When I travel, I have always looked for an effective and lower cost way of getting data on the move – which has meant Mobile Broadband data. Roaming costs mean that I have settled on an unlocked Mifi unit and getting efficient at figuring it out how the local Pre-Paid/PAYG market works and how to read the particular language/make use of the Translate features of Chrome. It still is the lowest cost option but you end up with a selection of different SIMs which periodically become invalid because of operator inactivity rules. There is an alternative which is more expensive than local SIMs and is only one SIM – Maxroam. It also works if you want something for your voice calls (I don’t as I have an effective Roaming voice call solution via my operator). Check out the video interview by Scoble of the company’s principles from when they were in Amsterdam at The Next Web conference at the end of April for full details.
What solution works for you is something that you need to decide. I am tempted to get one as a backup for when I go to a country that is very awkward about Pre-Paid/PAYG (which the Netherlands is by the way with its avoidance of credit card top-up online).