MioWifi: Stay Connected to the Internet Wherever You Are
Estimated reading time: 7 Min
Leonardo Stallocca is an innovator passionate about quality, efficiency, and technology. He didn't tell us—but he didn't need to; his track record speaks for itself. This entrepreneur created a pioneering company in Latin America and counts himself among the only four global providers of this service at scale.
Today we speak with MioWifi, an internet solution for staying connected anywhere on the planet, which found in Cubbo the perfect partner. This is their story!
How was MioWifi born and how does it work?
Leonardo: We started the company five years ago, initially operating in three countries: Argentina, Mexico, and Spain. It is a company dedicated to renting and selling portable internet services for travelers.
The product we offer is a router that lets you connect with unlimited broadband access in up to 150 countries around the world. Each router can include up to five devices for Internet access.
It was an idea we brought together with a company from Norway, and then the concept evolved until we partnered with a very large Chinese company that is our technology partner. They make the hardware—the router—and we handle the entire operational side of reservations and device activation.
MioWifi works with proprietary technology called Virtual SIM and a system of agreements with telecommunications carriers in every country where we offer coverage. That technology allows us to emulate the local chip.
So when you take the router to a country—let's say China—the router detects that you are in China and we virtually install a China 4G chip with unlimited data. If you move to another country, say Australia, the router detects that you are in Australia and we install a virtual Australia chip. This is a very important advantage because you are local in every country you visit and you don't use roaming services, which are very unstable and also very expensive.
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This is the first time I've heard of this. Is there competition?
Leonardo: We were the pioneers in Latin America. In the U.S. there was a company doing this—I don't know if it still exists. And globally, we are only four companies managing the Virtual SIM market.
Did you start as an e-commerce?
Leonardo: The project started 100% digitally, but we do have a physical component, because in the end a physical product is delivered—the router—and for that we need delivery points in the countries where we provide the service.
We started operating from London and Buenos Aires, then moved the London office to Madrid, and then opened Mexico City and New York. At that point we were working in four countries.
Then, during the pandemic, we had to stop operating in New York. Before the pandemic, there was a plan to create pickup points or equipment rental stations at airports, and we remain open to that type of operation. But our main operation is online and our website is built on WooCommerce.
You've grown tremendously in a very short time. What lessons do you take from that?
Leonardo: It's really wonderful—we've grown alongside our partners and it's been a great experience because we had to go through a period of evangelization, explaining to people what this product is and how this technology works, so they would know it's no longer necessary to go to countries to buy chips.
That lasted about two or three years, and then the market started to know us and everything began to flow very quickly. Word of mouth was very powerful there, because the MioWifi user experience is very positive—it is the feeling of truly having a global connection, because you move from country to country and you're always connected to the Internet from the moment you get off the plane. That experience impacts users a lot and generates very positive word of mouth.
Who is this designed for: tourists or business travelers?
Leonardo: Well, it's designed for travelers in general, but it's true that we divide our offering into traditional travelers and business travelers. Traditional travelers is a category that includes any traveler—any person traveling to another country who needs to stay connected. That customer rents the service on our website, we send the device to their home, they use it in the country they're visiting, and when they return, they send it back to our warehouse.
Business travelers are executives at companies who need to travel for work. In that case, large companies are generally the ones that buy the routers from us and make those routers available to their executives as they need to travel.
In that case, there is also a rental option if the company wants to rent, but since they tend to be more frequent travelers, it is normal for them to purchase the equipment.
A logistics challenge and an experienced partner
One of the major problems MioWifi faced when selling in Mexico is that, for its business model to work at full profitability, the company needs to outsource its fulfillment to a third party.
But MioWifi's fulfillment is complex: the device rental model involves constant returns and re-entry of products into stock, with all the operational difficulties that entails. For Leonardo, this meant a three-year search in Mexico until he met Josu and discovered Cubbo: the perfect solution for MioWifi.
Thanks to the strategic network of fulfillment in Mexico City, MioWifi has been able to guarantee that its routers reach travelers quickly and efficiently, solving a complex logistics challenge marked by shipping, returns, and equipment re-entry into stock.
How did you find Cubbo?
Leonardo: The key to our business is fulfillment. Being able to maintain a small company structure focused on sales and customer satisfaction and outsource the most complex part—the distribution or logistics of these devices.
Router delivery and returns are critical for us. In Spain it was relatively easy, in the United States too, and in Argentina we had no problem. But in Mexico, we spent about four years looking for companies like Cubbo and fulfillment wasn't something that was available. Of course there are companies that print shipping labels for you to send via a courier, but they don't manage your stock and your orders.
So thanks to Cubbo we were able to operate in Mexico. In particular thanks to Josu, whom I was able to meet a few years ago—it made me very happy when he founded Cubbo, because it was the perfect solution for us.
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Logistically you are quite complex, right?
Leonardo: Especially for a fulfillment company, we are a business that doesn't fit standard categories, because we have a rental business model, which means shipping, re-entry into stock, and/or returns. Logistically, we are complex.
Cubbo adapted 100% to what we needed without requiring any changes from us—the platform adapted 100% to our system. Of course there are always some improvements that could be made to make everything smoother and fully electronic, but the integration took less than five minutes.
Do you work with Cubbo only in Mexico?
Leonardo: Yes. For now, yes. But the experience we're having with them is opening our eyes to the possibility of expanding our borders and starting to operate in other countries without needing a company there.
That is really very good, because we can commercialize and generate these rentals in Colombia without needing a company in Colombia, and we have Cubbo importing the routers and making them available to us.
That is the next step we will take. For now we are settling in after two very difficult years, because travel was cut off due to Covid and we are only just returning to 2019 levels.
For now, the main plans are to reopen the United States and launch in Colombia, Chile, and Uruguay.
What would you say is MioWifi's competitive advantage?
Leonardo: Cost and quality. We offer one of the most competitive costs in the market: just $8 per day. Think about it—that's two coffees.
And having stable, unlimited internet with you wherever you go for that price is a huge advantage. But we also do it giving you the peace of mind that you'll have an exceptional experience with us. That's why MioWifi is simply one of the best solutions currently on the market.
Looking for a partner to boost your delivery process, reverse logistics, fulfillment, and customer satisfaction? Don't hesitate to contact us—we are the best fulfillment center for eCommerce in Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil—just click here.
During 2021 at Cubbo:
* Our clients recorded 21% savings in operating costs
* 97.1% of products received were processed and ready to sell within 24 hours.
* We achieved 99.7% on-time shipping fulfillment
* We recorded 99.9875% order preparation accuracy—that is, 1 error every 8,000 shipments.
* 60% of our deliveries in Mexico City were made the same day
* We completed nationwide deliveries in an average of 1.3 days
