Wifi at the cabins

[dawnelda]

Hello all - I have a reservation at the cabins for March. My husband is not a camper but will tolerate it as long as the wifi is good. Can anyone comment on how strong the wifi is at the cabins and which loop(s) might have the best signal strength? I'd like to be near the Wilderness pool if possible, but wifi is definitely a higher priority.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Narcoossee11]

I have got sad news for you. WIFI is terrible. Have a plan B.

You will need to get a hot spot device. Others can give you better options.

 

[mco65]

Unfortunately the WiFi is not good at the cabins.. almost unusable...

 

[The_Darkside]

I was just there for 10 days and I stay there multiple times a year. In the cabin (I always stay in the 2800 loop) I can usually get strong enough wifi to work my Firestick on the TV in the living room however barely at all in the bedroom. For use with my phone and laptop sometimes It will be ok and other times I end up using my phones hotspot.

 

[Sjm9911]

When was the last time you have gone? Wifi in the loops seemed to have improved a lot. 3 years ago is wasnt reliable. In november wifi was great for us. It may be loop spacific or it may be they upgraded it to coinside with genie plus.

 

[bama_ed]

Well it helps to know how WIFI works. I just left the campsite area of the Fort yesterday (1500 loop) and the WIFI download speed was 9-10 Mbps. We headed to a KOA in Naples and their WIFI at the same time of evening (both nearly full campgrounds) was giving me 27 Mbps down last night.

It's not so much loop-specific as it is how close you are to the WIFI antenna (or WAP as its referred to: Wireless Access Point). The WAP is mounted on a telephone pole among the loops and looks like it has big straight handle bars both up and down.

It could be on the end of a loop or in the middle. It could be between two loops or you could get a cabin that is directly underneath it. The closer to it the better - but it really is random chance.

So if 9 Mbps is enough then he's okay. If he needs more then he's not. Run speedtest.net if you can connect at home work to the minimum acceptable speed and see what the download number is.

It is a Wilderness out there.

Bama Ed

PS - DH needs to define his "good wifi" on a Megabits per second (Mbps) basis or else it's all just opinion. So run the speed test. I think you won't get better than 9 Mbps at the Fort (more or less) so bring a hot spot as a Plan B or have him plan to go for a long walk daily (great place for it). I don't know if the resort hotels are any better (prolly worse).

PPS - here is my screen grab from the speedtest.net result (wifi on my cell) from the Fort on Monday night.



PPS - if the issue is YouTube TV, 7-9 Mbps is sufficient for a video stream but it will depend on how many people are sucking on the WIFI. But all the networks and ESPNs are on the tv system.

 

[dawnelda]

Thank you everyone for the great information and especially thank you Bama Ed for the detailed explanation. DH will want to do simple things like check email, read the news (which often include images and short videos), check the weather forecast, that sort of thing. I googled "how much speed do I need" and based on our use case, it seems like 9 Mbps would be sufficient.

Case closed!

 

[NCDisNut]

I'm not sure this information is accurate. I think I'm going to need to go back to do some investigating! I know the last time I was there I was thinking that the cabins had the equipment inside each cabin and the RV loops had those things bama ed took a picture of. Either way, I think his 9mbps would be worse case. It might be better! YMMV

 

[bama_ed]

I'm not sure this information is accurate. I think I'm going to need to go back to do some investigating! I know the last time I was there I was thinking that the cabins had the equipment inside each cabin and the RV loops had those things bama ed took a picture of. Either way, I think his 9mbps would be worse case. It might be better! YMMV

More investigations and data results are always welcome.

Please run speedtest.net to verify the wifi speed and do a screen grab to capture the results and post the grab. And also note the time of day.

Been a long time since I stayed in the cabins so I'm interested in the results whatever they may be.

Bama Ed

 

[NCDisNut]

More investigations and data results are always welcome.

Please run speedtest.net to verify the wifi speed and do a screen grab to capture the results and post the grab. And also note the time of day.

Been a long time since I stayed in the cabins so I'm interested in the results whatever they may be.

Bama Ed

I think you might be misunderstanding my point. All that stuff you're asking for isn't the point. You said:

It's not so much loop-specific as it is how close you are to the WIFI antenna (or WAP as its referred to: Wireless Access Point). The WAP is mounted on a telephone pole among the loops and looks like it has big straight handle bars both up and down.

My question was whether it's accurate that the equipment is on a pole on the cabin loops like you said it is or if the equipment is actually in the individual cabins.

 

[NCDisNut]

I'm heading down next month! I can't wait to do my own on site investigation. ha ha

 

[Sjm9911]

I dont think he misunderstood you. He gave the best avalible info that he knows. His point was for you to do your own investigation, to see how the old info compares to the new. I have no idea , as i only stayed in the loops. But i would be surprised that disney would spring for routers in each cabin. They don't do that for hotel rooms? But what donI know, speculating is just that. When you go, post a report. Thats how we get and give information.

 

[NCDisNut]

I dont think he misunderstood you. He gave the best avalible info that he knows. His point was for you to do your own investigation, to see how the old info compares to the new. I have no idea , as i only stayed in the loops. But i would be surprised that disney would spring for routers in each cabin. They don't do that for hotel rooms? But what donI know, speculating is just that. When you go, post a report. Thats how we get and give information.

Well, I disagree with you. His suggestion was to do things to verify the speed, but that has nothing to do with my point. My point was that I think the equipment is in the cabins and not on a pole on the cabin loops. Like I said, I could be "misremembering". I will confirm and post on my next trip.

 

[Stratman50th]

When was the last time you were there? They used to have cable modems but that was years ago.

 

[NCDisNut]

When was the last time you were there? They used to have cable modems but that was years ago.

December. I remember there was equipment in the cabin, but i didn't pay much attention to exactly what it was.

 

[bama_ed]

December. I remember there was equipment in the cabin, but i didn't pay much attention to exactly what it was.

Sure. They don't put those camper loop antennas in every cabin - they would probably make your hair fall out. It's not the same "equipment" in the individual cabins as in the entire camping loops that's in question. It's pretty easy to "throttle down" the wifi speeds to any desired number in any router/equipement. It's pretty obvious that the wifi "equipment" in the cabins MAY not be the same as the wifi "equipment" in each campsite (which is none of course). I'm of the opinion the service for the cabin loops is no different than the service in the camping loops.

So if the cabins have 2X-10X the wifi speeds the speed test will denote that. Of course, the time of day will be a factor for OBVIOUS reasons, no? Let's get the tested wifi speeds and then discuss relative speeds.

I don't really care a rat's rear end what the cabin speeds are versus camps site speeds. But rather than positing which is faster, I'd rather have a scientific number (the test results grabbed and posted) to discuss.

Admittedly I'm not smart about telecom and internet connectivity topics but I am somewhat conversant after four decades of a work career. Let's save any discussion for after-the-fact when we have some hard info to review.

I'm heading down next month! I can't wait to do my own on site investigation. ha ha

There's no wrong answer here. I look forward to your data.

Bama Ed

 

[NCDisNut]

Sure. They don't put those camper loop antennas in every cabin - they would probably make your hair fall out. It's not the same "equipment" in the individual cabins as in the entire camping loops that's in question. It's pretty easy to "throttle down" the wifi speeds to any desired number in any router/equipement. It's pretty obvious that the wifi "equipment" in the cabins MAY not be the same as the wifi "equipment" in each campsite (which is none of course). I'm of the opinion the service for the cabin loops is no different than the service in the camping loops.

So if the cabins have 2X-10X the wifi speeds the speed test will denote that. Of course, the time of day will be a factor for OBVIOUS reasons, no? Let's get the tested wifi speeds and then discuss relative speeds.

I don't really care a rat's rear end what the cabin speeds are versus camps site speeds. But rather than positing which is faster, I'd rather have a scientific number (the test results grabbed and posted) to discuss.

Admittedly I'm not smart about telecom and internet connectivity topics but I am somewhat conversant after four decades of a work career. Let's save any discussion for after-the-fact when we have some hard info to review.



There's no wrong answer here. I look forward to your data.

Bama Ed

I never suggested they put those camper loop antennas in every cabin. You suggested that cabin loops use those camper loop antennas and I said that I wasn't sure if that was true and I needed to take a trip back down to check it out! I really can't remember but I thought wifi equipment was in each cabin. I've been going to the cabins for a long time and I might be remembering the way it used to be. I hope you're still there when I get there. I'd enjoy meeting you.

 

[flutegarden]

Any more info on the current wifi? Honestly I only care about for booking LLs at 7am. I’m also ok using my own data - can you get reception to use your own data? I have tMobile.

 

[dawnelda]

Wifi seemed to be OK in the mornings when I was there in March. Evenings it was unusable for me. Speed test results:

Mar. 12, 2022 8:13 pm - 10.60 Mbps download, ping 16 ms
Mar. 14, 2022 12:03 pm - 13.97 Mbps download, ping 15 ms
Mar. 14, 2022 10:38 pm - 1.24 Mbps download, ping 40 ms

Those numbers don't really mean anything to me but Bama_Ed suggested that a speed test be run (meaning: I can't elaborate on any of it), so that is what I did.

 

[bama_ed]

Wifi seemed to be OK in the mornings when I was there in March. Evenings it was unusable for me. Speed test results:

Mar. 12, 2022 8:13 pm - 10.60 Mbps download, ping 16 ms
Mar. 14, 2022 12:03 pm - 13.97 Mbps download, ping 15 ms
Mar. 14, 2022 10:38 pm - 1.24 Mbps download, ping 40 ms

Those numbers don't really mean anything to me but Bama_Ed suggested that a speed test be run (meaning: I can't elaborate on any of it), so that is what I did.

Surprised at the difference in the 8pm and 10pm speeds which are two days apart. (or maybe the 3/12 test was an AM test)? Regardless, there would naturally be a returning influx of Fort guests from the parks/dinners as they close for the evenings and some percentage will light up their devices across the wifi. But the 1.24 Mb speed is not enough to stream video reliably so it is indeed unusable. And getting an "acceptable" speed (approx. 10 Mbps) earlier in the day is the norm too unless you are sitting underneath an antenna.

Not sure what the impact of LL demands at 7am might be on the network. Some folks might try over the mobile data network, others might try over the Fort wifi.

Thanks for the numbers, @dawnelda.

Bama Ed