Café Wi-Fi for travelers who need to work

Café Wi-Fi is usually good enough for email and maps, sometimes good enough for a video call, and you rarely know which until you are on it. The connection is one router shared by everyone in the room. A Bogotá remote-work guide notes that noise and Wi-Fi at one of its picks vary by the hour, and warns that relying on public café Wi-Fi for critical video presentations or multi-gigabyte transfers is a risk.³

The working answer is the same in most countries: treat the café network as a bonus, carry your own data, and know which plug the wall takes. Below is what that means in Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, with median speeds from the Speedtest Global Index for September 2026.⁴

Session limits and sign-in pages

Japan's chains show how café Wi-Fi gets rationed. A comparison by Selectra Japan, updated in October 2026, lists Doutor's network, at about 1,000 shops, as a 60-minute session you renew by signing in again, with an English notice capping it at three sessions a day.² Komeda's Coffee also runs 60-minute sessions, Starbucks asks you to log in again every hour, and Renoir allows a single three-hour session per day.²

Tully's sets no time limit, and Pronto none either once you have entered an email address.² Elsewhere the password is the usual gate. In Vietnam you ask for it when you order, and it is sometimes printed on the receipt or posted near the counter.⁸

Public Wi-Fi security basics

The risk is lower than it used to be. The US Federal Trade Commission notes that most websites now encrypt the information you send, so connecting through a public network is usually safe; look for the lock symbol or https in the address bar, which works in mobile browsers too.¹ Encryption does not vouch for the site itself: scammers build encrypted fake sites, so the lock only tells you the connection is private.¹

The FTC's other steps apply on any network: strong passwords, two-factor authentication wherever it is offered, and automatic updates for the operating system, browser and security software.¹ Selectra's guide adds a café-specific one: confirm the network name (SSID) before you join.²

Many café networks are not encrypted at all. Selectra found that none of the Japanese chain networks it compared encrypt traffic, apart from Starbucks' members-only network; Komeda's own guide says no encryption is set and that some VPNs may not work.² For banking or work logins, Colombia Move recommends a VPN or your phone's hotspot instead of the café network.³

Mobile and fixed speeds compared

Ookla's index shows how far apart mobile and fixed lines can be.⁴ Fixed broadband, the kind a café plugs its router into, is faster than mobile in all six countries, but the gap varies a lot. Thailand's fixed median of 304 Mbps ranked eighth in the world.⁴

Vietnam is the outlier. Its median mobile download of 230 Mbps ranked eighth in the world, not far behind its fixed median of 298 Mbps, so a local SIM is a real alternative to a slow café router.⁴ In Japan, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, mobile medians sit between 48 and 68 Mbps, less than half the fixed figures, so a quiet café's line is usually the faster one there.⁴

Median download speeds from the Speedtest Global Index, September 2026.⁴ Plug types, voltage and frequency from World Standards.⁵

eSIMs, local SIMs and registration rules

In Vietnam, MobiFone sells tourist eSIMs through its Hi Vietnam app. Signing up means uploading a passport photo, an electronic identity check (eKYC), a short video call and an electronic signature; the first plan is free and gives 8 GB of 5G data and 10 minutes of calls for 24 hours.⁷ Paid plans as of 2026 run from 80,000₫ for 25 GB over three days to 240,000₫ for 250 GB over 30 days.⁷

Two more Vietnam details: SIM cards sold at the airport carry a markup, and 2G has been switched off, so your phone needs 4G with VoLTE (voice over LTE) or 5G to work on local networks.⁸

Thailand ties every SIM card to a passport. Most shops can only register one during the day, usually until about 21:00, while operator counters at Bangkok's airport register around the clock but only sell pricier tourist SIMs.⁹ In November 2025 a 7-Eleven SIM with 30 GB for 30 days cost 199฿ on DTAC or True.⁹

Peru registers the handset as well as the line. OSIPTEL, the telecom regulator, says visitors roaming on their home SIM need no paperwork, but buying a Peruvian chip (SIM card) means registering the phone with the operator that sells it.¹⁰ That happens in person: the operator checks the phone's IMEI, its hardware serial number, and you sign a sworn statement on where the phone came from.¹⁰

Japan is easy for data and hard for a phone number. Tourist SIMs are data-only plans from virtual operators, simplest to buy at the airport, and eSIMs are widely available; as of 2026 they are limited to 4G in practice, even when 5G is advertised.¹¹ A Japanese number needs a residence card and proof of a local address.¹¹

Your phone as the backup line

A hotspot from your own phone is the fallback when the café line slows, and the safer choice for logins.³ In Bogotá, Colombia Move suggests keeping a local SIM or eSIM from Claro, Tigo or Movistar loaded with data for exactly that.³

How far a hotspot carries you depends on the country. With mobile medians of 230 Mbps in Vietnam and 134 Mbps in Thailand, tethering is a realistic second line for a whole working day; at 48 Mbps in Mexico and Colombia, it is better kept for calls and logins than for large uploads.⁴ Tethering drains a phone quickly, so plug it in or carry a power bank.

Plugs, voltage and laptop chargers

Flat-pin types A and B work in all six countries. Vietnam and Peru also take the round-pin type C, Thailand adds type O, and Mexico, Colombia and Japan stay with A and B.⁵ Voltage runs from 100 V in Japan through 110 V in Colombia and 127 V in Mexico to 230 V in Vietnam, Thailand and Peru.⁵

Voltage matters less than it sounds. Most laptops and phone chargers are dual voltage, rated 100–240 V, and work in Japan without a converter.⁶ Japan's grid runs at 50 Hz in the east and 60 Hz in the west, including Osaka and Kyoto, which rarely matters for electronics.⁶ Grounded type B sockets are much less common there than two-pin type A, so a three-pin laptop cable may need an adapter.⁶