Campground Owners - Please Read

[Parrott_head]

What is this WIFI you speak of?

Is it the next great leap from Quadraphonic?

That's great, I just upgraded from stereo to Quad and had to invest in two more speakers from Radio Shack to do it.....they no longer carry the AudioVox line of equipment......

J/K.......

[4x4van]

Just to add a bit of reality here, I work for a municipal utility in socal. When a developer requests electric service to their site, they are responsible not only for the cost of building that on-site infrastructure, but also the full costs of getting that service TO their site. 1 block away can easily run $10,000-$50,000 or more. Infrastructure costs are similar for ANY dry utility, including CATV/Internet. Now consider the fact that most campgrounds are not right in the middle of town; but rather MILES from town... Go ahead and calculate that cost for miles rather than 1 block.

Yes, if you advertise WiFi, then you should be providing at least a useable WiFi. But to expect all campgrounds to do so, or even most, is unreasonable and out of line, IMO. The market, or "need", is just not there to justify the huge cost to do so.

[hohenwald48]

I wish all RV parks had a Starbucks. Doesn't the younger generation require those to survive these days? Sorry, couldn't resist. Just kidding. Although I suspect a Starbucks would draw more customers than high speed internet.

[raineman]

Originally Posted by hohenwald48

I wish all RV parks had a Starbucks. Doesn't the younger generation require those to survive these days? Sorry, couldn't resist. Just kidding. Although I suspect a Starbucks would draw more customers than high speed internet.

[OLYLEN]

I think a lot of CG do have acceptable WIFI until you get a couple working from their RV. Sorry just had to throw that out there. A few Emails a few blog shot and every buddie can get a little, upload or down load some large maps or data bases and the system gags. And stay away from my cable gotta see the latest of ***********.

LEN

[MuddyPaws2]

We don't have our RV yet, we've been looking for the perfect one since 2012. We are closer now since our trip to Hershey this year and have picked a brand and a floorplan that will work for us and our 2 Great Danes.

With that said when we go on vacation, it is to get away from everyday life, that means work, email, the internet, tv etc. I (the wife) would be perfectly happy to have a coach with no tv at all. I think it is crazy to have 4 tv's on a coach. The places that we've gone to over the years for vacations have been 'unplugged' so to speak. No tv's, no internet, no phones and we like it that way. Sometimes, you wanna go where no one knows your name.

I understand that some people work from their RV's and that those people need to stay connected. If however, it's for their business won't that be a business expense for them? Wouldn't that mean that while some may have to pay upfront that they would be reimbursed in the end? So technically, those that don't want it might have to pay for it in the form of increased fees, but the ones that use it for business won't have to pay for it at all.

People use RV's for all sorts of reasons; Some families want to get away from it even with the kids being forced to leave the gadgets behind. Some people live out of their RV's so they want the same amenities that a brick and mortar house would have. Some want to really get away from it all and not hear tv's or have computer access. It is a lot to expect every campground in the US to accommodate all of these different needs while keeping the cost low enough for everyone to enjoy.

I think a guide is a great idea and maybe the OP could write it with input from others. Start a list of the CG's and their amenities and include wifi and how it worked. It doesn't solve the problem but it would be a place to start.

Angie

[DWRichard]

Originally Posted by NealC

My question to all the naysayers here:

Why are you defending the campground not providing better wi-fi (faster and secure)?

I bet if this didn't raise the cost and you could enjoy Internet services for whatever you may use it for, secure and all, you would actually be happy about it. But instead you choose to shoot down a better service that benefits YOU.

Think about it.

What is this mysterious capital improvement that doesn't cost money?

And thus far, the service appears to only benefit YOU, not so much the rest of us who don't work for a living out of our RVs.

[UTTransplant]

Originally Posted by Parrott_head

What is this WIFI you speak of?
J/K.......

Ha ha! I should have noted I used public wifi when it is available in a store to do simple things like downloading ebooks, video, etc. I certainly don't depend on the campground wifi.

[TechWriter]

Originally Posted by NealC

I’ll have to find the thread from when someone here suggested piping cable TV to each spot.
Speaking of which. They should remove the cable TV and put that wasted money towards their WiFi. Since you’re out camping.

It’s that cable TV that may “save” you. When we stayed several months in one campground, we were able to get fast Internet (25 Mbps, 250 GB monthly limit) via the park’s cable TV lines. Just add a splitter — cable TV on one line, cable modem on another.

The trick would be to get cable TV companies to let you connect for much shorter times.

We’re full timers coming off the road after 7 months, and of the 50 campgrounds we stayed at about 1/3 had “usable” WiFi connections. To me that’s a consistent 1 Mbps signal.

Until things change (don’t hold your breath), make sure you have a Verizon data plan. Plus, in your case a satellite Internet setup.

Finally, OP, as someone who runs a business, why not investigate possible solutions to this issue? There may be money to be made. Otherwise, your posts sound like so much hubris.

[Romer1]

Originally Posted by NealC

My question to all the naysayers here:

Why are you defending the campground not providing better wi-fi (faster and secure)?

You don't know what the costs are? You don't know if it would improve their business. You're just opposing something based on assumptions that you may actually benefit from because being negative is natural for some. I bet if this didn't raise the cost and you could enjoy Internet services for whatever you may use it for, secure and all, you would actually be happy about it. But instead you choose to shoot down a better service that benefits YOU.

Think about it.

Sorry, but I do know that a campground that I frequent has looked into wifi and has come to the conclusion that it's not worth paying for a full year when they're open from end of April until the end of Qctober.
Anybody camping there supplies their own and doesn't complain.

[baraff]

Originally Posted by TechWriter;3816959
The trick would be to get cable TV companies to let you connect for [U

much[/U] shorter times.

Finally, OP, as someone who runs a business, why not investigate possible solutions to this issue? There may be money to be made. Otherwise, your posts sound like so much hubris.

Now THAT sounds like a possibly viable business solution. For those CGs that have cable access to work a deal to supply on-demand cable internet to CGs on a short term basis. Can you say cable modem rental? If the infrastructure is ALREADY there and someone can negotiate terms with the cable companies, why not? That way, only those who need it would have to pay for it.
This I could get behind, rewiring and restructuring infrastructure and making everyone pay for it I do not.
Sounds like a business opportunity for someone with good negotiating skills.

[THenman]

While not the same thing the following link does show speeds by county and gives some indication of infrastructure in different areas of the country. Notice the large areas where it is apparently lacking? Those would be suspect for not being able to provide fast internet without very high costs.

Bandwidth Speeds

Tom

[nothermark]

Originally Posted by NealC

My question to all the naysayers here:

Why are you defending the campground not providing better wi-fi (faster and secure)?

You don't know what the costs are? You don't know if it would improve their business. You're just opposing something based on assumptions that you may actually benefit from because being negative is natural for some. I bet if this didn't raise the cost and you could enjoy Internet services for whatever you may use it for, secure and all, you would actually be happy about it. But instead you choose to shoot down a better service that benefits YOU.

Think about it.

It's much more a case of folks who do have a clue trying to give you one. Even places on the map that show high internet speed by county do not have coverage for the the whole county in most cases. The cable companies seem to be waiting for a government handout to expand assuming they will do it then. The telco's build out as they need to upgrade their wire lines with fiber. Few are looking at supplying something like an RV resort. The cell towers are building out 4G but are not yet saturated. Yet is operative.

[Kurtsara]

If the better wifi was a separate price I wouldn't mind. But we do not go camping to surf the Internet. To us camping is not sitting in the camper, it is doing stuff outside.