After another encounter with poor internet at a park, I trolled the site expecting to find some discussion on this matter. I tried several search terms but had no luck.I'm certain that I am not the only one whose eyes start to roll when a park starts to qualify it's internet with "we're having a few problems" "seems to be down right now" "it's okay if you park near the office" and other such excuses.What in the world is so difficult about providing internet service in modern times?Yes I know you can get bandwidth hogs causing problems, but that's only part of it, when you have to trek to the office in another park to ask them to reset their router once again it certainly gets tedious fast.Quality of park appears to have nothing to do with it, I've received excellent and extremely poor internet at both expensive or modestly priced parks.If would be nice to have a star rating system for members to go to for ratings on a particular park.

Oh, the woes of modern times. Mail was delivered once a week by a person walking with a bag of mail on his back, and the one television station was fuzzy black and white. Mail to the big city took at least a week to get there if ever.

I started my own. Using an Excel spreadsheet and rate the parks I frequent for both Cell (4G) & Park WI-FI. I give both a score from 1-10.Easier to do and all scores are related to places I go.On the downside, that doesn't help much when we travel cross country. When we do, my main focus shifts to cell signal coverage for the Mi-Fi. If a park has good service it's a bonus.I've seen WI-FI park rating sights come and go, in fact RV.net had a list a few years back. The problem is the WI-FI service the parks provide is so dynamic and ever-changing it would be difficult to maintain an up to date data base containing anything meaningful. Most parks farm it out to company's like Tango Internet, which is fine, but the service you get depends on how much they wanted to invest. For many ... not much.Maybe the day will come we'll see an App, like Gas Buddy, but for WI-FI. :)

Smoke signals work great. Why don't you get a hot spot, we have att and the parks internet is of no relevance to us we have all the internet available at any time.navegator

I don't think you can really rate the quality of internet in an RV park. The results will depend on how many people are on it and how far you are from one of the antennas. Maybe if everyone quantified the internet ratings they were giving by noting the time of day and what space they are in and how their space is from the antenna it would be of some valueWhen we come and go from the El Mirage, AZ area we always stay in one park and make reservations far enough in advance so we get one of four spaces to insure good internet signal. That takes care of the signal strength, but if others on the same antenna are doing movies, it then becomes so slow it's unusable.Bill

It's complicated. And can be expensive. In rural locales there might not be a good high speed provider. And speed can be pricey for a commercial account. Next is can the office personnel maintain it? For too many owners, wifi is a check box on a features list. We all need to communicate with the office about their service. Praise them if it's good and tell them you will recommend them to others or tell them you like it here but their wifi is poor and you won't be back or can't recommend them. Even if it's an email.

Rating RV Parks Internet Connections | Good Sam Community

Johno02
Explorer
Jun 28, 2015
Oh, the woes of modern times. Mail was delivered once a week by a person walking with a bag of mail on his back, and the one television station was fuzzy black and white. Mail to the big city took at least a week to get there if ever.
Corkey05
Explorer
Jun 28, 2015
I started my own. Using an Excel spreadsheet and rate the parks I frequent for both Cell (4G) & Park WI-FI. I give both a score from 1-10.

Easier to do and all scores are related to places I go.

On the downside, that doesn't help much when we travel cross country. When we do, my main focus shifts to cell signal coverage for the Mi-Fi. If a park has good service it's a bonus.

I've seen WI-FI park rating sights come and go, in fact RV.net had a list a few years back. The problem is the WI-FI service the parks provide is so dynamic and ever-changing it would be difficult to maintain an up to date data base containing anything meaningful. Most parks farm it out to company's like Tango Internet, which is fine, but the service you get depends on how much they wanted to invest. For many ... not much.

Maybe the day will come we'll see an App, like Gas Buddy, but for WI-FI. :)
navegator
Explorer
Jun 28, 2015
Smoke signals work great.

Why don't you get a hot spot, we have att and the parks internet is of no relevance to us we have all the internet available at any time.

navegator
Trackrig
Explorer II
Jun 28, 2015
I don't think you can really rate the quality of internet in an RV park. The results will depend on how many people are on it and how far you are from one of the antennas. Maybe if everyone quantified the internet ratings they were giving by noting the time of day and what space they are in and how their space is from the antenna it would be of some value

When we come and go from the El Mirage, AZ area we always stay in one park and make reservations far enough in advance so we get one of four spaces to insure good internet signal. That takes care of the signal strength, but if others on the same antenna are doing movies, it then becomes so slow it's unusable.

Bill
Big_Katuna
Explorer II
Jun 28, 2015
It's complicated. And can be expensive. In rural locales there might not be a good high speed provider. And speed can be pricey for a commercial account. Next is can the office personnel maintain it? For too many owners, wifi is a check box on a features list.

We all need to communicate with the office about their service. Praise them if it's good and tell them you will recommend them to others or tell them you like it here but their wifi is poor and you won't be back or can't recommend them. Even if it's an email.
rr2254545
Explorer
Jun 29, 2015
I too carry my own Verizon Mifi device - it so many did not abuse it with big downloads we could use it
noplace2
Explorer
Jun 29, 2015
OR, you could just go outside and enjoy what's there. Sadly, just sayin'.
darsben
Explorer II
Jun 29, 2015
navegator wrote:
Smoke signals work great.

Why don't you get a hot spot, we have att and the parks internet is of no relevance to us we have all the internet available at any time.

navegator

+2 on hotspot be self sufficient
GoPackGo
Explorer
Jun 29, 2015
darsben wrote:
navegator wrote:
Smoke signals work great.

Why don't you get a hot spot, we have att and the parks internet is of no relevance to us we have all the internet available at any time.

navegator

+2 on hotspot be self sufficient

x3.

I don't think you can win if you are going to depend on park wifi.

All of us are used to an excellent internet connection at our home base. And we pay for it. But internet connections were not a major (or even a minor) concern for parks. For the last 20, 30, 40 years they have been geared towards providing a site with electric, water, and sewer. And camping by it's very nature means 'roughing it' anyway. So they are behind. I think that in 10 years, good wifi at a park will be the norm but until then you should just bring your own. And remember that good wifi is not free. You are going to pay for it either thru an invisible increased base fee or as an add-on (which I prefer since I bring my own).

Tim
MarkTwain
Explorer
Jun 29, 2015
Trackrig wrote:
I don't think you can really rate the quality of internet in an RV park. The results will depend on how many people are on it and how far you are from one of the antennas. Maybe if everyone quantified the internet ratings they were giving by noting the time of day and what space they are in and how their space is from the antenna it would be of some value

When we come and go from the El Mirage, AZ area we always stay in one park and make reservations far enough in advance so we get one of four spaces to insure good internet signal. That takes care of the signal strength, but if others on the same antenna are doing movies, it then becomes so slow it's unusable.

Bill

Also in El Mirage area, I just go to the AT&T store and sign up for WI + their router. Approx. $35 per month but great service and strength and speed. At the end of our stay I just return the router to the AT&T store. Now I don't have to put up with weak to nonexistent internet service or having to carry my lap top down to the RV park library.
P.S.do not waste your money on a service called TENGO:(:(:(

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