GlocalMe U3 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot, Portable WiFi Hotspot for Travel in 200+ Countries, No SIM Card Needed, 10 Connected Devices and Global 1GB Data 90 Days, Pocket WiFi Hotspot Device (U3 Black)

Picked this up as a little travel hotspot to keep the family connected and to stop my phone doing all the tethering. It uses a Cloud SIM to hop onto the best 4G network available, so there is no physical SIM to fiddle with, and you can top up data in the GlocalMe app. It will share a connection with up to ten devices. The 3,000 mAh battery is rated for about 12 hours, and you get 1.1 GB of global data for the first 30 days. There is a SIM slot as well if you would rather use your own plan. Set-up was straightforward and coverage across England, plus a quick EU hop, stayed solid for email, HD video and calls. In crowded areas I did see speeds dip a bit, and the app feels a touch cluttered. The starter allowance is small, maps and messaging are fine but streaming will chew through it, and by default it pauses large downloads unless you adjust the settings. Build quality is good, the feature set makes sense, and the flexibility makes it decent value. It is staying in my travel bag.

I bought this in spite of the ongoing legal battle that Glocalme and Skyroam appears to be embroiled in. I believe they have sidestepped whatever issue they were dealing with with the release of updated firmware and this new unit so I'm not too worried about there being any long-term issues with the injunction they had placed against them. This device mysteriously appeared on Amazon shortly after the injunction went into effect and all the older devices mysteriously disappeared. So.... there isn't a lot of information on this, but it was a concern of mine before I ended up buying the device anyway. I needed something that would work reliably as a hotspot for AT&T and/or Tmobile and this one mostly fit the bill. There is no band 71 support which really sucks for Tmobile, but you do what you can! I got a sim card from Red Pocket, put 60GBs on it and have been using it daily for about 5-6 days while camping in West Virginia (working remotely). It has been rock solid and has given me some decent speeds while my poor phone has had crap service from Tmobile (AT&T is the only cell carrier with a decent presence in West Virginia). I liked this option because I know I can use it in the future for day-trips as well as short business trips and the freedom to hop carriers in the US and outside of it is huge. Also purchasing data direct, while more expensive, will really be nice to get started in a new country when I visit. I really wish I had something like when when I visited Italy at the beginning of the year. I'll definitely be packing it along for future adventures. As far as usability is concerned, the form factor is almost exactly the same as my LG v30 with the slim case I have on it. It is pretty much just one button. Turn it on or turn it off. The initial setup was easy and I did not download the app or bind it to an account yet since I just slapped a sim card in there. All I did was name the device and setup the wifi hotspot password and it was ready to go. One thing I was really impressed with was the wifi range. I have been roaming almost as far away from this thing as I'd roam from a normal router. It has a pretty powerful wifi signal which has been super helpful as I have been working in an all-metal building a lot. I basically leave this thing on the outside of the building and then work from the inside. Excellent signal -- works almost like a cell signal booster. My only real complaints are, like others have mentioned, no real case options. I find myself babying the device since it really doesn't have much protection. It handles and feels like a cell phone so you want to protect the screen from damage. It hasn't been tough to protect it and I've been car camping so it has been in some decently harsh environments thus far. We'll see how it holds up long term. I won't be taking it camping often. Mostly it'll be coming along on business trips. Also because of the lack of a case, I found it was pretty easy to turn on while in my pack. I found a pocket which holds it well enough so it wasn't pushing buttons while I'm moving around -- but YMMV. You will want to find a place where the sides aren't pressed, otherwise it'll be constantly turning on and off in your pack or whereever you're holding it. The lack of Band 71 was also a bummer as I mentioned already. I'll probably upgrade my phone at some point and will use that when I travel too far out of the way on Tmobile's network. Since I have an AT&T sim in there right now I think I'll be ok for the time being, though. Finally, Glocalme is a Chinese company. I want to believe they have our best interests at heart, but China is in the midst of serious turmoil right now. Communication devices such as this one make for fantastic spy equipment and while I'd like to believe that isn't the case, it is something I considered when making a purchasing decision. Huawei and Oneplus, both very popular Chinese communication companies have been caught with spyware on their devices and networks. Do not think that this company is immune to the whim's of the Chinese government. So do your own research there and make an informed decision. Overall I have been very happy with it. It is very portable, very easy to use, and the battery has been lasting me from 8am until 11pm daily with about 30% charge to spare. Really cannot complain!

I travel frequently for both work and leisure, and the GlocalMe U3 has been an absolute game-changer. Setup was quick and straightforward — no SIM card needed, which saved me a ton of hassle at airports. The device connected instantly and gave me reliable 4G LTE speeds in multiple countries without any interruptions. One of the best features is being able to connect up to 10 devices at once. I used it with my phone, laptop, and tablet, and all worked smoothly with stable connections. The included 1GB of global data for 30 days was a great bonus to get started, and topping up data through the app is very convenient. The device is lightweight and pocket-sized, making it perfect for travel. Battery life lasted me through a full day of sightseeing and working remotely. Overall, this is a must-have for anyone who travels internationally and doesn’t want to deal with changing SIM cards or unpredictable hotel WiFi. I couldn’t be happier with this purchase — worth every penny!

I've owned a couple of G3s now for a little over a year and they've been absolutely amazing on every international trip we've taken. I mentioned in my G3 review that the unit is fairly bulky and heavy, due to having such a large battery and the capability (which we never used) to serve as a portable battery for mobile devices. Even after a full 8-10 hour day of usage, we rarely saw the battery drop below 70-75% state of charge. When I saw a new iteration of the device, the G4, came out, I had to have one and I think GlocalMe have significantly improved the form factor of the device. It sports a much larger screen, is significantly thinner, and weights a lot less. The battery is smaller (3900 mAh vs. 5350 mAh), but that has not been an issue for us. Even after a full day of usage, the battery on the G4 was still around 40-50% so I think it could easily last for two days. G3: 126mm x 64mm x 17mm (thick); 235g; 5350 mAh G4: 136mm x 71mm x 12mm (thick); 187g; 3900 mAh I'm not sure of the processor/RAM specs, but the G4 boots faster and the UI feels snappier than the G3. The screen appears to be a similar resolution (perhaps slightly higher, but not noticeably higher) but I noticed colors seem more vibrant and there's a lot better contrast. I last updated my G3 software a couple of months ago, so it could be out of date, but the G4 has additional apps: Google Maps, translation app, and a currency conversion app (though this appears to be entirely in Chinese). The inclusion of maps is awesome and in general, I hope this means that in the future, we may be able to install our own Android apps on the device! I also want to share some things that I think could be improved or that might be considered downsides to the G4. We'll start with the obvious, which is that because the device is so new, there are no case options for it - hopefully that will change soon. The other major downside is that it does not appear as if a single GlocalMe account can register multiple devices. This means you'll need multiple email addresses if you have multiple devices - generally, I don't think this is an issue, but those of you upgrading from a G3 to G4 might find this a little frustrating. The other consequence of this is that the accounts (and therefore devices) cannot share purchased plans. I hope this is something they improve in the future. Lastly, I noticed the data plan store now includes unlimited plans for certain regions, which will throttle after hitting some data limit. This is a great, cheaper option for many if you don't plan to use much data, or if the speed isn't a huge concern for you. In Brazil, for example, the unlimited plan was $5/day, while the metered plans were expensive in comparison: ~$10 for 1 GB or $26 for 3 GB, though of course, there is no throttling on these plans. It's great to see GlocalMe adding new plans to fit different usage profiles! In summary, we've had GlocalMe devices on 6 international trips and they worked flawlessly. No issues registering on local networks or using the GlocalMe data plans. The hardware is solid - we've never experienced an issue that required rebooting the device. Finally, the software is usable, and there have been many improvements from the G3 to G4, which is hopefully a sign of many more improvements to come. If you travel a lot and are looking for a cost effective, reliable solution to having internet access abroad, I give the GlocalMe G4 my highest recommendation!

Really disappointing. This is one of the worst devices of its kind on here. The speed is so slow. Like so slow. Ive used many of these devices, much cheaper, from other sellers and this is bad. The worst. Do not buy. Buy from another seller, different product. So much better ones that are cheaper