Every year, adobo magazine covers several creative festivals in the world. There’s AdFest in Pattaya, Thailand, the Cannes Lions International Festival Creativity in Cannes, France, the Spikes Asia Festival in Suntec City, Singapore to name a few. To provide real time coverage of the inspiring sessions and award winners from the Philippines and in Asia, it’s crucial that we have a strong and reliable internet connection whenever, wherever we are.
In previous festivals, we would spend thousands of pesos to purchase international sim cards loaded with prepaid internet in the airport. Having a phone that’s locked to a specific network, I had to carry around an extra phone which I can use abroad. Being an old, clunky phone, it easily loses battery every time I try using it as a personal hotspot. This often leaves us dependent on free WiFi internet in and around the convention centers and in hotels which is not always reliable, and would result to late publishing and posting of stories. Whenever this happens, it defeats the purpose of an on-ground team which is supposed to be reporting live.
This year, Philippine Airlines launched myPAL Roam, a global WiFi hotspot service that’s available in 83 countries. For only PhP 490.00 per day, users can enjoy fast and unlimited internet without the hassle of changing sim cards, weak signal, among others. myPAL Roam can be ordered online and picked up from PAL’s office in NAIA or from any of the cabin crew in your PAL flight. Returning the hotspot device also follows the same easy and hassle-free mechanics.
For our Spikes Asia Festival coverage in Singapore last September 21 to 24, we got to try myPAL Roam for ourselves. Following the simple instructions enclosed in the manual inside the device’s pouch, we are connected as soon as the plane landed in Changi International Airport. Despite the multiple devices–two laptops, two mobile phones–connected to myPAL Roam, we didn’t encounter any problem with the strength and speed of the internet.
myPAL Roam keeping us company during one of our working lunches
Only requiring charging at night, myPAL Roam kept us connected through the full three days of the conference and even during the after parties at Spikes Asia. Except for the one instance at the Mastercard Theatre in Marina Bay Sands where the signal was probably blocked and we weren’t able to use the internet, myPAL Roam was a reliable and convenient addition to our festival coverage kit. We were able to seamlessly live tweet the sessions, publish stories and adoboLIVE videos, post snaps of the happenings inside the hall, Instagram everything, and even play Pokemon Go (during breaks, of course)!
myPAL Roam definitely made our lives much easier and instead of wasting energy on internet woes, we were able to focus on giving our audience unrivaled reporting of the Spikes Asia Festival where Philippine agencies TBWA\Santiago Mangada Puno and BBDO Guerrero, among others, took home metals including a Gold Spike and an elusive Creative Effectiveness award.
adobo magazine, without a doubt, recommends myPAL Roam for a convenient and connected trip to wherever your feet will take you.
For more details, visit https://roam.philippineairlines.com/.
