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Fortunately both of our check in today are domestic Spanish guests, so hopefully have data packages because as off 8am this morning our internet is stuffed.
We’ve a 600Mbs fibre connection and this morning the best I can get from the apartments router is 16Mbs, when it’s usually 95-100Mbs. Even connecting directly to the providers router it’s pretty poor and some sites load, others don’t. I’ve got an idea of the problem but it’s down to them
Everything is fine at our end, and from experience (here in Spain) you get a better service at the actual shop, so OH camped out waiting for them to open. It is unusual, but even in our little place every network provider has a little shop, some of them two.
Here is a question for my fellow AirBnB hosts: would you mention the internet speed in the title of the listing? Something like “Sunny Apartment, Great Views, 70 Mbs”?
I’m not sure I’d agree. Internet speed is largely under the host’s control: a) choice of Internet provider, b) choice of plan, c) where to set up the router, d) things that boost speed like WIFI Mesh networks … all of these things are within the host’s control. Yes, there might be the occasional Internet outage in the same way that there might be a power cut or the boiler needs resetting. These are things that are outside of the host’s control. But you could apply the same logic to pretty much everything. For example, you describe your listing as “Sunny apartment …”, but then the sun wasn’t out for the entire stay. Or “Loft with great views”, what if there was a constant fog that obstructed the great views. Or “House near local park”, and there was an incident in the park and it was closed off to the public. If you apply this logic you couldn’t advertise anything about your place.
If you specify your download speed, then you’re going to, at some point, get a guest who complains that they’re only getting 15Mbs instead of 70Mbs.
I actually added our speed, for the guest area, to the new Airbnb amenities section. However I removed it because I realised that I can’t control the provider. Network congestion, bandwidth throttling etc can all affect download speeds.
You advertise a speed, you must be able to maintain it else someone will run Speedtest, or similar, and then complain that they’re not getting what is advertised. With Airbnb, they’d probably get a refund!
Our problem is still ongoing, so I’m about to break out the mobile hot-spot for our guests. They won’t be getting the speeds folks did last week, but they don’t know that!
Four computers plus 4 phones on wi-fi so they don’t use their data can overload any system. It’s a question of expecting a garden hose to out put the amount of water that a larger fire hose can emit.
And if the kids are gaming on their phones (likely scenario) then they’re pulling a hell of a lot of bandwidth for that.
You can install a WiFi access point at the end of that Ethernet cable. That would allow many wireless devices in the area to share the available bandwidth on that cable.
The fundamental problem is that mobile phone carriers have been trying to push users to WiFi for over a decade to offload the carriers’ wireless networks. Users simply expect to use WiFi when they can, and, of course, they expect it to be “free”.
LOL, even if you have a battery backup, there’s no guarantee that the internet will work if there’s a power outage, and there should be no expectation that WiFi will ever work if there’s an outage.
Note that WiFi mesh networks don’t technically boost speed. What they do is boost range (which does increase speed in specific areas), but they actually reduce the speed of the network as a whole. This isn’t a problem if your WiFi speed is a lot faster than your internet speed, which is usually the case. However, if you don’t need a mesh network to cover your home, don’t install one.
Exactly, you should expect every guest to have a phone, and a significant percentage of guests to also bring a tablet, laptop, or gaming console/device. If your system can support about 8Mbps per guest (i.e. the equivalent of each guest streaming one HD video), then you’re probably never going to hear a complaint. But, make sure the whole system can handle it. Don’t assume that you’re fine just because you have a max guest count of 8 and you are paying for 100Mbps service. Most if not all WiFi routers have a practical throughput that is much less than the advertised maximum speed. Some routers (especially older models that don’t support the “802.11ac” or “802.11ax” standard) reduce bandwidth disproportionately when multiple devices are transmitting/receiving.
As someone who needs to work when away from home (99 time out of 100 ) I don’t use wifi so that if there’s a problem with the internet I can use the personal hotspot from my phone. And I’m glad that’s the case as the last place I stayed had the internet down). This is what I meant by saying the guest should take a bit of responsibility.
Because he is working from ‘home’, it’s an important issue for him.
You’re expecting personal responsibility in this day and age? She typed with a wink and nod to those of us who actually are responsible.
We have entire countries with people who won’t wear a stupid $1 paper mask just as a prophylactic measure.
I don’t know about VRBO, just put it in your opening message “Cannot guarantee internet speeds, it is in the control of the internet provider and the number of devices utilizing bandwidth.” No more explanation needed.
My employer provided cell/mobile phone package included 4gb data and only 300 minutes talk time. To keep costs down, we were expected to use voice over wifi whenever we were working from home or had a good wifi connection.
Voice over wifi takes a lot of bandwidth. 2 phones with voice over wifi and 2 computers streaming zoom or Netflix perhaps couldn’t be accommodated by an older, slower modem. For example, usually the free hotel wifi is too slow to handle voice Over wifi.
Depending upon the carrier, it saves international roaming fees too.
Suntory, did the internet speed test. It says 19.3 Mbps download. And 20.4 Mbps upload. Latency 3 ms then it says “Your internet connection is fast” and a blurb about being able to handle multiple devices streaming HD videos at the same time. So what should I say to my guest and future guests?
Sounds like a safe bulletproof statement. I am leery of guest expectations and asking for a refund if our internet does not measure up. The guest that started this discussion, by the way, messaged back and accepted the details written by previous guests on what our system could do, stated he was satisfied our system would be more than adequate, did not cancel the reservation, and thanked me for going the extra mile to get more info for him, so I never put the speed test results to use. So nice when we are appreciated, no?
We make jokes in my town about the tourist looking for the Starbucks (hint: it’s near the interstate. Closest interstate on-ramp is more than 1 hour away in the off-season.)
But I also include an image of my internet speed test results as one of the photos in my listing.
@JohnF made a very good point above. Being too specific about Internet speed can backfire badly (read his comments above). 20Mbps is not a bad connection but maybe just keep it vague in the listing and say you have Wifi. If anyone asks about speed, just say that it is “up to” 20 Mbps but it also depends on the day and it could be less. That way you manage potential disappointment.
You might look into a WIFY mesh system which can improve the range of your router.
) I don’t use wifi so that if there’s a problem with the internet I can use the personal hotspot from my phone. And I’m glad that’s the case as the last place I stayed had the internet down). This is what I meant by saying the guest should take a bit of responsibility.
Just an old-fashioned girl… 