Wifi in public parks.

[Artum_Snowbird]

I have no knowledge on the subject, and I hope many of you can enlighten me as to how wifi works.

I have been in some private parks, and wifi is dismal, but why?

Is it really possible to provide a signal over a campground, or are we just talking about people taking their devices to a confined area where the signal is strong?

I have used a signal booster before with great success, but the same question.. Will everyone using a booster just jam the system again, or can the park provide enough "I think it's bandwidth?" that will enable users?

And then lastly.. is there any way that might enable certain sites to have access for a period of time, then the access moves on to other sites.. so that instead of a jam, there really is good access for a short period, but you have to know your time?

this should be interesting.. thanks. Mike

[Redsky]

Campgrounds and for that matter hotels put in WiFi that is not designed for great distances and with a business office there will be repeaters to spread the signal around but not in these other places.

Each repeater/bridge in a campground would need to be attached to AC power and be weather proof and theft proof so it is not a simple installation.

We have greatly improved our signal reception and connection by using a business class Wifi router with 3 external antennas (on the back of the router). Our newest laptops also have better signal reception as they appear to have better internal antennas in the case that houses the LCD screen.

We use the free Wifi whenever possible so we do not eat into our Millenicom GB data cap.

In the USA we have to be creative as internet access is very spotty outside of major cities in many states, including California where I live. We not use a cellular phone plan for data but instead a separate data plan through www.millenicom.com that is month to month and uses the Verizon cellular network and its towers which provide the best overall geographic coverage in the US at this time. As we cannot even get DSL at our house we use the Millenicom service at home as well as on the road in the USA.

We do see time of day issues as many of the places where we have stayed have only a DSL connection to the internet and it is being shared by everyone in the office and in all the campsites.

The sites nearest the office at a private RV park are going to have the best signal strength and it can help to know the location of their device as it may be at one end of the building and that side will have better signal strength than campsites on the opposite side.

[wa8yxm]

I use a Linksys WGA-54G Wireless Game Adapter with a small external modification that makes it directional.. I park it atop a flag pole much of the time so it can see over other RV's. and get good range and decent speeds.

This is a Wi-Fi "Modem" it feeds the Belkin router inside the RV and from there I have something like 7 different devices. Most barley sip the internet (2 of them never actually see outside the motor home's net) but it's nice to be able to do it that way.

[AllegroD]

First, it may be but is not necessarily the CG WiFi. Wifi is two way. If your wifi card is weak, as many are, it may receive a signal but not be strong enough to send a signal back to the wifi source.

It may be lack of bandwicth to accomodate the number of users.

You can go to the office or closer to the antenna to see which it is.

[Dutch_12078]

Artum Snowbird wrote:

I do appreciate that there is other methods to access the internet for some, but I am Canadian, and we do not have the opportunity to have internet via cell phones like many posters.

Straight Talk sells a no contract standalone 3G hotspot that uses the Verizon cell network. Anyone can buy one at most Walmarts, along with the needed data cards. It's not the cheapest cell based data service around at $10/GB for the 4GB and 5GB cards, nor is it the fastest service, but it is quite useable regardless of your citizenship.

[BB_TX]

Bandwidth is the main problem. And dollars is the issue. Even in parks where the signal is strong, the wifi will likely still be slow.
But even with a minimal system the park can still advertise as having wifi.

[Artum_Snowbird]

To add a bit to this, and I thank you for your submissions... at one park we stayed, we were given a password to use to sign in with.

We had our MacBook open, and then we tried our tablet. Nope, that password was in use and it was necessary to sign out, and then sign in again with the other device.
That little trick definitely limited us, and likely many others. Is this effectively limiting usage? It certainly limited us!

At another very expensive golf park they said they were limited by the location. This was in Borrego Springs. They said it was impossible to get more bandwidth because of the remote spot. We doubted that.. but $$$$ for a site sure did not buy even a passable opportunity for wifi.

I do appreciate that there is other methods to access the internet for some, but I am Canadian, and we do not have the opportunity to have internet via cell phones like many posters.

[wa8yxm]

Is it possible to provide wi-fi covering an entire campground YES.
So what's the PROBLEM $$$$$$$$$$$$$$
That's right, money, costs lots of it.

First: Wi-Fi is designed for fairly short range,, Plus there are but 3 channels the do not overlap 1-6 and 11) if you are on 2,3,4, or 5 you overlap both 1 and 6, 7-10 six and 11 and of course in all cases "All the channels in between" and some on the other side of six may apply. (7 for example also overlaps 5).

This limits you, plus all the folks with Mi-Fi devices on assorted channels.

So to cover a park you need to put up repeaters, and/or taller towers. And this is just to get the signal to the outlying sites.

Now you have the bandwidth issue... Bandwidth costs money, The more bandwidth the more money.

This is true, I was there, One park I stay at for the first few years of Wi-Fi you had to go to the family center, now if you had a good LONG RANGE Wi-fi adapter (I DO)there were a few sites that could see "The dome" (As the center was called) but only a hand full (like 5-10) park has over 700 sites. Today most of those sites are covered by repeaters and multiple accounts.

Well the park had simply taken a Linksys home/small office router out of the box and plugged it in, they did not even change the SSID.

I'd get there 1st thing in the AM, log in, get my coffee and no tribble at all.

But others, arriving later, NO CONNECTION.. for a while I'd set 'em up by using manual I/P and telling them how to reset it to auto later. but....Not that easy to do.

Finally.. One day.. i decided to try a bit of 1st level hacking.. I typed in the default password for the router administrator and sure enough, (See took it out of the box and plugged it in) I was in.. Turns out it had a 50 account limit, that's all, 50 user IPs was all it could assign.. Changed it to 100 and that held till July 4 weekend when I was again helping people by giving them static IPs' I logged in and pulled the DCHP IP list and showed how all 100 addresses were already assigned.. I explained that in the early days it was just laptops but by then you had laptops, PDAs The park's wired comptuers of course and many cell phones.. In fact here's one Suzzies I Phone"

Turns out the woman I as assisting... Suzzie.

[SubVet]

Artum Snowbird wrote:

And then lastly.. is there any way that might enable certain sites to have access for a period of time, then the access moves on to other sites..

They could only do this by turning on/off their wireless access points. They're not going to go to the trouble.

[edbehnke]

each campground is different, that is the bottom line.

that is the best answer to your questions.

[wmoses]

Artum Snowbird wrote:
I have been in some private parks, and wifi is dismal, but why?

Is it really possible to provide a signal over a campground, or are we just talking about people taking their devices to a confined area where the signal is strong?
...
And then lastly.. is there any way that might enable certain sites to have access for a period of time, then the access moves on to other sites..

In my experience, the state parks in Texas which have wireless Internet, have wireless mostly all over the park - no need for dedicated reception sites. That said some campsites have better reception than others based location relative to the signal source.

I think that its slowness is due to 2 main factors - 1. Too many devices connected, and 2. Old equipment. Since the SPs are funded by fees etc, I would think that replacing the Internet service Provider and/or router would be low priority.

We end up ditching the CG WiFi and using the cellular service on our phones as hot spots.

I dont'believe that wireles signal can be restricted to certain areas. There is a circle of service centred on the router and any other signal boosters that might be installed.

[Dutch_12078]

The large amounts of bandwidth a busy RV park would need to provide good service to everyone is very expensive, and not always available, particularly in the more remote rural locations. As far as getting the available signal well in all parts of a park, yes that can be done and done well. All it takes is money...

[rr2254545]

Very expensive and way too many people abuse the system streaming movies etc.

I gave up on campground systems a long time ago and I use the verizon MIfi