Zoom on the Road: How to Have Internet Anywhere

Whether you need away-from-home internet access for work or play, there are a few ways to gain a connection to the World Wide Web. You can obtain an internet connection through mobile data, public Wi-Fi, sponsored hotspots or a satellite connection (for stationary spots only).

Before you can decide how best to procure your internet, you should first assess what your needs will be. If you plan to be working while you’re away, what systems will your employer require you to participate in? How often will you be expected to be online? How will you communicate with your team? Use the table below to get a better idea of what kinds of speeds you may need.

These estimates are geared toward the lower end of functionality. If you want to be safe (especially for video calls), we’d recommend rounding up to an absolute minimum speed of 5 Mbps.

Uploading and downloading documents, on the other hand, will happen no matter what bandwidth speed you have. What will affect your connection speed choices may instead be how much time you’re willing to spend waiting for your files to be transferred. Consider how much file sharing you typically do for your job and estimate how much time you can accommodate for it.

You might end up finding an internet solution that has a data plan, so it will be helpful to estimate what amount of data would be your minimum for working efficiently. Larger portions of data consumption usually come from video calls which can use up about 3GB per hour depending on video quality. The amount of data needed for your video conference calls only increases as more participants are included in the call. In comparison, web browsing and checking email uses about 50MB of data per hour. If your job requires frequent conference calling but you want to cut down on data usage, you can always turn off video during group calls and just focus on the audio. This switch can reduce your data consumption to about 36MB per hour.

Bottom line: if your work generally involves sending mostly text-only messages, web browsing, and a Zoom meeting here and there, you could probably make do with 20 or 30GB of data per month.

Many people already have a mobile internet connection right from the smartphones in their pockets. Using mobile data while traveling is convenient, private, and potentially fast. The only restriction to think about may be data caps. Check if your mobile provider offers service where you’re going. If they do, you can see if they have any good roaming plans to help you get reasonable speeds in your travel location.

Some plans offer pay-as-you-go purchase options and others give you the opportunity to buy data in bulk. Having a phone with a data plan can help you by giving you the ability to set up your own hotspot. You may also find a plan that allows you to have a physical hotspot device so you don’t have to use your phone’s data and battery to connect to the internet.

If you want something quick and easy, you may just want to opt for using mobile data. This is a reasonable option as long as your destination is covered by your service provider and you can get a data plan with enough data for you to get your work done.

Public Wi-Fi can be plentiful depending where you are, but it may be a bit slow and potentially insecure. (See our related post about increasing your security online for more information.) With an average download speed of about 3.3 Mbps, you can’t expect to do high-speed activities like streaming HD videos without interruption. You can, however, still get many basic work tasks done. Even Zoom calling averages a minimum speed requirement of 3 Mbps, so you could conceivably still conference through a public Wi-Fi.

If you’re accessing a public network for free on a public connection, though, other people can do the same thing and may have an easier time of gaining access to your device through that connection. Try to find a place that likely has reputable password-protected internet access and then consider using a VPN anyway. A VPN is a Virtual Private Network, and it is used to create a secure private connection through which a user can access the internet while on a public Wi-Fi connection. Using a VPN can allow users to handle sensitive data without exposing that data to digital theft. Even if you do use a VPN, try to limit how much personal data you ever transmit over a network that’s not your home network. Information categories you should be careful with include (but are not limited to) banking information, online transactions, health records, social security numbers and more. Visit our resource about using a VPN for more information.

Public Wi-Fi can be an excellent resource as long as sensitive information is managed with caution.

If you are already an internet customer of certain internet service providers like Spectrum, Cox, Optimum or Frontier, you qualify for access to your service’s mobile hotspots located around the United States. These can be a cost-effective resource, but be sure to check out locations and specifics before you begin your journey. Know which public place this sponsored hotspot is attached to and find out if the service has any prioritized data allocations.

For example, Spectrum has hotspots set up which provide up to 1 Gbps of speed, but Spectrum Mobile customers may be prioritized on that bandwidth. An aspect of Spectrum’s service is that up to 15 devices are allowed per account, but only five devices at a time can be signed on to any single hotspot connection.

Frontier also has hotspots that you can access for free if you are a Frontier high-speed internet customer. Even if you’re not, you can purchase hotspot access for increments of hours or days. Remember that the internet is measured by the hour whether you’re actively using the internet you’ve paid for or not.

No matter which service you have, see if your internet provider has free hotspots available for their customers in your destination.

This option is mostly for travelers who are going to a single secluded location that can accommodate a satellite internet connection. These days, a satellite connection from a company like Viasat is primarily for places where typical DSL internet connections do not reach.

There is an opportunity to outfit your RV or van with a satellite connection, but it can be an expensive upfront investment. To benefit from this option, you’ll have to purchase a satellite dish, install it on your vehicle, and power it with a paid monthly service.

Satellite internet, although a reliable choice for reasonable speeds, is therefore mostly available only in certain locations and situations.