[Jenny Mel]

I see a lot of travel talk about the Ryoko Pro but I don’t travel much. I mostly just want a backup hotspot for when my home internet goes out. Does it make sense to get one if I’m basically staying in one place? Or is it really meant for people hopping between countries? Just wondering if I’d be wasting the whole roaming thing.

[Kuzela]

Fine as a backup if your home internet dies.

[Luna Sketch]

I mostly use mine for the same reason and it’s been fine. The roaming part just sits unused unless I actually go somewhere, which is honestly most of the time. The data plan is the real cost, not the device, so that’s the bit I’d think about before buying.

[Sarah]

If your main goal is a backup for home internet, the roaming stuff is just a bonus you won’t touch much. Mine sits in a drawer until I need it and it’s been handy for that. You’re not really wasting anything since it still works as a normal hotspot.

[Chris Patrick]

Roaming is just a bonus, not the point.

[Priya Shah]

Depends what you’re comparing it to. For a backup hotspot, the price might be hard to justify if you already have phone tethering sitting there unused. The roaming is irrelevant either way, but that doesn’t automatically make it the right pick.

[Rob C]

I’d skip it. The whole point of that thing is bouncing between countries, so paying for that when you’re parked in one spot is just burning money. My phone already handles the occasional outage fine.

[Dana Lee]

I’d rather have a hotspot than rely on my phone.

[Marcus Reed]

Roaming being “wasted” isn’t really a downside since you’re not paying extra for it. I’d say the bigger question is whether the data plan makes sense for regular use versus just occasional backup. If you’re only firing it up a few times a year, the monthly cost adds up compared to just using your phone.

[Jason Brown]

The roaming angle is not the reason to buy it. I have one that I picked up mainly for work because I was going into buildings with terrible wifi, not because I was jetting around. It stayed in my bag for a couple months and then my home internet went down for almost a full day during a storm. I pulled it out, charged it, and it handled my laptop and a tablet fine. That changed how I thought about it. It was not about travel at all, it was just a second pipe when the main one died.

But I will say this. If your only reason is home backup, the math gets weird fast. The device itself is one cost, then you are paying for a data plan every month even if you barely use it. I kept mine because I also use it at job sites and once in a while on weekend trips, so it earns its keep. If I only wanted a home fallback, I would probably just use my phone hotspot and save the money. The roaming thing is not wasted in the sense that you are not paying extra for it, but it is also not a reason to buy. It is a feature you might never touch.

[Pete Tilbrook]

I mostly keep mine at home too and it’s been fine for that. The roaming stuff just sits there unused, sure, but I’m not paying a premium for it so who cares. It’s a solid backup when the main line drops, and I use it for the odd day out as well.

[emily_r]

I don’t think it’s a waste, but I also wouldn’t buy one just for home backup. My power went out a few times last winter and I used mine to keep working, it did the job fine. But if your phone can already tether, that’s a much cheaper backup.

[Nina Rogers]

Mine has basically been a home gadget since I got it. I used the roaming once on a weekend trip, but otherwise it just sits by the window and kicks in when my wifi drops. The global stuff being unused doesn’t bug me at all.

[Mike Reynolds]

If you’re not traveling, the roaming thing is just dead weight you’re paying for. That’s my issue with it. I grabbed one a while back because my building’s internet kept dropping during the day and I figured a hotspot would be a simple fix. It wasn’t. The problem wasn’t the device, it was that my cell signal inside is garbage, so I basically traded one bad connection for another bad connection.

I ended up putting it near a window like everyone else does, and it worked better there, but then it’s not really “portable” anymore, it’s just a router with a worse battery. Which is fine if that’s what you want. But for pure home backup, you’re paying for a global roaming plan and hardware built for people moving between countries, and you’re using maybe 10 percent of what it does.

The honest comparison is that a cheap dedicated hotspot with a local SIM does the same job for backup purposes, and probably cheaper. The Ryoko makes sense if you actually cross borders and don’t want to deal with SIM swaps. If you’re sitting in one country 350 days a year, you’re buying travel insurance you’ll never claim.

That said, the setup is genuinely easy and mine hasn’t randomly died on me. It’s not junk. It’s just aimed at a different person than you’re describing.

[Jade Writes]

I picked one up mostly because my apartment internet has been flaky during storms, and I figured a hotspot would at least keep me from sitting in the dark with nothing to do. The roaming side never crossed my mind when I bought it. I think I’ve had it about four months now and it’s only left my place twice, both times just to a coffee shop when my building had a scheduled outage.

What surprised me is that I actually use it more than I expected, just not as a full backup. Sometimes I’ll flip over to it when my regular wifi gets slow in the evening, and it handles that fine for browsing or streaming something short. I never bothered looking into whether I’m getting some amazing deal on the global coverage. It’s just there, and I’m not paying anything extra for it as far as I can tell.

So I’d say the roaming part being unused doesn’t really make it a bad buy if the data plan itself fits how much you’d actually use it. For me the math worked out because I wanted something simple I could turn on without fiddling with settings. If you’re only ever going to use it a handful of times a year when your home internet dies, that’s a different question about whether the monthly cost is worth it to you. I don’t regret mine, but I also wouldn’t pretend the travel features are doing anything for me.

[Chris Reed]

Roaming is the main point, skip it if you don’t travel.

[Parker S.]

Roaming isn’t why I’d skip it. If your home internet dies, your phone can hotspot for free unless your carrier throttles that. I tried a dedicated hotspot for that and the data plan cost more than it was worth.

[Julia Writes]

Then you’re paying for roaming you’ll never use.

[Gina Vale]

I mostly use mine as a backup too. The catch is the monthly plan still runs whether you use it or not, so it sits there costing money for maybe two outages a year. That part bugs me more than the roaming thing.

[Casey M.]

It’s a hotspot, not a travel-only device.

[Jenny Mel]

I’m still not sure I’d call it a waste just because the roaming part goes unused. A backup hotspot is a backup hotspot, and if it keeps you online when your normal connection drops, that seems like the actual job. The travel features just come along for the ride.

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