Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

#191

Post by culopatin » Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 12:15 AM UTC

deanmoriarty wrote: post #187

lh7777 wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a mailbox at an independent mail & package storefront in my neighborhood. I just use their address and my box number, e.g. "123 Main St. #111" and have never had an issue with financial institutions, etc. accepting it. They receive my UPS, FedEx, and USPS packages as well.

Even for your state issued driving license?

I can tell you that a friend of mine has a license with a PO Box and cops usually do the same so their home address is not revealed if someone gets their ID or something.

He has his bank, DL, business, everything on it.

Re: Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

#192

Post by radicalriddler » Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 2:53 AM UTC

asidiali wrote: post #2

I think Verizon throttles you down to 600kbps, not mbps [1]. It’s 2021, so ridiculous. [1] https://www.verizon.com/support/verizon-plan-unlimited-faqs/ (FAQ #6)

Thank god! I couldn't believe that they were sooking over a 600mbps connection. 600 kbps is a lot lot worse, and worth complaining about.

Re: Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

#193

Post by asaddhamani » Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 3:47 AM UTC

I have my MacBook, a spare phone, my camera, and my iPad which I use as a second screen using duet.

For Internet, I’ve been using Speedify VPN. It lets me combine/bond multiple internet connections without any additional hardware. So I can connect to a mobile hotspot over WiFi, another over USB, and my phone over USB and combine the connections. Data caps are not a problem in India though, for $5 prepaid you get 50GB, for $20 postpaid you can get 1000s of GBs.

Re: Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

#194

Post by geverett » Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 4:23 AM UTC

jamal-kumar wrote: post #18

I've been pretty happy with spending most of my time in Costa Rica for nearly a decade or so. The pandemic numbers here have been really low, partly because people are fairly health-conscious here. Anti maskers are basically just gringos nobody likes or want anything to do with here instead of crazy people yelling vitriol in grocery stores. I don't live at the beach, because frankly it's kind of distracting having pe…

My partner is Costa Rican and thus we’ve discussed living there for some chunk of our future. The thing I haven’t been able to get over is the lack of emissions standards: if you’re stuck in traffic (common around San Jose, or en route to any of the well known beaches), expect to inhale a ton of exhaust. For an otherwise eco-friendly country, this really stood out to me, and led to a lot of headaches (literally - air quality so poor I ended up with migraines).

Beyond that: San Jose is great to work from, but I didn’t find reliable fast internet anywhere else.

Re: Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

#195

Post by peelle » Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 6:39 AM UTC

When we traveled(2015-2018): - laptop, no larger than 17 in screen, and the thinner and lighter the better. - portable monitor like the Asus ZenScreen MB14AC - VPN - universal power adapters & a surge protector - small mouse & small keyboard like the Logitech K380

Most of my Digital Nomading has been outside the USA in Europe & Asia. We stayed between several weeks to several months per location. Internet experiences, and requirements will vary country by country but as long as you stay in or near a large metropolitan area you can expect fast internet. The the only exception so far has been China, theirs was slow no matter where I went.

I always tried to make my personal hotspot(Google Fi) the last resort. I used a local hotspot, AirBNB/Cafe WiFi, and coworking spaces as must as possible. Also, for video conferencing, I'd lower streaming quality. No one needs to see my ugly mug in that high a resolution. VPN was not for video conferencing, or browsing reddit/HN. It was mostly for interacting with financial institutions, and transferring IP back and forth with work. It's up to you on how paranoid you wanna be.

Re: Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

#196

Post by frombody » Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 7:25 AM UTC

packetlost wrote: post #171

meheleventyone wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your lifestyle and work may just be five or ten years ahead of it being worthwhile for businesses to provide what you need. I think it’s also the whole telecoms situation in the US puts it ten years behind everywhere else. The data caps and bandwidth issues are mostly not a technical or business cost issue. Ubiquitous fast and cheap 4G is quite normal elsewhere.

Both wireless and wired infrastructure is so much more expensive in the US than basically everywhere else because of just how freaking HUGE the US is.

Yes, which also means more customers.

You need to include an argument about why you think telecom systems can't scale.

Re: Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

#197

Post by phonon » Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 7:48 AM UTC

T-mobile 4G/5G hotspot is $50/m for 100GB. [1]

They have an unlimited business version, WFX, for about $90/m. [2]

[1] https://www.tmonews.com/2020/12/t-mobile-5g-hotspot-inseego-...

[2] https://www.fastcompany.com/90611291/t-mobile-wfx-work-from-...

Re: Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

#198

Post by thraxil » Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 9:50 AM UTC

yosito wrote: post #122

Hardware is pretty minimal: MacBook, Android Phone, eReader, Roost Stand, Magic Keyboard/Trackpad. But your question is more about data. I travel internationally, and primarily use wifi at coffee shops, coworking spaces and Airbnbs. This year, that's been mostly wifi at the place I've called home all year. I've also got Google Fi which allows me to tether "unlimited" data. I think it has a cap at 22GB/mo, and maybe c…

The other thing to be aware of with Google Fi is that they will eventually cut off your data if you spend too much time outside the US.

Re: Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

#199

Post by fearoffish » Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 10:31 AM UTC

qorrect wrote: post #91

jrwoodruff wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Truth. I thought I'd be able to cut out more than I've been able to - we downloaded movies before leaving, I have over-the-air TV, etc. But, it turns out my habits rely on a lot of data - streaming spotify, streaming security cameras to check back home, streaming tools at work... it's kind of eye opening honestly.

I had a similar experience these last 3 months, I bought an RV thought I would toot around the country in, use a cell modem. But I also want to work on my AI projects , which require bunches of nasdaq data. Or I want to work on a side project, but conda wants to download every dependency for every new environment I make. I thought downloading TBs worth of media would be enough to make it work but I'm hitting my month…

Just a note about Starlink: they use what they call “cells”, so you can’t move around with your Starlink, which is a shame. Maybe they’ll create a plan for that at some point.

Re: Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

#200

Post by hackerbabz » Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 11:17 AM UTC

ISL wrote: post #124

hackerbabz wrote: post #78

ImmersedVR and an Oculus Quest 2. Up to five monitors right on your face.

How well does it work? Do you suffer eyestrain at similar rates to normal monitors?

Works well enough that I use it everyday. I think it's less straining because you can move your monitors far away in visual space, so even though you are looking at a screen an inch away, your eyes are focused as if looking at a giant screen much further.