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Vent: The "coworking cafe" in Chiang Mai was just a regular coffee shop with bad WiFi | Digital Nomad Life - Chatter Central

susan_bell•5mo ago

Vent: The "coworking cafe" in Chiang Mai was just a regular coffee shop with bad WiFi

I got there at 8am last Tuesday, bought a 180 baht latte, and couldn't even load my project board. Asked the barista about it and she just shrugged. Three other people were on Zoom calls screaming into their laptops. I left after 30 minutes and went back to my Airbnb. Why do places even advertise as coworking friendly if they can't support basic internet stuff? Has anyone found a solid spot in the old city that actually works?

3 comments

3 Comments

williams.jenny5mo ago

Did the barista at least offer you a refund, or was she just too busy with the screaming Zoom people? I swear every cafe here thinks a 10mbps connection counts as "high speed" now.

felix_williams715mo ago

My buddy Mike went to a place downtown last week, said the wifi was so bad it kicked him off his call three times. He asked the barista if they could check the router or something, and she just shrugged and said "it's the same for everyone, sorry." No refund, not even a free coffee for the trouble. Meanwhile there were like six people on Zoom in the corner yelling into their laptops like it was a sports stadium. Makes you wonder why cafes even advertise free wifi if they can't handle a few people using it at once. You ever try asking for a manager when that happens?

elliot_taylor4mo ago

Yeah, "it's the same for everyone, sorry" - heard that line before. I read somewhere that most cafes buy consumer grade routers meant for a 3 bedroom house, not a space with 30 people streaming video. That's probably why it craps out the second someone starts a Zoom call. Honestly, at this point I just ask what their internet provider is before I even sit down. If they say a big cable company, I know the upload speed is gonna be trash. It's not like the barista can fix a bad backhaul connection anyway, so asking for a manager usually just gets you the same shrug but with a title. They should probably just stop advertising it as "free wifi" and call it "wifi you can maybe check your email on.