As usual, I needed Wi-Fi in the evening: I was trying to post some pics to my stories and download maps into my favorite map app, OruxMaps (I highly recommend it, even though it's not super easy to use). I didn't really feel like getting properly dressed and going down to the lobby, especially since I only brought a small backpack and didn't really have much clothes with me.
Fortunately, an older man and woman were sitting on the stairs near my room, and I asked them for the Wi-Fi password. They turned out to be Americans from Colorado, and they were sitting on the stairs because the Wi-Fi didn't reach their room. A typical problem for regular hotels. In serious chain establishments, there are powerful mesh routers everywhere so that the same network works seamlessly across the entire hotel territory, including the parking lot, the courtyard, and the dining room.
The network barely worked in my room. Fortunately, because Switzerland isn't in the EU, and the roaming prices here are draconian. On my LMT plan, it's something like 13 euros per gigabyte. That's tolerable, of course, but only as long as you're not posting 4k videos and downloading 500MB maps. In that sense, it's funny to see that I have the same conditions in Belarus. Switzerland = Belarus.
Work pays for my phone, so overall I wasn't sweating it too much. Still, by the end of the trip, I had already spent about five gigabytes. A bot even texted me that I'd exhausted almost my entire monthly employee allowance. Only after arriving home did I realize my phone supports eSIM, that is, a virtual SIM card. It's funny that you can buy it from the transport company SBB. It turned out that for a more reasonable 15 francs you get 5 gigabytes for Switzerland. Which is still highway robbery, of course. In Morocco, for instance, good internet costs 1 euro per 1 GB. Moreover, judging by the reviews, the SBB eSIM is far from perfect. On the plus side, you can buy it online by uploading a photo of your passport. Generally, the Swiss guard their personal data and don't like sharing it, but when registering a SIM card, they demand it to fight hackers and other subversive elements.
Knowing I walk slowly, I planned to head out early in the morning so the guys could catch up with me on the way. I got up around eight, which is very early for me (luckily, it's been almost the norm lately). Went for breakfast.
Did I manage to pull off the plan?