traveling lap top strategy

[pickles]

I have taken the laptop before and have had my broadband card with me.
I do own/stay at DVC resorts

this time when i go I wont have the broadband..can the lap top connect with just the wifi or must I plug it in?

Internet is free for dvc..so does that include wifi ?

 

[tn4mickey]

You do have to plug in. There are ethernet cables in the rooms. As a DVC member the $9.95 per day charge is waived. I have read where some folks take a travel router to use. HTH

 

[TLinden16]

I'm going to move this over to our DVC boards for you.

 

[disneynutz]

Paid WiFi is available in the lobby and common areas of the resort. Wired Internet in the rooms is free for people staying on points. The cord is 5 feet long so bring a longer one if you can.

 

[jimaok]

I took my Belkin Router last week at OKW. That way the kids could use their laptops in their rooms wireless. Just make sure your router is password protected or you will have alot of hitchikers. If you have problems, Disney tech people are available by phone from your room. Hooking up the router was simple- just follow your directions. DVC members get free internet when staying on points.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I took my Belkin Router last week at OKW. That way the kids could use their laptops in their rooms wireless. Just make sure your router is password protected or you will have alot of hitchikers. If you have problems, Disney tech people are available by phone from your room. Hooking up the router was simple- just follow your directions. DVC members get free internet when staying on points.

I'm really glad you posted this and named your brand of router. We lost power a few weeks ago, and ever since I can't figure out how to rehook up my D-link router. I was wondering how people ever brought a router to have wireless internet at Disney. That would be great for us to have wireless there!

 

[DisneyWalker44]

Just make sure your router is password protected or you will have alot of hitchikers.

This is just me, but I've never worried about hitchhikers. Almost everyone around me in the DVC resort is a member with their own free accent. And if somebody else gets a little pixie dust with free internet, good for them.

 

[Doingitagain]

I'm really glad you posted this and named your brand of router. We lost power a few weeks ago, and ever since I can't figure out how to rehook up my D-link router. I was wondering how people ever brought a router to have wireless internet at Disney. That would be great for us to have wireless there!

We used D-Link at SSR and it worked well. We had three laptops using it wirelessly. Try looking at your instructions and do a reset to go back to factory defaults, then follow the instructions to set it up.

We did use a password. I didn't know how slow it would be if we had a "hitchhiker" and I always worry that there is a rogue hacker out there.

 

[pickles]

Ok...I went to wally world today and saw wireless routers I didnt see anything that said "d" so i went with "G" can i plug this into the wall(ethernet plug at the resorts) and my laptop(which has wifi) can connect? or did I just waste my money?

 

[Doingitagain]

Ok...I went to wally world today and saw wireless routers I didnt see anything that said "d" so i went with "G" can i plug this into the wall(ethernet plug at the resorts) and my laptop(which has wifi) can connect? or did I just waste my money?

I think you are fine, it is just bigger than the travel router. Make sure you use security!

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

Paid WiFi is available in the lobby and common areas of the resort. Wired Internet in the rooms is free for people staying on points. The cord is 5 feet long so bring a longer one if you can.

I think it's just the resorts that have a connected convention center that have WiFi in the lobby. And for the resorts that do have this, the WiFi connection is paid for everyone, including DVC members.

This is just me, but I've never worried about hitchhikers. Almost everyone around me in the DVC resort is a member with their own free accent. And if somebody else gets a little pixie dust with free internet, good for them.

If you've got one of the web-only laptops or a travel laptop that doesn't have any personal information on it, there probably isn't an issue. Also, if you have all the bells and whistles turned on with full protection on your laptop's firewall software, it may not be an issue. In other cases, the biggest problem with leaving security turned off on your router is that it opens a door, not just to your internet connection, but also potentially to your laptop. Some security settings consider computers on your own network to be "trusted" and might allow those using your WiFi to access files on your laptop. Granted, there's probably not a good chance that there's a hacker staying in the villa next door, but with all the teenagers who tag along with their parents, one never knows.

Also, if you're sharing your WiFi with others, you're sharing your bandwidth with them too. The Disney networks are already painfully slow. You'd be compounding the issue if you let others join your wireless router.

I took my Belkin Router last week at OKW. That way the kids could use their laptops in their rooms wireless. Just make sure your router is password protected or you will have alot of hitchikers. If you have problems, Disney tech people are available by phone from your room. Hooking up the router was simple- just follow your directions. DVC members get free internet when staying on points.

Disney's tech support folks will help you connect a computer directly to the wall connection, but they're not permitted to give any tech support for personal routers. For the mostpart, we haven't had any issues with ours. I set it up with a name and password here at home, then pretty much just plugged it in and used it at the resorts. This worked everywhere except one of the studios we stayed at in BCV. I couldn't get it to connect there. I couldn't get my laptop to connect, either, so there was something hokey with the network in that room. Tech support helped me change some settings in my laptop to get it to work, but they wouldn't help me with the router.