This post is sponsored by Netgear, but all thoughts are my own.
We are a family of road trippers. We love our road trip adventures – from the unique sights that we see outside the car window to the extra family time that we get to spend together while we’re crammed into a small space for hours on end (sounds amazing, doesn’t it??).
Our family’s needs have changed over the last 19 years of traveling by car with kids, and frankly the world has changed right along with us. When we took our first cross country trip in 1997, we just had one baby girl. We had no cell phones. No idea that the internet could be anything but slow dial up on our desktop computer at home.
We’ve gone from a family of three to a minivan full of teens and tweens…and lots of devices. While I am still the type of mom that encourages the kids to pull out a book or chat with the person sitting next to them, I am also a firm believer in staying connected where ever you happen to be heading. For the kids, being connected means that they stay entertained during long hours on the road (that goes for our night time stops at campsites and hotels, too), less sibling fighting (I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard complaints about so-and-so touching or breathing or making noises) and far fewer cries of “I’m bored” heard coming from the back of the car. For me, being connected means that I can get a little work done while the husband drives (yay for being productive and having a TRUE mobile office!).
We’ve taken 2 cross country trips over the past 2 years, and I’ll just say that having the whole family hook up to my phone’s wifi was not a great alternative. It ate up my battery like crazy and I ate through my phone’s data allotment pretty fast. But as we prepare for our next family road trip in a little over a month, I know exactly what I’ll be packing: my Netgear mobile wifi device.
The AT&T Unite Express™ wifi hotspot by Netgear lasts up to 10 hours on a single charge, and you can connect up to 10 devices (ten!?) at a time to fast 4G LTE wifi. That’s even more than my family needs, which is incredible to me. What’s better is that you can pay as you go with flexible data plans and no contracts. In other words, I can add data when I am traveling (with the family or without) and only pay for the times when I need it wifi on-the-go.
I was able to test out the AT&T Unite Express™ wifi hotspot at Type-A Conference earlier this month, and I was in heaven. There are a few common problems that I run into when I’m traveling (and my hotspot helped me avoid all of them!)…I’m sure you’ve experienced a few of these travel woes yourself:
- You have a layover at the airport and hate the idea of hooking up to the less-than-secure airport wifi.
- You get to the hotel only to find out that the hotel wifi only works in some areas…and it keeps asking you to log back in (annoying!).
- You are one of 300+ digital influencers trying to tweet your heart out and the conference center wifi just isn’t able to handle your awesomeness.
- You keep having to check your phone’s data usage to make sure you’re not getting close to your limits.
- Your phone has no signal and you have work to do.
- You have a signal, but it’s too weak to upload pictures, and the pictures are the most important part.
- You’re worried that you’re sharing an internet connection with hundreds of people, and your information may not be secure.
Have you ever had those worries when traveling? I know I’ve experienced each of those problems and more, and I didn’t have to worry about any of them while I was at Type-A. In fact, more than once I was able to let my blogging friends connect to my wifi to share the love.
I am convinced that every family road trip needs a wifi hotspot. And every blogger who travels or attends conferences needs a hotspot. And since I’m both, I definitely needed one.
A hotspot may just be the perfect holiday gift – for anyone who travels, blogs, or works on-the-go.
Connect with Wifi Family Powered by Netgear:
- On twitter: @wififamily
- On Facebook: facebook.com/WiFiFam
- Online
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