Need help with internet question at BWV now

[granmanh603]

Hi, I have a question for more tech savvy people...Ok before we came we bought a new travel router like I read we should do on here... day we arrive they have wifi.... we are near front(lobby) 1st floor , the internet is on and off weak and no lock so not secure, so we connected the router...fine... 3 X in that last few days mousekeeping keeps coming by requesting to take the ethernet cable that we are using... I think they are going to disconnet that connection.
So we will have to make do with the wifi ? and what about being secure, we are here for 3 weeks and I access bill paying sites, and just a month ago at home I had my Yahoo acct hacked and had to change password.
So can anyone explain this to a clueless tech person... and is anyone else getting a low signal on the wifi here. Thank you

 

[kbeckstrand]

Lots of questions. Lets see if I can help.
The wifi is new in the resorts. The problem with that is that depending on your room location you may not have a great signal. That is due to the vagaries of router location, physical and electrical interference, etc. I am not sure why mousekeeping would want to take the cable. I guess if it were me, I would tell them that the wifi signal is not very strong in your room and that prefer to keep the cable and use your own router. It is possible that they could improve the signal by moving their router or adding another one closer to your room location. There is no real science to setting these things up, you kind of have to do it by trial and error and testing the signal at various locations.
As far as not having a lock on the router is concerned there are really two different things at play here. These are web site security and wifi security.
Wifi security is used to limit access to a wireless router. This would be used to keep unauthorized people from being able to access resources to which the router is connected, for example, the internet. In the case of Disney. They apparently don't feel the need to limit access since most people on the property are staying on the property. Most people at home, and some other
hotel chains lock down their wireless routers to keep people not staying at the hotel or just driving by from using their routers. This security has nothing to do with securely used for accessing web sites, such as a bank, DISboards or a credit card site. That kind of security is used to make sure that anyone who has access to the communication channel between the bank and your computer can't see what you are saying. In this type of security the computer encrypts the data and then sends it wirelessly to the router and then the bank decrypts it. The method used to transport the data, ie the router or your ISP, doesn't care what it you are saying only where it is going. Anyone able to capture the data being sent along this channel would not be able to decrypt the data. Only the bank can do that. So in short you are fine use the wifi to talk to any web site you like and you don't need to worry about the fact that Disney has not password protected their routers.
I hope that helps.

 

[LisaS]

The new wireless service is called "guest-wireless" (or something similar, can't remember exactly but it had the word "guest" in the name). It should provide a strong signal in your room. If not, call Tech Support and let them know so they can fix the problem. There should be information on the table in your room with the contact info for Tech Support.

Since you said you are close to the lobby, I'm wondering if you're picking up the lobby area wireless as well and you are connecting to that instead of the new service.

 

[granmanh603]

Oh boy you people are great at helping the helpless....you answered my question so even I could understand... I guess I kinda got freeked when my Yahoo was hacked a few months ago when I have never had a problem before
So about the wifi sometimes there is no or weak signal sometimes it is ok...we are in a little valley here on the front 1st floor by the front circle where the ME buses park so near lobby on the grassy side... we have also had spotty TV service this time losing the signal???? never had that before...there are maybe 5 doors on our side and only a few on the other side and across from us is a big door that leads out to the smoking area and big pool also near laundy room and ice machine..but it has been quiet....the little router is great but with them asking for the ethernet cord I figure they might be shutting that off next.. I did not give it too them this morning again and told her the wifi signal was iffy but I do not think she understood me because this took 5 minutes to get across that I was not giving it to her....language issue???
But I get the security issue thing is ok then for my banking/credit card stuff.. I must also say we were here in June at SSR with our DD and my SIL had his computer pluged in , in the big bedroom and I wanted to use our so I connected it and went away for a bit and came back to a white screen and never got into the computer again until my husband did something like retrieve or recover....and finally fixed it so I am kinda paranoid but SSR is close to main road and DTD so maybe had something to do with it..

But I ramble.... Thank you so much I feel better now...and will go back to checking the signal with the Disney wifi and see if it has improved now 2 weeks later...still have a week here so will let you know how it goes... Thank so much for being patient with a stupid question...but I do love this cute little router.. Oh I bought one of those HP touch pad tablets to use here on vacation and it is just great for my needs...so we will be able to leave the laptop home now... Carol

 

[LisaS]

My DH brought an HP TouchPad along on our recent stay at BWV too! He really likes using it.

If you are not getting a strong wifi signal, please call Tech Support and report the problem. This service is new and they are probably still working out the kinks. They have installed new equipment and it's possible that your closest wireless access point is not working correctly. If nobody reports it, it won't get fixed.

And if they do fix it, you will be very happy because the wifi is much faster than the wired Internet that you are using now!

 

[granmanh603]

My DH brought an HP TouchPad along on our recent stay at BWV too! He really likes using it.

If you are not getting a strong wifi signal, please call Tech Support and report the problem. This service is new and they are probably still working out the kinks. They have installed new equipment and it's possible that your closest wireless access point is not working correctly. If nobody reports it, it won't get fixed.

And if they do fix it, you will be very happy because the wifi is much faster than the wired Internet that you are using now!

Ok will do . Just looked on the touchpad and it was 1 bar out of 2 on the wifi but 2 bars with router ..did not connect because the router is connected now but will do so later but at least there is somewhat of a signal now but not strong...does that make a difference? Thanks for the info.

 

[granmanh603]

Ok the wifi internet worked better today so maybe the fixed everything..

 

[leanne2255]

We were not able to access Wi-Fi on our recent stay. Tech support came to our room and was not able to get it working, so we had to stay hard-wired. The issue is that routers are not in every room. Due to the concrete outer walls, the signal cannot make it to certain rooms (ours was one of them). The only way they can insure that everyone has wi-fi is to put the routers in every room, otherwise it will be hit or miss. The other problem is that the engineers also need to tweak the signal on the TV's in order to better the reception. I say, it will be the good part of 6 months, at the least, before they perfect wi-fi.