Travel Wi-Fi router rental guide (2022) – ChangiWiFi vs Y5 Buddy and more

Since the rise of millennials and our strange need to document everything online, overseas wifi router rental services like ChangiWiFi and Klook have had a huge surge in popularity.

I mean, I get it. A huge part of the modern travel experience is spreading wanderlust and envy throughout social media. What’s a vacation without that dopamine spike that comes with each Instagram like, right? Pics or it didn’t happen.

So if you’re planning for an upcoming vacay, here’s a useful price comparison of the top 3 travel wifi egg rental services in Singapore.

Travel wifi router rental services in Singapore – which is the cheapest?

I’ve shortlisted some popular travel destinations, and singled out the cheapest travel wifi vendors for it.

These overseas wifi rental services charge by the day, and in general, prices are around $4 to $8 for destinations in Asia, and $9 to $12 for Australia, New Zealand, Europe and America.

Y5 Buddy

Looking across the board, Y5 Buddy‘s rates aren’t the most attractive. There are definitely cheaper pocket wifi rental elsewhere. However, they do have an ongoing promotion where you can get $5 off with the code VTL5.

You can keep up with their latest promos on their Instagram page:

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Yogofi

Yogofi is one of the newer players in the market for travel wifi devices.

Yogofi’s rates for travel around Asia is amongst the cheapest you’ll find. On top of that, they also offer free local delivery within 3 business days.

I personally prefer the idea of courier to pick-up, because I’m usually bogged down with work and last-minute preparations the few days before my flights. One of the best things about Yogofi, besides its competitive rates is that charges are only made after you return the router and you’ll only be charged for the number of days of usage. If you’ve spent an entire day on the plane without using the router at all, you won’t have to pay additional.

They also run frequent promotions which you can look out for on their Instagram page:

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ChangiWiFi router by Changi Recommends

ChangiWiFi‘s prices are generally above its competitors’.

Despite the price difference, some people who value the convenience of being about to collect and return the routers at Changi Airport may still prefer it over the other retailers.

During peak travel seasons such as with the launch of VTLs, Changi Recommends is known to push out seasonal promo codes. Right now, you can get prices as low as $3 / day South Korea and $3.50 / day for Taiwan and Japan. Just take note that the promotions end on April 15, 2022.

Malaysia router rental rates are $12 / day, but it doesn’t really make sense if you’re driving across the causeway since you won’t pass by Changi Airport, and ChangiWiFi doesn’t offer courier.

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Overseas wifi routers vs data roaming plans

These travel wifi egg rentals have forced local telcos to price their data roaming services more competitively, and although prices are indeed a lot lower than they used to be, they’re not quite as cost-effective as travel wifi router rentals. But if you’re only leaving for a few days, data roaming plans might make a whole lot more sense.

Let’s have a look at some of the telcos’ offerings:

M1 Data Passport

The M1 Data Passport service lets you use your local data “allowance” overseas for $12 to $30 per month (single destination). Take note that there is a one-time activation charge of $5 per Data Passport and a flat $5 monthly charge if you use multiple SIM cards.

Starhub DataTravel

The Starhub DataTravel add-on bundles 1GB to 3GB for $5 to $50, depending on your destination and travel destination. The cheapest option is $5 for 1GB of data over 3 days, for selected countries in Asia.

Singtel ReadyRoam

Singtel ReadyRoam packages the destination countries into 4 categories – Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand ($5/GB), 9 Destinations ($12/GB), 18 Destinations ($20/2GB) and 56 Destinations ($35/3GB).

As you can see, all data roaming plans put a cap on your data consumption. (Okay, so there are unlimited usage plans too, but those are even more expensive so I’m not even going to include them.)

If you’re planning to use the internet to route your way around and upload photos and videos to social media, that 1GB will be used up in no time. Travel wifi routers offer unlimited data, which is more cost-effective.

Furthermore, one device can be shared among up to 5 to 6 devices so you can split the cost with your friends and family.

Granted, for certain countries the unlimited data clause may be subject to the provider’s fair usage policy – which is a data cap to prevent abuse – but technically you still get unlimited internet, it’ll just be dramatically slower.

If it even applies, the fair usage policy limit is usually quite generous anyway (think 500mb to 1GB per day), so if you’re just sharing between 2 to 4 pax, you should be fine.

To make sure you’re getting the best deal, compare a full list of data roaming plans comparison here.

This article was first published in MoneySmart.