I work remotely when on a sit as well. I have good roaming on my mobile along with tethering so I can get online in around 100 countries if needed.
I also have a travel router that is it’s own WiFi hotspot connecting to the owners internet by WiFi or a cable. This servers 2 purposes as it connects me back to home so no-one I work with knows I am not at home and I can access all work resources that are locked to my home connection but it also allows me to extend the WiFi reach in the house I’m sitting in.
You can also get an E-SIM online for data in pretty much any country in the world and use it in most modern phones without removing the physical SIM.
If connectivity is a primary concern for you perhaps leave those questions until after you have had a conversation with the owner and sold the fact that you work as a benefit for their home and pets and then ask about their speed just so you can be prepared for what you may need to bring rather than have them think it may cause you to cancel the sit.
fast.com is a good site to send people to as it has no ads, is run by Netflix so people will trust it a bit more and gives a simple easy to understand result.
That’s very useful to know! What is the brand of your travel router? Thank you!
It’s excellent that you are very clear and open about your needs.
I just declined a sitter because she needed “excellent” wifi and our is perfectly functional for remote work we do it (video conferencing and sharing content, accessing company SharePoint site, etc.) but I wouldn’t call it “excellent”.
The last a remote-working sitter needs is disruption to their activities and the last thing we need is IT drama while on our leave.
There’s nothing like clarity to avoid poor matches.
Looking at my listing, I realize I don’t describe my internet at all. It’s listed from amenities and I checked high speed. If someone asked me the bandwidth I’d tell them. If someone got more technical than what I can see when I look at the properties, I wouldn’t be able to tell them.
Internet is now checked off on amenities. Hosts can check off “high speed” and I’m sure some do without thinking about it. Maybe it would be better if THS changed the format so hosts are checking off for bandwidth or even have a question about extra routers or boosters.
If I started to describe are internet it would be another thing on an already text heavy listing. I think sitters can read between the lines when I mention we both work from home. I’ve had sitters ask more specifically about internet on video chats.
Asking for a friend, if I’m not allowed to take a work computer out of the country would this solve that dilemma?
If high-speed internet is checked off as an amenity, a video call is usually enough to gauge whether it’s fast enough (as long as the hosts use the connection while video chatting with prospective sitters). Folks who need faster or better connections can discuss that then, for instance.
In my sitter profile, I specify that I need internet that’s fast enough for Zoom calls.
During my most recent sit, the internet crapped out for no apparent reason and I ended up restarting the modem and router. That worked fine. Otherwise, I would’ve used my phone as a hotspot temporarily and gone and picked up a separate hotspot if needed.
Personally, this is part of why I’d never take a rural sit. If you’re stuck somewhere without easy alternative access and have pets to care for, you might end up up a creek. This also is important for hosts to realize: If you’re going to have a telecommuter sit, then reliable internet speeds will be necessary.
Also, for me and many sitters, high-speed internet is important regardless of work, because we live in modern times.
So for those other remote workers who require stable/secure WiFi, do you get the WiFi access and speeds noted in writing? What if you confirmed WiFi in the listing and/or spoke about it during a call but the WiFi wasn’t what was guaranteed or you couldn’t access it?
Generally I sit in Metropolitan areas and the HO’s are at least tech aware and often remote workers too. However, I’ve had two WiFi issues so far. One HO stated they had high-speed WiFi, but it turned out to be not their WiFi but a paid-for-usage network that wasn’t secure and you could only have two devices connected; that wasn’t mentioned until arrival. The second HO also said they had high-speed internet & WiFi. Turned out they gave me the wrong network & password info; they had no clue what their password was and made no real effort to figure it out. It turned into a bit of a nightmare situation. These were both in Metropolitan cities in the U.S.
But some people will genuinely not know how fast their Internet is, and as it suits their needs.
As it works for them, they will assume its fine.
Tyre pressures on a car are very important, and how many don’t know what they are supposed to be, they get in and simply drive.
I work remotely, and ask home owners to run a broadband speed test and send me a screen grab of the results. There are lots out there - this one shows both download and upload speeds:
It’s in a home owner’s best interest to be honest about the facilities available for remote workers. If they’re not, the knock-on effects are likely to cause other problems, eg. pets being left home alone for too long whilst sitter goes off in search of a decent wifi connection.
As others have suggested, meeting home owners via a Zoom call is also a good way to get an idea of whether their internet connection will be good enough for work meetings via Zoom.
It’s also worth asking about a back-up plan. Rural areas sometimes have community wifi, available in places such as the village church or pub.
What is your own minimum requirement for download and upload?
Hi @KChev I’m not sure whether your question is for me, or for the original poster. But if for me…
My internet needs vary depending on the nature of the project I’m working on, how much Zooming/client interaction is likely to be required, and whether I’ll need to upload large files at some point. None of this is particularly easy to plan in advance! So I tend to just compare the results of a home owner’s speed test to those of my own connection at home. If theirs is quicker I know I won’t have a problem. Significantly lower and I would either take the sit if it looked like a really good one, and make sure I wasn’t overly ambitious in the work that I took on, or decide against it.
@Becca Yes, my question was for you because I just used the Broadband Speed Checker and got this result. We’re in a rural, mountain area of France with ADSL but fiber optic is being deployed at the moment and we should have it soon. But I’d like to know how this compares with the needs of someone working remotely.
Hi @KChev
I’ve just checked my contract, and I’m paying for a guaranteed minimum download speed of 60 MBps, and minimum upload speed of 17.5 MBps. However, having just run the test I’m currently only getting 43 MBps on the download, but 20 MBps on the upload.
If I needed to upload large files in a hurry, your upload speed might cause some nail-biting, but I’m probably uploading larger files than many remote workers. Best thing is to have the conversation with potential sitters, as everyone’s situation is different, and with a bit of prior knowledge, people are able to plan accordingly.
P.S. And your sit looks great - think I’d be using the internet to plan walks rather than do boring old work!
@Becca The sitters whose reviews are shown did remote work and the speed was fine for them. But if you have to send very large files, you might have to take a walk during the upload.
An earlier poster mentioned that if you do a Zoom chat with prospective sitters (which we always do anyway), that in itself shows your home’s Wi-Fi abilities.
Every one of our sitters, except one retired couple, were remote workers. So we know that our Wi-Fi has been proven to be robust and consistent.
@KChev Ssshhhh! Don’t tell the clients, but I have sent files from the top of Bruach na Frithe, The Cuillin, Isle of Skye before… Luckily something I could email from my phone, but possibly not what they had in mind when they agreed to remote working! There is usually an enjoyable work around if internet isn’t great. 
I log onto the wifi before my hosts leave, so if there are any problems, we can address them while they’re still around. I usually arrive a day ahead for sit handoffs.
One set of hosts upgraded their internet service / changed providers before our sit, specifically because I’d raised my need for high-speed access in my application. They offered that voluntarily. I’ve since done two sits for them abroad.
I always factor a backup plan into my sits, because I telecommute full time. Like I’ll make sure I have a local SIM if abroad, via which I can hotspot in a jam. I also look on maps before I sit, so I know where the nearest carrier store(s) is. I know for instance whether I can walk to one or need to cab over or such. I factor in the time difference before I accept a sit, so I’ll know how to adapt my work hours and in case I temporarily end up without internet access before I can pick up a hotspot in an emergency.
I avoid sits where it would be hard to arrange or get backup access quickly. (I telecommute from all of my sits. If I wanted to travel to places without reliable online access fast enough to Zoom or with otherwise risky access, I’d take vacation time off work.)
If someone misled me about wifi access that’s good enough to telecommute by and I couldn’t arrange a quick solution, I’d give them and THS notice that I was leaving and they needed to arrange alternative care. Because I have mentioned my need for high-speed access in my sitter profile, in my application and such, I have documented proof of a requirement that’s a dealbreaker for my livelihood. But again, I don’t even consider sits where I couldn’t conveniently access a backup (or where the pets couldn’t be left alone long enough for me to arrange alternatives).
I’m prepared to rent a hotel room with wifi access nearby in a pinch if needed, but I consider whether the pets could be left alone long enough.
Depending on what someone’s remote work might involve, some might not be able to telecommute from a public setting. That’s because some might deal with work that’s confidential, for instance. If so, I’d make sure to carry a screen protector that makes it hard for others to read your screen and ear buds that can plug in without needing charging. I normally carry backup earbuds as well. I have AirPods, but don’t count on them, because they can fail to connect or suddenly need charging. And I use a VPN for security reasons.
Thank you for this detailed reply. I’m going to take a lot of these suggestions for when I start booking overseas next year. Since I’ve been in urban areas with THS, I haven’t had to have multiple backup plans. Going to a coffee shop with WiFi has been sufficient.
However, part of my question was due to a debacle about WiFi. And THS really didn’t seem to care that I had the fact I was a remote work and required WiFi in my profile. Hence, wondering how people are making this really clear and non-negotiable during the process and that it is a valid reason to leave.
It’s pretty much like other issues — THS will typically suggest that you work things out with the host and not abandon the pets. Of course, any responsible sitter wouldn’t want to leave pets, but if you’ve tried alternatives and can’t make it work, I’d think you’d value your livelihood more than sitting. That’s also why I also ask for a welcome guide ahead of a sit and want to see who the emergency contacts are.
THS is never going to say explicitly that if someone’s wifi craps out, a sitter can just leave. That would create all kinds of unnecessary issues for hosts and THS. Like what if an unethical sitter wanted to get out of a sit and just manufactured wifi issues? And everyone’s wifi can go down sometimes. That’s why I have backup plans for sits, for other travel and at home.
Ultimately, if you need to be more selective about sits and / or vetting them, as a telecommuter, I’d consider that important to ask about and such. Sitting is not a necessity.