I've finally decided to resolve the WiFi issue, for me and DW. We're going w/ the Sprint evdo broadband card, and Linksys wireless router, and signal booster. To much of what everyone has hit upon here (no service except at the gift shop, sit on the porch w/ only one outlet plug, blah, blah, blah). I pay my bills on line, and stay in touch w/ the kids via web cam, and we like to do this in the privacy of our coach. As for some of the other issues brought up, I too dislike paying for all of the services we don't use, so.....we stay way away from the "family style" CG. Most often we only stay over nite, or a few days at most, so we don't need all of these added amenities. And while I'm at it, does anyone know why you can't spend more than 2 hours in a NC rest area on I-95 ? Very confusing as to why they think it's necessary to make people drive when they are tired, or can't see at nite.
QUOTE(riggarob @ Oct 29 2007, 10:38 PM) [snapback]8923[/snapback] And while I'm at it, does anyone know why you can't spend more than 2 hours in a NC rest area on I-95 ? Very confusing as to why they think it's necessary to make people drive when they are tired, or can't see at nite. The only thing I can think of is.... crime????? Sometimes assaults happen at rest stops. Preventing people from staying more than X hours cuts it down.... JJ
QUOTE(DXSMac @ Oct 30 2007, 09:31 AM) [snapback]8927[/snapback] QUOTE(riggarob @ Oct 29 2007, 10:38 PM) [snapback]8923[/snapback] And while I'm at it, does anyone know why you can't spend more than 2 hours in a NC rest area on I-95 ? Very confusing as to why they think it's necessary to make people drive when they are tired, or can't see at nite. The only thing I can think of is.... crime????? Sometimes assaults happen at rest stops. Preventing people from staying more than X hours cuts it down.... JJ I read somewhere that if there weren't time limits, the spaces wouldn't turn over enough, causing truckers to either get no rest or to park illegally on exit ramps. I know in South Carolina about 15 years ago they closed all rest areas that did not have facilities, to cut down on the homosexual prostitution that was rampant in these.
QUOTE(HappiestCamper @ Oct 30 2007, 10:40 AM) [snapback]8929[/snapback] QUOTE(DXSMac @ Oct 30 2007, 09:31 AM) [snapback]8927[/snapback] QUOTE(riggarob @ Oct 29 2007, 10:38 PM) [snapback]8923[/snapback] And while I'm at it, does anyone know why you can't spend more than 2 hours in a NC rest area on I-95 ? Very confusing as to why they think it's necessary to make people drive when they are tired, or can't see at nite. The only thing I can think of is.... crime????? Sometimes assaults happen at rest stops. Preventing people from staying more than X hours cuts it down.... JJ I read somewhere that if there weren't time limits, the spaces wouldn't turn over enough, causing truckers to either get no rest or to park illegally on exit ramps. I know in South Carolina about 15 years ago they closed all rest areas that did not have facilities, to cut down on the homosexual prostitution that was rampant in these. I kinda figured that, BUT, all of the signs say they have Police patrols and video surveillance cameras watching everything. This spring we had problems and couldn't make it to a CG, and decided to pull into the NC rest area. Instead we had to drive all the way to emporia, VA to find a Wal-Mart. We can't see very well at nite, and didn't make it to VA until 11:00 pm! Uuhhgg
On I-87, in our area, they had all sorts of illegal goings on, so they to closed the north & south bound rest areas only to totally rebuild the northbound rest area to include a State Police substation on site. The southbound was never re-opened.
QUOTE(riggarob @ Oct 29 2007, 09:38 PM) [snapback]8923[/snapback] I've finally decided to resolve the WiFi issue, for me and DW. We're going w/ the Sprint evdo broadband card, and Linksys wireless router, and signal booster. Before you buy the EVDO card and router, make sure the two are compatiable with each other, not all air-cards will function properly with all routers. Here is a link where you can get more info on this. http://www.evdoforums.com/
QUOTE(sharpgenie @ Oct 29 2007, 11:52 AM) [snapback]8912[/snapback] This summer I worked in a campground that offered Wi-fi at only $1 a night. The campground had 75 sites and the main receiver was on the office and there were 5 repeaters in the park. Excellent Wi-fi. You know what? People still complained that it was too expensive! Every dollar paid to use the system went into a fund that was used for any future Wi-fi needs. I wish I could count the times I have paid $5 or more and got poor to no reception. As to the 24/7 suggestion, come on- would you like to be hauled out of bed at 2AM to fix a Wi-fi situation? And believe me, that WOULD happen. Even owners and office workers need a good nights sleep. We tend to pick campgrounds these days because they offer Wi-fi. and prefer to stay in the rig to use it. Sharpgenie After 6 pages of posts, I've come to the conclusion on this topic that there are two categories of people: Those who fall under the "Why am I paying for WiFi if I don't use it?" and those in the "Why isn't the WiFi free?" camp. Those are my scientific findings. I'm calling it the "You Just Can't Please Everybody Theorem".
QUOTE(gwbischoff @ Oct 30 2007, 03:13 PM) [snapback]8942[/snapback] QUOTE(sharpgenie @ Oct 29 2007, 11:52 AM) [snapback]8912[/snapback] This summer I worked in a campground that offered Wi-fi at only $1 a night. The campground had 75 sites and the main receiver was on the office and there were 5 repeaters in the park. Excellent Wi-fi. You know what? People still complained that it was too expensive! Every dollar paid to use the system went into a fund that was used for any future Wi-fi needs. I wish I could count the times I have paid $5 or more and got poor to no reception. As to the 24/7 suggestion, come on- would you like to be hauled out of bed at 2AM to fix a Wi-fi situation? And believe me, that WOULD happen. Even owners and office workers need a good nights sleep. We tend to pick campgrounds these days because they offer Wi-fi. and prefer to stay in the rig to use it. Sharpgenie After 6 pages of posts, I've come to the conclusion on this topic that there are two categories of people: Those who fall under the "Why am I paying for WiFi if I don't use it?" and those in the "Why isn't the WiFi free?" camp. Those are my scientific findings. I'm calling it the "You Just Can't Please Everybody Theorem". Oh contra', mon frere'. I will always pay for what I need, and you on the other hand will pay for what you don't.
Okay, time for another park operator's perspective. I'll apologize in advance for being long-winded. Our 400-site RV park offers resort-wide complimentary WiFi. When WiFi first started making its appearance about five years ago, we were approached almost weekly by a different provider wanting us to install their system. Some of them would actually visit our park and walk the property. They would all send us their proposals to review. They were usually wanting to charge the end-user $7 - $12 per day for their service, and we'd get a whopping 50 cents of it. Fortunately, for various reasons, we decided not to sign up with any of them. Just about every one of them was out of business in six months. We already had two T-1's providing a pretty good amount of internet bandwidth to our company, so we decided to start our own system in-house. I've always been a techie, and I hold several computer-related certifications, so the boss let me run with it. Our initial system consisted of one access point/router, an amplifier, and some directional antennas. It was able to light up the center 1/3 of our park. After a successful summer, we added two repeaters to finish covering the rest of the park. While we don't officially offer technical support, I have gladly assisted people as much as time permits when they have problems. 99% of the time, the issue has been the end-user not having a clue how to operate his or her computer. The great majority of their issues are addressed on our instruction sheet we offer during check in, but the instructions get ignored. In addition to a lack of knowledge, some computers' wireless cards just aren't up to par. Knowledgeable users have praised our system for both its ease and its bandwidth, and I've received calls from other park operators wanting to know about our system after some of their guests mentioned how well our system functioned. Since its installation, our system has seen steadily increasing usage. I have actually seen over 100 concurrent users logged into the system at once, and the question "Do you have WiFi?" during the reservation process has become increasingly more common. We have now reached the point where we need to expand and are looking at various options, including a wireless mesh system, which puts the backhaul on a different frequency (5GHz 802.11a) to reduce the interference on our access points (802.11b/g). We have also noticed other adjacent parks' WiFi systems, and even some nearby residential WiFi setups, bleeding over onto our current WiFi channels and causing intereference. Our existing infrastructure and in-house knowledge put us in a fairly unique situation compared to many other parks, especially smaller ones. We were able to do what many would have to have contracted out, and that contracting out of course has costs attached to it, and park operators will of course have to recoup those costs. My experience has been that most of our guests prefer the all-in-one pricing structure we offer, but there have been a few exceptions. From a personal perspective, when I travel, I'm a little ticked when the hotel in which I stay tries to get an additional fee from me to provide something which should by now be considered a basic amenity, just like the pool or utilities. The park/hotel operator should just realize it's a cost of doing business and include the service.
QUOTE(darrells @ Oct 30 2007, 08:45 PM) [snapback]8946[/snapback] Okay, time for another park operator's perspective. I'll apologize in advance for being long-winded. Our 400-site RV park offers resort-wide complimentary WiFi. When WiFi first started making its appearance about five years ago, we were approached almost weekly by a different provider wanting us to install their system. Some of them would actually visit our park and walk the property. They would all send us their proposals to review. They were usually wanting to charge the end-user $7 - $12 per day for their service, and we'd get a whopping 50 cents of it. Fortunately, for various reasons, we decided not to sign up with any of them. Just about every one of them was out of business in six months. We already had two T-1's providing a pretty good amount of internet bandwidth to our company, so we decided to start our own system in-house. I've always been a techie, and I hold several computer-related certifications, so the boss let me run with it. Our initial system consisted of one access point/router, an amplifier, and some directional antennas. It was able to light up the center 1/3 of our park. After a successful summer, we added two repeaters to finish covering the rest of the park. While we don't officially offer technical support, I have gladly assisted people as much as time permits when they have problems. 99% of the time, the issue has been the end-user not having a clue how to operate his or her computer. The great majority of their issues are addressed on our instruction sheet we offer during check in, but the instructions get ignored. In addition to a lack of knowledge, some computers' wireless cards just aren't up to par. Knowledgeable users have praised our system for both its ease and its bandwidth, and I've received calls from other park operators wanting to know about our system after some of their guests mentioned how well our system functioned. Since its installation, our system has seen steadily increasing usage. I have actually seen over 100 concurrent users logged into the system at once, and the question "Do you have WiFi?" during the reservation process has become increasingly more common. We have now reached the point where we need to expand and are looking at various options, including a wireless mesh system, which puts the backhaul on a different frequency (5GHz 802.11a) to reduce the interference on our access points (802.11b/g). We have also noticed other adjacent parks' WiFi systems, and even some nearby residential WiFi setups, bleeding over onto our current WiFi channels and causing intereference. Our existing infrastructure and in-house knowledge put us in a fairly unique situation compared to many other parks, especially smaller ones. We were able to do what many would have to have contracted out, and that contracting out of course has costs attached to it, and park operators will of course have to recoup those costs. My experience has been that most of our guests prefer the all-in-one pricing structure we offer, but there have been a few exceptions. From a personal perspective, when I travel, I'm a little ticked when the hotel in which I stay tries to get an additional fee from me to provide something which should by now be considered a basic amenity, just like the pool or utilities. The park/hotel operator should just realize it's a cost of doing business and include the service. Hear, Hear !! (all except for the pool and that sort of thing)
Any WiFi provider who approaches a park with a proposal to charge the users $7 - $12 a night is nothing more than a "fly by night." This was proved in a previous post by the park owner who said most of them were out of business in 6 months. I refuse to pay for a third party provider in an RV park. Ripoff. Now, I have stayed at a campground where the park charged $1 or $2 to use their wireless, but the park was collecting it, not a third party. I will accept that on a "case by case" basis. I'm just not giving my credit card information to a "fly by night" provider. Especially in California! California ranks in the top three states for identity theft! (the other two are Arizona and Nevada). JJ
QUOTE(DXSMac @ Oct 31 2007, 10:47 AM) [snapback]8948[/snapback] Any WiFi provider who approaches a park with a proposal to charge the users $7 - $12 a night is nothing more than a "fly by night." This was proved in a previous post by the park owner who said most of them were out of business in 6 months. I refuse to pay for a third party provider in an RV park. Ripoff. Now, I have stayed at a campground where the park charged $1 or $2 to use their wireless, but the park was collecting it, not a third party. I will accept that on a "case by case" basis. I'm just not giving my credit card information to a "fly by night" provider. Especially in California! California ranks in the top three states for identity theft! (the other two are Arizona and Nevada). JJ I don't mind the 3rd party thing, as I use my American Xpress card and they do a pretty good job of covering yer butt. However, in Key West, the 3rd party coverage is good, in Zerphyhills, FL, well lets just say that Rod is up to his a$$ in alligators. He's been trying to finish upgrades for almost a year now, and still sends out emails saying he's almost finished installing upgrades. I could go on and on, but the bottom line is..."trust no one". That's why we decided on the evdo card. Actually, we were going to go the Hughs net route, but read SO MANY horror stories in the forums that we decided against that. L8R
QUOTE(riggarob @ Oct 30 2007, 04:19 PM) [snapback]8943[/snapback] QUOTE(gwbischoff @ Oct 30 2007, 03:13 PM) [snapback]8942[/snapback] QUOTE(sharpgenie @ Oct 29 2007, 11:52 AM) [snapback]8912[/snapback] This summer I worked in a campground that offered Wi-fi at only $1 a night. The campground had 75 sites and the main receiver was on the office and there were 5 repeaters in the park. Excellent Wi-fi. You know what? People still complained that it was too expensive! Every dollar paid to use the system went into a fund that was used for any future Wi-fi needs. I wish I could count the times I have paid $5 or more and got poor to no reception. As to the 24/7 suggestion, come on- would you like to be hauled out of bed at 2AM to fix a Wi-fi situation? And believe me, that WOULD happen. Even owners and office workers need a good nights sleep. We tend to pick campgrounds these days because they offer Wi-fi. and prefer to stay in the rig to use it. Sharpgenie After 6 pages of posts, I've come to the conclusion on this topic that there are two categories of people: Those who fall under the "Why am I paying for WiFi if I don't use it?" and those in the "Why isn't the WiFi free?" camp. Those are my scientific findings. I'm calling it the "You Just Can't Please Everybody Theorem". Oh contra', mon frere'. I will always pay for what I need, and you on the other hand will pay for what you don't. Noted. You Just Can't Please Everybody Theorem now reads: Section 1: "Why am I paying for WiFi if I don't use it?" Section 2: "Why isn't the WiFi free?" Subsection A: Pay for what you need.
Some of the resorts that we do business with have a deal where they offer free WiFi to short term stayers while the long term people pay us for monthly service. To me, this seems like a happy medium. Those who are staying for just a day don't want to pay $5 for WiFi (that would add up to $150/month!) but the people who live at a park for extended periods usually don't mind paying a reasonable fee (we charge $20/month). In this situation the park still gets a technical support company and free maintenance while offering free WiFi to the customers who need it most.
QUOTE(leok22 @ Oct 31 2007, 02:51 PM) [snapback]8952[/snapback] Some of the resorts that we do business with have a deal where they offer free WiFi to short term stayers while the long term people pay us for monthly service. To me, this seems like a happy medium. Those who are staying for just a day don't want to pay $5 for WiFi (that would add up to $150/month!) but the people who live at a park for extended periods usually don't mind paying a reasonable fee (we charge $20/month). In this situation the park still gets a technical support company and free maintenance while offering free WiFi to the customers who need it most. Finally, a good idea !
QUOTE(leok22 @ Oct 31 2007, 01:51 PM) [snapback]8952[/snapback] Some of the resorts that we do business with have a deal where they offer free WiFi to short term stayers while the long term people pay us for monthly service. To me, this seems like a happy medium. Those who are staying for just a day don't want to pay $5 for WiFi (that would add up to $150/month!) but the people who live at a park for extended periods usually don't mind paying a reasonable fee (we charge $20/month). In this situation the park still gets a technical support company and free maintenance while offering free WiFi to the customers who need it most. A very good answer to a situation that satisfies the majority.
Riggarob: Good decision not to go with Hughes. We were with MotoSat and DataStorm, which uses Hughes, and it just kept getting slower and slower, and problem after problem occurred. We finally had enough and, after five years of being with them, we wrote off the $6,000 investment we had in equipment and cancelled the service. We'll now go either with a phone company or with local park wi-fi.
QUOTE(Beastdriver @ Oct 31 2007, 05:44 PM) [snapback]8957[/snapback] Riggarob: Good decision not to go with Hughes. We were with MotoSat and DataStorm, which uses Hughes, and it just kept getting slower and slower, and problem after problem occurred. We finally had enough and, after five years of being with them, we wrote off the $6,000 investment we had in equipment and cancelled the service. We'll now go either with a phone company or with local park wi-fi. So my decision was the right one for a change !!! Thanx
QUOTE I repeat; there is no such thing as "Free" wifi. The only question is "Who is going to pay for it?" There are only 3 options: (1) The park will pay for it; (2) The users will pay for it; or (3) Everyone will pay for it, including those who don't use it. The concensus at least on this website seems to be let everyone pay for it whether they use it or not. I only want to provide what customers want. As I stated on another topic on this site, different people have different expectations. When all I camped with was a tent (up until just a couple of years ago), I pretty much was paying the way for all the big rigs under whose wheels I was just so much garbage to run over. Still... I went camping and I pretty much cheerfully paid the site fees (...subsidizing the big rigs; the kids on the playground none of which were mine; etc.). Now that I have a small RV, I feel like I'm getting more for my money -- money which I can now spread further afield because of my increased mobility. The question is, when it comes down to which campground I'm going to choose, the one with the free WIFI is going to prevail (all other things being about equal). I think it is wonderful that some RVers are so flush with cash that they can afford to spend hundreds of dollars a month for satellite connections and other premium internet services but I'm a lot less foolish with my money, by nature (I said I have a _small_ RV). Frankly, I'm willing to bet that most RVers (given a chance to analyze their income and expenses) would be more inclined to behave like me than to behave like there is no end to their supply of cash. The choice seems simple to me: a campground can have me (low impact, easygoing, and definatley not a whiner) for the couple of dollars of the cost of gratis WIFI, or, they can have a bunch of whiney high impact RVers complaining about everything from UFOs interfering with their reception to your dwindling utilities (...that _they_ themselves have sucked dry).
QUOTE Some of the resorts that we do business with have a deal where they offer free WiFi to short term stayers while the long term people pay us for monthly service. I guess I have run into a few situations like this. I've been puzzled why other reviewers of a given site have said that, "...the WIFI isn't free", while I have gone to that park and received free access to WIFI. Upon reflection, I imagine the 'complainers' were long-term residents. They were paying for long-term WIFI access (just like I deal with at home) and paying maybe $250 a month for their site. Meanwhile, I'm getting WIFI as a _courtesy_ but the itinerate rate that I'm paying for the campsite is more like a rate of $900 per month. I can see the justice in that equation and I have no complaint with it. In the final analysis, though, it is a lot more equitable to spread the cost of the service to the many (whatever the equation) than to have each individual access for overnight site clients become a costly and complicated process -- which in the end amounts to no access for them at all. The rest of the hospitality industry seems to have grasped that a long time ago -- to make access easy but not to otherwise get into a seller-buyer relationship on the WIFI level that potentially brings them ill-will because of their inability to make good on a successful connection actually happening, anyway.
