4G Wireless coming to Orlando and WDW!

[k5jm]

For all those folks that have been curious about internet at the resorts, here comes some interesting news about 4G/LTE service coming to Orlando. This service has been in Houston for about 8 months and has some pretty amazing results for being a "Cellular type" service. but this service can purchased outside of your typical cellular provider.

Typical downloads I have seen have been between 5mbps and 20mbps. Pretty impressive. Upload speeds for doing skype or Google video chat is an acceptable 1mb.

Here is the announcement:

http://www.goingwimax.com/sprint-clearwire-spread-wimax-magic-to-orlando-11611/

SPRINT, CLEARWIRE SPREAD WIMAX “MAGIC” TO ORLANDO

There are a lot of magical things about the Orlando area; the capital of American amusements boasts the "Magic Kingdom" of Disney, a "Magic-al" basketball team, and the wondrous spot where the members of 'N Sync first started rehearsing their teen girl-enthralling dance moves way back in '95.
If that weren't enough to get the The International Brotherhood of Magicians to move their annual convention to the city that's constantly saying, "Abra Cadabra," then perhaps the latest announcement from Sprint and Clearwire will change their mind.

As of this week, the two wireless broadband service providers are pulling the WiMax rabbit out of a hat in "the Magic City". The land of theme parks seems ripe for access to high-speed 4G action, since tourists have a need to stay connected to the outside world at the click of a button, even when on vacation. After all, the wait for Space Mountain is at least 45 minutes long at any given time, why not take the occasion to browse the lightning-quick Internet while standing around?
Though offering quality mobile access to the world wide web is not exactly sorcery, Sprint and Clearwire are confident the combination of WiMax technology and affordable prices will be a trick Orlando users will want to see again and again.

 

[TXYankee]

Ohhh Mike!

I love it when you talk tech!!

 

[diddldonna]

So when is this happening or have they not said yet?

 

[k5jm]

It looks like they have all ready rolled out. This map does not show WDW covered yet, but Sprint is partnered with Clear and Sprint has a contract with WDW to provide cellular voice and data services. I would expect this service to be turned up soon if it has not been turned up all ready.

 

[mainegal]

Does this mean I will be able to use my iTouch at WDW?


My partner can not understand why a place as major as Walt Disney World does not ace free wireless Internet acesss. He does not buy the "revenue stream" theory. Even the smallest mom&pop motels and bed and breakfasts we go to have free wireless!

 

[k5jm]

Does this mean I will be able to use my iTouch at WDW?


My partner can not understand why a place as major as Walt Disney World does not ace free wireless Internet acesss. He does not buy the "revenue stream" theory. Even the smallest mom&pop motels and bed and breakfasts we go to have free wireless!

Free Internet is not really free. You pay for it, in one way or another. The 4G service is not free, it a "pay to play" service.

For WDW to deploy wireless everywhere, they would have to overcome several barriers. The first is that there are only 3 non-overlapping channels in the 2.4ghz spectrum. To provide complete coverage to an area that is 47 sq miles, would be a radio engineering nightmare. To deploy an access point at a B&B that runs on the existing cable or internet, is a minimal charge to the proprietor (Trust me, I know this one. My MiL runs a B&B and guess who maintains the wireless network). To have enough customer internet capacity at a facility like the Contemporary would require enough access points to provide coverage for all the hotel rooms, Grand Canyon concourse and the convention areas. That infrastructure costs money and lots of it. Disney uses a master Wireless Lan Controller that controls all of the remote access points. It looks for interference and load balances all of the users. To get an idea of how many access points you would need, you can estimate about 15 people per access point then multiply that by the number of guests at the resort on a maximum capacity day.

So to boil this down. It costs a lot of money to deploy and support wireless infrastructure. To support that infrastructure you must have a revenue stream. You also need to pay for the Internet circuit(which is chump change for WDW). It does not matter if you pay extra or get it for free, you are paying for your internet access when you stay at a hotel or resort.

My solution is bring my own Aircard and cellular router with me.

 

[disneyholic family]

i've been working on the CW project for the past year and still don't understand what it's all about

 

[FireDancer]

The best part about the pending 4G roll out in the US is that we won't have any pesky "format wars" like we do now with CDMA and GSM. We are finally getting on the same page as most of the rest of the world and not going to have competing technologies that bifurcate the market and impose unnecessary barriers competition.

(If sarcasm and disgust were conveyable via the typed word the above post would be steaming with both.)

Does this mean I will be able to use my iTouch at WDW?


My partner can not understand why a place as major as Walt Disney World does not ace free wireless Internet acesss. He does not buy the "revenue stream" theory. Even the smallest mom&pop motels and bed and breakfasts we go to have free wireless!

Mike explained part of the problem but I think you are confusing two completely different technologies. WiFi is not 4G cellular service. The closest analogy to make would be that WiFi is like a cordless telephone while 4G (which unfortunately will have at least 2 competing technologies and that is where my above angst comes from) is more like a cellular phone.

4G would use the cellular radios to transmit data while WiFi just takes your existing Internet connection (cable, DSL, a version of a DS circuit) and creates a wireless interface to it. This is a bit of a simplification and you can do Wireless DSL now but that is kind of a side note.

In reality the thing that will create a bit of a bridge between the two is the use of either white space (which Google wants to do) or all of that spectrum that was freed up with the DTV conversion to transmit wireless Intetnet. The real reason for that conversion was to allow the government to auction off the old television spectrum and eventually the theory is that will be used to create another form or wireless Internet. As technology improves and there is less channel bleed bands can be shrunk because they will need less of a buffer. That, unfortunately, is as much about physics as it is technology so it is not a quick thing to accomplish.

 

[Willow1213]

I debated buying a Sprint 4G hotspot for our trip so my hubby could use his WiFi iPad and so we could use FaceTime to talk to our family back home, but nixed the idea because it would be 3G only. Were here now and NOW they turn it on. Dang

 

[mainegal]

Wow! Those were some technical explanations.

Guess I do not know about G wireless. I must have mixed up the W of wireless and the W of WIFI.

I can go to just about any library, Panara Bread, McDonald's, coffee shop, bed & breakfast, and motel and open up my computer and connect to the internet for free. Why does WDW not offer feee WIFI?

 

[k5jm]

Wow! Those were some technical explanations.

Guess I do not know about G wireless. I must have mixed up the W of wireless and the W of WIFI.

I can go to just about any library, Panara Bread, McDonald's, coffee shop, bed & breakfast, and motel and open up my computer and connect to the internet for free. Why does WDW not offer feee WIFI?

Because, WDW does not have to compete with Burger King or Motel 6.

 

[mainegal]

Because, WDW does not have to compete with Burger King or Motel 6.

Ah! That is the answer that I will share with my partner. Hope he gets it.
He just does not understand why we can't communicate with face time on our new iTouches when I am at WDW in December. He keeps asking "Why not? Isn't there a Starbucks or a McDonald's you can go to?!"

 

[FireDancer]

I can go to just about any library, Panara Bread, McDonald's, coffee shop, bed & breakfast, and motel and open up my computer and connect to the internet for free. Why does WDW not offer feee WIFI?

Blanketing a Berger King or library with a WiFi signal is a bit easier technologically then blanketing 47 square miles with one. They can't (ok, they shouldn't) just throw up hundreds of WiFi access point all over property and call it a day. It would require some costly infrastructure work as indicated previously by Mike and while it is inevitable that either a 4G WAN or some sort of distributed 802.11x LAN (preferably a single integrated MAN) will be available at some point on property it isn't going to be up over night.

It would be a bit like saying I can build a dog house from scratch in a day why can't they build a skyscraper in the same amount of time with the same amount of ease.

 

[topolino]

Blanketing a Berger King or library with a WiFi signal is a bit easier technologically then blanketing 47 square miles with one. They can't (ok, they shouldn't) just throw up hundreds of WiFi access point all over property and call it a day. It would require some costly infrastructure work as indicated previously by Mike and while it is inevitable that either a 4G WAN or some sort of distributed 802.11x LAN (preferably a single integrated MAN) will be available at some point on property it isn't going to be up over night.

It would be a bit like saying I can build a dog house from scratch in a day why can't they build a skyscraper in the same amount of time with the same amount of ease.

But couldn't they at least offer it in the resort rooms and public spaces? Like another poster said, even some of the most budget friendly hotels across the country can do this. If the Hilton Garden Inn I stayed in in Cleveland last month had Wifi signals throughout the hotel, why can't Disney do the same with theirs resorts?

 

[k5jm]

But couldn't they at least offer it in the resort rooms and public spaces? Like another poster said, even some of the most budget friendly hotels across the country can do this. If the Hilton Garden Inn I stayed in in Cleveland last month had Wifi signals throughout the hotel, why can't Disney do the same with theirs resorts?

I would love it if they did offer Wifi.

But, to saturate all of their hotels with wifi, would still cost a tremendous amount of money. It is not just the access points, it is the back-end infrastructure also.

With that said, WDW is it's own city that controls almost every aspect of its own environment. WDW does not have to give internet away for free, because there is little to no competition from other hotels that are giving it away for free that are on property.

Also realize that in Disney's mind, most people/customers are coming to their resorts to enjoy the parks and other amenities @ WDW and not staying at the Polynesian or All Stars for business travel. They want you out there spending money. It is almost Disney's own way of saying, "Go out of room and spend money or pay for sitting in your room and using our internet. " Even the Swan and Dolphin, that have wireless internet charge their guests a $10 fee per night that is automatically charged to every guest.

When one asks the question of why Disney does not offer this service, you really have to look at it from Disney's perspective.

And coming from personal experience, It is far easier and less expensive to install 8 access points in a Holiday Inn Express with a Firewall appliance to control access, than it is to install what could be over 100 access points and the infrastructure needed to support a system of that size at a sprawling resort like Saratoga Springs.

The Hilton Garden Inn is competing for other business customers in a market where they do not control the entire city. It is a good business decision for them. I am not going to stop staying on property because Disney does not provide Wireless access.

I would suggest you buy a small travel router and create your own wireless. I do this when at certain hotels. I also carry a small wireless router that accepts my aircard.

Hope this helps.

 

[safetymom]

I have stayed at many hotels that had free wi fi and reception was terrible. I would much rather pay for dependable service.

 

[solfan68]

Even if they could just put up a few WiFi Access Points in the lobby or the food court. Swing by, check your e-mail and off to the parks.