Parks with limited amenities

[garyemunson]

Anyone else irked by chain parks that seem to think cable and internet are not necessary amenities? I don't go camping to watch TV but I do like to watch the news with my morning coffee and check my interests on the internet at least once a day. Places that have heavily wooded sites and are far enough out not to have over the air TV should, in my opinion, have both hookups (I don't complain about trees blocking my sat system as long as I can get cable). If I want to remove myself from civilization I'll dry camp at some state or nat park. If that's all I wanted to do I wouldn't have spent money on an RV and would be in a tent. Everyone has their own preference but if a place touts itself as a "resort", I expect facilities. What do you think about this? Am I over reaching?

[bukhrn]

Lantley wrote:
Yes you are over reaching. When has cable and or internet been required for camping?
It's nice to have but not a prerequisite. Lot's of COE and state parks should close immediately.
Resort is a merely a marketing term. It does not guarantee certain amenities.
Dig a bit deeper or make a phone call to ensure the amenities you require are offered.
Where does the resort label end? Pool, Dog Park, on site restaurant, full hookups,Laundry, hot tub, spa,free shuttle,campfires where does it end?

X-2 or whatever, we very rarely stay at private CG,s so we never have cable or WIFI and don't need it or miss it, if we want to watch something at night, we have over 200 DVD's,or we can't watch the campfire, I don't watch the news at home, (as there's never Good news on anyways) so I see no reason to fret if I can't watch it while camping, RV'ing or whatever you want to call it.

[rk911]

Mr.Mark wrote:

rk911 wrote:

Mr.Mark wrote:
I agree.

We like to get a few channels with OTA or cable. Our coach has built-in WiFi so we have Internet service 99% of the time. I guess I could stream movies but I'm not too techie.

Bottom line, if a place calls themselves a resort, they should offer amenities.

MM.

curious...what is built-in wifi?

My coach has it's own phone number with WiFi and is password protected. If you are near me and you are trying to connect to the Resort's WiFi, you probably will see me listed as 'Coach #xxx'.

I can connect to the coach via my i-phone to check air conditioning, lock/unlock, check the batteries charging level, I could start the generator, etc. Liberty Coach calls their system 'Liberty i-link'. They can send updates to my system and/or check on the coach from the shop if I'm having an issue with something.

In fact, this morning I checked on the coach that is in the storage garage 17 miles away from home. It was showing that it was 88 degrees inside the coach and 83 degrees in the storage garage. I turned on the two fantastic vents to pull some of the heat out. I could turn on an air unit or two but then water would pool under the coach and it's really not needed right now.

Safe travels,
MM.

interesting. so you can use it to web surf, e-mail etc?

[myredracer]

When you go "camping" I thought you're supposed to be roughing it. 🙂

I remember a time in my life when camping meant no power, no TV, no telephone, a wood & coal stove, an outhouse and we had to walk 1/4 mile to get jugs of water from a creek. Entertainment indoors after dark (using a kerosene lantern) or on a rainy was cards, checkers, crokinole and reading. Yes, reading a book!

Nowadays DW & I gotta have FHU and TV. Besides getting the latest news on CNN, couldn't survive without DWTS, AGT, Survivor and a few others. Between OTA, cable or satellite, it's a rare occasion that we can't get TV at CGs and we mostly use Thousand Trails who are known for having outdated and insufficient amenities. We also have Verizon mifi and DW can also set up a hotspot on her phone and we're rarely without internet at our site. We have become sissies in our older years... 😞 I keep a few good books and DVDs in a cabinet should we ever have to survive without TV.

We research a new to us CG when planning a trip to see what amenities it has or if there is something that needs to be avoided. RVparkreviews.com is a good place to read comments from RV-ers on various CGs/RV parks. While the comments can sometimes vary from excellent to nasty for the exact same place, you can usually get a good sense of what to expect for your needs like say, poor cell phone reception or what's available for TV. If TV is important to you, gotta do the research in advance.

[Mr_Mark1]

rk911 wrote:

Mr.Mark wrote:
I agree.

We like to get a few channels with OTA or cable. Our coach has built-in WiFi so we have Internet service 99% of the time. I guess I could stream movies but I'm not too techie.

Bottom line, if a place calls themselves a resort, they should offer amenities.

MM.

curious...what is built-in wifi?

My coach has it's own phone number with WiFi and is password protected. If you are near me and you are trying to connect to the Resort's WiFi, you probably will see me listed as 'Coach #xxx'.

I can connect to the coach via my i-phone to check air conditioning, lock/unlock, check the batteries charging level, I could start the generator, etc. Liberty Coach calls their system 'Liberty i-link'. They can send updates to my system and/or check on the coach from the shop if I'm having an issue with something.

In fact, this morning I checked on the coach that is in the storage garage 17 miles away from home. It was showing that it was 88 degrees inside the coach and 83 degrees in the storage garage. I turned on the two fantastic vents to pull some of the heat out. I could turn on an air unit or two but then water would pool under the coach and it's really not needed right now.

Safe travels,
MM.

[Bucky_Badger]

rk911 wrote:

jplante4 wrote:

outdoorlovers wrote:
I'm also wondering what built in wifi is

Check with Chris and Cherie at Technomadia

They seem to be the RV WiFi experts.

i was hoping the person who made the post stating that he had built-in wifi would elaborate.

Probably no different than a cars built in WIFI
http://www.technologyguide.com/feature/cars-as-mobile-hotspots-how-exactly-do-cars-use-wi-fi/

[wowens79]

Campgrounds are kinda like RV's, there are alot of variety. Popup vs Class A, and boondocking vs resorts. I've never booked based on WIFI or cable, and we don't have a satelite for the camper. If they have it fine, but not something we look for.

I also think if depends on how long your trips are. We both work, so we camp on weekends, and a couple of week long trips a year. We are trying to get away from things and explore.

I think if are a snowbird, or full timer, then these things may be more important to you.

It is nice on rainy days, or at the beach in the middle of the day when it is blazing hot outside 🙂

[Campfire_Time]

Some private parks thrive on the fact that they are "rustic" with few amenities.

[Dutch_12078]

beemerphile1 wrote:
I don't understand the issue. Each park offers what the park offers. If a certain amenity is important to you, do advance research to insure a park has what you want.

X2! And like Joe previously, we have an AT&T Mobley unlimited 4G LTE "Connected Car" account at $20/month for Internet, and a Dish satellite setup for TV that have served us well everywhere we've been so far. We quit checking for those amenities at RV parks years ago. Back when we did want them though, as said, we just did our homework and didn't choose parks that didn't have the amenities we wanted.

[rk911]

jplante4 wrote:

outdoorlovers wrote:
I'm also wondering what built in wifi is

Check with Chris and Cherie at Technomadia

They seem to be the RV WiFi experts.

i was hoping the person who made the post stating that he had built-in wifi would elaborate.

[beemerphile1]

I don't understand the issue. Each park offers what the park offers. If a certain amenity is important to you, do advance research to insure a park has what you want.

[mowermech]

I stay at an RV park every year (for a Hamfest) that has no tv cable, limited WiFi, no cell service, and very limited antenna tv.
It is GREAT!
The RV park is in the mountains near Glacier National Park, on Hwy 2, just West of the Continental Divide (Marias Pass).
Good fishing and spectacular scenery are a great deal more important than such "amenities", IMO.

[jplante4]

I think if the park advertises as an RV "resort", then one would expect these amenities and more. We were spoiled early on when we stayed at Hilton Head Island Motorcoach Resort. It was a true resort; paver block sites with real patio furniture, indoor and outdoor pool, tennis, pickle ball and golf packages at several local clubs. Of course, we do none of these 🙂 so it didn't matter, but it set the bar for a "resort". WiFi and cable were included.

We've stayed at several "resorts" since then and nothing has lived up to it.

[JoeH]

I really don't care if they offer them or not. I have an ATT Mobley that gives me unlimited internet for $20/month and my satellite dish and/or batwing gives me all the TV I can handle.

[K_Charles]

If you need all that stuff you should camp in the city. I think most people that try to find a place far enough out to not have OTA reception are trying to get away from it.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

garyemunson wrote:
Anyone else irked by chain parks that seem to think cable and internet are not necessary amenities?

No, I don't think they are necessary amenities, but I do like both, and try to pick my stops/ stays with those available. I've told more than one park management that I'm not staying at their park because they don't have those.


The first question that you have to ask yourself is are cable and internet technically feasible at the parks where you want to stay.

One located within 3-8 miles of a city of 10,000 or more - almost certainly.

An RV park located 35 miles from a city of over a million, it may not be technically feasible.

Costs - figure $1.50-3.00 per foot to run cable in an existing park. A 100 site park with 20' centers between spots is at least $4,000 for cable and $5,000 for the necessary equipment.

WiFi - runs close to $2,000 per acre to install a system available to folks in their rigs.

Cable - Is there a cable company able to provide service to that location? Is the park able to spend $8-10,000 to add their own satellite antennas, a multi-user system to put the TV signals out over the cable, and the costs of $ 5 to 9 per RV site per month for the satellite company service. There will be a similar, though slightly lower, cost for ever RV site on the property every month from a cable company.

An RV park will have to pay the cable company/ satellite company a set fee for every site on the property, every month. Figure a minimum of $1,000 per month every month for a 100 site RV park.

WiFi - Internet - this cost is going to be based upon bandwidth limits and the technical capacity of the 'pipe' to get the signal to the RV park. I know some popular tourist RV parks which have ONE phone line for dial-up speed internet. A dial-up modem will take close to one minute to load this page.

A cable connection or a phone company T-1 line is the minimum to consider sharing a connection with more than four or five people.

That's with no streaming of video. All major news websites - Fox, ABC, CNN, BBC, ESPN - stream video when they first load. It is a big bandwidth hit, and slows first loading of the news site.

My daughter sells satellite based internet setups to people in remote areas which cannot reach any wired internet source.

A business account starts at $450 per month for a 256K signal for every 10 users. That means a page like Fox News is going to take 30-45 seconds to load. To add capacity for that speed signal for 50 users costs $4,595 per month.

I'm as addicted to my TV and internet as anyone.

But we expect a 'wired' world. It always takes wire at some point to provide TV and internet. Some of the great places we go to simply don't have the wire available to make it happen.