Poor to Terrible WIFI

[Tom_Barb]

Tucumcari N.M KOA has the slowest WIFI.
It is so slow, after you connect to the LAN select a site. It will not load.

[mkc]

DFord wrote:
You have to figure the park is sharing it's WiFi with everyone in the park. It would be like you at your house sharing your WiFi with maybe 50 others at the same time. Speed will be sacrificed. The park couldn't afford to provide everyone with a highspeed connection. Most of the time, because of their remoteness, they're lucky to have any kind of wired connectivity for internet services. You can bet they can't get a fiber connection.

Agreed. First-hand experience while workamping at a park - the potential Internet service provider wanted $5K just to do a survey to see if they could bring service to the park (no mention of how much it would actually cost the park to buy and install infrastructure or the monthly fees from the provider).

[DFord]

You have to figure the park is sharing it's WiFi with everyone in the park. It would be like you at your house sharing your WiFi with maybe 50 others at the same time. Speed will be sacrificed. The park couldn't afford to provide everyone with a highspeed connection. Most of the time, because of their remoteness, they're lucky to have any kind of wired connectivity for internet services. You can bet they can't get a fiber connection. More likely, DSL because of the distances and density of population around their location - unless you've found a park very near a city.

[naturist]

Slow wifi at a campground. That is not at all unusual and not particular to that campground. If you want a speedy connection, get your own hotspot or use your cell phone as a hotspot. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news that way, but, well, as others have reported, that's the way it is.

[Tom_Barb]

Tonight we are in a campground in Cheyenne Wy. (A.B. Campground and RV park) Wifi is wink quick, and secure.
well over 100 camps using..

It can be done.

[azdryheat]

I quit using the park's wifi and use my phone's hotspot in stead.

[trailertraveler]

I have found Park WIFI to be hit or miss. As mentioned; early morning, late night and middle of the week when the park is not full may be best.

Using a MIFI or phone as a hotspot is better, but we have encountered many occasions where even on a 4G LTE connection, the speed is not enough to stream even short news clips without stuttering/stalling. Every wireless hop reduces the speed, so tethering can be a better option than connecting to a hotspot. If you stream at all, it is not hard to use 1 GB per day. If your wireless plan has a hotspot/tethering limit it can go fast. I watch a couple of hours of news and an occasional show a day on my tablet and it is not uncommon for me to use 60+ GB in a month (my plan does not have a severe throttling penalty for use on the tablet, just tethering and hotspot).

Some phones will provide an internet connection to multiple devices but do not create a true network that will allow direct communication between devices such as casting. The MIFIs do act as a wireless router.

Xfinity, Verizon and even some smaller local companies have networks of wireless hotspots. We have had good success using Xfinity hotspots. They are co-broadcast from Xfinity commercial and residential customers' locations. RV Parks that have long term residents or Park Models may have multiple Xfinity hotspots. If you are not an eligible Xfinity or Verizon customer, I believe both have short term (day, week, month) plans.

[accsys]

In our experience the Tucumcari KOA is a mom and pop operation that tries to cut costs everywhere it can. Last year they would only allow me to use $10 of my points there for a two night reservation. The sites themselves are nice but the operation of the KOA leaves a lot to be desired. It is classified as a Journey KOA and I expect it will not remain a KOA much longer.

As others have said, we rarely use a campground WiFi as we have found Verizon and AT&T mobile devices much more usable. There are exceptions - the Columbia Falls RV Park near the west side of Glacier and the campground we are in now, Trails End RV Park near Waynesville, NC both have good WiFi. For security when connecting to a park WiFi, we always connect through our Ubiquity set up, never directly to a park WiFi.

[RoyB]

We gave up on campground WIFI years ago... Even when you find a good strong WIFI connection when everyone at campgrounds gets on it, it is all but non-useable... I have my VERIZON MIFI Acct to create my own safe and secure WIFI ZONE just about wherever we go. One place it didn't work was in GOBER, TX....

I would be using my cellphone to create a hot spot but my Gibbs older FLIP-PHONE doesn't support it... Yes I know.... One of these days...

My VERIZON MIFI gives us up to five users that covers our tablets etc... Has a 5GB data plan. Only really good for checking in with the kids, paying a few bills, and surfing the web... That's about all we need it for...

My OFF-ROAD Camper has the OTA BATWING antenna that picks up something just about wherever we end up at... We have a DVD player too and usually have a bunch of DVD's to watch... Being creatures of habit we kinda know what to expect on our trips home entertainment wise...

We usually sit around the firepit until 8-9PM every evening then get inside the POPUP for a few hours before going to bed...

Roy Ken

[Pawz4me]

As the others said, we rarely/never actually use CG wifi. Both for security/privacy reasons and because they almost never work and it's just a frustrating experience all around. But sometimes I do give it a try, just for curiosity. I've found that about the only time most campground wifi approaches usable is very early in the mornings, typically before 6:00 a.m. Sometimes not even then if there are a few other early risers.

[MitchF150]

I never connect to any public wifi.. Just not worth it especially if it's FREE.

If you have a smart phone and know how to make it a hot spot, that's a lot more secure than some open wifi.. Even if the free wifi has a password, it's probably not a secret, so there you go there..

Good luck!

Mitch

[LadyRVer]

I have been out for about 6 months now. I have found about 50% of the campgrounds with wifi have been pretty good and the other 50% pretty sorry. It is what it is.

[DFord]

For security reason, I never use the park's WiFi. There's no way of knowing who is actually broadcasting that signal and hacking your information. WiFi is just not safe enough to be trusted - ever!

[BB_TX]

Even when the RV park Wi-Fi signal is strong, the speed is typically so slow as to be barely useable if useable at all. And that is certainly not limited to KOA.

[Lwiddis]

Sometimes works for me very early in the morning. I never try at other times. RV parks are NOT providing what they promise...and they know it. Sometimes they’ll have a “private” WiFi for the owners, managers and employees.