OP, short answer is mobile users have the same problem as you, and maybe worse. My laptop has a stronger wifi receiver than my ipad or iphone. More than once I could connect to campground wifi on my laptop when my mobile devices didn't even recognize that a wifi network existed.
Still didn't change the fact that speed of the network almost always sucks. I stay on long enough to check sports scores. Wouldn't even try to stream video. I'm a weekend warrior so tv isn't part of our camping experience but we bring DVD's or movies on the hard drive just in case we are stuck in rainy weather.