What is a mobile power supply.
Keeping your phone or tablet charged while you are traveling is becoming a critical tool because the use of online booking confirmations and airline tickets is rapidly becoming a requirement, not just an option. However, relying on USB A and C public charging points is not only inherently insecure, allowing for potential attacks through theft of data, malware infections, but also risky in that a faulty supply could damage your device. This should be considered as possible anywhere public, including airports, planes, hotels and restaurants.
There are a few options that you can use to keep your critical devices safely charged while traveling.
- Battery Pack or Power Bank.
- Multi-port Charging Station.
- USB A/C Data Blocker.
Power Options.
- The battery pack or power bank is obviously the most mobile option available, allowing you to connect your mobile phone or tablet anywhere including at airport/ferry/hotel check-in desks when you need power immediately. There are a few constraints around power banks in that you must carry them with you in your hand luggage on flights, you cannot put them in your checked luggage. That’s not normally an issue, as you would be carrying it with you to use, but something to be aware of.
- During more relaxed times when you have access to a public USB A/C power point, you can use the supply to charge your power bank reasonably safely as there is no risk of data transfer.
- You could also plug your phone directly into that public USB A/C point, but it is not recommended as this option carries a cybersecurity risk allowing attackers to install malware on your phone. As such, plugging your phone in directly to public USB charging ports should be avoided at all times.
- It is far safer to plug into a mains wall outlet with a standard AC adapter or a multi-port adapter that can support the local voltages. Of course with this option you will need to ensure that you have a travel adapter for the countries you are traveling to.
- If you think you may need to plug your phone or tablet into public USB charging points for some reason, then it is worth getting a “Data Blocker” or “USB Condom” adapter. This adapter physically blocks the data pins on your charging cable so that only power can pass through to your phone or tablet.
- The safest option is only to use your original wall charger or your own multiport USB charging station plugged into a power outlet. This method eliminates any risk of data transfer. It is worth making sure that both your original wall charger and/or charging station can work with the various voltages and frequency of your holiday destination. (Most do these days, but still worth checking!)
Supporting all your mobile devices.
Most devices need to be charged fairly frequently, potentially daily, especially if you are using the devices continually and also have GPS enabled for map reading. If you do have multiple devices across the family or group, it may be worth getting a multi-port USB charging station. This device uses only one power plug and thus only one travel adapter, but can support parallel charging of four to eight devices at the same time. Some of the charging stations support both USB A and C power cables connections.
Make sure you have enough USB power cables to support all devices plugged in at the same time.
The big advantage of the multi-port charging station is that only only one main voltage plug point and thus travel adapter is required. This is especially useful on cruises or in hotels that have only one power point free or available for charging your devices. Without this charging station, multiple plug points and travel adapters will be needed to charge more than one device at a time.
Power Management
The minimum you should have with you while are actively traveling:
- a fully overnight charged phone.
- a fully overnight charged battery bank.
- emergency USB data blocker.
- either the original Mains Power USB A/C Plug delivered with the phone plus the correct cable
- or a Mains Multi-port USB Power charger with cables for every port.
- the correct travel adapter for your destination, at least two of them.
Power FAQ’s:
Travel Adapters?
Obviously these are critical and you need the correct travel adapter for the destination country you are going to. I would recommend that you have at least two of these. I have found many adapters left over from previous occupants in hotel rooms. If each person in the group is using their own specific phone charger and cables, then each of them will require a separate travel adapter, if they need to charge at the same time overnight.
Multi-port USB Charging Station?
Most of the charging stations these days that you can buy support all mainland voltages (from 110v to 250V) and frequencies (50-60Hz), so work in most destinations. Always worth double checking this before you travel.The advantage of this device is that you only need one for most families or groups, so less to carry, and only one travel adapter is required. (Always keeping a backup)
Why do you need a power bank?
The power bank is a useful backup for while you are actually on the move, and cannot access mains power to charge your device. If you need your device to show tickets or booking at the end of a long day of travel, the power bank can keep your phone alive at the key times at boarding gates.
