Warning: That free coworking space downtown is not worth the headache

I checked out Bright Spot Workspace on 3rd Street last Thursday because I needed a change of scenery. The internet kept dropping every 15 minutes during a client call, which is a death sentence if you do video networking. I counted 8 people on zoom calls at the same time, and you could hear every single conversation. Their upload speed was barely 5 Mbps when I tested it at 2 PM. Has anyone else run into this issue with shared spaces that claim to have fiber internet?

3 comments

3 Comments

faithpatel9d ago

Oh man, that upload speed is brutal! 5 Mbps is basically unusable for video calls these days. I tried a place like that last month and had the exact same problem with everyone's conversations bleeding through. The whole "fiber internet" promise is a total joke when they don't have enough bandwidth for the crowd they let in. I feel your pain, it's such a waste of time and money.

andrew_baker99d ago

Not really sure it's THAT serious, @faithpatel. I mean 5 Mbps is slow but most video calls still work if you turn your camera off or drop the resolution. Feels like everyone expects perfect gigabit speeds in a packed coffee shop which was never realistic to begin with.

smith.lee9d ago

Yeah Andrew's got a point, @faithpatel, I remember trying to join a work call from a Panera with 3 Mbps and just gave up halfway through.