TripButler is Hoping to Cut Your Roaming Data Bill
Have you travelled overseas lately and been paranoid about turning on roaming data on your mobile device for fear of coming home to a ridiculous bill? Well TripButler, a start-up out of Austria is hoping that their portable wifi devices will give technology addicted travelers a reprieve for high roaming charges.
The TripButler wifi device is a small pill shaped unit that fits in your hand or pocket and uses local mobile carrier partners to provide data at a fraction of the cost of a roaming mobile phone. The device can support up to five devices at a time so it is perfect for a family travelling together or a small group of friends. Imagine paying for roaming charges on 5 different iPhone or Android devices. For a one week trip, the unit including 300 MB of data is only 36 Euros or about$50 US. Considering that a 5MB week long International data pass from Rogers.com costs $75, the savings and value of a device like the TripButler is pretty clear.
Here is a nice little promo video explaining how it works…
Tripbutler Demo Video from Michael Hirschbrich on Vimeo.
You can order a device in advance of your trip and have it delivered to you or your hotel so it is ready to use once you arrive. The cost of delivery is about $14. The website does mention a 75 Euro deposit that is refunded if the unit is returned undamaged.
TripButler is providing a 10% discount exclusive to T4 readers who use promo code “BUZA2012“. For more information about the TripButler and to rent a device, visit their website at http://www.tripbutler.com.
If you have rented the device or plan to, let us know what you think of the service by leaving a comment.
have you had any feedback or update to this story? really curious on usage and reviews. thanks.
I and several others on a two week trip in France used TripButler.
Pros – works as advertised. If there was a 3G signal we had WI-fi.
Did not exceed our allowance despite Avignon three devices running off it and not really watching usage. We were just surfing and email; no streaming
Cons – display very difficult (impossible) to read in daylight
No way to determine usage – made us feel uneasy
Return postage not included which esns having to find a PO and pay 5Euros to return
Tried to use them after reading this. They encouraged me to have it shipped to my hotel in London and have it waiting for me. I did so. When i got there, there was no device. I tried to email. No answer. Hit the web site contact us. No answer. Skype contact. no answer. 2 days later into my trip, i get an email saying that they would refund me because they did not send it. So, basically, i was left high and dry on my vacation and had to scramble to find a different provider. Also, they intimated they are going out of business soon (I can’t imagine why!)