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Pro tip: I lost $340 on a coworking space in Medellin that had no wifi for a week
I want to warn everyone about something that burned me last month. I booked a coworking spot in Medellin for a full month and paid $340 up front because the photos looked amazing and the reviews were solid. First day there, the wifi dropped every 20 minutes and the backup router was dead. By day three I was doing calls from a cafe down the street and burning through my phone hotspot data. I asked for a refund and the guy at the front desk just shrugged and pointed at a sign saying no refunds after 48 hours. I ended up paying another $180 for a different spot across town, so that mistake cost me over $500 total. Lesson learned: never pay for a whole month before you test the internet yourself. Has anyone found a good way to check wifi speed before booking a spot somewhere?
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miab876d ago
Takes me back to when I did the same thing in Bali, paid for two months up front and the "fast fiber" turned out to be one shared line for the whole building. Now I always message the place and ask them to run a speed test on video call while I watch, and if they make excuses I just move on. Asking for a day pass first is the move too, most decent spots will let you pay for one day to try it out before you hand over a full month. If they won't do either of those things, that tells you everything you need to know about how they handle problems later.
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terrym456d ago
Take that video call test one step further and ask them to share their actual plan details or a recent bill, because a speed test on an empty Sunday morning tells you nothing about what it looks like at 8pm when everyone streams. @miab87 is spot on about the day pass too, and I would add that you should show up unannounced for it instead of booking ahead, since that is when you find out if the nice photos match the real place. If they push back on any of it, you just saved yourself a month of pain.
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