WiFi

NO!!!!

Public campgrounds almost never provide it.
Private campgrounds will often provide it but often it is unusable.

One note about public CGs, not one I have ever been to offers WiFi. Most state and county parks departments can barely afford their staff.

Not safe to assume free or even any wifi at all, let alone wifi speed that is capable of watching tv. I have seen very, very few campgrounds wifi systems capable of supporting streaming a tv program whether in your rv or at the campground office.

Tony B wrote:
WiFi is important to us as it is our primary source of news and TV.

You can get some news on your cell phones, and likely stay within your current data plan. As long as you don't watch a lot of video.

Using your cell phone data plan for TV will quickly eat up your data limit, and put you into costly overages.

Even if the campground does have WiFi, it almost certainly will not be able to stream video.

Many campgrounds are located in places where it is extremely expensive or even impossible to have a high speed broadband connection.

Even if the campground can get a good connection, it won't have the bandwidth capable of dozens, or a couple hundred people streaming at the same time.

So do NOT plan of campground WiFi for TV/ entertainment. You might be able to get text based news, but not video.

And as mentioned above - the cell company maps will show you approximately where there might be coverage. But campgrounds in valleys, or with a mountain between the CG and the cell tower will not have cell coverage. Even with cell coverage, you are going to be lucky to get 3G at times in much of the country.

Tony B wrote:
Is it safe to assume that pretty much all RV campgrounds, both public and private, offer free WiFi. Obviously, we wouldn't expect WiFi in primitive areas.

WiFi is important to us as it is our primary source of news and TV.

No it is NOT safe to make that assumption. Earlier this summer, visited state parks in RI, CT which also included campsites for RVs and they had no WiFi.
My understanding is it's also difficult to get WiFi (or cell phone service) in much of the Adirondacks as well.

Depending on where you are going you may want to bring your own or just rely on newspapers.

Most cell phone/internet carriers have maps online that tell you where their towers are located. Sometimes they are help.

No, definitely not safe to assume that they have it, or that it is free and or that you'll be able to use it form your camp-site.

This is a sore spot when you travel. The listings will say they have Wi fi but that is only in their office and sometimes not there either. I think that the Good Sam Campground Book should only say they have wi-fi if it can be accessed at all sites.