you can connect for free?

The reality is that things are a little more complex and there are geuine reasons for considering Cellhire's mobile data mifi services. At a recent conference in Bulgaria I tried one of their devices, landing in Sofia airport as a sceptic and returning as at least a convert if not an evangelist.

In 1987 Tim Williams, Cellhire's Chairman and CEO, established Cellhire after identifying a gap in the telecoms market for travelling businesses. The company now has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, France, Germany, and Switzerland, Cellhire has 50+ local solutions and multiple roaming solutions. Cellhire can cover anywhere in the world as a mobile network partner, with the probable exception of North Korea...

With Cellhire's mobile internet access users can connect to the web on the move. Cellhire's fleet of mobile WiFi routers enable up to ten users at once to share an internet connection. Businesses travelling around the world need to keep their employees plugged in to the business cost effectively and Cellhire's mobile MiFi devices offer user-flexibility together with local data bundles. The device is a typical mifi pebble and arrives fully charged. 

However this takes us back to first principles, the probability is that you have more roaming data on your phone than you can ever use, so why pay for more? Well in reality that mobile data connection speed is probably strangled a little on your phone. When I arrived in my hotel in Sofia I ran a side by side test using my my phone as a hotspot vs the mifi pebble. The results were startling, despite my phone being notionally connected to a 4g network my tablet would only connect at 3g speeds. In contrast the Cellhire connection was at full 4g and allowed me to pick up emails, watch a little news and prepare for meetings. 

That takes us to the second reason for considering the service; your hotel has wifi, so does the coffeeshop. Well of course it does, but it's almost impossible to connect to any public wifi without that nagging doubt; is this safe? The Cellhire mifi is secure and you have absolute confidence that you're connected to Cellire's partner network, confident enough for me to book a train ticket online using my credit card. So far so good.

The 'express' from Sofia to Plovdiv barely qualifies as a train, let alone an express so you'd be right in assuming that it wasn't blessed with on board wifi, though it did have an alarming number of morning drinkers enjoying swigs of brandy from the bottle.. in first class. So mifi on, avoid eye contact, start working. On a 3 hour train journey through swathes of Bulgaria which were as empty as the drinkers bottles it kept me in the loop watching conferences presentations via Youtube

In Pamporovo I had similar experiences with the mifi maintaining a 5 bar signal where my own network providers struggled to reach two, though that could be a local issue.

So what's the point? Well it simply provides a faster, safer, more secure internet connection. Sure you can connect for free, but why would you risk it? Additionally, though post brexit telecoms suppliers have stated that they will maintain free roaming agreements, there's currently no legal requirement for them to do so. That may make a mifi an essential for any business traveller who wants to avoid 3 figure roaming bills. 

More: https://www.cellhire.com/ and https://www.cellhire.co.uk/