What's with no wireless internet?

[Chuck S]

I agree with all of the lack of what would be called up to date technology in the rooms at Disney. My god even the cheapest motel in the country advertise wireless and Disney with all its might and their touted advanced technology on the rides and attractions, they cant even offer something as simple as wireless internet in their hotels? Also why do they have to charge non members $10 a day for what is free in most other hotels and motels. You want to know why? MONEY!!!!! If Disney can make money on it they will charge for it and you know it.

I also want to address which ever poster said they only got access in their bedroom. I have been a DVC member for ten years and I was there when they were actually installing the hardware in the rooms and I have never been restricted to only the bedroom. In fact, I wanted to get online while in bed and couldn't find an outlet. Now I won't have to worry because I finally broke down and bought a wireless router for our upcoming trip.

I have a feeling that the WDW resorts would be busy whether of not they had any internet service at all. The bottom line is many of the lower end hotels offer free wi-fi because they have to do so. Disney does not. Disney contracted with a wired provider, who paid for the installation, and via contract gets a portion of the profits. Remember that is was a few years after the wired system was installed before DVCers got the service free.

The truth is, more cash guests would rather have "free" dining over free wi-fi or free wired internet. Disney will do what they feel is necessary to fill those cash rooms, and apparently free internet isn't on that list.

 

[WolfpackFan]

For those complaining about the lack of WiFi in DVC units, are you willing to pay for it with increased dues? I know I'm not. My portable router works just fine.

 

[MrShiny]

I haven't used this specific one, but I've found the brand very good:

TRENDnet 300Mbps Wireless-N Travel Router Kit TEW-654TR

about $60 on Amazon.

One nice thing is that wired tends to be very reliable and resonbably fast. A lot of wireless provided in hotels of my experience is pretty slow and often spotty.

However the technology is getting better all the time and is often cheaper for hotels to implemement, so I would expect it to become the norm more and more.

As for providing information to the rooms, the cabling for the TV's has ample bandwidth for that. Families tend not to be quite as "geared up" as business travelers, so providing things like that to the TV might make sense.

We did try out Verizon's paid application and it is great. It knows where you are and can provide up to the minute data. The ability to see if there were Fast Passes left and what time they were for alone made it worth the price.

Did have a little trouble getting it going - we had it on my daughter's phone and it ran out of memory (a quick deletion of some older photos and swapping in an SD card from my other daughter's did the trick).

 

[tjkraz]

I also want to address which ever poster said they only got access in their bedroom. I have been a DVC member for ten years and I was there when they were actually installing the hardware in the rooms and I have never been restricted to only the bedroom. In fact, I wanted to get online while in bed and couldn't find an outlet. Now I won't have to worry because I finally broke down and bought a wireless router for our upcoming trip.

In newer resorts they are putting ports near the desks in the master bedroom of One and Two Bedroom villas. When we stayed in a Treehouse Villa, the only port was in the master bedroom. Also I know there was one on the desk of our 1B at Kidani village. Didn't look elsewhere so I cannot definitively say if that was the only one in the room.

 

[kikiq]

I travel regularly on business and as anyone else who does can tell you, free in-room wireless has pretty much become the norm at every major moderate and up hotel chain.

Well, pretty much but not every. I seem to remember a few "hockey puck" hookups that were free and a few wireless that charged in the last year traveling with my DH.

And I would be the first to say that Disney has IT issues.

 

[CandyMandy]

I agree with all of the lack of what would be called up to date technology in the rooms at Disney. My god even the cheapest motel in the country advertise wireless and Disney with all its might and their touted advanced technology on the rides and attractions, they cant even offer something as simple as wireless internet in their hotels? Also why do they have to charge non members $10 a day for what is free in most other hotels and motels.

Bingo - and part of the reason Disney is getting away with this is the willingness of many of their core clientele to see this lower standard of service as acceptable. Or put another way, this enterprise is increasingly coasting on it's brand equity, betting it will distract clients from a declining level of quality (evidenced as others repeatedly point out in the park discussions where innovation is falling behind and maintenance standards have been lowered, in restaurant discussions where menu offerings are shrinking and being standardized, etc. etc.)

In the long term resting on your laurels is never a good business strategy.

 

[vicki_c]

This issue has been hashed & rehashed on the Resort boards continuously. The bottom line is, higher-end hotels generally do not provide free Internet, wired or wireless. Many of us have posted that before - including how much we have paid for daily Internet at Hiltons, Westins, etc. Hotels only provide that when they have to, to be competitive.

So 1 - Disney has no need to be competitive on that aspect - I don't think anyone is booking off-site because there's no free Internet @ WDW.

And 2 - Disney has even more incentive than just a regular hotel somewhere else - they don't want you in your room on the Internet, they want you out and about spending money.

I hardly see this issue as having anything to do with declining standards of innovation and maintenance. CandyMandy may have a valid point in some other areas, but Internet access hardly seems to fit the bill, IMO.

 

[MrShiny]

Also why do they have to charge non members $10 a day for what is free in most other hotels and motels. QUOTE]

Actually, I find htat what you pay for Internet in-roo is inversle proportional to the room rate.

Cheaper otels use it to lure in customers, while more expensive chains routinely charge for the servce. A full service hotel more often than not charges $10-15/day. Often, this is rolled into a "resort fee" and also used as an incentive for groups (book your convention here and we'll waive the fee for your attendees).

There are infrastructure and support costs (which seem usually to be handed toa third party company). In cheaper hotels, these tend to be worse than the bigger chains (no 800 number for support, etc.). Some probably just hook up a few access points and that's it.

Also, it seems to be expected that Disney will roll things out at about the same time to all rooms, which makes any new techology expensive since they are rolling it out to all properties within a year.

Personally, I am fine with wired Internet as it is pretty reliable and if I really want wireless, I can do it myself with less cost than $10/day.

I'd like to see the DVD players in the DVC units upgraded to Blu-Ray myself (and what about 3D while they are at it!). Now that would be a cool upgrade (and I bet they could get some marketing money thrown in to show off the new technology either from the home video division or the TV manufacturers).

 

[Brandis]

I think one reason why they are charging the internet to non-members and having no interest in offering WiFi is (and it's the same why there is only limited TV channels at the Disney hotels) that guests staying in their rooms and surf on the internet or watch TV are not spending any money.

While I couldn't get my WiFi router to work on our visit in May in a value studio at AKV it worked perfect last time at the Villas at WL. But not from the start...

When we settlet in our 2-BR Villa, I saw an RJ45 plug outlet on the floor under the table in the living room labeled HSIA, I figured this means "Highspeed Internet Access" When I connected my WiFi router to it it seemed as if the line was dead. I also tried with the data cable provided in the room. Nothing.

By chance I discovered that there was a modem plugged in into the regular phone line and the living room phone plugged into this modem, hidden behind the couch. When I plugged the Wifi router into that modem, it worked!

Not sure if that's the regular setup in all rooms now or if that modem perhaps had been forgotten by a previous guest.

Anyone has seen such modems as well?

 

[erionm]

When we settlet in our 2-BR Villa, I saw an RJ45 plug outlet on the floor under the table in the living room labeled HSIA, I figured this means "Highspeed Internet Access" When I connected my WiFi router to it it seemed as if the line was dead. I also tried with the data cable provided in the room. Nothing.

By chance I discovered that there was a modem plugged in into the regular phone line and the living room phone plugged into this modem, hidden behind the couch. When I plugged the Wifi router into that modem, it worked!

Not sure if that's the regular setup in all rooms now or if that modem perhaps had been forgotten by a previous guest.

Anyone has seen such modems as well?

We were at BWV over the weekend and there was a modem behind the night stand. My AirPort Express worked perfectly plugged into the RJ45 jack on the opposite wall of the Studio.

 

[Chuck S]

I think one reason why they are charging the internet to non-members and having no interest in offering WiFi is (and it's the same why there is only limited TV channels at the Disney hotels) that guests staying in their rooms and surf on the internet or watch TV are not spending any money.

While I couldn't get my WiFi router to work on our visit in May in a value studio at AKV it worked perfect last time at the Villas at WL. But not from the start...

When we settlet in our 2-BR Villa, I saw an RJ45 plug outlet on the floor under the table in the living room labeled HSIA, I figured this means "Highspeed Internet Access" When I connected my WiFi router to it it seemed as if the line was dead. I also tried with the data cable provided in the room. Nothing.

By chance I discovered that there was a modem plugged in into the regular phone line and the living room phone plugged into this modem, hidden behind the couch. When I plugged the Wifi router into that modem, it worked!

Not sure if that's the regular setup in all rooms now or if that modem perhaps had been forgotten by a previous guest.

Anyone has seen such modems as well?

The HSIA wall jacks seem to be being killed off. They were sealed/glued shut on our last trip to OKW, we had to plug directly into the modem with our router and it worked fine.

 

[CandyMandy]

I guess all this highly technical discussion about how to retro-fit wireless into a Disney resort room will soon show up in other variants in other forums.

I can see it now- someone in a thread on on AK explaining how they "fixed" their experience on Expedition Everest by bringing along a portable 3D blue-ray player, containing a disk with a brief clip of an actual moving, roaring Yeti.

 

[ggustin75]

With the proliferation of devices such as the Ipod Touch and Ipad not to mention Microsoft's and Google's soon to be released tablets all of which have wireless without a wired option. They may want to rethink the whole wired strategy.

We are based out of the Grand Californian where this is not an issue (wireless in my room), so when took our wifi only ipad with us on our recent stay in FL I was surprised to find I had no way to connect.

I would just like to point out with the growth of smart phones and tablet market they are going to hear a lot more complaining.

 

[Davids-Coco]

Our last trip, we were able to utilize the laptop in the living room @ BCV. I understand that some rooms it's only available in the bedroom and that would be inconvienient. I don't even know what a router looks like, but could someone advise a brand and model to purchase and leave in my OL? I will also need a simple lesson to install please.
We leave for BCV next week!

Thank you!

We were the opposite. It is in the bedroom at BLT and living room at BCV. But because our sons slept in the living room, we were unable to use internet (at night, after bed) because we would wake them.

We should have grabbed our airport express, but realistically, we weren't spending that much time online anyway. We did find (while troubleshooting at BLT) that we could access Photopass online without any issues even when we couldn't get an outside connection. That was nice. We could see what needed to be retaken.

 

[Brian Noble]

with the growth of smart phones and tablet market they are going to hear a lot more complaining.

Phones have their own data coverage. They don't need wifi.

As for the other devices, I used to carry a travel-sized wireless router, but I've stopped doing that. Now, we tether through my phone, which can act as a WiFi base station. The 3G connectivity isn't as good as wired, and there are some spots where coverage is spotty, but it's one less thing I have to travel with (or leave in the owners' locker). When my wife is traveling without me, she just activates the data plan on her ipad---she doesn't travel with a laptop, so it's just the pad and the phone. True, that "costs money", but she also finds it useful to use it in the airport, in transit, etc. so she'd have the data plan turned on anyway.

 

[CarolMN]

With the proliferation of devices such as the Ipod Touch and Ipad not to mention Microsoft's and Google's soon to be released tablets all of which have wireless without a wired option. They may want to rethink the whole wired strategy.

We are based out of the Grand Californian where this is not an issue (wireless in my room), so when took our wifi only ipad with us on our recent stay in FL I was surprised to find I had no way to connect.

I would just like to point out with the growth of smart phones and tablet market they are going to hear a lot more complaining.

You can send your suggestions to:

DVCmembersatisfactionteam@disneyvacationclub.com

You'll probably get a call back in a few days to discuss.

 

[ruckartj]

I always bring a pocket router with me. I use the Linksys pocket router, very useful, auto configure and once you setup one laptop using the free internet, all your laptops, phones with WIFI etc will connect.

 

[WDWBlue]

I always bring a pocket router with me. I use the Linksys pocket router, very useful, auto configure and once you setup one laptop using the free internet, all your laptops, phones with WIFI etc will connect.

We bring this D-Link pocket router, about the the size of a deck of cards:

http://www.buy.com/prod/d-link-dwl-g730ap-high-speed-2-4ghz-802-11g-wireless-pocket-router-ap/q/loc/101/10381291.html

It was plug and play for us and worked great.

 

[Alexander]

Or--heck, leave the dang things home and enjoy your vacation and family time huh?

Seriously, if having wifi is that important to your vacation, then I feel pretty sad for your traveling companions. Try spending some quality time together and not on the computer! Just saying....

 

[Tara]

Or--heck, leave the dang things home and enjoy your vacation and family time huh?

Seriously, if having wifi is that important to your vacation, then I feel pretty sad for your traveling companions. Try spending some quality time together and not on the computer! Just saying....

I dunno...skyping from the couch together so my son can tell his grandma all about his fun day seems like quality family time to me. When it's raining in the afternoon and we're chilling out in our room, playing a head-to-head game with my son on the iPad and me on the iPhone (connecting over wifi - not all games connect via bluetooth) sounds like quality time together. Being able to have my photos automatically upload to Flickr over wifi thanks to my Eye-Fi SD card so that I don't even have to fool with it and can spend time with my family rather than at the computer uploading photos and clearing the memory card...

And frankly, sometimes there are situations where we *have* to work while on vacation, or at least check in. Being able to do that while with my family rather than being exiled to the desk in the bedroom is a nice thing.

There are lots of reasons wifi is convenient and helpful.