Misleading Wi-Fi Claims, Wi-Fi Ain't Always Useful Wi-Fi Options

[Big Mc]

Just got back from a six state, month long trip and found three types of wi-fi availability. 1: free, accessable throughout the park; 2: free, but you have to be near the clubhouse; and, 3: At a cost via a third party acting as a gateway and the pricing ranging from $5-8/day or $25-35/month, with a one year min. commitment.

There are several different "for pay" programs, so if you decide to buy into one, it may not get you anywhere on your next stop down the road.

The talks here have centered on items 1 and 2, but item 3 causes real problems. Why? Because the camp guide or a telephone call will tell you that they have wi-fi, but it won't tell you that it costs or that the RV park across the street provides it free. Personnally, I'd rather walk for the free service than pay more for wi-fi than I'm paying at home for DSL.

I realize it costs the park owner to install wi-fi, so I'll offer my personal preferrence. Make it free, make it available over your entire park, and increase your daily fees a buck or two to off-set your increased costs.

I am an RV Park owner and have been busting my back trying to keep a consistency in the wi fi in our park. I have done some research but I am very " green" in the area. I opted for the "up the rates" and offer it for free idea rather than charge for it. We are only a small park and every wi fi provider had unbelieveable rates just to get started. So, I did it myself. Our customers consist mostly of the elderly, but the "baby boomer" generation is making a huge impression on the RV world and greatly influenced my decision to get the wi fi for the park. I would greatly appreciate any help anyone could give me to make my wi fi more consistant and less of a stress on me. We are not the typical RV park owners. We are mid 30s w/ 3 children (seen and not heard......rare, I know) my husband works and I run the park to the best of my abilty but can use all the help I can get. Contact me via our website or I'll keep checking this site.
A note to the site owners: This is a great tool to keep up with your customers needs. Some of us do care. This is not a money machine for all of us.
Leah J Leon
www.mcintoshlakervpark.com

[Big Mc]

Routers every 500 ft??? LOL I install wireless at hotels and have started doing a few campgrounds, (Check out the Van Horn Texas KOA) Its free, It not only will work inside your coach anywhere in the park, But goes out well beyond the park.
It is One access point 59.00 One amplifier 250.00 One ant 18dbi gain 179.00 and will support 100 users. They only have 75 sights. 5 Routers,,,,rofl,,waste of money. two anteneas with two amps and two linksys access points (from wallmart) will talk to each other at 20 miles apart. But most people don't seem to know this or how to set it up.

If you can find the time please visit our website. www.mcintoshlakervpark.com If you would, please give me a few minutes of your time with a phone call. I believe you could help me help my customers enjoy their wi fi experience more. Many thanks in advance, Leah J. Leon

[ChamberlainCourt]

We agree that "wi-fi" at most campgrounds equals possibly some wi-fi maybe at a few sites, not the one you are at - and high prices if it works and good luck on speed.

If you are a regular on the road and depend upon being in touch, consider a broadband air card (available from all the major cellular vendors - be sure to check on their range area maps to ensure they cover where you are going). We have a Verizon - it works in any PC (you need a network card) you have set up the software in (very easy). Great speed, great reception anywhere there are Verizon cells (which is mostly everywhere). The cost is about $50/month unlimited useage. The card you have to buy is about $100 but there is usually a rebate of some amount and it is well worth it. The service can also be suspended for months for a small fee. Check your cell service vendor to see what they offer.

We couldn't live without it. Forget modem hook-up messes, forget praying for wi-fi, forget outrageous wi-fi costs - go for the broadband air card. Verizon claims theirs works in some number of cities, but we have had great reception just about everywhere except where there is clearly no cell coverage. We use it as we are driving down the road - it's great.

[Beastdriver]

Rich M: Good points, but the bottom line is this: It costs money to put in a swimming pool, but campgounds will lose business without one. It costs money to install cable TV, but many people won't stay at a campground without it. It costs money to install 50-amps, but you won't get big rigs without it. The installation of a good, workable wi-fi system is much, much less than installing either a pool, or 50-amps, or cable TV. Why do campground owners not understand this? Am I missing something obvious here? We just completed a seven-month road trip and, without exception, the single greatest complaint we heard at campgrounds all across the country was about their wi-fi, most often due to the fact that the campgrounds tried to get by on the cheap.

[RichM]

Rich M: Good points, but the bottom line is this: It costs money to put in a swimming pool, but campgounds will lose business without one. ...the single greatest complaint we heard at campgrounds all across the country was about their wi-fi, most often due to the fact that the campgrounds tried to get by on the cheap.

Yep, and a lot has changed in the year+ since I wrote that. I owned my own business half of my adult life and I know that improvements and upgrades cost money. The customer is the only one that can pay for those things but in a free economic system, competition forces moderation in price increases. With that understanding, I'm willing to pay for the services I get. Remember the day when you could get a site for $4-$8/day? Sure, inflation has accounted for a lot of the increase, but so has improved amenities.

Still, I totally agree with the major complaint of the day being the shamefull wireless service being offered. You read the ad - Free wireless (or, maybe even "wi-fi available") - go there and discover it doesn't work, or at least not at your site. The idiots that run these ads trying to fool the RV traveler are doing nothing but hurting themselves.

Personally, I think a data base should be opened here that allows users to post good/bad about any resort or campground as a personal opinion, complete with name, address, and mgr. phone number. Then we might see some sudden improvements.

[Galli]

From a campground owner: we have installed for WIFI - a Siemens Modem, a Linksys Router, a Netgear Access Point + Exterior antenna (on the office building), a 2nd Access Point + Antenna approxiamtely 300 feet into the park. That only reaches 1/2 our park and has cost us ove $2,000 dollars. Problem: it does not always work out in the park. It flucuates to the point that I have to reboot the system every day and sometimes 3 or 4 times per day. We know it, our tech knows it, but no one can help solve the problem. We are surrounded by businesses that may have WIFI as we get addtional SSIDs when we search for our connection. Could this be part of the problem? Anyone have any suggestions? As a side note: we had a system last year that worked but got hit by lighting this past winter when we were closed and have had to replace everything (so our costs have doubled) Our WIFI is provided thru DSL. We are trying to get it to work and we are contantly apologizing. Most of the campers do not mind coming to the office because it is still new to them and I can help them get started. But right now we are very frustrated with the whole thing. We know it brings us campers - but we also know it is turning some away when they cannot get it at their site.

Thank you for your honest statement MPJ, I sympathize with what you are saying, I see that running an efficient business implies headache and money too, however and if I may advance my point of view, did you specify, exactly, what you wanted to the company that installed the devise, at the time of the contract, of course ? I am talking about specifics in the contract, did you specify the range that the devise was needed for ? If this is the case and the product delivered was not in accordance with the specification as per contract, you may pursue the matter legally.
Going back to the actual campsite, I would be ready to wave your responsibility for not providing the service to every corners of your campsite as long as you can provide a place where the campers could go to use the system.
What I am really criticizing is those campgrounds that advertise the service when the signal is not existent.
Years ago I was in Carrabelle, Florida, the campsite had an HiFi equipment, however, the strength of the line was providing service as far as 30 - 40 years around the recreation center, well, I wasn’t happy but at least I could go there and use my computer whenever I wanted.
In your final noted, I read that some campers left the place because the internet line was not up to their side, well MPJ, you will never satisfy every body, you will always fine some one complaining that the space is too small, too big, too far or too close to the water or…. Invent…., the most important thing is that you have an operational internet and for good business, you should mention to the new comers that places such and such are receiving internet service up to the trailer the rest of the places must commute to the recreational center in order to have such a service.
In closing, you could increase the rates for the service when accessible from the RV.

[Intheknow]

I can tell you exactly what is going on when it comes to poor wifi signal. I am a tech support agent for a wifi provider at Florida RV campgrounds. so I am as my nic says, "In The Know"...

Before you blame your wifi provider, you need to know about how the technology works and what its limitations are.

let me explain some major points.

RVs aren't the worlds greatest for enhancing wifi signal. As a matter of fact they cause tons of interference when the wifi signal is trying to penetrate the aluminum/fiberglass shell of your RV. If you cannot get a decent cell phone signal or a radio signal inside your RV, what on Gods green earth makes you think that you will get a good signal from an antenna that is 400, 500, 600, 700+ feet away?

Do you call your telco because your cordless phone wont get a signal when you are a mile away from it?

You can read more on wifi Range issues here:
http://www.wi-fi.org/knowledge_center/kc-w...andenvironment/

The built in wifi device in your laptop is simply put, too weak to be effective over long ranges. It was designed to be used in a home or office network, not 300+ feet.

The issue isnt that our antenna cannot see your radio, its the other way around. YOUR 30mw built in wif device is not powerful enough to travel thru the paneling> insulation > aluminum/fiberglass shell of your RV or in other words, the providers wifi antenna isnt seeing your computer because its like an ant trying to talk to a giant.

Better yet, you could compare it to trying to have a conversation across a lake with the other person talking thru a bullhorn and you without. Yeah, sure you can hear the other guy talking thru the bullhorn, but they cant hear you.

Another complaint we get is this. "It worked fine until others came in and parked around me"
Again, the problem here is interference.

I always recommend to our customers that they buy at least a 200mw USB wireless device.

Something else that works is simply stepping out of your RV. Most of the time you will find that once you are outside of the interference of your RV, your signal will be better.

[Beastdriver]

Intheknow:

With all due respect, I certainly hope I never have an electronics problem and have to call upon you. I showed your comments to three friends who are electronic "nerds" and all agree: You make some valid points but, for the most part, are way off base. Each of my friends noted that wi-fi reception is almost always a function of how far you are located from a transmitting device (repeater or antenna.) In fact, the very article you cited in your comments notes that you "could get a signal from up to a mile away depending on the antennas you use and environmental conditions. I see parks all the time with little bitty "rabbit ears" antennas atop a building and poor wi-fi reception. They won't pay to install a system with the proper antenna, and with additional repeaters or antennas throughout the park.

The article you cited also noted that you can greatly improve range and performance by adding more antennas--a situation that most RV parks don't address.

I have a DataStorm satellite system whereby the signal received via satellite is transferred to a LinkSys wi-fi system which, in turn, broadcasts throughout the coach and to nearby coaches. On many occasions, I have had neighbors parked several spaces away use my system when they could not get the wi-fi signal from the park because of a lack of antennas and repeaters.

Again, I state emphatically, if a park advertises wi-fi, the management of that park should spend the dollars necessary to place antennas and repeaters throughout the park so that all campers in that park can access the system with reasonable speed. I'm sorry but I don't buy your arguments, and neither do other knowledgeable electronics people.

One of the problems we run into time and time again is that RV park management, not being experts on wi-fi, hire so called local "experts" to install a system that doesn't work as promised. These so-called experts provide a low-ball bid to get the job, and leave the park owners holding the bag when it comes to actual performance. And as a person who stays in 50-60 RV parks throughout the country every year, I can assure you that I am in-the-know about this!

[Cheryl Fuller]

I am not "in the know" about technology things, but we recently stayed at an rv park in Wyoming that adverised wi-fi in big letters in their ad. As that is important to us, we selected this park, only to learn that the only place their wi-fi could be accessed was standing outside the office window - no tables, chairs, or even window ledge to sit your laptop on on - just had to stand there and hold it. To me this was certainly deceptive advertising...

[Beastdriver]

Cheryl: I think we may have stayed at the same park. The one I was at also had big letters promoting wi-fi in their ad, but they had a wireless router with small rabbit ears sitting in the window on the first floor of their office. It had a range of about ten feet. Again, they simply either did not want to spend the money to have the proper antenna on their roof, or did not know they should (which I doubt.)

[RLM]

While we're on this subject, more or less involving campground advertising, what about those that state cable available but only provide a handful of channels? Or the "big rig" friendly parks where the sites aren't or they don't want to put you in one because you aren't 45 feet long? Then there are the campground directories that rate a park high, but when you get there, you'd have a much lower opinion of it.

The previous suggestion made by ChamberlainCourt about the cell service wireless data card is valid. For about the same monthly fees that you would pay for Wi-Fi, you can get wireless service that is pretty much good anywhere you travel - and even while you are moving. At this moment I am in a Corp park in the middle of nowhere (on a large site) and am connected via my wireless data card. Later, I'll be able to watch 100+ channels on my satellite system. It's nice to be independent of the advertising.

This is one of the best websites to get an honest opinion(s) on campgrounds. I would respectfully suggest that when we do provide one, we include the positives or negatives of what was advertised. I also agree with the Administrator on the suggestion of feedback to campground owners.

Rich















ChamberlainCourt

[Cheryl Fuller]

Rich, most of us don't have overly high opinions of most of the directories. I mainly use them to see what parks are available in the area we will be travelling and then check to see what my friends here have to say about those parks....

[Homer]

I consistantly receive bad WIFI service at most campground pay or free. Actually none are really free, if you notice the c/g fee went up as soon as they advertised WIFI. I am sure there are some that are honestly trying to accomadate the RVer, most are just using it as bait to get the RVer in the lot. Using the same lap top, I get excellent WIFI signals at truck stops.

[Wadcutter]

For the WiFi geeks or those who know - My laptop has the built in WiFi. Sometimes it gets a good signal and sometimes not. It looks like the cantennas are used when one has a WiFi card but not for internal WiFi. I've read some places where people recommend the Hawking HWU8DD or the HWL2 or some places of building their own www.usbwifi.orcon.net.nz .
So what's the easiest to use and will get the best results? I don't want to spend the money on something that really won't be much improvement, aggravate with something that constantly needs tweaking, or building something that really doesn't work.
Appreciate the help.

[Beastdriver]

Wadcutter: Unfortunately, if your unit has a modern wi-fi card in it, there is not a lot you can do if the signal is not there in the first place. If the Park has wi-fi service, but does not take the necessary actions, as described herein, to cover the park with antennas and repeaters, you can slightly tweak your reception with hardware such as Hawking and others but you cannot, under any circumstances, amplify a signal that does not exist. The problem is not with your equipment so much as it is with the failure or the campground to propertly project and direct its signal throughout the park.