WiFi access in campgrounds

[Montana_2428]

We are going on U.S. tour starting in May. Wanted to know if anyone can set my expectations for WiFi in campgrounds across the U.S.

WiFi is getting popular in the Calif area, poping up at coffee stands, airports and shopping molls and a good percentage of this access is free.

Is WiFi generally available, free or otherwise?

Thanks

Don and Michele

[Montana_657]

We have Coachconnect here in Florida.... $30 a month... off the air over 2 weeks in February... lousy service... drop outs every day.... zero customer service... don't answer e-mails or calls. Never call you back. Next year were gonna have satellite for almost the same monthly cost....

[Joyce H]

Don & Michele, The latest issue of Trailer Life Directory lists WiFi for some of the campgrounds. However, remember as any printed material this information is not truly up to date. We have found the best way to know if a campground has WiFi is to inquire before making a reservation. We also ask if there is a charge. Here is a website that also has some of the campground listings for WiFi http://www.jiwire.com/
The park we are currently in offers WiFi through Tengo, however we saved considerable $$ by registering through Boingo which parterships with Tengo at this location
http://www2.boingo.com/
Some parks do offer free WiFi particularly if it is a new service. We have stayed in two parks with free WiFi, but found the service was spotty and was not as reliable as the service we have through Boingo/Tengo at our current location.

[CountryGuy]

thehays,

Availability is gonna vary, it is on the increase, but believe me, there are a lot of places you will NOT have wifi.

As you can see by Gruffy's remarks, even when you have it, there can be trouble in wifi heaven.

Internet on the road is a challenge and the availability is changing faster than I can type this response.

Do a search here on the MOC forum, we have had any number of discussions on just this subject and some as recently as this last weekend.

Free, yes, free, no, free, sometimes, this also varies.

Since Al retired 1/1/2001 we have tried to get away from Michigan winters, and specifically Michigan March, ask anyone who knows me, I HATE MICHIGAN IN MARCH! ewww.

Anyway, the first year out, went to Georga, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia. No cell phone internet, no wifi, no cablenet internet, a few campgrounds would provide you with a phone line if you had a service like AOL, and a local number, please limit your online time to less than 15 minutes, or 30 minutes. Went for 10 days or more with no internet, no email, then had to go to public library to get online. There was even one library near Norfolk Virginia that still had NO internet in late March 2001! NO KIDDING.

This year and last, we are on a cable net internet, last year it was shaky, this year, same service, MUCH better. Free at the campground, but this place is not cheap.

I have yet to hit a campground that has WIFI, but Steve R and others have hit a LOT of campgrounds that do. Some of the availability is in how you pick your campgrounds. We pick where we want to go and live with what ever we are faced with, cell phone, no internet back to the library, whatever. Others, pick their campgrounds by what services are available. That is a personal thing, nothing wrong with either way.

Our advice, be prepared to use a lot of differennt modes of connection. Some even like a Satellite right on their unit. And just discussing "S" in a RV could take up several hours of typing!

Good luck and have fun!

Carol

[sreigle]

I think one reason we have hit a number of parks with wi-fi is we include that in our search. I check their ads in the TL directory, I look at their websites for the latest info, and I ask when I call them. Still, there are a lot of times when they do not have wi-fi. But wi-fi is increasing. Some I've called recently have said they don't have it yet but are planning to have it within the next few months.

We've been really spoiled this past two months in this park with wi-fi plus back in Nov/Dec we were in a park with wi-fi. Thursday we leave here and it looks like we'll have limited connectivity until at least the end of March and into early April. Maybe longer.

I always ask the park if they have wi-fi or plan to install it. I figure if enough people ask they'll figure out they better get it to stay competitive. I hope.

[adelmoll]

We have been on the road since Feb 18th and have been able to get on our net every night except one. Total cost before today was $3.00. Today I had to sign up for a week @ $15.00. Works for me.

[patodonn]

I( estimate that about%-30% of the places we have stayed have Wi-Fi available. Of that number, about 50% charge for the service.

We have used an occasional coffee shop or other hotspot, free usually.

We do use Verizon wireless with a cell phone connector cord and software in the laptop. Free after 9 PM to 6 AM, minutes charges from 6 AM 9 PM. Speed is about 105K bps. Works most places except really remote area, some parts of Tx, along some of the Gulf Coast, and some few parts of Fl. Getting better as time goes along. You can get a higher speed setup, similar to DSL, with Verizon, but it coast about $80/mo. You also have to buy a card with an antenna that plugs into the laptop. Hamrad has one...he can give you more info as to access while traveling.

Hope that helps with the basics of the question..

Best regards

[tollmann]

We are currently staying at Rock Crusher Canyon in Crystal River Fl. WiFi here is free. The campground is very highly rated by Good Sam and it more than deserves to be. Now if we could only get management to do something about the weather.

[Montana_657]

I have sent two messagegs to Coachconnect.net adviseing them I wish to cancel service next month... both have been returned as "undeliverable" and they continue to bill my credit card. Great service!!!

[HamRad]

Hello thehays,
You've gotten some good advise. I am still relatively new to the Wi-Fi thing. This summer I bought one of the USB Wi-Fi cards. It has a six foot cord on it so you can move it around to get the strongest signal. I've had to be very creative from time to time to get a good signal. Thank goodness you can move the antenna around easily.

I like the wi-fi connection but find that the commercial stuff is rough around the edges... at least for me it is. Since I have the Verizon phonecard setup I use it most of the time. I had a bad experience with ITengonet at a park in Benson so I'll probably not be buying wi-fi but I'll use it if free. At Puerto Penasco we had a free connection. It worked really well for 3 of the 4 days we were there.

If you must be connected then you'll probably want to look into the satellite connection. Otherwise get a phone connection as well as a wi-fi card. So if one thing doesn't work maybe the other one will.

HamRad

[foggyb]

Hi all We have found wireless conections in less than 25% of the rv parks we stayed in so far this winter. Some good , some bad. We had the same problem HamRad did at same park in Benson. Never did get it to work. My opinion is if you have to pay in usually is a problem to get connected. They are trying to get income from something that should be a free service. In our campground, we have cable tv and a cable modem so I can get enough speed to work on our web site. I conected that to a router and allow everyone in the campground and marina to use it. No complaints from the customers. As a matter of fact they are delighted. Dan

[Montana_2428]

Thanks for all the great responses to my original post. I'll probably take some heat for this but....we are setting out on a three month US vacation and haven't made any camping reservations (don't know where we're going or when). So, may end up boon-docking as we are well prepared for this.

I have a wireless Email system on board, via ham radio. Internet access would be nice but don't require on a daily basis for sure. Wife would like to do online bill-pay a couple times so may end up at a library.

WiFi is just getting started. For customer service I believe we will see access increase with the price coming down, perhaps free within the next two years.

Thanks again.......

Don and Michele