Travel Guide for Internet

By Grant Watt
•
23 Jul, 2018
•

I get the occasional customer who contacts me about what to do when overseas about their data,

phone and security. The short answer is Vodafone has the best overseas roaming for $5 per day and

it covers many countries. If you are overseas for a few weeks or so this is obviously the best option.

Telstra has a $10 per day option but it is not as good as the data is restricted to 200MB per day

which is just adequate. It does depend on your plan, so I would suggest you contact your carrier as

some plans may include this by default, or not, or may require you to enable it. It also won’t apply to

pre-paid phones.

It is important to have key passwords to hand for your email, security programs and banking. These

can be kept by password managers, in encrypted spreadsheets and so on or just discretely kept

written down somewhere safe. It is very important to secure your phone properly as well, all the

security in the world won’t help if anyone can steal and use your phone.

The alternative for longer visits is obviously a SIM card, so it pays to get one that covers all the

countries you wish to visit, and it goes in your phone. The phone then gets used as a hotspot to

connect to a laptop or tablet.

This leads to the question of public Wi-Fi. Public Wi-Fi is often terrible in speed and quality and really

is a last resort in many cases, although some can be good. Security issues may also be present on

some poorly maintained and poorly secured connections. Hotel Wi-Fi is hit and miss I find and can be

slow, with limited download. The best option is still a SIM pre-paid with lots of data on your phone

and then use your phone as a mobile hotspot, also known as ‘tethering’, to your tablet or laptop.

Security can be an issue, although if you use a SIM rather than a public hotspot, you are typically

quite safe, and the risks are low. It does bring to mind though, whether more security is necessary

on your phone and/or laptop and tablet. Android is not as secure as iPhone due to the vast majority

of malware being directed at it, whereas Apple lock everything down. The best security is to delete

rather than read emails that are suspect, never connect to dodgy websites and be particularly

careful while on public Wi-Fi at airports, cafes etc.

If you look at security software for phones, it is mostly made for Android phones. Both ESET and

Norton have mobile Security and Antivirus. You can buy either off the app store or from their

website. Norton have free one-month trials which you can use and then cancel. ESET is cheaper I

believe. The consensus on Security for Android, is generally not to bother but some people don’t

agree, and I think if you are concerned then get paid Security. The reason for not getting it is, most

risks can be avoided if you are careful and the security can slow your phone down and provide false

alerts. An issue with Android phones is often people have a version of Android that is years old and

not up to date which increases security risks and additional security on older phones may be more

important.

VPN (virtual private network) secures your internet traffic. VPN software such as NordVPN and

Norton Wi-Fi Privacy may allow you uncensored internet if you are in a country that does censor the

internet. It also completely encrypts all network traffic providing additional safety. I personally might

consider it for use on a phone while travelling to third world countries or where you need to use

public wi-fi for sensitive business, and my suggestion would be to just use this just for your phone as

you can tether a tablet and laptop to the phone connection. Norton is the most user-friendly VPN

product although there are better ones such as NordVPN which are faster and better but present

more problems (and choices). These can be bought directly from a phone app store or via your web

browser and account with Norton or whoever and then the apps downloaded on the phone and

linked to your account.

I don’t recall any of my customers getting scammed via their phone or computers while overseas,

but additional security may give peace of mind and will further reduce your risk. You still need to be

cautious and the same considerations apply whether overseas or not.

I think another overlooked factor is 2 factor authentication. Two factor authentication ensures that no one can access a protected email or say

set up a new phone or tablet using your Apple or Google account. A similar thing can be done with Facebook where each new log-in on

Facebook requires a code from a trusted already logged in Facebook device or web browser.

The two factor authentication is not hard to do but make sure, especially if travelling to make sure that you put trusted phone numbers and

email addresses in place when setting it up. In this way, you can cover most situations of theft for instance.

Google and Microsoft and Apple all have 2 factor authentication available. It makes it almost impossible for people to then hack your phone or

accounts (but make sure you have secure password, preferably not your birthdate). Google and Microsoft also have authenticator apps

available for your phone or tablet which provide easily accessible codes for you.

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