A computing device includes an interface configured to interface and communicate with a dispersed storage network (DSN), a memory that stores operational instructions, and a processing module operably coupled to the interface and memory such that the processing module, when operable within the computing device based on the operational instructions, is configured to perform various operations. The computing device processes data usage characteristics associated with a data object that is associated with a user to determine an estimated location of the user. When the estimated location of the user compares unfavorably to the home location of the user, the computing device pre-fetches less than the decode threshold number of EDSs, for each set of encoded data slices (EDSs) that respectively correspond to data segments of a data object, from first storage units (SUs) to second SUs associated with the estimated location of the user.