One caveat about "free Wifi" at the Fort

Unearned Happiness · Sep 1, 2015

This is based on my experience staying at the Fort in early August 2015.

You can get a complimentary modem at the Meadow Trading post. They do not charge up you up front or request a deposit, however, you will get charged if you return it late or if any equipment is missing.

HOWEVER, the modem is wired, not wireless. If you don't have your own wifi router, or a laptop/computer that has an ethernet connection, then the modem provided by the Fort will be of no use to you.

We learned this the hard way. Our family had a Chromebook, a Surface Pro, an iPad, a couple Kindles, and our phones, none of which can be hooked up via ethernet. Next time, we'll bring a wifi router.

bama_ed · Sep 1, 2015

Unearned, I hate to hear you learned the hard way.

You do in fact need a router or a wireless access point (wap) to plug into the Fort-issued cable modem to give you the walk-around functionality at your campsite. Thankfully Wal-Mart is not far away and I hope you got one cheap so your family could stay connected.

The porch at TE, the porch at the Meadow TP, and the check-in lobby also have REAL wifi (low speed, worth what you're paying for it). IMO the TE porch was the best, the pond side of the Meadow TP was next best, 900 side of Meadow TP was third, and the lobby is a DISTANT fourth. Again, this is only MO.

Bama Ed

sirenia88 · Sep 1, 2015

There have been threads on here before about the wifi and site internet access. One of the many things I pack for the fort is a wireless router for my devices. It is usually strong enough to carry over to the next site or two. Last year, my router had the just enough strength to get signal into the loops local bath house. This year the trailer got an "upgrade" since I have my old home router in the trailer. A bit faster and stronger for wifi around the site but nothing like home.

In my observations, the wifi at the parks was the fastest and had great coverage. I suspect the Disney app(and the related like ESPN), popular social media apps had priority access over something a sports app or games. MK had the best wifi coverage I've run into. Epcot and DHS were also good. AK was pretty good given the way the park is spread out. Once again, think Disney App.

madjohn · Sep 1, 2015

Question. So they give you a modem, how do you get the wire into your trailer in a safe place? I am familiar with modems and wireless routers. I have them in my house and my modem is in one part and my wireless is rather far away at a high point for best coverage. but you would need to hook up the modem with a wire, I would guess, at the pedestal outside and then bring it in some how and then hook up the router. Any help here?

John

sirenia88 · Sep 1, 2015

Depending on the model of trailer, you should have at least 1 co ax connection inside. You connect your cable outside to the trailer. Inside the trailer you connect the modem. Since my trailer has at least 3 co ax connections internally. In my trailer I connect the modem at the unused TV connection. Then connect the Router. Finally I just hook up all the wireless devices to router. The kit the Fort gives you has extra wires and connectors with instructions on hooking the modem. As for trailers that might not have a TV coax hook up, you can add one to your trailer for minimal costs if you are handy. Most modern trailers have coax ports/ connections already installed. Older models might require some work to make it happen. My father added a coax and telephone access to their 1988 Class C motorhome when they had one. It took one trip to a place with both cable and telephone service. This was also back before the widespread use of cell phones in the early 90s.

Good luck.

tiggerdad · Sep 2, 2015

I did like sirenia88 suggested and used my unused connection in the master room up front of the camper. It is on my side of the bed so no worries about the wife getting tangled up and throwing a fit. I will be bringing my wireless router this year, so if any of you fellow Disers are close enough to pick it up I'll give you the temp. password to let you "borrow" into it.

SimbaLover · Sep 2, 2015

Will our own modem work with it?

Last time we went we didn't know about this. We weren't given a welcome packet or any info and when we asked a CM they said the wifi was at the pool and that was it. Let's just say I wasn't too thrilled when we got back and found out that wasn't exactly the truth.

Also, will they give it to you at check-in or do you have to go all the way back later and get it? Check in was pretty busy the other time.

2goofycampers · Sep 2, 2015

You get the modem at The Meadow Trading Post.

opieandy1 · Sep 2, 2015

For those that have used the Fort's modem- does the kit include a splitter to connect to tv?

JETS70 · Sep 2, 2015

opieandy1 said:
For those that have used the Fort's modem- does the kit include a splitter to connect to tv?

Yes, the kit comes with everything you need except the wireless router.

ruthies12 · Sep 2, 2015

I wonder if anybody going this fall would be willing to take a quick picture of what the connections they give you look like and post it back here when you get home? My DH is pretty handy with this stuff but if I try to tell him what they are giving us I will screw it up cause I have no idea what you all are talking about lol. I would love to be able to show him what will be given to us so he knows what we need to bring to get us wifi inside the camper.

serenitygr · Sep 2, 2015

LOL I am completely computer illiterate, so this is all confusing to me. But I'm interested in getting what the Fort supplies, so we dont' have to run off our phones hotspot. That's what we did 2 years ago when we did a trip report... I know in our house, we have a device that our satellite internet provider installed in our house, and then we also had to buy a thing at walmart that puts out a signal out so all our wireless devices can type in the password and have internet. (We also have a second one of those that didn't seem to work as well, so it's just sitting in our closet) I'm assuming that thing we bought at Walmart is what I need to supply? And would we use the same password it had here in our house when we used it? Does the Fort supply everything else? We are renting from Florida Camper Rental- does anyone know if it's hard or easy to hook this stuff up to a rental? Thanks everyone- sorry for all the questions, but trying to prepare so I can contribute to the "group" October trip report :rainbow:

madjohn · Sep 2, 2015

How good or fast is the Fort internet? Can you do more then look at pages? Can you watch video or netflix?

John

Goofy14sure · Sep 2, 2015

The kit Disney supplies will connect your computer to the campground cable internet service by WIRE. They supply the cables, splitter, cable modem, Ethernet cable and instructions. The cable hookup is on the service pole just like most campgrounds with cable. With the supplied equipment you get wired access to the Internet. The hookup is ok but slows when more people are using it, like most cable systems

You get the equipment at the meadow trading post, if it is a busy time you will be put on a waiting list for the next available unit.

If you want wireless at your site you need a wireless router that you bring with you. The router
Should come with instructions for hookup.

Have a great trip!

Unearned Happiness · Sep 2, 2015

sirenia88 said:
There have been threads on here before about the wifi and site internet access.

I will say, I read a lot of the posts before we left, and somehow I missed the part about needing a wifi router. I'll certainly cop that to my own failure to research all the way. I apologize if this has been driven into the ground already, just thought I'd put a recent string here so others can see it.

bama_ed said:
Unearned, I hate to hear you learned the hard way.

You do in fact need a router or a wireless access point (wap) to plug into the Fort-issued cable modem to give you the walk-around functionality at your campsite. Thankfully Wal-Mart is not far away and I hope you got one cheap so your family could stay connected.

We were on-site with no rental

That said, this did NOT ruin our trip. We had an AWESOME time at the Fort. This was just a minor inconvenience.

sirenia88 · Sep 2, 2015

Unearned Happiness said:
I will say, I read a lot of the posts before we left, and somehow I missed the part about needing a wifi router. I'll certainly cop that to my own failure to research all the way. I apologize if this has been driven into the ground already, just thought I'd put a recent string here so others can see it.

No biggie. As a matter of fact, this has been one of topics that hasn't been driven to ground. I think the bigger issue has been the lack of modems. I know the first time I was there in 2012, it took about 3 days to get a modem. It was stroke of luck when I walked into the office and someone was returning theirs at the same time. When I was researching, I think I came across a thread about bringing a wifi router for the modem. I had a spare one to grab from the house before going to the Fort. So it is a more uncommon topic than a common one. I think we see more about rentals, activities, loop requests than anything else. I would have to guess there should be a sticky for "items recommended for the fort" thread. a Wifi router should be on the short list since it a common need in today's camping kit.

Letsbgoofy · Sep 3, 2015

Since we have had wifi at home as long as I can remember, I didn't realize what a pain it would be without it. We borrowed from our neighbors unsecured wifi the first day and then went to Walmart the next day for a router.

crznut · Sep 3, 2015

Can someone post a link to a Walmart wifi router that is a cheap one that would work. Thanks!

Letsbgoofy · Sep 3, 2015

If you go to Walmart.com you can see their routers as well as reviews. We bought the Netgear N300 which was $38 and change online and around $44 in the store. It got good reviews and was easy to set up. Works well in the camper; we'll see how it works at home (since ours at home died the day we bought the new one).

crznut · Sep 3, 2015

Thanks. Going to Walmart now.

One caveat about "free Wifi" at the Fort

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