Wi-fi can be so random. As a traveler I have obviously seen the full range of wi-fi. Fast, slow, weird. Connections that go in and out constantly, drop randomly, speed up and slow down considerably, especially when it comes to uploading videos.
When I was working in Alaska a few months ago the wi-fi at the employee housing was ridiculously slow. It would take 10 hours or more to upload a video, depending on the file size obviously (length of the video, basically). Once though, I was on the computer and I noticed the upload had picked up speed. It had hours and hours to go, but then suddenly it started zooming and the video uploaded in ten minutes. That never happened again on that connection. A strange blip of internet turbo power.
It's always a real crapshoot when picking hotels as far as how good the wi-fi is going to be. It matters a lot for me because super slow wi-fi can slow down my whole operation of posting videos and really hold things up, leaving me with finished videos lined up that I can't get posted. People might write reviews about a hotel saying the wi-fi is great, but they most likely mean for browsing the internet, which can be completely different from trying to upload or download stuff.
So I just arrived in Cyprus. Being an island in the Mediterranean, I had low expectations. The Greek islands had some of the slowest internet connections, so I thought it could be similar. But at least I had a private room here (super cheap too, only $23 for a quiet, spacious room). If I had to leave it uploading overnight and during the day while I was out, no biggie.
I got in late last night, checked into my room, got online and was impressed at first by the browsing speed. Pages opened up right away, easy to navigate and comment, etc. All seemed good. I figured even if the uploading speeds weren't great, they couldn't be too bad.
Wrong...Worst. Internet. Ever. Literally. I started a video uploading before going to sleep last night. A short one, only seven minutes, whereas most of my videos lately have been 15-30 minutes long. I was disappointed to see that it was moving pretty slowly. Oh well, whatever, off to bed. At least it should be done or close to it by the morning.
I woke up this morning and checked. 18% uploaded. After ten hours. It's now at 25% after 14 hours. That means this short little video is going to take around 56 hours to upload, or more than two days. Longer videos of 20-30 minutes could take as long as a week to upload. And I'm checked in here for five days, so I'm stuck with it.
The good thing is that I had uploaded two other videos in Israel that I didn't publish yet, so at least I can get those posted right away. And then the one that's currently uploading should be up within a day or two. But the next video I need to edit is going to be a longer one, so that's when it gets tricky.
In the meantime I'll just roll with, part of the traveling experience. Maybe I can find some faster wi-fi at a restaurant in town. And maybe not, and the new videos I edit while I'm here will have to wait until wherever I go next.
Just a little insight into the wi-fi situation as a traveler. Speaking of which, I should really make a video on the subject of internet while traveling. I'll put it on the list. But for now it's time to get the heck off this computer, get outside while the sun is out and see a bit of Cyprus. Looks great so far.
2 comments:
Have you ever tried tethering to your phone or considered a mobile hotspot device? It would add a monthly fee expense but I saw on one of his vids that Louis Cole uses one. Just a thought.
Jesse, that's a good suggestion, and I finally figured out how to do that with my phone about a month ago. I'll definitely be making use of it more in the future.
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