BWV Wireless :(

[jekjones1558]

Rather than start yet another thread about the wifi at BWV I decided to reply to this one from 4 months ago. We were recently at BWV and the wifi was terrible. It was unusable except after 11pm. During the day the speed would fluctuate -- sometimes as high as 2.9 Mbps down but only briefly, then it would drop to 0.20 Mbps.

We called Tech Support nearly every day. On the third call they said they had identified equipment problems and had opened a ticket. They said there were so many tickets ahead of ours it would be at least two days before someone came to BWV to try to fix the problem. There was some evidence someone was working on it two days after that conversation but for the remainder of our stay it never got any better. Tech Support suggested we go to the lobby because the wifi there is provided by a different vendor and might be better but when DH needed to send something to someone at work, he went to the lobby and found the wifi was no better there.

I just filled out my electronic guest survey. There were a lot of questions regarding the wifi service so I gave them my feedback. I will also be sending my complaints to wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com and dvcmembersatisfactionteam@disneyvacationclub.com

Thanks for posting and reporting the issues, Lisa. We also had lousy WiFi at BWV Oct. 9 - 16. I got the survey and the fact that there were so many questions about WiFi tells me that our complaints have at least made it to someone's radar screen. It irritates me to pay for cell service on my iPad just because Disney can't get this right but I would rather pay extra than go through the frustration of dealing with Disney WiFi.

 

[CarolMN]

We were at the BWV 9/29 - 10/4 in standard view 2123. Wireless service there was quite good.

In contrast, the service we had at BLT 2 days earlier was terrible.

It appears to be a matter of location and room assignment. I sure hope they keep working on it.

We let them know the good and the bad on the resort surveys. Hope they keep working on it.

 

[marie1981]

I am at the BC now. We just had an update cupple of days ago and it was a nice improvement.

 

[Candlelady]

We have been at the BCV since 10-19 and the service is actually quite good.
Much better than I was expecting after reading about all the poor connections over the last few months.

 

[LoveToDisney]

I was so disappointed from our last two stays that I went out and bought a MIFI to use for my business needs while at Disney, something I would never have had to do when Disney had wired internet available. Irritating that I needed to do that but now I don't have to worry (plus it's secure). Sadly, I just got tired of fighting the problem.

 

[LisaS]

I was so disappointed from our last two stays that I went out and bought a MIFI to use for my business needs while at Disney, something I would never have had to do when Disney had wired internet available. Irritating that I needed to do that but now I don't have to worry (plus it's secure). Sadly, I just got tired of fighting the problem.

My DH brought his MiFi on the trip and it didn't work much better than the in room wifi. His MiFi uses Sprint but I can't say for sure if it was a Sprint problem or a problem with the MiFi unit itself. However I was talking to someone while in line at a F&W seminar who has Sprint cellphone service and he was experiencing very long delays receiving text messages so maybe there isn't good coverage at WDW.

 

[CRobin]

Disney, at least at BWV, has some big problems with WIFI. When we are there the week of 10/13 - 10/20, we had to call them a couple of times. First they had to get into a guest room down the hall to reboot the modem (which covered 6 rooms), then he said that they had TV problems as well so that could be introducing some "noise" into the system.

I could sense from the technician that he was troubled by the problems, but was as honest as he could be with us. He understood and shared our frustration.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[CarolMN]

Disney, at least at BWV, has some big problems with WIFI. When we are there the week of 10/13 - 10/20, we had to call them a couple of times. First they had to get into a guest room down the hall to reboot the modem (which covered 6 rooms), then he said that they had TV problems as well so that could be introducing some "noise" into the system.

........(snip).....

That's interesting.

When we were at BWV, there were no TV issues and no wi-fi issues. But there were TV issues (no service) at BLT when we were there 9/27 & 9/28. We also had awful wi-fi service during those two days. Can't help but wonder if those things are related somehow, but I can't imagine why they would be.

 

[LoveToDisney]

My DH brought his MiFi on the trip and it didn't work much better than the in room wifi. His MiFi uses Sprint but I can't say for sure if it was a Sprint problem or a problem with the MiFi unit itself. However I was talking to someone while in line at a F&W seminar who has Sprint cellphone service and he was experiencing very long delays receiving text messages so maybe there isn't good coverage at WDW.

I have used my MIFI at my home office (when the local fiber optics cable was accidentally cut during road construction) and on a trip to Branson without issue. I have never had a problem with my Sprint service on my cell phone at WDW so I'm hopeful I will have good service with the MIFI. I will definitely report how it does after our next trip to WDW.

 

[LisaS]

I have used my MIFI at my home office (when the local fiber optics cable was accidentally cut during road construction) and on a trip to Branson without issue. I have never had a problem with my Sprint service on my cell phone at WDW so I'm hopeful I will have good service with the MIFI. I will definitely report how it does after our next trip to WDW.

I'll be interested to hear how well it works for you. From our experience at WDW, location can make a big difference so maybe we were just in a bad spot. Prior to getting a MiFi DH had something USB-based for 3G service that was with a different carrier. We tried accessing the Internet from our netbook in Epcot one day. We couldn't get connected. Then we walked about 1/4 of the way around the lake and tried again and it worked great.

 

[dort]

I was at BWV from 10/12 to 10/16 and the wifi was awful .

 

[bobbiwoz]

They ask about it on the surveys I've taken after our recent BCV/BLT stay. It was better at BCV than at BLT, but I did complain.

 

[dort]

They ask about it on the surveys I've taken after our recent BCV/BLT stay. It was better at BCV than at BLT, but I did complain.

I did a survery last week too after our stay and that was the only thing I had issues with during our stay and stated that in the survey.

I'm glad the only thing I needed internet for was airline check in and ended up doing that on our phones.

 

[Cee]

We were at BCV 9/28-10/5/12 and the wifi was awful. Never would "connect".

I'm sure eventually all will work more efficiently.

 

[lasob]

Was at BWV from 10-21 10-26 and the WiFi was basically unusable. We were near the center green, fifth floor BW view and I got on at many different times, mid day and as late as 2 a.m. It made no difference. It took literally a full minute to load one email that had minor graphics. The weird part was that my WiFi icon showed five bars all the time. And I would go from one page to another and was taken to the user agreement page and I had to check the box to proceed. I must have clicked that page 50 times in five days.

I was here last Oct. on the first day of the new WiFi (in fact I was the first to report wireless on this board) and it was blazing.

I have been to hotels that charged for internet so I hunt around for signals and they have been faster and more reliable than this. It was sketchy everywhere I tried to access wireless all over the world. Decent some places...

I did also complain and responded to the survey, so we can only hope.

 

[bwang123]

BAD...BAD...BAD internet connection during our last trip. The WIFI is so overused by all the other electronic devices that can use free WIFI that it is too busy for the rest of us that need a steady connection to work from our laptop. I miss the wired connection, too. I could wire in my Airport Express and have my own reliable, safe WIFI. Disney's wireless is worse than ANYthing I have ever experienced. I'm considering a smart phone purchase with the hotspot option on it for the weeks I will be at Disney so I can work. What a pain!

Interested to see why you think plugging your own wireless router into a hardwire connection is safe? If you do not have some sort of encryption on your traffic (VPN, etc), you are essentially just making an indentical connection as a wired one but now its wireless. Anyone who connects through hardwire in another room could run tools to capture that data as it all flows back through the wire. It doest magically skip that infrastructure now that you put a wireless device in the middle.

 

[Chuck S]

Interested to see why you think plugging your own wireless router into a hardwire connection is safe? If you do not have some sort of encryption on your traffic (VPN, etc), you are essentially just making an indentical connection as a wired one but now its wireless. Anyone who connects through hardwire in another room could run tools to capture that data as it all flows back through the wire. It doest magically skip that infrastructure now that you put a wireless device in the middle.

Reports are that the hardwire connections are dead. They were operated by a different contractor, and that agreement has expired. Disney is just wireless now.

Before wireless was installed, I always used the hardwire with my router.

 

[CRobin]

Interested to see why you think plugging your own wireless router into a hardwire connection is safe? If you do not have some sort of encryption on your traffic (VPN, etc), you are essentially just making an indentical connection as a wired one but now its wireless. Anyone who connects through hardwire in another room could run tools to capture that data as it all flows back through the wire. It doest magically skip that infrastructure now that you put a wireless device in the middle.

All wireless routers have internal firewalls that prevent outside traffic from getting to your connected PC. You just need to turn it on to block all traffic except your Internet connection. Also turn off file & print sharing when connecting to ANY public (I.e. Disney) network.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[kaulds]

I am all packed and ready to leave tomorrow, I guess I'll have to remove my router out of my suitcase. I usually keep it in my owners locker but brought it home last trip. Wow that really stinks.

 

[sueg]

Just checked out of BWV and wifi was terrible the whole time. I had work to do and the wifi kept cutting out. Our room, 2095, was at the end of the hallway if location makes a difference.
We had great success with our Airport Express for prior trips and wish they had not eliminated that option.
I'm sorry but I have always thought that Disney has no commitment to good internet access because they want you in the parks spending money. Wake up Disney...the ability to do some work on vacation allows longer trips and more $$ to spend!