TravlFi JourneyGo 4G Hotspot
ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The TravelFi JourneyGo 4G Hotspot usually retails for $199.
- Roughly the dimensions of a hockey puck, that is an easy-to-use system that gives secure Wi-Fi connections away from residence.
- It does, nevertheless, battle in excessive site visitors areas.
extra shopping for decisions
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Over the previous couple of weeks, I have been testing an attention-grabbing little gadget referred to as the JourneyGo 4G Hotspot. It is concerning the measurement of a hockey puck (and even appears like one), with a easy function: to offer a robust, dependable Wi-Fi hotspot connection for private units when away from residence. You will not should gamble on spotty native networks or pay these outrageous roaming charges whereas touring.
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Sure, smartphones can do the identical factor through hotspot tethering, however that is higher than a smartphone. It’s a pocket-sized system that ensures you are all the time related to the broader web, be it for work, college, or streaming. That’s, at the least for probably the most half. There are just a few eventualities the place the JourneyGo falters.
Enable me to clarify.
Establishing the JourneyGo
Establishing the JourneyGo Hotspot is simple. When you flip it on, scan the QR code on the backside to activate the system. Then, you need to buy a service plan with TravelFi so you should use the JourneyGo as supposed. I am going to listing out the subscription particulars later as a result of they relate to the system’s general value.
The JourneyGo helps as much as 10 simultaneous connections from smartphones, laptops, desktop PCs, and even handheld gaming consoles just like the Lenovo Legion Go S. It operates by scanning and connecting to cellphone towers, robotically selecting the strongest sign.
Efficiency
Earlier than I focus on what’s good about JourneyGo, I need to shortly assessment the challenges I confronted as a result of I consider they’re going to be fairly frequent. The largest problem was outdoors interference. I dwell close to a busy intersection, which implies dozens of smartphones, laptops, and different units compete for entry to the identical native wi-fi community. Below these situations, the JourneyGo struggled.
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Web speeds fluctuated wildly. At its worst, every little thing slowed to a crawl with easy net pages taking ceaselessly to load. When related to my desktop (which has Wi-Fi antennas), obtain and add speeds plummeted to simply 2.3 Mbps and 1.39 Mbps, respectively. There have been even occasions when the connection would drop altogether, leaving solely a purple LED indicator.
Outdoors of those suboptimal eventualities, efficiency was completely high quality; in truth, it was nice.
The JourneyGo 4G shines in low-traffic environments. At evening, when fewer folks competed for bandwidth, the hotspot connection felt practically indistinguishable from my residence Wi-Fi. Net pages loaded shortly, streaming Netflix reveals was easy, and on a regular basis shopping felt seamless.
For instance, I managed to buy new health club shorts, an aux wire, hair pomade, and streamed a lo-fi hip hop station on YouTube in 1080p with out a hitch. Each video I watched ran steadily in excessive decision (just a few had been in 4K), and the audio got here by crystal clear.
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TravlFi’s gadget is not restricted to informal shopping and streaming video; it additionally helps regular on-line gaming. I used to be impressed that I may play Helldivers 2 on-line with different folks. To be completely trustworthy, I used to be absolutely anticipating the connection to crash, or at the least stutter just a little. Not solely was the expertise easy, however I did not endure a single disconnect.
Nonetheless, even below optimum situations, the JourneyGo nonetheless did not have the very best obtain and add speeds. I ran the Ookla web velocity check on an Acer Aspire 16 AI whereas related to the hotspot gadget, and the very best obtain and add speeds it obtained had been 11.11 Mbps and 15.92 Mbps, respectively. These speeds are completely high quality for streaming HD video, however not for downloading giant information.
As a part of one other check, I put in the Courageous browser on the Aspire 16 to see how lengthy it could take. Over the JourneyGo, the method of downloading and putting in Courageous took practically three minutes. Over my home Wi-Fi, it took roughly 50 seconds.
I must also observe that the JourneyGo can warmth up throughout prolonged use — the quantity of warmth it radiates is determined by what you do. I related my PC for a full day’s work, and it obtained fairly toasty. After I related the JourneyGo to the Acer Aspire 16 and ran a steady livestream, it barely obtained heat.
Double obligation
An attention-grabbing characteristic of the JourneyGo is that it doubles as an influence financial institution, making an already useful system much more helpful. That mentioned, it is not the quickest charger on the planet. I plugged in my OnePlus Nord N20 at 15%, and after about half-hour, it solely climbed as much as 30% cost.
In accordance with an organization rep, the JourneyGo has an influence capability of 17.4 Wh. So, utilizing the watt-hour to watt dialog method, which means the gadget has an influence output of about 34.8 watts. The JourneyGo is not the quickest charger, however in a pinch, it turns out to be useful.
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For its personal battery, the JourneyGo’s longevity is determined by its workload. TravlFi says its hotspot puck can last as long as 16 hours on a single cost. I had totally different occasions. Whereas it was related to my desktop, the JourneyGo solely lasted about 13 hours. Nonetheless, whereas related to the Aspire 16 operating a livestream, it lasted for much longer — about 20 hours.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
The JourneyGo 4G Hotspot usually retails for $199, however on the time of this writing, it is on sale for $159. As soon as you buy the system, you will additionally have to subscribe to one of many firm’s Pay-As-You-Go web plans. Pricing begins at $19 monthly for 2GB of knowledge and scales as much as $129 a month for limitless knowledge.
For testing, I had the Limitless plan, which is how I used to be in a position to stream movies, work, and every little thing talked about within the assessment with out challenge. One of many good issues about TravlFi‘s plans is their flexibility. They’re commitment-free. You solely should pay for the months you plan to make use of the JourneyGo 4G, and you’ll cancel at any time, making it very travel-friendly.
