Free Internet to start May 4th.

[tigger2on]

I noticed it said that guests staying on rented points still have to pay. I wasn't an owner when I rented points for my May trip, but I've since closed on two DVC contracts. Although I'm staying on the rented points this time, I wonder if I'll still have to pay since I am now an owner If so, I'm not taking my computer.

Where it states "guests renting DVC accomodations", I believe that means if someone is directly renting from Disney. Non-owners can rent DVC accomodations through Travel agents and Disney itself. I do not think that those people who are booking there stay through a DVC owner's points has to pay for the internet. As long as points were used to book the room initially, than it should be free. Cash rentals through agents or Disney would have to pay to use the internet like any other person staying at a Disney resort.

 

[Inkmahm]

I was excited when I first heard we would be getting free internet but after having been at Disney last week/early this week, I discovered I probably won't use it anyway. We still do early morning to late at night park time and that would leave no time at all to be online. I didn't log back onto the internet until I got back into the office yesterday! Actually, being away from the internet is a nice vacation, too.
It's great for people who will use it though!

 

[Andrew Bichard]

A question from a travelling internet newbie.

How do the DVC Internet connections work?

I have a wireless network at home with a broadband connection to the internet.

I have never connected to the Internet other than through my home network.

I have never used my laptop at an Internet cafe.

I might bring a laptop to WDW next visit (staying at BWV on points).

What do I need other than a laptop with Internet explorer?

Do I need to subscribe to a service provider other than the one I use here in the UK. I assume I won't want to connect through an international phone line.

Do I need anything like my own cables to connect, or are these provided?

Do I just plug into a USB port and go?

Do I need to configure anything on the laptop?

Do I need to bring US phone outlet adaptors? (we use different phone outlets in UK)

Is there some kind of printed 'how to' guide?

Do I need to get my local computer dealer set up my laptop before I arrive?

Andrew

 

[doconeill]

A question from a travelling internet newbie.

How do the DVC Internet connections work?

...

You need a laptop with an Ethernet jack. If you do not have one, you will need to obtain an ethernet adapter (connected via USB, or PCMCIA/Cardbus/Express Card - whatever your laptop supports). Most laptops have them.

Alternately, you could do as some suggest and use an Apple Airport Express to get yourself a wireless connection.

An ethernet cable will be provided in your room - it is usually found in a bag hanging in the closet. You simply plug the cable into the ethernet jack, and fire up your browser.

What you do from there depends on how they implement the free Internet service, but it will generally involve following the instructions in the browser window.

 

[CarolA]

Well I checked out of SSR today. And for reasons I don't understand there was no charge even though I did accept a charge.

I had planned to pay for 24 hours starting Sunday night. I accepted the charge on Tueday night at 9 I was still on the same session. In the past I have been kicked out and had to "re-accept"

Of course they may have just screwed something up since I was missing a charge from the Spa on my bill too. I told the CM at the desk and I feel certain they will find the spa charge when they audit the stuff LOL!

 

[disneynutz]

Unfortunately, I don't have a membership card yet. I only closed this past week and will be leaving for WDW on 5/4, and I doubt there's a snowball's chance of my getting a card by then.

You can pick up a temporary card at the DVC Sales Center at SSR.

 

[disneynutz]

Well I checked out of SSR today. And for reasons I don't understand there was no charge even though I did accept a charge.

I had planned to pay for 24 hours starting Sunday night. I accepted the charge on Tueday night at 9 I was still on the same session. In the past I have been kicked out and had to "re-accept"

Of course they may have just screwed something up since I was missing a charge from the Spa on my bill too. I told the CM at the desk and I feel certain they will find the spa charge when they audit the stuff LOL!

So that's why my dues are so high.

 

[burnsoc]

Can you tell a little bit more about how this works? I have an iPhone I want to be able to connect with, but it only has WiFi. Is it as simple as just plugging in or does it require any configuration? What happens if the connection requires passwords, etc.?

Sorry it took so long to respond. I'll let you know how it works with an iphone after my trip. I just got the iphone last week and plan to leave the laptop at home. The airport express must be configured using their airport utility program. So if I don't have the correct settings it will be useless as I will not be able to reconfigure the device with my iphone. You can configure the express many different ways with up to 5 different profiles. Right now I have one for home and another for hotels. Apple is currently selling refurbished AE's for $69. The new AE's support n wireless, but the iphone will only support b or g so it isn't really necessary to spring for the $99 one. You can also charge your iphone with the AE as it has a USB port.

 

[bpmorley]

Well I checked out of SSR today. And for reasons I don't understand there was no charge even though I did accept a charge.

I had planned to pay for 24 hours starting Sunday night. I accepted the charge on Tueday night at 9 I was still on the same session. In the past I have been kicked out and had to "re-accept"

Of course they may have just screwed something up since I was missing a charge from the Spa on my bill too. I told the CM at the desk and I feel certain they will find the spa charge when they audit the stuff LOL!

We've brought the computer a couple times for 7+ days. We would just logon and never logoff. We would only get 1 charge of 9.95 for the whole stay.

 

[ZekeKelso]

If you've never gotten internet service from Disney, he's a very rough guide.

There will be an Ethernet cable in your closet (if not, call and have one sent up). It looks like a phone cable, but is slightly wider. You plug one end in the wall, the other in the LAN/Ethernet port on your laptop. Then all you do is open your browser (Firefox, Explorer, etc.) and - today - the first thing you see is a welcome screen from Disney asking you to agree to charges. After you agree, you just open up your browser and surf away. It's all automatic and works very easy. I assume once we get free internet, you'll still have to go through some sort of agreement screen.

If you have wireless only, you'll need a travel router (that's what Apple's Airport Express is - but you can buy them from any of the big router companies - D-Link, Linksys, etc.) You plug the travel router into an electrical outlet and then plug the Ethernet cable into the router rather than into your laptop. Bingo - instant wireless access in your room.

Note - I'm no expert, but I have no problem with wireless protocals and ethernet cables in the UK, so I assume you won't have any here in the US. The only adaptor you'll need is probably a wall-plug adaptor - though you could need a voltage regulator if for some crazy reason your laptop's power supply can't handle 120v. I've never heard of such a thing, but then again, you folks drink warm beer so anything's possible

 

[theoarn]

Now we can email out pictures and vacation updates right from DW.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Now maybe the daily posts about "It's Spring now - why isn't it free yet?" can stop.

And more "Live from..." trip reports can START!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know how much I enjoy my daily fix of DVC-life.

 

[monetnj]

Can you tell a little bit more about how this works? I have an iPhone I want to be able to connect with, but it only has WiFi. Is it as simple as just plugging in or does it require any configuration? What happens if the connection requires passwords, etc.?

You can take an airport express and just plug it in to the ethernet port in your room and it will "just work." However, it will not have any password protection, so folks in neighboring rooms will be able to hop onto your network. Maybe not a big deal now that access is free, but it could have security implications for access to your computer. However, it is super easy to set up a password protected network using the airport utility. There is even a PC version of the airport utility, so this isn't just a macintosh only solution.

Another nice feature of the airport express is that it has "profiles." These are little saved pre-configurations which you can switch between at will. I have one labelled "home" and one labelled "Disney."

As for your iPhone, I have used mine several times in conjunction with my laptop and airport express at Disney. The iphone has an area where you can plug in a password for access to the wifi network you create via the airport express. At Disney (and many hotels for that matter), when you fire up your browser, you are automatically directed to a page where you have to agree to connect to their high-speed service. Doesn't matter if the browser is on your laptop or the Safari browser on your iPhone, it still works. It also doesn't matter if you have an airport express connected. The redirection still happens.

 

[DebbieB]

We've brought the computer a couple times for 7+ days. We would just logon and never logoff. We would only get 1 charge of 9.95 for the whole stay.

Anytime I've used it when I hit "enter" when the 24 hour mark hit it would go back to the logon screen.

 

[disneynutz]

We've brought the computer a couple times for 7+ days. We would just logon and never logoff. We would only get 1 charge of 9.95 for the whole stay.

I can't believe that you would post this. Expect a visit from the Disney police. ::cop:

 

[Chuck S]

Anytime I've used it when I hit "enter" when the 24 hour mark hit it would go back to the logon screen.

That's been my experience, too. I was in my friend's room using his computer when it returned to the login screen.

 

[bpmorley]

I can't believe that you would post this. Expect a visit from the Disney police. ::cop:

Doesn't matter now. It's all free for us DVCers

 

[bsusanmb]

Just stayed at SSR May 8 and 9...the connection to the internet still says that the charge is $9.95 for 24 hours...so I called and was told that DVC won't be charged...so went through the log on, agreed with charges etc...and it did not appear on my final bill.