nancy3•6d ago

Coffee shop wifi disaster in Chiang Mai yesterday

I was working from a cafe near the old city when the power went out at 2pm. No backup generator, no warning. I had a client call in 10 minutes and my hotspot was giving me 0.2 Mbps. I packed up and ran to a coworking space 3 blocks away, got there in 5 minutes and barely made the call on time. The cafe owner just shrugged and said it happens all the time. Has anyone else had to scramble like that mid-workday?

2 comments

2 Comments

thompson.xena5d ago

Wondered if anyone else noticed that the cafe owner's shrug says a lot more than just about power outages. Like think about it, in places like Chiang Mai where tons of digital nomads work from cafes these places get away with not having backup power because they know we'll just run off to the next spot. Ive been burned three times in the same week at different cafes around Nimman and every time the staff just gives you that same look like you're the weirdo for expecting reliable internet. Its almost like they treat wifi like a bonus not a basic thing you need to do actual work. Which is wild because half their customers are clearly there with laptops trying to earn a living. Maybe we should start asking about backup plans before we even sit down and order that 120 baht latte.

troy_butler75d ago

@thompson.xena last time I was in Chiang Mai I just started bringing a portable power bank and hotspot. Got tired of the coffee shop roulette. The shrug is universal though, seen it in Bali too like we're the ones being unreasonable.