This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
I list two private rooms in my shared home, and I provide WIFI free my guests. The internet package I have for my home allows for 300GB of data a month. Even with both rooms booked and me in the house as well, I have never seen the usage go beyond 60GB.
I have a guest who has been staying for nearly a month. This morning I checked the internet usage, and found that 365GB has been used.
Fortunately, I don’t think that there will be an additional charge from the internet company, as this is an anomaly, but I had to tell the guest that if I do incur additional charges, I will need to take them from his damage deposit, or turn off the WIFI once the limit has been exceeded. He decided to cancel the reservation he had made for the next month, and said that I didn’t mention that the WIFI wasn’t unlimited.
I’m interested in people’s opinions, especially on the following:
Am I overreacting, or is 365GB in a month excessive?
Do other hosts limit WIFI use? If so, how? I notice that it isn’t possible to specify in the listing information, so I think I should add it to my house rules going forward.
I look forward to all of your comments - another learning experience!
I don’t think you overreacted but I think he did. It makes me wonder if he is downloading porn or doing something else he doesn’t want to talk about. A normal adult would discuss it first. If I were in that situation I would see if I could find a place with unlimited, fast wifi before I cancelled.
He is in town for work, and he told me that he has to upload the company’s sales and bookings each day. I honestly don’t see how that could use up as much data as watching 300 hours of Netflix, but oh well!
Moving forward, I think an unlimited package is the way to go. People are accustomed to it and I love not having to monitor use. I know lots of people who would be stunned to find it limited.
Interestingly, of the two main companies in my area, neither offer “unlimited” WIFI, although both offer a plan that includes 1TB (1024 GB). Even if I upgrade, I would still need to include it in my listing that internet is not “unlimited”.
If I (and my guests) were close to the limit every month, then I would consider paying more for unlimited, but the whole reason this came up in the first place was that this was the first time in over two years of hosting that the usage has even gone above 100GB!
I think it is fair to ask this guy what he was doing…? Playing games? My sons and their gaming uses a,lot of bandwidth… but I’m on an unlimited plan.
I would review this guest honestly.
Can’t recommend xx. He used all my bandwidth in less than three weeks and then canceled the rest of his stay when I alerted him that we were over the limit now. Not,sure what he was doing but notmally our usage is 60 and with this guest, we went past our limit of 365 and were charged a penalty by the ISP.
Limited bandwidth is a reality in many countries Spain being one of them, we were VERY lucky to get an unlimited plan but even our neighbors dont have them.
In Europe there is no such thing as “unlimited” anymore.
They all have a “Fair Use” system, and if your monthly usage is far beyond the average, most companies will send you a warning.
I would also have asked the guest to reduce his data usage. It is not that difficult.
But I would have left out the part about extra charges or turning off wifi.
The other option would have been to reduce the bandwidth available to the guest.
This is not an option I like, but with a heavy netflix user it is the only choice, since Netflix does not let you control data rates for Wifi connections.
I’m in Europe and have a truly unlimited package with absolutely no throttling. Which is good because I game online and stream both music, films and TV.
So. Some of us do have a truly unlimited service.
My internet is expensive though, at £60 per month for 1gig download and upload speed. Ironically though that sort of speed is only achievable with new devices and being plugged directly into the internet via an Ethernet cable. The wifi is pretty fast though not capable of advertised speeds.
It’s Worth the expense because I never run out and never have to deal with buffering.
I suspect I’m a heavy user (because I stream everything and game) and if I was travelling I’d unthinkingly use the internet the same way as I do at home. And would then be shocked when it ran out.
In all honesty this guy sounds like he’s a bit like me… constantly online via multiple devices. And probably used to not thinking about it.
You didn’t do anything wrong - he’ll likely find the same problem the next place he goes. In future maybe when this happens see if you can buy extra allowance for the month… paying an extra £20 or so might be worth it to keep the booking.
Well it’s official - he’s gaming. I had to go in his room to get something from the closet, and he’s brought in an Xbox One, so the “I use a lot of data for work” excuse was a lie. Even if I could get unlimited data from my provider (which I can’t), I doubt it would make a difference - he’d still go over the limit.
The room is also a mess, but I don’t see any damage, which is good. To be honest, I’m not even bothered about the lost revenue anymore. I just want him out of my house, so I’m glad he cancelled his other booking. I couldn’t have handled another month!
We have and unlimited broadband tariff, but very slow speeds - currently 8.1-Mbit downstream, 448kbit upstream. Don’t laugh, that’s one of the penalties for living in the Welsh countryside.
Each of the wireless access points in our cottages has been configured to load a web page when a device first connects, which reminds guests that we share limited bandwidth, that they are responsible for what they surf, and reminds them of the general house rules.
We’ve found that this is non-contentious, and had fewer complaints about not being able to watch Netflix / upload photos etc.
Is gaming a crime ? You’ve announced it as if you found he had illegal substances. It’s perfectly conceivable he works and games. Both are perfectly reasonable usage of the internet.
This whole conversation reminds me that I need to remind my son about too much gaming while he stays at my mom’s house for the summer. Not sure if her wi if is unlimited.
But back to the OP. Probably in the future she should vet guests for things that use up the internet unnaturally. The guy probably did not even think wow it. Might need to add it to house rules as well.
Yep agree it probably didn’t cross this guys mind. Once a gamer …
I’ve blew through my Gran’s internet in one night. Seriously mortifying and of course I paid to put it right… simply a case of not thinking. She has 20gb which is of course ridiculous (to me) but normally perfectly fine for her use.
I have no problem with gaming. I’m not a gamer myself, but I can totally understand the appeal. I apologize if it didn’t sound that way.
I know data use in AirBnBs has been an issue for him in the past, because he told me about a problem he had with a previous host and their data limits. That should have been my first clue, but I didn’t pick up on it.
Given the problems that he’s had with data use in the past, I would have totally understood if he’d booked with me, and said, “by the way, I’m a gamer and I just want to make sure you have unlimited WIFI because I need a lot for the games I want to play during my stay.” I would’ve happily told him what my limits were, and wouldn’t have been offended at all if he chosen to go with another host who is able to provide him with what he needs. If I had the option of installing unlimited WIFI, I would consider it, but it’s not available from the two main providers in my area, including the one who currently provides my service.
Thanks for the comments about how it might now have occurred to him! I have added the information now to my house rules so prospective guests can see it before they book.
My problem is the dishonesty. He tried to claim that all the data was used for work.
