Internet Access

[grumpy-duck]

We have never considered bringing our laptop before, but may do so this time for downloading pictures and watching the occasional late night DVD. My question is about internet access. I suspect you can pay for use, but is it reliable? We typically stay at the Boardwalk and Beach Club and I was also wondering if there are any "hotspots" either in the lobby or just outside the resorts that are reliable. Does anyone have any insight into this? Thanks

 

[bradk]

i've experienced a couple of problems with the internet access there but they're usually cleared up before long. support as a whole has been good.

convention area resorts generally have wifi spots in the lobbies or by the pools, but i believe this is separate than the ethernet in the room.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/Resorts/wireless.htm for more detailed info

 

[mika911]

The wifi is like $10 for 24 hours. In my opinion, it's better to use the wired connection in the room for 24 hours at the same price, since you wouldn't have to physically go to the lobby.

I take a tiny little wireless router by Apple called Airport Express and make my own network in my room.

The wired connections in the rooms work fine. Usually not as fast as your paid service at home with all those sharing and whatnot, but fine.

If your notebook has video out, you might also want to take video cables and connect it to your TV, to watch the DVDs.

 

[Mary2e]

I had terrible problems at the Poly connecting to my office. Seems the 2 firewalls didn't play nice together. I spent 2 hours on the phone with my IT guys to get me up and running, and that wasn't even fully.

There is no wifi at the Poly, and even if there was, it had to go thru the Disney network and might still cause the same problem.

The Disney support people blamed by corporate network and my IT guys said they expected to hear that.

I can say that I have travelled all over the world with this laptop and never had any troubles at all connecting to my office. I was at the Dolphin in April and had no problems.

I never in a million years expected problems at the Poly and I complained that it was bad enough I was paying a small fortune to be there, paying $10 a day for access, but for it not to work was inexcusable. It's bad enough I had to do some work while away, and I'm glad I checked a few days in advance of having to do so, but for it to cause problems is really aggrevating.

One solution offered by the Disney IT guys... go to a Starbucks if you have to work.

It worked fine if I didn't try to connect to my office. A bit slow, but it worked.

So heads up if you're going to the Poly and need to connect to your corporate network.