How to Make Sure You Always Have Good Internet Connection as a Digital Nomad
April 9, 2019 5:00 am
Traveling throughout the world while working is the dream for many people. However, to be successful as a digital nomad, you’ll have to think about various things. One of them is a stable internet connection. Without a stable connection, you won’t be able to get your job done, and your trip will become a nightmare. Therefore, prevent such a situation, and make sure you always have a good internet connection. Here’s how.
Perform a speed test
To make sure that you’re going to have a good internet connection, you need the results of a speed test from your future hotel (or another residence). Reach out to them, send them the speed test link, ask them to run the test, and share it with you. They can even just use the print screen option; it is easy both ways. This very first step is essential since you will get valuable insight about the ping, upload, and download. The ping tells you how fast the internet is. Or in other words, what is the reaction time of your future connection. It is especially important if your job requires streaming videos and similar things. On the other hand, the upload speed will give you the answer to how fast the data gets transferred from your computer to the internet. And finally, the download speed tells you how fast data comes from the server to you. Or, to be more precise, how long it takes to bring any internet page to your screen. When you see the test, the download number should always be bigger than upload.
Join a coworking space
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash
If you are not satisfied with the speed test of your residence, you can always join a coworking space. Most of the time, they will have an excellent and reliable connection. However, you should check it as well, the same way we already explained – the speed test. More and more coworking spaces are using fiber internet all over the world, in fact, in some areas, this is quickly becoming a growing trend. For instance, the quality of providers of fiber optics in Jordan is on a rapid rise, which is the main culprit for the fast-paced expansion of public interest in this option. The internet is one of the crucial reasons why people often choose coworking spaces while traveling. Sometimes, you can’t even expect that a hotel has the same connection as the space that is designed only for working. Besides that, coworking spaces are also great for social reasons. You can talk to people with similar affinities and interests and make new friendships and (business) relationships.
Always bring a hotspot
You can consider bringing a hotspot as your “last resort”. It works the same way as the cell phone when you can connect it to the internet with a sim card. Just load a sim card into your hotspot, and you will have access to the internet. However, be aware that hotspot often requires larger sim cards. For cellphones, you usually need nano or micro, but for the hotspot, you will need a standard one. Once you have an appropriate sim card, you can easily use WiFi to connect your computer to the hotspot. Another thing that you should keep in mind is that sim cards can slow down after multiple usages. After many GB of data, it can stop working suddenly. In many cases, you won’t have to worry about this, but still, it is good to know.
Tether to your phone when necessary
When you can’t find internet access, you still have one more way to get online. Connecting your computer to the smartphone is not the best option of them all, but it works, especially in these problematic situations. Your computer will use phone data, and you should always have a local sim card. It is vital since you want to prevent international rates, and also, to improve your connection. Also, the best way is to only tether from your phone as a backup. Using all your cell phone data can drain the battery super fast, which is unacceptable. In that case, you will have to recharge your phone all the time. Setting up the tethering is pretty straightforward. Just turn the personal hotspot on, connect to your phone by going to computer WiFi, and find the network name of your phone.