The most direct way to access the internet on the road (but not on a plane) is to pick up your phone. Netflix and YouTube 1080p HD videos look smooth on a 5 Mbps (megabits per second) download stream, a rate that’s easily achieved on a 5G cellular signal.

With a phone’s so-called unlimited plan, you can watch videos for days. However, data providers like T-Mobile and Verizon will cut the speed on your phone’s “unlimited” internet connection after 5 GB to 1.2 TB, depending on your plan details. Note that 1.2 TB translates to over 400 hours of Netflix HD videos or Zoom calls, or almost 20 days straight. After that cap is reached, data speeds will slow down to where you might be able to watch with standard definition (SD) video quality (240p–480p), but the picture will be fuzzier, and switching between apps will take longer.

You can also share your phone’s wireless connection with your laptop, tablet, or other non-cellular device via tethering. You can turn on hotspot mode on an Android phone or Apple iPhone, or use a USB cord to connect to compatible devices like a laptop. Note that there is a separate data cap in hotspot mode that ranges from 5 GB to 60 GB, depending on your data plan. After you reach that cap, browsing and streaming on your laptop or tablet will slow down.

If you need speed for downloading files or game updates, check your phone for the 5G+/UW/UC indicator. These higher-frequency versions of 5G cellular connections are significantly faster than 4G LTE or regular 5G. When we speed-tested 5G using a Verizon-connected iPhone 15 Pro Max, we used the Speedtest app to measure 27 Mbps download speeds on 5G without UW; that improved to 281 Mbps after the phone connected to a faster 5G UW signal.

A mobile hotspot is a small box you carry with you that can provide internet via Wi-Fi, USB, or an Ethernet cable. It’s like a mobile phone, but for data only.

So why would you want to buy or rent a hotspot instead of just using your phone? A hotspot is handy when you’re traveling overseas, since you can pay for one connection for the whole group, instead of buying individual international plans or extra SIM cards for each of your phones. A hotspot also makes sense on business trips: Keeping your work internet and your personal streaming separate is good practice, especially if you can write the hotspot and data plan off as a business expense.

You can add mobile hotspot service to your phone bill, just like adding a new line to your service, or have it billed separately for business purposes. The data limit is baked into the plan you sign up for, so speeds will slow down after 2 GB to 100 GB of data is used. But this data doesn’t count toward your phone data limits.

As with phones, check for 5G+/UW/UC on your mobile hotspot; look for one of these icons to ensure you’re getting significantly faster speeds than 4G LTE or “plain” 5G. While we were using a Netgear M6 Pro connected to an Apple iPad mini 6 via Wi-Fi 6, we saw 21 Mbps download speed and 1.5 Mbps upload speed on a 5G connection.

When Wirecutter senior editor Caitlin McGarry recently traveled on an Amtrak train, she found the shared public Wi-Fi to be far too slow to get work done. But connecting her iPhone to T-Mobile’s 5G UC service and tethering her Mac laptop to a Netgear Nighthawk M6 Pro mobile hotspot on AT&T’s 5G+ service instantly boosted her speeds: 222 Mbps on the former and 325 Mbps on the latter. The Amtrak Wi-Fi? A piddling 1.35 Mbps. That’s not enough speed for a video conference or streaming media, aside from maybe a podcast.

In a hotel room or a guest home, like an Airbnb, you’re likely to have access to a shared Wi-Fi service, which may be fine for your use. However, if you’d like effortless internet access, you can use a travel router, which is a portable version of the router you have at home. Travel routers depend on an external source for internet connectivity; you might use an Ethernet connection on the wall of your hotel room or plug it into a spare port on your Airbnb’s router.

The main benefit of a travel router is the easy setup: You can turn on your tablets, phones, and laptops, and then instantly connect to the travel router, if it’s set with the same network name (SSID) and password as your home router. The drawback is that the travel router’s Wi-Fi signal is unlikely to reach the pool or a conference room on another floor if you leave the router in your room.

Another benefit to using a travel router is when you need to pay or sign up to connect each device to the internet. With a travel router, you just have to pay or sign in once on the router or the router’s phone app, and you’ll be able to share the internet connection with all of your family’s (or coworkers’) devices.

We tested the Asus RT-AX57 Go and the TP-Link TL-WR1502X using the same netburn Wi-Fi tests as in our router guide, and both showed download speeds of 350 Mbps to 385 Mbps on our home test network. But when I traveled with the Asus RT-AX57 Go to a hotel, the router was limited to the 10 Mbps from the hotel room’s Ethernet port, which was similar to the 10 Mbps I got from the hotel’s public Wi-Fi in the same room. Therefore, “free” internet was limited to 10 Mbps either way. In general, wired internet connections are faster than public Wi-Fi, but in this case it just wasn’t available.

Packing a travel router will be a more attractive proposition if your hotel offers a faster premium internet connection, or if you can plug into an Airbnb’s speedy internet connection. That said, the signal to the Asus router was much more responsive (it had lower latency) than the hotel’s public Wi-Fi connection or when I used my phone’s 5G connection. A more-responsive connection is better for browsing selections in streaming services, web surfing, and online gaming, particularly multiplayer.

If you’re on your phone, and you’re using a trusted app for your social networking, email, video-conferencing, and cloud-based file access, you should be fine. We consider first-party phone apps from Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play Store to be trustworthy. Plus, banking apps are safe on public Wi-Fi—really! Just be sure to check your HTTPS settings if you’re accessing personal financial data using a browser.

What about using a VPN to reduce your online exposure? I asked Wirecutter’s security and privacy writer Max Eddy about using public Wi-Fi. And he said, “The experts we spoke to made it clear: Most people do not need to use a VPN all the time. Most of what you send over the internet is already protected by HTTPS, and any banking app worth its salt will have taken its own efforts to ensure you can use it safely. A VPN is most useful when you’re outside the US where HTTPS is less common, when you’re spoofing your location, or when you want to ensure your ISP can’t see what you’re up to. That said, there’s no harm in using a trusted VPN when you’re feeling uncertain about your personal security—especially when you’re using public Wi-Fi—just know that it’s probably not necessary.”

None of these options will save you from bad in-flight Wi-Fi; you’re subject to whatever service they have on a plane. But you can check online before your flight for Starlink, which is usually faster than older tech like Intelsat/Gogo or Viasat.

Newer satellites from Viasat and Starlink orbit Earth in closer orbits than in the past, and Starlink has many more satellites in orbit than rivals. The net result is improved response time and faster speeds overall. Right now, there’s a mishmash of internet providers, but United Airlines has a deal in place so that all of its flights will eventually have Starlink service. It will start rolling out in early 2025 and expand over the next few years. Delta and American will continue to have mixed services, depending on the plane someone is on. But you can check a carrier’s website to see what’s on your upcoming flight.

To quickly access the internet, the best solution is probably to use the phone you already own. But if you’re a frequent traveler, you may want to buy a mobile hotspot or a travel router for more-reliable, fast Wi-Fi. (Sorry about the planes, though.)

This article was edited by Signe Brewster and Caitlin McGarry.