Why I do not depend on camground Wifi

[rr2254545]

From todays USA today article

During peak evening hours Netflix takes us 34 % of Americas internet capacity

This tells you what all the guys in the other RV's are doing on campground Wifi

[SteveRuff]

Right now my Netgear Genie is reporting 29 devices connected to the WIFI in the park. My connection is relatively good, certainly adequate for my email and surfing needs. I have seen it as high as 72 devices connected and at that time it is too slow to be of any use at all. The downside is that my MIFI Jetpack will only connect at 3G with 2 bars so it is even less satisfactory.

[cochise49]

rwbradley wrote:

cochise49 wrote:
Some parks merely re-broadcast the one DSL line that they pay for. That means, bandwidth meant for a family of 5 is now shared with 20 or more. Total bandwidth will never be more than the park pays for. One park we use has something like one T1 line coming into the park. Not sure about amount of bandwidth but, they have a rule that you can't stream netflix, etc. so as not to inhibit others use of the internet. Not sure how they would know, but frequently, I resort to our Jet Pack for email etc. Verizon LTE too expensive for netflix.

T1 is only 1.54mb down and 1.54mb up

T1 was what I was last familiar with before retirement. I know there are much "bigger" bandwidth pipes available. The connection may have been fiber. Like Fios or the AT&T version. Doubt many parks have commercial/industrial grade hookups. We stayed in the park I mentioned in early 2009 during winter (Reno area). Only about 15 rigs total. I streamed Netflix just fine. In 09, I may have been the only person doing so.

Satellite Internet was once up and coming for RVs. Seems to be waning in popularity. Possible due to being too slow for streaming. At least at a generally affordable price.

[rwbradley]

cochise49 wrote:
Some parks merely re-broadcast the one DSL line that they pay for. That means, bandwidth meant for a family of 5 is now shared with 20 or more. Total bandwidth will never be more than the park pays for. One park we use has something like one T1 line coming into the park. Not sure about amount of bandwidth but, they have a rule that you can't stream netflix, etc. so as not to inhibit others use of the internet. Not sure how they would know, but frequently, I resort to our Jet Pack for email etc. Verizon LTE too expensive for netflix.

T1 is only 1.54mb down and 1.54mb up

[LittleBill]

wa8yxm wrote:
I think more campgrounds should simply close port 80,, This will block most casual Netflix et-al users.. (Would not even slow me down, but then I don't do netflix)

it would not slow you down, it would stop you completely. 99 percent of the internet runs over 80, alot are now on 443 https, but still require 80

[wa8yxm]

I think more campgrounds should simply close port 80,, This will block most casual Netflix et-al users.. (Would not even slow me down, but then I don't do netflix)

[Sprink-Fitter]

I don't depend on it either, we are camping, normally we are not in the camper except to sleep, we can surf the internet at home.

[cochise49]

Some parks merely re-broadcast the one DSL line that they pay for. That means, bandwidth meant for a family of 5 is now shared with 20 or more. Total bandwidth will never be more than the park pays for. One park we use has something like one T1 line coming into the park. Not sure about amount of bandwidth but, they have a rule that you can't stream netflix, etc. so as not to inhibit others use of the internet. Not sure how they would know, but frequently, I resort to our Jet Pack for email etc. Verizon LTE too expensive for netflix.

[rwbradley]

kcmoedoe wrote:

ChopperBill wrote:
Just wondering. Is it possible for an ISP to put a block on high data use down loads in a large sharing environment?

Possible, but it opens an entire new can of worms. Set the throttling too low, everyone complains about speeds. Set it at an acceptable speed for basic usage, the high usage people still complain. Set it high enough for most apps but not things like streaming HD movies, then you get people who just have the movie sent to their storage devices, even if it takes several hours. Get several of these, and the system still gets overloaded, and it is actually a worse situation, because the system can't speed up when the network clears and erase the backlog. It becomes a situation like plumbing where 2/3s of a pipe is clogged, the water won't flow faster even if you open the faucet fully.

Managing a network for a large organization with tens of thousands of users, I can say that to do traffic management properly ie block or throttle Netflix, Hulu etc, requires a number of things:
-someone who knows what they are doing as it requires a lot of fine tuning and regular adjustment as traffic patterns change
-a decent router that will do proper traffic shaping would be needed, your average Linksys, Dlink etc will not do it well and often makes it worse
-traffic management only works well when you are trying to fit 110-120% network traffic thru your internet feed. If you are trying to fit double the capacity, traffic management will do nothing as the router will tie up all of its resources trying to "fit" the traffic thru the pipe, it will have no resources left to actually send and receive the traffic.

[1492]

ChopperBill wrote:
Just wondering. Is it possible for an ISP to put a block on high data use down loads in a large sharing environment?

Yes, some are already restricting bandwidth for popular streaming sites like Netflix.

If its a problem in a CG, then they need to block these popular streaming sites in their router firmware. Of course, there are some workarounds, but most will not know how anyway. It is also possible to track down CG guest using an unreasonable amount of bandwidth, and reduce their allocation. But it takes time to administer, and most CG may not want or have the available time to do so. Assuming they know how to in the first place?

[wmoses]

More often than not I find CG wifi less than accetpable and resort to using my phoine as a hotspot ... much faster for my needs.

[kcmoedoe]

ChopperBill wrote:
Just wondering. Is it possible for an ISP to put a block on high data use down loads in a large sharing environment?

Possible, but it opens an entire new can of worms. Set the throttling too low, everyone complains about speeds. Set it at an acceptable speed for basic usage, the high usage people still complain. Set it high enough for most apps but not things like streaming HD movies, then you get people who just have the movie sent to their storage devices, even if it takes several hours. Get several of these, and the system still gets overloaded, and it is actually a worse situation, because the system can't speed up when the network clears and erase the backlog. It becomes a situation like plumbing where 2/3s of a pipe is clogged, the water won't flow faster even if you open the faucet fully.

[FlatBroke]

Just wondering. Is it possible for an ISP to put a block on high data use down loads in a large sharing environment?

[Sandia_Man]

Not surprising as so many are using the internet for video/movie streaming and most RV parks just don't provide enough bandwidth. We always set-up our satellite even when park provides cable and only use internet to check e-mails or get info on area attractions.

[rwbradley]

Nearly every hotel I have been in, in the last few years have also suffered the same issues. This is including big chains, and locations in big cities. The WIFI is virtually unusable in the evening. The only place I have seen that did not suffer from capacity issues in the evening was Disney World.
Unfortunately for free WIFI, I think it has less to do with the rural location of many Campgrounds, and more to do with the Netflix effect.

[ChooChooMan74]

I found that at 4AM,I can connect and use the Internet at Normandy Farms. After 8am,fuggetaboutit.