AT&T Unite LTE Pocket WiFi while roaming in the US

Since I have a back to back event coverage here in the US (CES in Las Vegas and NAIAS in Detroit) my initial plan was to subscribe to the Globe-AT&T roaming promo which is $15PHP 880INR 1,271EUR 14CNY 109 a day. However, I will be here for 10 days so that’s going to be $150PHP 8,803INR 12,712EUR 143CNY 1,092 at the very least. So I went to hunt for an alternative.

When I was gadget shopping over at Fry’s here in LV, I discovered this prepaid pocket WiFi from AT&T and asked about it. The LTE device costs $99PHP 5,810INR 8,390EUR 94CNY 721, including the prepaid SIM card. I can then load it with any amount which I can use to subscribe to a data plan.

I was looking for alternatives that would give me unlimited data but found none so I got the device (a Netgear LTE pocket WiFi) and loaded it with $100PHP 5,869INR 8,475EUR 95CNY 728.

Here’s the data plan offered with the device:

$15PHP 880INR 1,271EUR 14CNY 109/week – 250MB data
$50PHP 2,934INR 4,237EUR 48CNY 364/month – 5GB data

* additional $10PHP 587INR 847EUR 10CNY 73 per 1GB in excess of the 5GB

While 5GB might not be enough, I thought I could at least use it whenever I am mobile or in transit and just use the hotel WiFi whenever possible. That way, I could save on the bandwidth consumption.

(Yes, it’s very strange to be restricted with data caps when in the Philippines, we can enjoy unlimited bandwidth for much lower fees!)

The unit is pretty straightforward to use after activating it and subscribing to an AT&T data plan on their website.

Whenever I get an LTE signal I try to test for the speeds and go these.

Not bad for mobile internet although I’ve seen much faster speeds back home.

What’s actually impressive with the device was that it offered up to 10 hours battery life and indeed after actively using it for about 9 hours, I still have around 13% left on the battery.

The SIM card expires in a year so I can still use it whenever I go back to the US in future trips/coverage.