What to do when your internet goes down while traveling

Grabbing Wi-Fi from coffee shops and restaurants
can get you online when your cellular network goes down.
(Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
 (Andrew Francis Wallace via Getty Images)

I was recently traveling abroad in Ireland and Scotland with my wife and our best friend, taking in the sights, the history, and, above all, a healthy amount of whiskey, or whisky, depending on which country we were in at the time. 

Unfortunately, while strolling through Edinburgh on June 27, cellular service for many Americans traveling abroad went blank. The reason? According to Syniverse, a third-party service provider that helps connect AT&T (T), T-Mobile (TMUS), and Verizon (VZ) users while roaming overseas, a networking partner ran into issues with its own service partner, creating a cascading series of problems that cut off connectivity for users.

My wife, our friend, and I each lost service while walking around a city we weren’t familiar with, cutting off our access to Google Maps, ride-hailing apps, voice and texting services — heck, everything you’d use your phone for. I couldn’t even post pictures to Instagram, the most important part of any vacation.

By Daniel Howley.
Full story at Yahoo News.