It seems like most of our ‘Internet on the Road’ articles lately have been about cellular technology. Although cellular is getting to be more popular with travelers – we sure like RV parks with good Wi-Fi. Absence makes the heart grow fonder … we did not find any parks with Wi-Fi during our travels in June.
Last month was the first month that we used our Verizon service exclusively for all Internet access. Although we were very happy to see that we could comfortably stay under our 5GB bandwidth allotment, it wasn’t particularly fun. We had to constantly be aware of our bandwidth usage. We like watching Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show on his website. We didn’t dare do that more than a few times because of Verizon’s limit of 5GB/month. And, downloading a movie was definitely out of the question – most of them are close to 2GB.
We also turned off the automatic updates on our Windows Vista systems. One update (SP2) was 350MB! If both Jim and I had downloaded that using our Verizon connection, that would have been 15% of our monthly allotment right there! So, we held off on that.
Finally, last week, we were in a campground with good Wi-Fi. Yeah!! No limits here. We downloaded our updates and had a Jon Stewart marathon! (we don’t have a TiVo – or even a TV for that matter!)
Our bottom line, as always … If you need the Internet wherever you travel, you need to use all three ways: Wi-Fi, Cellular, and Satellite. I’m looking forward to having our Satellite service back operational … Jim’s working on that right now!
Now, if I could just find a park with a working Hot Tub!
Chris Guld
www.GeeksOnTour.com
p.s. If you happen to be at the FMCA Convention in Bowling Green, Ohio this week, we will be giving our High Speed Internet on the Road seminar on Monday, 7/20/09 at 11:45 in Seminar room #12.
V
I just want to make a comment about RV Park Wi-Fi services since I maintain a service at the park I work.
First of all installing a Wi-Fi system in an RV park is a challenge since it is outside, unlike an airport where there are no trees in the way. The more trees and hills the more difficult it is.
For the park I work at we are currently on our third system and it does work fairly well. We have a total of 6 access points connecting to two separate Internet networks both having a very high speed connection. Having many access points is very crucial in making anything work. The RV park I am speaking of has many acres which covers nearly 300 sites.
Trying to set up a system using a home type of router is only good for the smallest parks around, you really do need a commercial system to to a good job. It is not out of the question to spend $5000 thousand dollars or more to have a system that works. Having a commercial system also provides more protection to its users as it hides them from each other.
It also does not hurt to have a couple of laptop stations that users can use in case they do go over the limits of the Wi-Fi system or can not access the Wi-Fi for some reason. I have only seen a had full of users use more than our system allows, those being people that most likely were looking at streaming video for hours.
Now for my last comment. No matter how much effort is put into a Wi-Fi system or how much money is spent there will be areas of an RV Park that have issues.
Now what a user can do to make things better.
1. Ask where the towers are located so you can try to locate your computer pointing in that direction.
2. Invest about $60 – $80 into a Hawking Hi-Gain usb Wi-Fi adapter. You can use other brands but Hawking is the only one I have ever seen. Standard Wi-Fi adapters have a 2db Gain antenna and the Hi-Gain units range from 6db and up. This is how users in weak areas can get better access to a system.
Kyle
I think WiFi is almost a necessity for campgrounds and RV parks. With now days RVers doing more and more on the internet to stay in touch with the world. RV parks could probably even charge a little extra for WiFi as long as it is a decent signal. However, if you can’t get a signal whats the point.
Joe Zeigler
I use a Sprint cell card for Internet. Sprint has no limit at all. They never have. I assume that if we all complain loudly enough about data transfer caps then they will be lifted.
The monthly limits are silly. As capacity doubles every eighteen months, Moores Law, and more and more people are streaming movies from Netflix and others, this limits are ultimately silly and will ultimately go away. They’ll go away faster if we do not accept them.
We rarely take DVD’s with us on our RV trips. Rather we stream movies from Netflix’s large offering.
gabe
For anyone traveling in or thru Northeast Texas (near Mt Pleasant, TX), you might want to consider staying at Rocky Road RV Park, http://rockyroadrvpark.net . Their WiFi is free and it’s running great. I know because I installed it for them. Their park is clean, it’s right next to a large fishing lake and surrounded by small town communities.
Fred Brandeberry, SR
Hi Guys and Gals:
We found the bandwidth has shrunk in the last year.
I found many people don’t realize most of their programs are updating automatically, even when they are online, but not at the keyboard.
Playing online poker all day, Porn, (pictures), and other pictures, movies, and tunes eat up more bandwidth.
We expect more on the road, since we have fast access at home and elsewhere.
I have found libraries, mom & pop type computer stores and coffee shops a good alternative.
Our full-timing lifestyle has good and bad – sometimes the bad can be made tolerable.
We are waiting for Wimax, 13 mile access distance – HEY.
Happy Camping,
Fred b.
rv101buyfred.com
James York
I am studying having my own satellite internet. So far, it is quite expensive, is not flexible for a few months and then stop (you have to buy for year even if RV is sitting in garage), and it is slow. I get the feeling that the providers are left over from 1980’s when what they are providing was a big deal but not now.
Any ideas out there???
Mike
I think wifi is almost a requirement for a decent rv park nowadays. An internet connection is a lifeline for a lot of people nowadays. I don’t think it has to be expensive to provide, but managing might be a headach. Since it’s a shared service, one person doing video might make it sluggish for everyone else surfing or checking email.
Steve Burnett
I agree that free wifi is a great “perk,” but it never ceases to amaze me how many people think that free internet access is something that is cheap for the park owners to provide. It is not. I’ve seen reviews of parks where people will give a low rating because “… the wifi didn’t work well or it was too slow.” Come on. If you want internet on the road – PAY for it and get an air card. Personally, I’d rather pay a couple of bucks LESS for a place to stay because the owners do NOT have to provide wfi. You want internet? Pay for it. That’s MY 2¢!
Catchesthewind
Jeff, Reconfigure your bills and set up bank draft authorization. This way each bill will be paid automatically with the amount deducted from your designated account. For example if you monthly bills are 2000.00 you can either have those amounts deducted from your checking account or create a special savings account and every month add 2100.00 dollars. With credit cards you can have a specific amount above the minimum set up to be deducted. Hope this helps. PS If you go on a trip for say two months try calling your card issuer and see if you can set up a special arrangement. Also if you reschedule your Alaska trip see if you can rent a Satelite phone.
Catchesthewind
Jeff, Reconfigure your bills and set up bank draft authorization. This way each bill will be paid automatically with the amount deducted from your designated account. For example if you monthly bills are 2000.00 you can either have those amounts deducted from your checking account or create a special savings account and every month add 2100.00 dollars. With credit cards you can have a specific amount above the minimum set up to be deducted. Hope this helps. PS If you go on a trip for say two months try calling your card issuer and see if you can set up a special arrangement.
Bill
I like RV parks with Wi-Fi too. If I traveled more I would get one of those wireless modems but I would get mine through Verizon since they seem to have better coverage. My son is a truck driver. He has one and he loves his. Usually he has no problem getting on the internet where ever he may stop.
Jeff Becker
The TRUE importance of Wi-Fi:
We just returned in our RV from a 60 day trip to Alaska. Incredible journey. But I’m writing to advise you of our problems with Wi-Fi during the trip. All of our bills back home were to be paid via computer. In the end almost none got paid because we could not find GOOD Wi-Fi. Although the RV Parks advertised Wi-Fi, most were worthless unless we could sit in their office using the computer. We also could not use our cellphone in many places both in Canada AND Alaska. High mountains were everywhere blocking the cell signals. We had to cut our trip short to return to Florida and pay all the late charges and service charges for late payment! This was the biggest problem of the journey…NOT gasoline, but poor communication capability!
John Ahrens
We use our AT&T wireless aircard almost exclusively, except when we can get good wifi and the local AT&T service is on the EDGE network instead of 3G. We’ve found the service generally good, and better yet, it’s unlimited. They tell you it’s 5 GB, but if you question them, they tell you that’s a soft limit, there’s no overage charge, so effectively, it’s unlimited.
We use a Cradlepoint router to share our aircard, and our networked printer.
The problem with satellite, besides the expense, is that all the services are too slow.
Here’s hoping that AT&T opens up the iPhone to tethering for a reasonable fee, that would allow us to tether our phones and turn off the aircard for less than maintaining the aircard.