Remote working

A snowHead

Hi,

I work remotely as an IT contractor with a US company, but I'm UK based. I've been thinking I should really take advantage of this and base myself in a ski resort for a few weeks where I could ski in the morning and then work US hours for the afternoon/night.

On that, does anyone have any experience with this? Do any resorts have co-working spaces, or desks to rent? Chamonix has a place called The Ski Locker, which looks good but closes at 6pm. Would it be hard to find accommodation where I could have good internet and a desk in my room? At a minimum I need a desk and good internet connection.

A snowHead

In the absence of WiFi, use 4G. should get a decent signal/speed. Doesn't cost much either. I've 'worked' in various holiday locations Very Happy

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Find a business town with a ski area attached.

Davos is best.
Chamonix is okay.

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I can't imagine a desk woyld be available in a holiday let. Dining table?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Third Space or Buro in Morzine. Lots of people doing the same as you in summer and winter

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After all it is free · Last edited by After all it is free on Sun 9-12-18 15:12; edited 1 time in total

I am doing this at the moment while out in the 4 Vallées for a week. In an apartment with a 25Mbps wired link and secure, unshared WiFi. Basically putting in two days billable work for the four working days (and Weekend) I'm here. Using the dining table as a desk. My client has said that they're happy for me to work remotely - it's nothing different to permanent staff they have who only come in to the office occasionally.

After trekking 2 hours to their offices last week for a meeting, I had the bizarre experience of it turning into a conference-call with three other people who were in the same building ..... so , frankly, being in Switzerland is no different to being on the floor above. Or even across the same office.

Your own apartment with unshared, wired broadband is obviously the ideal. I wouldn't want to be in a hotel anyway. I've done this before here, and the rental agency in the village was happy to print out some stuff that needed to be on paper (as long as it wasn't ridiculous volume).

Most websites don't show an option for discounted, longer stays. But as an owner, I sometimes get queries from our agency as to whether I'd do a discounted rate for a longer rental. So just contact an agency and ask. Make sure you emphasise it must have a reliable broadband link, preferably dedicated to the apartment, and I'd say at least 8Mbps. Do some research so you know the going rate for 4x1 weeks and then look for a discount - in my experience this has been about 20-30% on the part of the client doing the enquiry. If it's the off-peak period, then many clients would rather have 4 weeks of guaranteed rental, even it it's at a discount.

If you do go for it, it might be worth buying yourself one of those portable, 1-page printers, just in case. There are times in my work when it's just easier to have something printed rather than constantly having to re-stack windows.

And don’t forget a phone plan that allows you unlimited calls, for those inevitable hour long conference calls.

I’m about to start a trial run shortly.

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In my case, the client has provided me with a hardened laptop for security reasons, which includes Cisco IP telephone. So I have an internal extension number - they don't even know they're ringing me abroad. I find some clients are happy to provide a laptop that they know is a secure build with disabled peripherals etc. to avoid the risk of a BYO laptop being insecure. What you don't want is a VDI session at any distance: my experience with a client's VDI on my own laptop is that it was OK for simple email reading/writing, but the latency was hopeless for any document editing or presentation, graphics etc.

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I did several conference calls last winter while still wearing my ski boots.

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Funnily enough, I work for a Swiss company but work primarily with their US office. I don't want to work from their Swiss office I'd rather stay remote.

All my calls are via Skype or VMR so I don't need a phone for calls, just good Internet. They have also provided me with a laptop and I connect to their VPN through that.

What resorts would be the best bet to give me the best chance of finding an apartment and good Internet?

You'll probably need to subscribe to your own internet access. Shared access in apartment blocks etc is often pretty dodgy.

You know it makes sense.

As for timing, the nicest time for your plan (in France at any rate) would probably be from the end of the French holidays (9 March) until the end of the season. That's all low season for rentals. Alternatively last three weeks of January/first week of February. Should be eminently doable. Chamonix sounds good.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Well, if where I am (La Tzoumaz in the Verbier 4 Vallées) is anything to go by, then most of the Valais resorts have good broadband (in our area, provided by Net+). Trouble is there's a price premium up the mountain, so owners opt for cheaper/lower tariffs than they do at home, understandably. So the base here is 12 Mbps which I find rather slow.

I'm spoiled at home on the South Coast of England as I get standard 'real' 352Mbps fibre to the house. Hence I pay the premium for 25Mbps in the apartment, even though we're not here more than a couple of months a year in all. But the link is wired - not a shared WiFi router, so the throughput is close to the nominal rate.

Main thing I think is to be certain that you're getting a good wired dedicated broadband link. If it's in the Valais, you could say you want somewhere with a Net+ wired connection at least 25Mbps. Not sure what the equivalent would be for areas like Chamonix - I'm sure other members will post.

A snowHead

A snowHead

Indeed!

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

British friends who live down the road here (near Annecy) run a software company with mainly UK clients. Their 4G signal is so good that they’ve ditched their Orange landline completely. On the other hand, thanks to some inconvenient geography, mobile network signals at our place 2 km away are rubbish - bloody mountains!
I should imagine any ski resorts of any size will have the connectivity you seek, just watch out for local anomalies like ours.

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Somewhere like The Ski Locker in Chamonix seems ideal. Guaranteed Internet etc., plus I have a community to plug into from the start. Now to try and find accommodation! I want to go in January, until the school holidays start. I already have a trip booked with friends to Ischgl for the first week of March.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I do this, often working 2-3 days a week from Tignes all year round.
We live here but I know of others who rent accommodation.
No internet problems as we have our own line.
Our team is scattered between Australia, India, parts of the UK, Greece
and anywhere with a decent internet connection.
Probably easier to pick a ski area and fine tune your search from there.
January is probably a good time to look for an extended stay as it's between the
school and uni hols period = lower prices.
When considering an apartment though, do be wary of some buildings having
a lot of noise from other guests. Avoid shared internet - speed, privacy etc.

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I've been doing it since 2007 or thereabouts.

Initially rented 4 weeks after the French hols as people have mentioned.

Back then no 4g and I did rack up big mobile bills (all tax deductible), we use to go to various Cafe's and a bowling alley when I needed rock solid access but those too had their problems and could be frustrating.

When we bought (2013) internet was the first thing on the list, and it's not at all quick.

The biggest tip I can offer: when I want to move download/upload big files I hop on to my PC at home in the UK from France via TeamViewer and do it via my home PC Cool

I do find at high season internet speeds go down as valley population probably increases twentyfold.

Though again as people have said, 4g is pretty good in places.

I certainly do not work full time as I am nigh on retired but I do still have four or five clients I still do a fair wack for plus running my OH's site (in signature below).

I also find that there are some irksome caching issues with Orange.

But can't complain about the lifestyle Cool

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@conor90, I'm in IT and work remotely, so I do this for a couple of weeks every year. Most places have wifi anyway ( either wired or subsciption) and as pointed out above a 4g mifi/dongle , or piggyback of your work phone works fine as well, I've never had any problems with connectivity.

My main problem is the apartment is right on the piste, and in the evening during conference calls I get the damn piste bashers coming past, beeping away. That *does* take a little bit of explaining away Very Happy

After all it is free

I work remote a lot (I'm a software engineer), I've recently dropped a days work from my day job, so I can concentrate on a business I've started to basically enable me to do what you want to do (primary reason though, is for being around my family more).

When I work remote, I've done it from elsewhere in the UK, coffee shops (though not keen on that), at my fathers - co-working spaces (again not keen when I have tight deliverables, unless I can get a private desk) and most of the time from my home office.

For me, it's pretty important to have a dual monitor setup and depending if I'm writing apps or not - my macbook with me... which makes for two laptops to lug around. I've yet to sort out remote access for mac based development, but it's on the list of things for me to do. You may wish to consider what kind of remote (from you) resource you may need, if any and plan appropriately.

You may want to consider taxes if you are actually physically doing your business in another country...as this is generally illegal

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I'm working remotely from Val d'Isere for the season and will be primarily based in the apartment I've rented. I've set up dual screens, dock etc and it seems to be working out ok so far. If I get bored from the view from my window, I might occasionally decide on some of the mountain restaurants for a change on quieter days Laughing

Regarding internet, mat apartment didn't have any and trying to get phone lines and then internet commissioned ahead of arrival was a right PITA. At the moment, I've been using 4G. Tethering was OK but I have been using my SIM in a 4G router and that has been much better. Most of my calls are via Lync/Skype or using the Avaya soft phone with no noticeable difference. We'll see what it's like when the resort gets busier, thinking whiteout during half term week will be when all my bandwidth will disappear Evil or Very Mad

Free and RED (by SFR) both have 100GB for €20 a month and Sosh (by Orange) 50GB for €10 for first 12 months. Again, these are a right faff to get as you need bank accounts etc.

Go for it and good luck. snowHead

You know it makes sense.

I have my own place, Check.
I can work remote, Check.
My director is happy for me to do it, Check.
I can work split EU/US hours, Check.
Wife happy for me to do it, Houston we have a problem!!!!!

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Been doing this since we bought back in 2004. Only issue can be if there is a cracking storm (more summer than winter) and you can get power issues. We used to have to unplug the wifi router. Took us a while to think about surge protectors rolling eyes

I work with Asia, though which means getting up very early indeed and on busy days not being able to get out until 10/11, so you are very lucky indeed.

A snowHead

I'm a European Sales Director for a software company. All but one of my staff are on Central European Time and my boss is based in the USA.

I work from home. Most of the time home is Scotland, but sometimes I work out of our French apartment where the WiFi & an internet connection that is around 8Mb is perfectly adequate for day to day work and Skype calls. I've duplicated everything I can such as laptop charger and Skype headsets, so I can travel with just my laptop.

And sometimes I bunk off for a morning a get a few hours skiing in before my American boss surfaces Toofy Grin

A snowHead

Don’t know about prices but this place in Verbier looks really nice https://mountain-hub.com

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I have been thinking of doing this for a month over winter. Prob left it a bit late for this winter however. Interesting reading. I WFH 5 days a week so being in the UK or at a resort would really make no difference. But if I think about it I would only get about eight extra days skiing in over a month, so it would probably just be cheaper to take two one week holidays, although a change of location for a month would be good. Decisions....

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@conor90, though if you are using something RDP to connect to the server and running of that server this is very economical with its network usage as all it is sending to your machine is the image it is sending to the monitor. You aren’t copying any files / data across your connection working in that way.

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No doubt.

I have a few UK companies which I muck about with when at ski resorts or beaches around the world. Broadly the tax man doesn't care where I am so long as I pay up. I'm sure I've employed people in the UK who've lived in France, not that I'd really know - they all have a UK residential address and are employed here. I doubt they're obliged to tell me where they work from. If they're not smart enough to be "citizens of nowhere" I can't use them anyway wink

If any immigration people ask you if you're there to work, those questions need to be answered with knowledge of the context: "no". Don't give them any scent of anything.

I play with my machine anywhere I like. By the pool is good for surf, or by the fire for snowboard. Noise cancelling headphones can be useful if they're playing xmas music or droning on. If I expect to be out of wifi distance then I'll need to plan a stand-alone set-up (eg a local database etc) before I go.

For me the main issue is system security. I need to plan for what happens if my machine is stolen from some third-world hotel room with a toy door lock and no safe. Short answer: encrypt everything (it buys time); use FIDO2; don't leave keys anywhere obvious; know what type of machine shut-down you're doing; have separate secure plans for what to do once the worst happens. Sync often.

Some third-world places have dodgy internet infrastructure and are too risky for some types of interactions, but you can plan for that in advance.

After all it is free

@philwig, we aren’t allowed to take our work machines to France due to the encryption I use on them, not being allowed there.

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