WIFI

The campground we are in just added wifi this year. When we got here in April it was spotty. They added repeater antennas and now works well. Not so good on the weekends and late in the day but ok. Wife uses her Verizon. I get up early and have great service. Other places have been not so good. Highline Trail in Boulder WY.

nomad297 wrote:
What is the technical term of this phenomenon? It interests me and I would like to read about it.

Bandwidth.

Think of it as having 10 CB channels and 30 people communicating. There will be some slowness as you're waiting for the others to finish their conversation. There will be times where many of them aren't talking, and you'll have no issues, but there will be times when they are all online.

If you have even 4 WIFI transmitters in a certain area, you have maxed it out. You can add more, but ones on the same or nearby channels will suffer some slowness if they are all being used.

Wishbone51 wrote:

nomad297 wrote:
Thank you, but I still don't understand.

Too many devices using airspace, not enough air. Slows things down.

What is the technical term of this phenomenon? It interests me and I would like to read about it.

Thanks,

Bruce

nomad297 wrote:
Thank you, but I still don't understand.

Too many devices using airspace, not enough air. Slows things down.

mlts22 wrote:

nomad297 wrote:

mlts22 wrote:


I am waiting for CGs to start posting notices about not using Mi-Fi adapters because of so many devices in an area, and so little airwave bandwidth. So far, I've not seen any gripes on this, but I wouldn't be surprised if this started happening.

Would you mind explaining what this means?

Thanks,

Bruce

A Wi-Fi adapter takes up a channel, 1 through 14. In reality, there are four non-overlapping channels, 1, 6, 11, and 14. Too many Wi-Fi adapters in an area can make getting a good signal hard to come by since your device is competing with others for the same signal space. This is made worse by a lot of the consumer devices which default to channel 11, and cannot be moved to another channel.

Thank you, but I still don't understand.

Bruce

mlts22 wrote:
A Wi-Fi adapter takes up a channel, 1 through 14. In reality, there are four non-overlapping channels, 1, 6, 11, and 14. Too many Wi-Fi adapters in an area can make getting a good signal hard to come by since your device is competing with others for the same signal space. This is made worse by a lot of the consumer devices which default to channel 11, and cannot be moved to another channel.

Very true.

It would be nice if these also had USB ports, so if it's just a couple of people, you could turn off the wireless and just use the USB for a better connection.

nomad297 wrote:

mlts22 wrote:


I am waiting for CGs to start posting notices about not using Mi-Fi adapters because of so many devices in an area, and so little airwave bandwidth. So far, I've not seen any gripes on this, but I wouldn't be surprised if this started happening.

Would you mind explaining what this means?

Thanks,

Bruce

A Wi-Fi adapter takes up a channel, 1 through 14. In reality, there are four non-overlapping channels, 1, 6, 11, and 14. Too many Wi-Fi adapters in an area can make getting a good signal hard to come by since your device is competing with others for the same signal space. This is made worse by a lot of the consumer devices which default to channel 11, and cannot be moved to another channel.

TOMMY47 wrote:
Why are folks downloading movies? I've never done it and don't understand how seeing a movie, especially current ones, immediately is necessary.
I go online for email, bank accounts, minor research. Puzzling to me.

Current ones aren't usually available. Many people have Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Prime accounts and use it to watch movies or episodes of TV shows. I do at home, but don't while camping.. I usually just check email, Facebook, and this site, of course. ;)

Newer RVs with the flat panel TVs can easily connect to the campsite internet (if it's working) and people can continue watching where they left off at the previous campsite.

I've been to several campsites that had super-fast internet with good coverage.. There are three main issues.

1) Closeness to town = better options
2) Pay big $$ for better bandwidth.
3) Pay big $$ to have professional routers installed throughout the campsite.

All this adds up to big $$ that many campsites can't afford.

mlts22 wrote:


I am waiting for CGs to start posting notices about not using Mi-Fi adapters because of so many devices in an area, and so little airwave bandwidth. So far, I've not seen any gripes on this, but I wouldn't be surprised if this started happening.

Would you mind explaining what this means?

Thanks,

Bruce

It isn't an aircard, but I tend to use my phone or tablet as a direct tether, or use BlueTooth. That way, it is one less Wi-Fi signal for someone to hack or for someone else to complain about.

What I really wish some laptop maker would do is build in a LTE transceiver into the device. That way, if one gets a cellular signal, their laptop is ready to go. No USB cards, no ad-hoc Wi-Fi networks, just turn on and go.

I am waiting for CGs to start posting notices about not using Mi-Fi adapters because of so many devices in an area, and so little airwave bandwidth. So far, I've not seen any gripes on this, but I wouldn't be surprised if this started happening.