Technologies are moving fast, and coupled with today's access to mass market funding, innovative products and solutions are gaining momentum in reaching consumers like us. Sites like kickstarter and indiegogo have helped pushed products out faster than before. Needless to say for digital nomads, there's bound to be plenty of stuff out there to capture this market.
It was not long ago when I tried out virtual SIM solution for my travels. Before that, I've also had mobile portable routers for my travels. Of course, many of us still bring powerbanks during our travels. Plenty of gadgets for the digital nomad indeed. Now, check out Nommi at Indiegogo.
Nommi is slated to be a 4G hotpot portable router with virtual SIM technology, provide dual wifi, act as a powerbank, as well as a Qi wireless charger! Talk about convergence and squeezing everything into one! (There is another version without the powerbank/charger ability). Aside from making the gadget a all-in-one thingy, there are two features inside that I found intriguing.
One is their dual wifi feature. Essentially, the Nommi has a database of wifi passwords around the world. This database of wifi passwords is not a new thing, but what Nommi does is to seamlessly integrate it so that when such wifi is available, it will use the wifi network instead of your mobile data. This will help conserve your expensive data. Actually for me, I have been doing this manually on my own, and this device is supposed to just do everything for you seamlessly (according to specs lah). Oh, it can also act as a wifi extender...
The other feature that caught my eye is that VPN is inbuilt into Nommi! So, a VPN client is already installed/configured within to connect to preconfigured servers around the world. This works nicely when connecting to public Wifis, and is in fact the default behavior for the dual wifi feature. If you have your own VPN already, you can configure it in too. I think that's an awesome addition to such a gadget because well, VPN in today's world seemed to be a necessity!
Anyway, the good thing about Nommi is that, as a multi-function device, you can choose to utilize the necessary part of its feature only. The global data is relatively expensive, and so if you are going only one country for a length of time, it is probably cheaper to buy a local SIM card. However, you can insert this local SIM into Nommi too, and then use it like a normal mifi device with VPN support. For iPhone users who have only one SIM slot, this is a nice device to have around! As for multi-country travelers, many in Singapore are using M1 and Starhub's excellent data roaming plans. However, if you are going to countries not in their roaming country list, then the Nommi can help too with its 140+ roaming countries in its virtual SIM. So do read up on the details of their capability and prices to determine what works for you, when it works for you, or even whether it works for you! :). Go to their Nommi Indiegogo project page to find out.
I've joined their affiliate program, and when you back/order their product using this link, you and I will get 500Mb of free global data. Nommi has actually reached its target funding and has in fact, hit almost 200% over its goal. I guess there are really many people who really needs their internet when they travel... :O The end of the campaign is just few weeks left, though you can still get the product after that, it's just that you do not enjoy the discount of the early backers. However, the 500Mb free global data would still be valid when you get it through my affiliate link.
It is scheduled to be shipped in June 2018. So obviously the reviews of the actual product will only be available then. But their solution is certainly sound, and for the hungry digital nomads, certainly worth a look!
It was not long ago when I tried out virtual SIM solution for my travels. Before that, I've also had mobile portable routers for my travels. Of course, many of us still bring powerbanks during our travels. Plenty of gadgets for the digital nomad indeed. Now, check out Nommi at Indiegogo.
Nommi is slated to be a 4G hotpot portable router with virtual SIM technology, provide dual wifi, act as a powerbank, as well as a Qi wireless charger! Talk about convergence and squeezing everything into one! (There is another version without the powerbank/charger ability). Aside from making the gadget a all-in-one thingy, there are two features inside that I found intriguing.
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| Squeezing multi-functionality into a portable device |
One is their dual wifi feature. Essentially, the Nommi has a database of wifi passwords around the world. This database of wifi passwords is not a new thing, but what Nommi does is to seamlessly integrate it so that when such wifi is available, it will use the wifi network instead of your mobile data. This will help conserve your expensive data. Actually for me, I have been doing this manually on my own, and this device is supposed to just do everything for you seamlessly (according to specs lah). Oh, it can also act as a wifi extender...
The other feature that caught my eye is that VPN is inbuilt into Nommi! So, a VPN client is already installed/configured within to connect to preconfigured servers around the world. This works nicely when connecting to public Wifis, and is in fact the default behavior for the dual wifi feature. If you have your own VPN already, you can configure it in too. I think that's an awesome addition to such a gadget because well, VPN in today's world seemed to be a necessity!
Anyway, the good thing about Nommi is that, as a multi-function device, you can choose to utilize the necessary part of its feature only. The global data is relatively expensive, and so if you are going only one country for a length of time, it is probably cheaper to buy a local SIM card. However, you can insert this local SIM into Nommi too, and then use it like a normal mifi device with VPN support. For iPhone users who have only one SIM slot, this is a nice device to have around! As for multi-country travelers, many in Singapore are using M1 and Starhub's excellent data roaming plans. However, if you are going to countries not in their roaming country list, then the Nommi can help too with its 140+ roaming countries in its virtual SIM. So do read up on the details of their capability and prices to determine what works for you, when it works for you, or even whether it works for you! :). Go to their Nommi Indiegogo project page to find out.
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| Portable |
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| Looks to be a great device for a digital nomad |
I've joined their affiliate program, and when you back/order their product using this link, you and I will get 500Mb of free global data. Nommi has actually reached its target funding and has in fact, hit almost 200% over its goal. I guess there are really many people who really needs their internet when they travel... :O The end of the campaign is just few weeks left, though you can still get the product after that, it's just that you do not enjoy the discount of the early backers. However, the 500Mb free global data would still be valid when you get it through my affiliate link.
It is scheduled to be shipped in June 2018. So obviously the reviews of the actual product will only be available then. But their solution is certainly sound, and for the hungry digital nomads, certainly worth a look!
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| Hoping for more travels in 2018! |
by 15 Mar 2017 (SGT). Put the subject as "Flexiroamx contest" so that it's easier for me to administer. Thanks.