WiFi

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I always hated the acoustic couplers. I remember one night I needed to transmit an excel file back to the office and check email. Sitting on the railing on a campground office front porch using a pay phone and an acoustic coupler while getting bitten by mosquitoes. Took several tries to get a good enough connection. I was so happy when I could buy a Nokia cell phone with two different cables to attach to a pcmcia modem card to get my emails and transmit files and even download the old RV Forum when it was on Compuserve. Not fast (good only for text), but relatively reliable and down in the comfort of my RV.

Now I complain when I don't have a good 4g signal.

I almost always use my cell phone Hotspot rather the Campground WIFI. Just easier and probably more secure. I occasionally try out a CGs WIFI but invariably they are very slow, particularly in the evenings.

ken
 
Ken & Sheila said:
... I was so happy when I could buy a Nokia cell phone with two different cables to attach to a pcmcia modem card...
Click to expand...

I remember doing this to check weather radar on my laptop, because the sky looked real nasty. I was King of the Campground afterwards!
 
Also in the early days of this forum, when I made numerous trips to distant countries, before the days of the WWW and when hotel phones were really unfriendly...

I'd first have to hack into the phone system, which usually meant removing the headboard of the bed to access a junction box buried in the wall. Sometimes, I'd just use pins pushed into the phone wires and attach alligator clips.

Next, I'd have to (legally) hack into a network and hop across networks until I reached my required destination. Then I could fire up my forum software and get online to access The RV Forum and deal with email. Usually, this was after a day of business, followed by a business dinner and, later, karaoake, and a couple of hours on a train to get back to my hotel.

By the time I was done online, it was time to shower and head out for another day. I sometimes wouldn't get to bed for two weeks, and had to catch power naps on trains or planes, all in the name of supporting The RV Forum  ;)

Oh BTW, I'd have to wring the sweat out of my business suit when I got back to the hotel.
 
This is our experience but YMMV.

1. Most GGs either don't have "free" WiFi or if they do, it is slow and spotty
2. We have paid for WiFi while in a CG to the tune of $20 per week and it was good.
3. Often using our cell phone hot spots works great but our cell plan limits us to 12 Gb per month. Go over that and it gets expensive fast.
4. We have a WiFi amplifier and directional antenna. At one CG where we stayed for 2 days, we could find a non-password protected WiFi signal from a motel that was over a mile away. We were able to check our email but didn't try to stream things like video.
5. The amplifier and antenna also can increase the signal strength for a free CG WiFi that is so weak to be unusable to the point it can be used.
6. We have packed our computers to the local public library where the WiFi is free.
7. And of course, the world doesn't end if we don't have WiFi where we are.

 
We have paid for WiFi while in a CG to the tune of $20 per week
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good deal, assuming it was a good/fast connection.
 
Tom said:
Also in the early days of this forum, when I made numerous trips to distant countries, before the days of the WWW and when hotel phones were really unfriendly...

I'd first have to hack into the phone system, which usually meant removing the headboard of the bed to access a junction box buried in the wall. Sometimes, I'd just use pins pushed into the phone wires and attach alligator clips.

Next, I'd have to (legally) hack into a network and hop across networks until I reached my required destination. Then I could fire up my forum software and get online to access The RV Forum and deal with email. Usually, this was after a day of business, followed by a business dinner and, later, karaoake, and a couple of hours on a train to get back to my hotel.

By the time I was done online, it was time to shower and head out for another day. I sometimes wouldn't get to bed for two weeks, and had to catch power naps on trains or planes, all in the name of supporting The RV Forum  ;)
Click to expand...

Wow Tom. I feel like I have not showered you with enough appreciation.

(And I impress myself when I finally get my home network to work again after upgrading to Win10  ::) )
 
[quote author=Sun2Retire]I feel like I have not showered you with enough appreciation.[/quote]

LOL Scott, those were the fun days. My 'get online toolkit' from those days wouldn't make it through today's TSA security at the airport.
 
Hey, where I am they just upgraded.. now my hardware has it's limits but here is my setup
Linksys WGA 54G Wireless Game Adapter feeding a BELKIN Router  (This way I take only one "Share" from the park)

I ran a speed test at oh dark 30 this morning. Wi-Fi park to Linksys WGA.  Cat-5 to Router, Wi-Fi to Android device running OOKLA Speed test 607 down 422 Up Ping 27mS (Speed are KB (Thousand bytes) per second)

He still has issues, but nothing worth going out of my way to talk to him over"(When they did the upgrade half the nodes became "Secure" and nobody knows the key.)
 
Last year we covered 26 states in 90 days.  I always tried to go to a campground that had WiFi.  I quickly learned to ask if WiFi was at the campsites or only at the office.  Even if they claimed to have WiFi at the camp sites the speed often made it unusable.  I ended up using my phone a lot as a hot spot, but that means no streaming.  One thing to do is check reviews of the campground and see if WiFi is mentioned.  The thing all of us can do is when we review campgrounds comment on WiFi.
 
John From Detroit said:
Hey, where I am they just upgraded.. now my hardware has it's limits but here is my setup
Linksys WGA 54G Wireless Game Adapter feeding a BELKIN Router  (This way I take only one "Share" from the park)

I ran a speed test at oh dark 30 this morning. Wi-Fi park to Linksys WGA.  Cat-5 to Router, Wi-Fi to Android device running OOKLA Speed test 607 down 422 Up Ping 27mS (Speed are KB (Thousand bytes) per second)

He still has issues, but nothing worth going out of my way to talk to him over"(When they did the upgrade half the nodes became "Secure" and nobody knows the key.)
Click to expand...


That is much slower then a cellular service or any MyFi card that I have used to connect.
 
I agree it is slower than 4Glte (Which I get outside the park) but for RV park Wi-Fi, it's fast.

And remember these are Wi-Fi speeds. if I go to the office and plug in it's much faster.
 
Tom and Margi said:
Well, when we were young, we hiked twenty miles through snow to get a signal.  Sometimes we crawled across the desert to get a signal.  Time marches on.  You "youngsters" will eventually find yourselves either out of the technological loop or fighting to understand what future youngsters are talking about.  Wish I could be around to watch and listen.  ;D ;D ;D
Click to expand...

My Feelings Exactly! ;D ;D
 
I quite often camp where there is no WiFi and my Cellular connection is worthless. 


This is where Redbox comes in handy.  It doesn't get you news or email, but at least you can have some movies.

For about a buck/day each you can rent several DVD's or Blu-Rays, and take them with you.  No need to return them to the same kiosk you rented them from, any Redbox will do.  I've rented DVD's in Washington and returned them in Montana.  They don't care where you return them as long as you do.
 
legrandnormand said:
No wonder that campings are now charging for WI-FI since some people like you watch TV on it ! :(
WI-FI is to get your e-mails and to answer them and to read newspapers ... NOT TO WATCH TV !  :mad:
Buy yourself a satellite dish if you want watch your tv programs !
Click to expand...

I didn't mean to get your panties in a wad, but I guess 'people like me' have a habit of doing that.
If you dont want to pay extra for it, dont get it. Sounds simple enough.
Thanks for the hint about a satellite dish, I never would have thought of that on my own.
 
One campground I know of has over 700 sites, it's a "Youth Friendly" park, he has 3 max speed cable modems with assoicated hardware and they still can't meet the demand for streaming video.

Next step is to block those sites in hardware.. I expect it to happen.. Won't bother me one byte. (I only stream about 5 hours a month and I can go to town and use my own bandwidth for those).. but it is a problem.

In the early days they had just one line, and a linksys router, did not even change the SSID.. Well finally they changed the SSID but not the ADMIN password... So after a few days of converting users to STATIC IP and showing them how to switch back.. I upped the client count from 50 (Default) to 100.. .Still had to help folks, just not as many.. Was explaining to one young lady and I pulled the DHCP client list.. "Suzzie's I phone"  I'd not ask her name.. Suzzie... of course.
 
We're currently at James Island County Park campground near Charleston, SC. We use our own Verizon and AT&T hotspots for streaming and all other Internet access, plus VOIP phone service, but I just tested the park provided free WiFi availabke at all 125 campsites and 10 cabins, and found it reasonably good compared to most other parks I've tested at 2.90Mbps down and 0.65Mbps up.

(http://www.speedtest.net/result/6187911907.png)
 
We Never rely on "free" wifi here..as nothing is truely "free" :sidenote: if I was young I would have a "field day" with those using "free" wifi....all those open unsecured packets of data!!! For security I use VPN ($29yr) and Unlimited Verizon Mifi which we use to 100GB+ a month @ $180 a month and the data I pay for on our phones..nothing else.
 
It is very rare to find an RV park with a wifi system that can be used to stream TV or YouTube video.  Even the best ones will have enough use to use up most of the bandwith during the evening hours.  Late at night and early in the morning is the only time that's possible.  We've had pretty good luck checking e-mail and looking at newspapers, which is our main use for the service.
 
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