Why is it when some people rate RV parks they may down grade them when their cell phones or wireless cell connections do not work. It should not even be allowed in a post. If you must have cell connection 24/7/365 stay home. This is not the RV parks fault. It is yours! You signed a contract for your phone not the RV park. RV parks do not offer cell phone connections. People need to take responsibility for their own actions and quit blaming someone else. Oh my other favorite. It rained so let us rate the park a 1!
I think in most cases, they aren't "downgrading" the park. They're just stating that cellphone reception isn't good in that area. A lot of prospective campers want to know that information. Some need to be in touch with their work, some have personal needs for reliable cellphone reception. In my case, I have elderly relatives with whom I need to keep in touch. I can go a day or two without cellphone reception, but not much longer. It would be important to me personally to know that cellphones don't work in an area. I wouldn't "downgrade" a park for poor cellphone reception, but I wouldn't want to stay there for more than a couple days, either. Just my take on the matter...
Same here on cell phones. We do not rate the park due to poor cell service or weather problems. We do like to know it a cell phone and air card will work in a park so we add this information into comments for others to read. Also it is of little help to read our cell phone did not work here. We list the service type as Verizon on cell and air card. You may have the wrong service here like AT&T GSM and that may not work but other services will. We need cell services to work on line as we travel.
"It rained, give it a 2....." Someone else once said this in a previous thread along the same lines (I THINK it was a post by RLM....). I fell on the floor laughing! So, sometimes when I read a review like that, I'm thinking... "It rained, give it a 2..." JJ
"If you must have cell connection 24/7/365 stay home." What if your RV is your home? I don't rate the park on no cell phone service. But I do put it in if there isn't any. Lots of people as the other posters said keep in touch with family, friends, work whatever. Have an air card, so cell phone reception is a plus.
QUOTE If you must have cell connection 24/7/365 stay home. When we are in the motorhome we are home and we do need phone, internet, and satellite tv 24/7/365 - the same as when we winter in the stick and bricks. I note cell, internet and satellite reception in reviews as it may be important to some, although I would not downgrade the number rating. Others may wish to find somewhere where there is no reception. This discussion is just another variation of the tired old diatribe between those who "camp" and those who live in their rv and the feeling that one way is "more pure" than the other. A couple of times a year I have to explain to someone that I do not want to sit beside their smelly campfire when the temperature is still 80 degrees at 8pm and that I would rather sit inside in the air conditioning and watch the race/movie, etc. on the HD TV. Some of us do not camp anymore or at least not in our rv. Others do and that is great but to each their own. In public places we can share the same spaces and that is a very good thing.
I've been to a few campgrounds that advertise WiFi through out the park, some of them I've found the wifi slow or worse, it's never been a deal breaker to me but I will drop 1 point on the review. As far as I'm concerned I look at it like all the other services that the campground advertises. Mike
Yes, yes, if a SERVICE (such as Wi-Fi) offered by the campground doesn't work, then, yes, downgrade a point or two. But, if YOUR OWN satellite or YOUR OWN air card or YOUR OWN cell phone don't work, it's not the campground's fault. On the other hand, if YOUR OWN RV doesn't work because the electrical boxes are bad, then it's the campground's fault. By the way, I finished camp hosting at a park in WA State where the sewer backed up at one of the sites. The person in the site complained so bad that the ranger offered a refund before realizing that the person had stuck their sewer hose too far down the receptacle. Lesson I learned from that...... If your sewer receptacle doesn't require an elbow connector (that red thing you screw on the end of the hose before inserting into the receptacle), then don't put the hose too far down the receptacle. Putting it too far down causes a sewer backup. It made sense when the ranger explained it but now I may need an engineer to explain it again! JJ
Putting it too far down causes a sewer backup. It made sense when the ranger explained it but now I may need an engineer to explain it again! JJ [/quote] JJ, I'm not an engineer, but I might be able to explain it. Picture the campground sewer line as an upside down tee. If you put your trailer hose down to the bottom it gets blocked by the bottom of the pipe and your stuff won't come out. What is worse, it will block off all of the sites on that line above you, cause it won't be able to get past your hose. Depending on the usage it can make quite a mess. I don't think one could lower the campgrounds rating for that. As far as cell phones or wi fi, I never thought about putting it into my reviews. Thinking about it now, I will. It seems to me it could be useful info for someone that need those items. We use cell phones to keep in touch with friends and family. You never know when something comes up that needs to be addressed quickly. Wi Fi, We don't need now, but can see why others can. There are a lot of different reasons for people to camp and as someone else said to each his own.
Look at it from the flipside of the coin. Letting someone who truly wants to get away from it all that there is no cell reception could be viewed as a good thing (also known as "getting away from the mother-in-law").
I would like to see more people tell about the fishing and swimming areas. Is the fishing area clear of brush? Is the water fairly clear, and what kinds of fish might you catch? Is the "swim lake" a place you actually want to use to swim, or is it a glorified swamp? The pool may exist, but is it clean and maintained? An RV park should be more than just a place to park your RV...it should offer something nice for those of us who are out for a more "real camping" experience. We brought marshmallows and will share.
IMHO comments about lack of cell signal let others know in advance what they can expect. Knowing what to expect good and bad is the sorts of things I value about reading these reviews. Bob & Barbara
QUOTE(pogoil @ Aug 6 2010, 10:40 PM) [snapback]23348[/snapback] Why is it when some people rate RV parks they may down grade them when their cell phones or wireless cell connections do not work. It should not even be allowed in a post. If you must have cell connection 24/7/365 stay home. This is not the RV parks fault. It is yours! You signed a contract for your phone not the RV park. RV parks do not offer cell phone connections. People need to take responsibility for their own actions and quit blaming someone else. Oh my other favorite. It rained so let us rate the park a 1! Many people that travel are not retired, or if they are retired, may HAVE to remain in touch with an ill loved one, or have to remain available for any number of personal reasons. I would not downgrade a park for not having cell phone reception, but I would also like to know if it is NOT available. Personally with today's electronic world, I would think that the RV Park SHOULD say on their website, if they have one, that cell phone service is not available, since they would be the rare exception, rather than the rule. If I made reservations, and traveled quite a few miles, and found that cell phone service was not available, I would be disturbed, and maybe even think I was misled, since most areas of the country do have cell phone service and it has become something that we take for granted.
I too agree that cell phone reception is very important to me and I want to know if others have had any problems in regards to that. I must have good cell phone reception due to my "on call" status at work. I may also take a point away in my grade if it does not offer good reception, if and when I review the park. What is important to some, may not be important to all.....but let's let them make that decision.
QUOTE(HappiestCamper @ Oct 7 2010, 07:30 AM) [snapback]24510[/snapback] Admins, Can we get a button to press to complain about spammers? ugg cardy - go troll elsewhere. That would be nice, but right now each spam has to be seen and removed by an admin. I'm sure they get to it as soon as they can. Wish there was a way to spam the spammers website, but they don't care if that happens. They are getting the attention they want. Actually you would probably be surprised to know how many spams we get that do not get posted. Unfortunately some get through. We'll keep trying to get them off of this site asap.
The problem I see with commenting about cell phone reception is that it isn't always the same for all cell companies. I have been places where I got excellent reception and someone with another carrier didn't. At our campground everyone seems to get good coverage except for one carrier. If someone that had that carrier didn't get cell service, without naming their carrier, then people would naturally assume that no one got cell service here and that would be inaccurate.
QUOTE(dalsgal @ Oct 7 2010, 12:43 PM) [snapback]24512[/snapback] The problem I see with commenting about cell phone reception is that it isn't always the same for all cell companies. I have been places where I got excellent reception and someone with another carrier didn't. At our campground everyone seems to get good coverage except for one carrier. If someone that had that carrier didn't get cell service, without naming their carrier, then people would naturally assume that no one got cell service here and that would be inaccurate. I think if one is going to mention cell coverage he/she should automatically mention which carrier is being referred to. I have done so in reviews. I also see nothing wrong with reporting any info one may have ginned up about other carriers' coverage, provided of course that it is credible info. Cell coverage is becoming a very important issue for many RVers, and I think it should be evaluated as part of campground reviews routinely.
QUOTE(jan-n-john @ Oct 15 2010, 08:40 PM) [snapback]24609[/snapback] Cell coverage is becoming a very important issue for many RVers, and I think it should be evaluated as part of campground reviews routinely. I will mention it, but I won't let lack of coverage degrade my rating. JJ
I agree with most of the posters. We are full timers and we need the cell phone and internet. We work in the oilfield industry as gate guards and go to campgrounds between jobs. I need to have good cell service because this is how my boss reaches me to let me know about the next job. Also, while on a job I often don't have good cell or internet so I use this down time to catch up on "stuff". I appreciate it when reviewers let me know about cell service. I also use Google earth to see exactly where the campground is and then go to my providers website and see how the coverage is. Not completely accurate but gives me a good idea. But then I'm a compulsive planner.
