CherryRoam has been in service since 2018 and last month, they released the CherryRoam 5G as the first 5G Travel Pocket WiFi in the Philippines.
We brought the CherryRoam 5G on our recent trip to the US for the Consumer Electronics Show 2023 in Las Vegas. The device is actually sleek and slim, very light, and has a similar form factor as a smartphone which we liked (fits well in the pocket too).
It has a 2.4-inch touchscreen display that shows the status of the WiFi, signal strength and the number of connected devices (maximum of 16 devices). You can also personalize your WiFi AP, change the password and even block devices.
Coincidentally, we drove from Los Angeles and Las Vegas and back for our connecting flight. This allowed us to extensively use the CherryRoam 5G during the entire 5-hour drive and, for the most part, we were still getting 4G+ and 5G signal the entire time.
On one occasion, we took a tour of Hoover Dam in Arizona and went to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon in Colorado. Most of the time, we’re on the 5G network, but by the time we entered the Hualapai Indian Reservation, we weren’t getting any signal at all. Well, none of our phones were getting any cellular signal at all.
We also had a day’s worth of tour around downtown LA and into Beverly Hills. Again, pretty good reception the entire day.
One of the devices was connected to T-Mobile (the 5G model) and the second device was connected to AT&T (the 4G model). Cherry provided us with the 5G model, while our host at CES 2023, Acer, also gave us the 4G model.
As for internet speed, we’d normally get somewhere between 20Mbps to 50Mbps during our entire trip which isn’t bad since most of the time we were on the road.
As for battery life, the CherryRoam5G U50 promises up to 12 hours of hotspot operation on a single full charge. In our experience, this is more or less accurate since we usually leave the Luxor Hotel at around 9AM, do a tour around Las Vegas and neighboring states, and come back home at around 7PM with a little bit of battery left on the device.
The 5,400mAh Li-Ion battery is reversible so you can actually also use it as a powerbank-on-the-go to charge up your smartphone via the USB Type-C port. In the entire week that we spent in the United States, we never had the problem of needing to recharge the device mid-day.
You can buy the CherryRoam 5G U50 as a stand-alone device for Php15,000 and simply buy load cards whenever you need to bright them abroad or you can just rent the device on a daily basis when you need them for your overseas trips.
The rental rates are as follows:
Device only – Php100/day
1GB, 3 days – Php550
3GB, 7 days – Php1,650
5GB, 15 days – Php2,750
10GB, 30 days – Php5,500
Your total cost will be the daily rental of the device plus the data service fee that you chose. There is also an insurance fee of Php300 and a refundable deposit of Php3,000 for the device, which you can get back when you return the device.
So far, we’re pretty satisfied with the performance of the CherryRoam5G — both in connectivity, speed and battery life. It’s a convenient and affordable way to get connected whenever you travel abroad.
You can check out and get more detailed about Cherry Roam on their website here 84.
