My portable wifi died in a Lisbon coffee shop and I almost lost a client

I was working from a cafe in the Alcantara neighborhood when my hotspot just stopped working. I had a deadline in 2 hours and no backup plan. I ended up borrowing the owner's personal password and finished the project on their shoddy guest network. Should I invest in a second service provider or just find cafes with better wifi before settling in?

3 comments

3 Comments

veraj5324d ago

Is it really that serious though? Hotspots die sometimes, but you finished the job in the end so maybe just roll with it.

hunt.nora24d ago

Three years ago I had a similar scare in Porto where my dongle died mid presentation. I ended up at a Pasteleria with dial up speed and the connection dropped three times. I think one backup provider is worth it if you travel often, especially for client work. The time stress alone made me get a cheap secondary SIM that I keep charged for emergencies.

karen_roberts47d ago

Oh man, I had a friend who flew to Barcelona for a big pitch and his laptop bricked at the airport. He spent four hours in a random cafe using a tablet to finish slides, and his boss almost fired him over the delay. So yeah, a cheap backup SIM sounds like a lifesaver compared to that nightmare.