Uber - Grab Question?
 

So, I have these apps on my work iphone but have not signed up yet. I have a few newbie questions in relation to Uber and/or Grab.

This is a work phone so when I travel for leisure I don't get a data plan etc., I turn off my data and just use wifi, mostly just in the hotel checking emails and such.

If I am only on wifi can I still request an Uber or Grab car? I understand when I leave the hotel and I am somewhere else without wifi I will just have to hail a cab back.

For example we were just in Vegas and seen TONS of Uber/Grab cars picking up and dropping off people and it sounds it is much more reasonable. We are heading to Malaysia this winter and would like to use it there?

How does payment work. I understand you register your credit card and it is automatically charged. Do you know the price before ordering and if chosen can you also pay cash?

Any help would be appreciated!

You can use wifi to request, you just won't be able to see your trip status enroute as you will be outside of coverage area. I do this often when travelling.

Some cities allow cash trips, I don't know if this has been extended to all markets yet.

Some cities equally display the fare upfront, otherwise you can get an estimate, if you deviate enroute it is recalculated. It's much cheaper than regular cabs in most cities (not always). In some places you just get a regular cab and pay the meter fare (but via your card registered to the app), e.g. Dublin, where private (non-metered/licensed) vehicles aren't permitted as cabs, so Uber integrates with the regular cab drivers.

Thanks so much............sorry, just so I understand.

I use wifi to request - when you say I won't be able to see my trip status enroute? Do you mean I will be able to see where the car is when coming to pick me up but once I am in I obviously won't see anything else once I am away from the hotel wifi?

If so that is fine I am sure? I will have to give it a test using wifi when I am back in Vegas in November. I guess the same goes for landing at an airport - as long as there is free wifi I could use it at that point also or would that be extremely difficult for the driver to figure out where you are?

Thanks again.

Once you've requested the trip you don't need WiFi any longer. During the request you specify the pickup location and the driver sees only that, not your actual real time GPS location, so whether you're still connected after the driver has accepted is not relevant.
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It matters for a few other things, which are minor: if the driver cancels you won't get that notification if you've already disconnected (so just stay connected until he's there or almost there, you can track him approaching your location while you're connected), also in some markets Uber has introduced in-app chat instead of calling, and if the driver is unsure of your location he might try contact you (in some cities, in developing nations especially in my experience, drivers don't come to the pickup location until you contact them to confirm where it is. Either distrust of GPS location that you entered or some other cultural issue, also at airports due to time restrictions on parking, useful to be able to call in such cases but I've often made do without).

I've used Uber in probably close to a dozen countries, often with just hotel or public WiFi as you describe. Not as ideal as having a SIM with data but it's very doable.

Please continue to follow this thread in the ride services forum
Thanks
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Ordering an Uber with wifi is not difficult. Even after you leave the hotel, there are plenty of places that offer free wifi so you won't necessarily have to hail a regular taxi to return to your hotel.

You might also consider just getting a tourist Malaysian SIM card for the time you're in Malaysia too. (In Malaysia, you'll know the price upfront at the time of ordering, btw.)

You say this is a work phone and you only want to use Wi-Fi. Are you also carrying a personal cell phone that has international roaming? You can easily download these apps to that phone and it works just as well. Also your personal cell may have "hotspot" capability to allow you to use it as a Wi-Fi connecting device. I use mine with my wife's ipad to connect to the Internet when not close to a free Wi-Fi connection. Since I have unlimited data on my personal cell phone and free for the most part International roaming (T-Mobile), it doesn't cost me any extra to use that.

No I just have a work phone but I still am able to use it for personal use etc., Just when I am on a leisure vacation internationally for 2 weeks I need to pay for the extras. I am not interested in doing that as Wi-Fi just suits me fine - If it works for Uber or Grab then I am fine with that. I have the apps downloaded on my work phone.

I've done the wifi Uber thing before when overseas, and the one big drawback is that if you don't have a solid signal in the place where you're waiting for the car, you can't track the car's progress as it comes to pick you up (and you might not know if they cancel). If you have text messaging, though, you should be able to at least set up text alerts so that you'll know if they cancel.

Can foreign cars as a grabcar? For example, Car of Brunei get into Malaysia(Sarawak, Miri)

Sorry to revive an old thread, but does Grab work on WiFi only? I'm heading to Singapore which unfortunately does not have Uber service, and I won't have a data plan either.

It does work, you just need to turn on your location (or GPS known by most) service. If Grab unable to get your location, then go to google map or other map app to get your location then go back to Grab App.

Btw, it is not that Singapore does not have Uber service. They used to have it. But the Uber south east asia region service has been bought over by Grab....

If you are in Singapore, most of the time you won't need grab if you are travel for leisure