WiFi

This is a shocker to me. I have been living and traveling on my boat, both coastal and inland, and most marinas have free WiFi. I would have thought that certainly a land based operation would have it. I do have a Verizon Jet Pack for those odd areas when I am anchored in a cove. However, 10GB would not even cover me for a wekk or two just reading the news.
Thanks for all of the replies.

westernrvparkowner wrote:


Like others have said, if internet connectivity is essential, you need to provide your own service, if only as a backup plan. There are too many variables and too many different expectations for any public wifi system to meet the needs, wants and desires of everyone.

What he/she said.

KCerling wrote:
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.

And how, exactly, would that be determined. I often find people who cannot connect with one of their devices at their site while other devices work fine. Many device makers have de-powered the wifi transmitters in those devices to prolong battery life. Often a phone or Ipad won't connect where a laptop will. Is that a site that has or doesn't have wifi service? What if at 99 out of 100 sites the Good Sam reviewer can connect, but can't at one site, should the park be prohibited from saying they have wifi?

Like others have said, if internet connectivity is essential, you need to provide your own service, if only as a backup plan. There are too many variables and too many different expectations for any public wifi system to meet the needs, wants and desires of everyone.

JFNM wrote:
Even if a site does have wifi, folks like to stream video or do other things that destroys that bandwidth and ruins it for everyone. Can't wait until all campgrounds learn how to prevent streaming and other inconsiderate bandwidth hogging activities!

Easy to prevent streaming. Not easy to prevent bandwidth hogging.

off topic a little..
At our seasonal campground, we used to only have satellite with bandwidth limitations, due to the location. I volunteered to help them with the wifi and streaming, but with the equipment provided by the ISP, there was no option to close specific ports (so people couldn't stream). We were forced to use 3 DSL lines to get our internet more usable. The campground itself is so large, that even with today's wifi signals over 300 feet, we'd need to spend way too much money to make it worth the investment (would need about 15 towers). Wifi signals and leaves on trees plus RV's plus woods = bad signal strength. I have a DSL line on our lot and our neighbors can't get a consistent signal 150 feet away through trees, even after I put in a signal booster and a different DSL router with more power.

Imagine what it's like for campgrounds with lots of trees...

Most private parks I have visited do offer Wi-Fi.. Generally it sucks though a few do have decent Wi-Fi.

Most State/Federal/City/County parks I have visited (in fact all of them) do not offer Wi-Fi of any kind.

Now I understand why CG restrict WiFi to the area around their office, so campers don't abuse it to stream! (Carry a Verizon 4G lite hotspot with me and love it! I buy as I go, usually $100 for 10MB or 60 days whichever comes first.)

We've been to plenty of campgrounds that have no WiFi at all. Of the half dozen or so public campgrounds we have been to in the last 2 years we have only found WiFi at Stone Mountain Georgia's campground. Their wifi was reliable and it is monitored, like DSL speeds. When we were at TopSail Hill SP they boasted they had WiFi, but it wasn't usable at our site.

Probably about half of the private campgrounds we have visited have some form of WiFi. In most cases it is only available down by the office or some centrally located area.

Fortunately, our seasonal campground has good wifi. It is monitored, but they are pretty generous. The speed is good and they have not hassled me even though my router reports that we have used an average of about 8gb/month over the past few months.

-Michael

Even if a site does have wifi, folks like to stream video or do other things that destroys that bandwidth and ruins it for everyone. Can't wait until all campgrounds learn how to prevent streaming and other inconsiderate bandwidth hogging activities!

I think everyone else above it the nail right on the head to answer your question. That answer being "No!" If you really need to depend upon the internet for your journeys, then you really need to provide your own reliable internet service. I-phone wifi hot spot and air-cards are probably the most reliable option. NEVER expect a campground to actually have working WIFI, even when they advertise it as such.

valhalla360 wrote:
NO!!!!

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

But my Verizon air card has worked 245 out of 249 times in the 37 states we have traveled in the past 7 years