WE CONNECT TO A NEW HOME'S WIFI EVERY FEW WEEKS

HERE IS WHAT WE LEARNED ABOUT WHO ELSE IS ON THAT NETWORK AND HOW TO STAY SAFE.

Two years of house sitting. New WiFi password on a little card at every single home.

And we never once asked — who else is on this network?

Until San José, Costa Rica changed that for us.

Turns out when you connect to a homeowner's WiFi you're also connecting alongside their smart TV, security cameras, previous house sitters, the neighbour who got the password two years ago — and a router that's likely logging every website your devices visit.

We got a VPN that same week. Never sat without one since.

The quick fix: Get NordVPN or ProtonVPN, then immediately turn on two settings most people miss — Kill Switch (cuts your internet if VPN drops so nothing leaks) and Auto-Connect (VPN connects before anything loads on any new network).

Then ask every homeowner to set up a guest network — separate lane for your devices, separate lane for theirs. Five minutes. Game changer.

Save this checklist. Run it every time you arrive somewhere new:

☐ Ask homeowner about setting up a guest network

☐ Connect VPN before doing anything else online

☐ Confirm Kill Switch is on — all devices

☐ Confirm Auto-Connect is on — all devices

☐ Note where smart speakers are located

☐ Update all devices if updates are waiting

☐ Use phone hotspot for banking and sensitive work

☐ Run a DNS leak test at dnsleaktest.com

Inspired by the amazing work of RECLAIM™ — a free digital privacy movement. Worth following: thereclaimmovement.substack.com

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