I've just finished a long trip and it's time for me to rethink how I use the internet on overseas trips. It actually ending up costing me a lot more by not buying a data plan and relying solely on Wi-Fi. This trip my plan was to use Wi-Fi on my phone and a small laptop. I found that Wi-Fi was surprisingly pretty hard to find in parts of Europe and Japan. When I did find it, there often was a block on VOIP services .Also, Wi-Fi was slow a lot of times and kicked me off after short periods of time. Because of a lost passport and a ferry strike, my plans changed .Bus tickets, hotels, train tickets and ferry tickets cost me more money in person than online.I didn't have Wi-Fi issues in the US or Canada, but next time I go overseas, I'll buy a data plan.
Please share your experiences on using Wi-Fi overseas and what has worked best for you. Thanks!