Where's Wi-Fi?

[Simba's Mom]

For Christmas, DH got me a wireless laptop. Where at WDW can I get wi-fi? Anywhere free? If not, at least I know I can get free wireless at HHI in Big Murgie's Den. That's really what prompted him to buy it-seeing the forlorn look on my face at all the internet users there. So where could I use it at WDW?

 

[RobDoc]

There are WiFi hotspots at several of the resorts (I think it's available at many of the convention center resorts - GF, BC, BW, CSR) - but it's not free. I'm not sure of the cost, but it's at least the same as the $9.95 broadband fee and maybe more.

It's also NOT available in the guest rooms - only in the public lobby areas.

 

[pb4ugo]

simba's mom -
with all that you pack into a vacation, be it wdw or hhi, where will you find time to use that new playtoy! it might be good for a rainy day at wdw - but for a rainy day at hhi, give me a book on my porch!

 

[Simba's Mom]

simba's mom -
with all that you pack into a vacation, be it wdw or hhi, where will you find time to use that new playtoy! it might be good for a rainy day at wdw - but for a rainy day at hhi, give me a book on my porch!

Good point! Since I'm also a book on my porch person at HHI, the only time I'd probably use the laptop is after dark. I've never found it to be very good reading on the porch in the dark, and not much to see!

 

[tjkraz]

Some brave souls will actually pay the $9.95 daily access fee and hook up their own unsecured wireless access point within their room. Portable wireless APs can be found for under $100 and those who travel frequently find them a worthwhile investment to avoid having to be be tethered to the cable at hotels which don't fully support wireless.

So, before you pay for any access, you might want to turn on the laptop and see if you pick-up any unsecured wireless signals. If you are running Windows XP, you should get a connection notice shortly after turning on your PC. If you can connect to a wireless AP and access works, well then someone else in the hotel near you has just saved you $10 per day for wired access.

Of course, you just can't consider such no-cost access to be reliable. That guest may not buy the access every day, may depart before you or you may be on the fringes of getting a good connection.

 

[tor]

Some brave souls will actually pay the $9.95 daily access fee and hook up their own unsecured wireless access point within their room. Portable wireless APs can be found for under $100 and those who travel frequently find them a worthwhile investment to avoid having to be be tethered to the cable at hotels which don't fully support wireless.

So, before you pay for any access, you might want to turn on the laptop and see if you pick-up any unsecured wireless signals. If you are running Windows XP, you should get a connection notice shortly after turning on your PC. If you can connect to a wireless AP and access works, well then someone else in the hotel near you has just saved you $10 per day for wired access.

Of course, you just can't consider such no-cost access to be reliable. That guest may not buy the access every day, may depart before you or you may be on the fringes of getting a good connection.

Using someone else's access I think that would be worse then the refillable mug thing. Perhaps it could be worked out like the fridge swaps organize a group with same dates the person in the centrally located room buys the access and hooks up wireless access.

 

[tjkraz]

Using someone else's access I think that would be worse then the refillable mug thing.

Wireless access points can either be "secured" by a passcode or "unsecured" and left open to anyone who can connect. If an AP is left unsecured, it's generally regarded as an open invitation to anyone who can connect. Many people will even go so far as to name the AP something like "freetoall".

Those who don't wish to share their access can simply secure the AP and leave it closed to outsiders.

 

[tor]

Wireless access points can either be "secured" by a passcode or "unsecured" and left open to anyone who can connect. If an AP is left unsecured, it's generally regarded as an open invitation to anyone who can connect. Many people will even go so far as to name the AP something like "freetoall".

Those who don't wish to share their access can simply secure the AP and leave it closed to outsiders.

I have seen news reports in NY of people driving around to "steal" wireless access from unsuspecting people.

 

[korbbec]

I have seen news reports in NY of people driving around to "steal" wireless access from unsuspecting people.

Oh well. All it can do is slow your connection. If you don't want it stolen, secure it. Just another example of the media creating "news".

 

[kathleena]

Information from another website. I used this in the lobby of the BWV my last trip.

Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) High Speed Wireless Internet Access

Wi-Fi is available to those staying at certain Disney resorts. If your laptop computer or Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) is Wi-Fi enabled, you'll be able to access the internet from the common areas of these resorts.

Fee: $4.99 for the first 60 minutes or $9.95 for 24 contiguous hours. The vendor that provides this Wi-Fi service, Smart City, will bill you using a secure credit card transaction via the on-screen internet connection.

Requirements: a wireless interface card installed on your device. These are available for purchase in each resort's business center.

Availability:

Beach Club

Main Lobby
Stone Harbor Club Concierge Lounge
Stormalong Bay Pool Area
BoardWalk

Convention Center Hallways/Common Areas
Main Lobby
Luna Park Swimming Pool Area
Inn Keepers Club Concierge Lounge
Bellevue Lounge

Contemporary

Main Lobby
Tower Club 14th Floor Concierge Lounge
Outer Rim Bar (near Concourse Steakhouse)
1st Floor Convention Center Lobby
2nd Floor Convention Center Lobby
Main Pool

Coronado Springs

Main Hotel Lobby
Convention Center Lobby area
The Dig Site Pool
Francisco's Lounge

Dolphin

Lobby Bar
Outside at Cabana Grill (near pool)

Grand Floridian


1st Floor Lobby area including Garden View Lounge
Convention Center Lobby area
Royal Palm Club 4th Floor Concierge area

Yacht Club

Main Lobby area
Regatta Club Concierge Lounge
Convention Center Lobby area
Stormalong Bay Pool

Technical Support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by calling the vendor, Smart City, at their help desk: 407-938-HELP.

WDW Swan also offers Wi-Fi in the lobby area across from the Business Center Desk through a separate vendor that charges per minute or through a longer-time plan. Ask at the hotel's Business Center for details.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[tor]

Oh well. All it can do is slow your connection. If you don't want it stolen, secure it. Just another example of the media creating "news".

I believe the issue is if your wifi is hijack and used to commit any sort of a crime it can be traced back to your IP address

 

[Simba's Mom]

Information from another website. I used this in the lobby of the BWV my last trip.

Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) High Speed Wireless Internet Access

Wi-Fi is available to those staying at certain Disney resorts. If your laptop computer or Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) is Wi-Fi enabled, you'll be able to access the internet from the common areas of these resorts.

Fee: $4.99 for the first 60 minutes or $9.95 for 24 contiguous hours. The vendor that provides this Wi-Fi service, Smart City, will bill you using a secure credit card transaction via the on-screen internet connection.

Requirements: a wireless interface card installed on your device. These are available for purchase in each resort's business center.

Availability:

Beach Club

Main Lobby
Stone Harbor Club Concierge Lounge
Stormalong Bay Pool Area
BoardWalk

Convention Center Hallways/Common Areas
Main Lobby
Luna Park Swimming Pool Area
Inn Keepers Club Concierge Lounge
Bellevue Lounge

Contemporary

Main Lobby
Tower Club 14th Floor Concierge Lounge
Outer Rim Bar (near Concourse Steakhouse)
1st Floor Convention Center Lobby
2nd Floor Convention Center Lobby
Main Pool

Coronado Springs

Main Hotel Lobby
Convention Center Lobby area
The Dig Site Pool
Francisco's Lounge

Dolphin

Lobby Bar
Outside at Cabana Grill (near pool)

Grand Floridian


1st Floor Lobby area including Garden View Lounge
Convention Center Lobby area
Royal Palm Club 4th Floor Concierge area

Yacht Club

Main Lobby area
Regatta Club Concierge Lounge
Convention Center Lobby area
Stormalong Bay Pool

Technical Support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by calling the vendor, Smart City, at their help desk: 407-938-HELP.

WDW Swan also offers Wi-Fi in the lobby area across from the Business Center Desk through a separate vendor that charges per minute or through a longer-time plan. Ask at the hotel's Business Center for details.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Great-this is exactly the type of information I was wondering about. The only question I have now is that although it says Stormalong Bay Pool area, I wonder if the chairs outside B&C count.

 

[3DisneyKids]

Thanks, Nancy...great info!

 

[tjkraz]

I believe the issue is if your wifi is hijack and used to commit any sort of a crime it can be traced back to your IP address

AH! Now you're looking at it from the other side of the coin!

I agree that SUPPLYING the "free" access to others is not for the faint of heart. I've never traveled with a wireless router and honestly I'm not sure what I would do if I did.

Still as a user, if I happen across an unsecured Access Point I may very well make use of it. Whomever is running the AP has apparently overcome their own liability concerns.

 

[travelin' tigger]

Stayed at both the Sheraton Safari and BWV (and also family) and used my laptop all the time!!!

Anyway, I did some research on the DIS before my trip and found out dial-up was the cheapest way to go. Instead of $9.95 for a 24-hour period, I was able to hook up for the price of a local phone call whenever I wanted. My phone carrier is Verizon so I signed up for dial-up for a month for $8.95 and then noted the local access numbers for each area I was staying in. Now that I'm home, I'll call Verizon and cancel it - worked great!!!

HTH!!!

 

[Groucho]

AH! Now you're looking at it from the other side of the coin!

I agree that SUPPLYING the "free" access to others is not for the faint of heart. I've never traveled with a wireless router and honestly I'm not sure what I would do if I did.

Still as a user, if I happen across an unsecured Access Point I may very well make use of it. Whomever is running the AP has apparently overcome their own liability concerns.

Not to resurrect an old thread, but............

Out on the internet, something like an "attack" or whatnot would be recorded by an IP address.

It's extremely, extremely unlikely that the IP address you have when using wi-fi at a Disney resort - wired or wireless - is the same one that the server on the public internet you're connecting to will record. IPs are not free, companies have to buy them in blocks. For this kind of connection, you're going through a big router on Disney's (or Smart City's) end before it gets to the actual internet. That means that if someone traces an IP address back to, say, Smart City, that IP address could be in use by dozens (or hundreds) of different people at once. It would be extremely difficult, probably impossible, to then pick out just who is the actual perpetrator. This is different than your home connection, where are getting a true internet IP address that can be traced back to you via your ISP.

So, that's really not a reason to worry about sharing a connection.

Furthermore, if someone hooks up an unsecured wireless connection, they are, indeed, just asking for others to use it. And why not? There should be little to no difference in speed for them (realistically, it'll be just the same as if you bought it yourself and used the bandwidth that way) and no extra cost for them.

Were I paying for wired access, I might be tempted to bring along a wireless router and set it all for all to use. Mine at home is in use constantly (I run a web site through my cable connection) but they usually cost $20-40, sometimes even cheaper - they're not expensive.

For my upcoming trip, I will see if anyone is doing that within range of my laptop, otherwise I'll just dial in once or twice. It's not worth paying the $10 for me as I don't plan on using it very much, the laptop is mainly there for backing up my photos nightly and burning DVDs of them.

 

[cherylp3]

I believe there is free wifi at wide world of sports

 

[JWG]

Anyone else think internet access should be free to DVC members? With the maintenance fees and such - shouldn't all perks be included?

It seems as they take away membership perks (some of the discounts), they could replace with others.

I suppose they make good money off of the DVC members as many likely pay for access.

 

[tjkraz]

Anyone else think internet access should be free to DVC members? With the maintenance fees and such - shouldn't all perks be included?

It seems as they take away membership perks (some of the discounts), they could replace with others.

I suppose they make good money off of the DVC members as many likely pay for access.

Free internet is not a "perk" to any WDW guests. All guests have to pay for high-speed access.

Disney is in the midst of a 5-year contract to outsource the Internet services. The outsouced provider is contractually guaranteed payment for every user of the system to cover installation, hardware and tech support costs, in addition to other service fees.

After that contract ends its entirely possible that Disney will re-evaluate how access is distributed throughout the property. But as of right now it's not realistic to expect free access.

 

[reesecup]

Please forgive me if this has already been answered. I tried to read all the posts here but am busy getting ready to leave this weekend!!!

Is there online access anywhere if you DO NOT have a laptop?? Are there some computers anywhere where you can get online? We are staying at the Boardwalk. Thanks so much!