What Makes a City Telecommute Friendly?

This article proclaims to describe "20 of the Best Cities in the World for Telecommuting". Not only does the article suffer from a seriously awkward title (how about "The 20 best cities for telecommuting"? See, that wasn’t so hard.) it also has some serious flaws in its choices. I mean, Mexico City? Really? I’ll live in Mexico City if I want to die from an upper respiratory disease or lose my sense of smell, but not if I want to telecommute. Also, when talking about Canada, the author espouses that Vancouver BC is "one of the largest cities in the state." Yes, in the state. Edit much?

OK, so the article has some problems. But it also points out some really cool cities, and makes a strong effort to be global minded, mentioning cities such as Taipei and Cordoba. I also give the article props for including Seattle on the list, where I have spent the last four years of my life (great city, by the way).

As I was reading, I kept asking myself the question: What qualities of a city would make it attractive for people who telecommute? It’s not an easy question to answer as there are many factors to consider. Obviously, city traffic shouldn’t be too big an issue, unless you have friends all around town. What about weather? You’ll be working inside, but does the weather outside affect your productivity? Or your mood? It seems that for the most part, the choice would come down to personal preference.

However, there are probably a few attributes that a city must have in order to be a good city to telecommute from. Here are some I can think of:

    * Easy access to the Internet. Free wireless would be very attractive to a telecommuter.
    * Reasons to leave your home. Working from home is great, but it’s probably healthy to get outside every once in a while.
    * Cost of living. It seems to me that a successful telecommuter must be good at self-motivation. Wasting that effort on $2000 a month rent seems counterproductive to me.

What do you think are some qualities of a “telecommuter friendly” city?

This is a guest post by Steven Krager.