Below is the information I found on the internet for equipment needed to improve Wifi internet at RV Park.


Hi,

A $75.00 omni directional antenna would allow a range of over 3/4 of a mile from the office. If they put that on a mast I'm sure one mile would be quite possible. As to bandwidth That can be managed by choosing wireless B rather than G or N standards. It limits users to 11 meg/second. A common garden variety Linksys wifi router from Walmart will accept up to 100 connections. If it is limited to wireless B then a dsl connection could handle over 60 campers without slowing on the download side and over 20 on the upload side.

Here is the question I need answered?

We are using D Link DWL-2100 access point / bridges hich are "B" compatible, our cable module/router is a SMC 8014.
How do we convert to "B" with this equipment of what do I need to do?

I'm afraid I'm not quailfied to answer your specific question but I will be glad to direct you to the company that helped me solve my RV Park Wifi woes. The company is called Streakwave. Their phone number is 888-604-5234 or go to www.streakwave.com. Ask for sales. You should get to speak with someone who can tell you what you need to solve your issue. They helped me by telling me what I needed to build my own wifi system to cover my entire park with strong signal. I use a 120 deg sector antenna and a 1 watt dc injector that not only amplifies my signal going out, but has another device mounted just below the antenna that amplifies the signal coming back to the router from each computer. I use a Linksys WRT54GS router. Where I live you can't buy these off the shelf. So I keep a spare that I bought off Amazon.com. In order to connect to an external antenna the router has to have removable antennas. Also the antennas have to transmit and receive. Some routers with two antennas use one to transmit and the other to receive so they may not work with an amplified antenna. Our system has been very reliable for several years now, although we do occasionally experience some slow down. Overall, it's been a good system considering that it is homemade and free to use. People a half mile away call me sometimes asking for my network password.

I want to recommend that you implement a policy that one RV park I stayed at had.

If you wanted to use their WiFi, you paid ONE DOLLAR. Didn't matter if it was 1 night, 1 month, or a long time, ONE DOLLAR. The ONE DOLLAR was to get the network password. This way, you prevent "fringe users" such as what RanMan had. The "Fringe users" are people who park outside your fringe area and use your WiFi when they are not staying there. I thought that was a pretty fair policy! Lock it down with a password and charge ONE DOLLAR to get the password.

And, by the way, keep changing the password every three months.

JJ

There is a reason "b' is a 10 year old standard. It is woefully slow by todays standards. If a park only allowed connections to a "B' standard, you can bet there would be rioting in the streets. It would be fine for e-mail and maybe surfing without add ons, but any video would be painful to watch and it is just not an acceptable standard for today's equipment. It would be like putting a governor on all cars so they can only go 40 MPH. It might be acceptable if all your driving was in New York City or down to the corner grocery store, and it might have even not been noticed in 1919, since cars were not capable of today's speeds, but it would be unacceptable today.

The Apple N system (high speed) is the best one to use but range it short and may not work in lots of parks.

We had somebody call and ask us our password when we had the Inn. I told them no and they were quite PO'ed, like I had stolen something from them. I found out later that they were asking our guest for it and I changed it on a regular basis. I frequently used unprotected WiFi, but have never had the nerve to actually ask somebody for theirs. Honor among thieves I guess.

Even at 11mps downloading vids and movies will eat up bandwidth in a heartbeat. If bandwidth is an issue I would use a router with bandidth control (some control the individual user and some throttle down everybody). The routers are kind of pricey but its better than having one abuser use up all your bandwidth and shut you down. A lot of these folks don't understand that internet access isn't unlimited in the rural areas.

I went out this July for a 10 day RV/golfing trip in northern California and Nevada. In all 4 of the RV parks that I stayed in the WIFI was very poor. If I stayed up past 11PM then the performance was vastly improved. I believe with the ability now to view movies and TV shows over the internet, that people doing this in the parks are hogging up all the bandwidth. Also the online games and other interactive sites also hog bandwidth. The RV parks cannot afford to continually expand their bandwidth (costs $$$) so the end result is degrading of their WIFI.

I recently visited Verizon (I am not a rep or customer) and found out that they now have their Hotspot wireless system which allows you to hook up over the wireless network. The cost is $50 a month for 5 gig of data. I was also told that you only have to pay for this service for the months you use it. I need to verify this. But if this is true, then in my opinion this would be a lot better option and less aggravation during long term travels. This can also be used in your home to replace any current internet provider which are averaging $30 a month also.

If anyone has had any experience with verizon system, please reply.

Thanks

Major Mike
F250 Ford 7.3 and Keystone Mountaineer