Why does Disney Internet stink?

[bwang123]

Disney should block streaming services from their wifi -- netflix, hulu, etc should be off limits as this just choke the net.

Think about it like this ..

If Each resort has a 100 MBps synchronous pipe to the internet, that would provide about 500 kbps per room. if you are just doing basic surfing, like checking email or surfing the web -- you may even get up to 2Mbps -- ut streaming media is a constant block of data -- it sucks it ALL up.

but --

if they have an asynchronous service ( say 100 Mbps down and 50 Mbps up -- with a bunch of people uploading photos, and downloading movies -- its going to choke.

while i agree that blocking streaming services would help with bandwidth issues, wireless does not work like that. you share bandwidth with whoever is on that single access point. so if 20 devices are all on the same access point and one person is streaming, someone uploading pictures, etc., one person could drag down everyone else. your circuit to the internet could be 500mb+ but you are limited to the access point bandwidth.

thats why hard wired internet connection works better, because you have a dedicated 100meg or gig port to your laptop.

 

[Tigger031266]

I think they really do not want anyone in their room and I guess they forget some need to work while on vacation.

Yeah thats why we spend 16k to become members, not to hang out in the rooms. We paid to enjoy the great rooms and location. My family spends signicant time in the room and resort. If we were just going to parks and the room to sleep, we never would have bought DVC.

 

[ton80]

Honestly, we had a 1 BR at Kidani last month and the wireless was great with our IPad.


DVC member since 2005

 

[RobPickles]

Was in BLT the last 10 days and i could not stay connected at all. My connection would not last more than 2 min *IF* it connected at all.

Now here in AKL CL and connection seems to be better even though I did drop about 2-3 times before this post.

I don't see why they cant have both the wireless and hard wired connections going at the same time. People having the hard wired connection would lessen the strain on the wireless. Only problem I see is if personal wireless routers would cause interference with the hotel's wireless signal.

 

[DizBub]

I am a techno-dunce. We travel with a lap top and a Kindle Fire and have old basic cell phones to talk on. We don't text or tweet. We don't stream anything or download hundreds of pictures. We just want to have a connection that works. It's just awful trying to stay on-line any where we have stayed.

Has anyone brought some kind of mobile hot spot or mifi? Any suggestions?

 

[keishashadow]

At the BLT last week, I honestly didn't think it was that bad.

It worked well on a hptouchpad @ the BCV end of May.

 

[Brian Noble]

I've had very mixed results, even in name-brand business-class properties.

As an example of this, I just got back from a business trip, in the Sheraton Palo Alto. The wifi was useless...in Silicon Valley's ground zero! In other words, it's not just Disney.

 

[ovalhead96]

we had a split stay Kidani/Jambo

Kidani's internet was terrible

Jambos was acceptable

 

[mjc2003]

As the previous poster said, it is also about how many are trying to use it at the same time and for what purpose.

We thought the same thing, but last year in November my wife had to have some online meetings and trade emails in the middle of the night b/c she was working on a project with her office in Japan. She had a really hard time connecting/staying connected, and found it really slow when she was connected. She ended up in the BC lobby at 2 a.m. in order to maintain a connection.

One would logically think that it's an issue of traffic, but I can't quite reconcile why that would be an issue in the middle of the night...

 

[bwang123]

We thought the same thing, but last year in November my wife had to have some online meetings and trade emails in the middle of the night b/c she was working on a project with her office in Japan. She had a really hard time connecting/staying connected, and found it really slow when she was connected. She ended up in the BC lobby at 2 a.m. in order to maintain a connection.

One would logically think that it's an issue of traffic, but I can't quite reconcile why that would be an issue in the middle of the night...

it only takes one person to really slow down a wireless connection as its shared bandwidth per access point. that's why the lobby may work better at late hours because everyone is probably in their rooms sleeping while their netflix shows continue to run and entire day worth of photos upload to facebook through the night.

 

[rcchello]

it only takes one person to really slow down a wireless connection as its shared bandwidth per access point. that's why the lobby may work better at late hours because everyone is probably in their rooms sleeping while their netflix shows continue to run and entire day worth of photos upload to facebook through the night.

Also the lobby it is easy to provide wifi ( a nice open area). In the room areas they have the problem of having all the steel they use in construction and appliances causing signal drop off. Also they probably have to hide the wireless routers in sub-optimal places to fit in with the Disney theming. (I can just imagine the networking guy saying - I would like to place these commercial routers every hundred yards on the ceiling of the hallways (square boxes with an array of antennas)

 

[hakepb]

Also the lobby it is easy to provide wifi ( a nice open area). In the room areas they have the problem of having all the steel they use in construction and appliances causing signal drop off. Also they probably have to hide the wireless routers in sub-optimal places to fit in with the Disney theming. (I can just imagine the networking guy saying - I would like to place these commercial routers every hundred yards on the ceiling of the hallways (square boxes with an array of antennas)

In BWV I had one of the routers on the floor, just plugged in behind the living room coffee table. I was thinking that I should bring a patch cable and see it that worked any better plugged in.

I'm still not sure why anyone with any tech knowledge would even think that replacing wired with WiFi would result in anything other than more problems and less average speed.

 

[MLK-RI]

We stayed at Kidani in April. The wi-fi was all right in the master but not in the second bedroom and spotty in the living room. The original wired connection no longer worked (even though I had my router- darn).

I didn't like how the connection was spotty and you had to sign in/accept terms over and over even in the same day. The lobby connections were fine.

I emailed when we got home and got a phone call soon after. The CM listened and I believe perhaps wrote down the suggestions and issues.

Who knows, perhaps more suggestions or ideas/complaints might help them fine tune it to make it better for all.

 

[bwang123]

In BWV I had one of the routers on the floor, just plugged in behind the living room coffee table. I was thinking that I should bring a patch cable and see it that worked any better plugged in.

I'm still not sure why anyone with any tech knowledge would even think that replacing wired with WiFi would result in anything other than more problems and less average speed.

Probably costs and demand. People demanded wireless but the cost to operate both wired and wireless is too much. It would ne nice to have both but maintenence costs on network equipment is outrageous. When I worked in the network department for a medical college, the yearly maintainence to Cisco for all network gear alone was over 1million dollars. Also, people rarely bring network cables on vacation so the hotel would have to supply them. Network cables can easily walk away with guests equaling more costs. Most hotels have moved away from wired and there is probably a reason.

 

[k3chantal]

I have stayed in many different DVCs since they put in wireless and it's awful. In this age, going on vacation still means you may need to do occasional work. Or get fired. Every chain hotel (Hilton, marriot...) is significantly better.

This issue alone seriously lowers my satisfaction with DVC. It's time for Disney to get with the times, and put in some basic technology.

i guess it's time to complain to that black hole, DVC customer satisfaction. Friendly folks with no real power.

I was actually happily surprised with how well the internet worked last May when we stayed at the Kidani Village in a two bedroom savanna view villa. My husband and I both had laptops and our guest had an i pad all working and on the internet at the same time with no issues.

Perhaps we were just lucky?

 

[Missyrose]

I was actually happily surprised with how well the internet worked last May when we stayed at the Kidani Village in a two bedroom savanna view villa. My husband and I both had laptops and our guest had an i pad all working and on the internet at the same time with no issues.

Perhaps we were just lucky?

It's luck of the draw when it comes to getting a room that's near a router.

 

[bwang123]

It's luck of the draw when it comes to getting a room that's near a router.

it doesn't really work that way. when you plan a wireless deployment, you survey the building for placement of wireless access points (not routers like you have at home) to have a certain level of coverage throughout the required areas (rooms, lobby, etc). yes, you may have a slightly stronger signal strength closer to the access point but that doesn't mean your bandwidth will be better.

i wouldn't expect their wifi to get better anytime soon unless they cut down on people utilizing the service (charge for access) or block sites that use a lot of bandwidth (netflix, etc). that would cause a whole new type of complaints.

 

[JWG]

This is a real issue that needs to be resolved. The Springhill Suites I stay at frequently has better internet service at $85 per night. I get people think I'm crazy for needing internet while on vacation - but some of us do have to work while traveling. Or, want to in order avoid chaos when getting home.

Either way, the lack of serviceable internet is ridiculous.

 

[RobPickles]

Saw an announcement today about having wi-fi in the Magic Kingdom now and in a few months in all the parks and DTD.

 

[jekjones1558]

Saw an announcement today about having wi-fi in the Magic Kingdom now and in a few months in all the parks and DTD.

Oh goodie. More chances to get frustrated with the wifi service.