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The mistake people make when picking a town for freelancing
I keep seeing folks on here move to cheap small towns thinking it'll save them money. I tried that with a place outside Spokane last year. The cheap rent was nice but the internet was so slow I couldn't upload design files. I lost a $2,000 client because of it. Has anyone else found that you gotta check the actual fiber availability before signing a lease?
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flores.mark3mo ago
DSL can be a pain but even fiber isn't always a sure thing here. I mean I looked at a place in Idaho that listed fiber as available but when I called the provider they said the nearest connection point was half a mile down the road.
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ruby_bell473mo ago
We moved to a little town in Vermont thinking it'd be perfect for our family. Turns out the only option was DSL from the phone company and it went out every time it rained. I had to drive 20 minutes to the library just to upload a video for a client... that was a rough month. The thing people don't consider is that even if fiber is available, the actual installation can take weeks if you're in a rural area. Some places have "up to" speeds in the contract that are way slower than advertised. I'd say call the provider yourself and ask about actual speeds at the specific address before you sign anything.
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lee.cora3mo ago
Definitely call the provider. We learned that lesson the hard way. DSL is fine for basic stuff but rain kills it, and if you work from home that's just not going to work. Even with fiber, the install can drag on for weeks if the ground is frozen or if they have to trench across your property. Some companies will say a neighborhood has fiber but the connection point is down the road and they won't run it to your house for free. I'd ask about the actual upload speed too. A lot of places advertise fast download but upload is what matters for sending videos or working remotely.
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