RV Park Owners- How do I improve my Wifi

Our campground location is rural and remote, surrounded by mountains. Nothing gets in. We are using satellite as a last resort, with professionally installed Ubiquiti antennas and network equipment. However, data limits, latency and low bandwidth are killing us. Has anyone heard of a company called "Access Parks?" They claim to be able to bring not less than 25+ Mbps up and down to every connected device no matter where in the world you are, how secluded, how remote... Has anyone had any experience with them? On paper they sound fantastic, however they are kind of expensive and we have to be very sure before we agree to anything.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

From what I can tell they are using 5G (cellular) to backhaul Internet to the site. If there's good enough signal to the site or a place to put an antenna pointed to the tower it can be a good solution. There's two parts to good service to the site - good backhaul (Internet connection) and good Wi-Fi (distribution of that Internet to the camp sites). The words they say on their site seem good and if they have happy customers it's likely a good solution. Ask about SLAs (Service Level Agreements). An SLA is pretty simple - they guarantee X service speed (in Mbps) per camper or per site, etc. Their website says 25 Mbps to each camper which is plenty. I have 25 Mbps at my house and we watch streaming TV on multiple TVs without issue.

If they have good reviews then I'd say they could have a good legit service.

 

I have 2 parks, 2 WiFi systems 2 different providers in 2 different community’s. In my opinion setting up a WiFi network isn’t for amateurs. Get a professional. It’ll be less brain damage for you.

 

As someone who just stepped in here for information... You are they guy whose coming off a bit on the unfriendly side. I don't know if you know what you are talking about, since you seem to be so intent on putting others down, but I haven't seen your answer to the original poster's request. yet.

 

1. get a professional
2. use 1st class brand - Ruckus, Aruba, Cisco, Cambium networks, Ubiquiti...Controller necessarily. Remote maintenance necessarily.
3. wire AP. If longer than 70m (cable up to 90m), use fiber optics and outdoor racks with PoE and SFP switches like Aruba 2530 8G PoE (it has a separate power brick, easy to insert in small cabinets), then spread 70m with S/FTP. Pay attention on power budget. Protect from lightning.
4. put AP on existing lighting pole or standalone mast, 1-3m *above* RV roofs. Avoid greenery.
5. position AP every 20-30m. RVs are metallic, WiFi signal *will* be absorbed
6. alternatively or additionally, position AP inside camping's electrical cabinets, if plastic, but range will be limited only to neighbors. Then, you can use even indoor model.
7. get fast Internet access from operator.
8. establish router for captive portal with possibility to limit users speed, e.g. 20/10. Put disclaimer.
9. if you want/can, sell the service, especially higher speed, e.g. 10/5 is free, 20/10 is $xx
10. if stationary mobile homes, bring S/FTP and put AP inside every MH and few outdoor AP here and there for terrace coverage. MHs absorb signal, too. A lot.

 

AA former IT pro and one who hoped for data at campgrounds (but had a wireless modem for those other times.) I appreciate your configuration. For fun and frolic, you may consider offering an 'All Nighter' package as an appropriate fee. What you have would not be a factor in choosing your campground for an over night.

 

Hi, Thank you for your knowledge. It was greatly appreciated. Forget the bullies, love the smiley face!

 

I would like to know if any of you have dropped a puck and measured loss through RVs? i am trying to decide on an average loss to apply to the walls of the RV? this should include loss for outer skin, insulation and inner wall. I am not worrying about free space or furniture yet but if you have something on that it would be great as well.

Ed

 

Following this post as we are close to opening. I will update our situation as well. We are 4 acres, with an office. Plan to go with high speed package from Suddenlink internet. Our plan is to get a couple of extenders through either GNS, Ubiquity, or WAVLink. Still trying to decide. We will update in couple of months on the outcome.

 

We also are trying to upgrade our internet package. The whole situation has me feeling generally incompetent.
We are a 90 and expanding to 120 site park over roughly 11 acres. Spectrum is currently bringing the internet into the park, and we are using Tengo to route it. We are in touch with Tengo currently and they are trying to sell us a package for 50k to outfit our park with WiFi 6.
What I lack in specific knowledge in the space, I feel like I make up for with questions, and the gentleman working for Tengo is not doing a good job describing it. Is there a consulting group or someone that can help us through this process? Our goal is to provide lightning fast internet to all of our customers, we just need some help getting there.

 

I had two rv parks, sold one this spring I had for 7 years that was terraced down a hillside on 4 levels, 18 acres. I had 2 different internet companies over the years try to configure wifi and never could get anything dependable between all the trees, hillside and trying to get a decent signal into a tin can. I’m in the process of totally rebuilding the 6 acre 80 site one I kept and upgrading the internet, we’re using ubiquiti. I’m installing 12 poles with wifi, cameras and lights, each one is hardwired into my backoffice which at the moment has two fiber providers of 2 gigs each. One for the guests and one for my cameras. I’ve also ran interduct to each site and there will be a Ethernet plug next to each electric pedestal for which I plan on renting routers out so going a step above wifi. As far as cost yes it’s quite a bit but I can charge a few bucks more and in the long run I think it will pay off along with happy guests.

 

I believe WiFi service as an amenity is well into its twilight hours. Cellular data service is faster, widely available and becoming cheaper every day. Unless the park is located in a remote area devoid of cell service I no longer see the benefit of spending thousands of dollars on WiFi equipment and service all to provide an experience that doesn’t meet the demands of today’s customers. I owned parks for years. Dealt with the WiFi hassles and complaints. Learned way more about the limitations of WiFi than I ever wanted to. Then I had to become proficient in repairing, upgrading and managing WiFi networks all well running the business. If a viable off ramp appeared I would have bailed on WiFi. I think that off ramp has pretty much been built today. It might be time to shift those WiFi hassles to the Verizons, AT&Ts and TMobiles of the world.

 

I know of a few parks that have recently either discontinued WiFi completely or turned it over to a commercial operator like Tengo rather than deal with it themselves. As said, many of us are using cell services now, so the demand for park WiFi is likely declining significantly.

 

What's best today? Most of these posts go back in time a ways so I'll ask the following: Just bought a new surveyor and want to add a hotspot/router. I'd like to have the ability to not have to commit to a year around data plan. We don't stream when camping; just want to be able to research using our laptop. The RV came with a Winegard 360 but not the "+" so the GW-1000 is not an option. I hate to invest $400+ in the ConnecT 2.0 unit when Winegard has no plan to upgrade it to 5G. Does anyone else have similar needs they have resolved?