wifi question

[WilsonFlyer]

Has anyone tried the wifi at the Wilderness Lodge and the Beach Club?
I'm happy it is now free, but it stinks that it isn't working very well at a lot of resorts.

From my experiences at AK a couple of weeks ago, "isn't working very well" is being too kind about it.

"It beat nothing SOME of the time." would be a far better description. Sometimes, I just had to resort to using the cell data/tethering on my iPad or iPhone because it was the only thing that worked at all.

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

I'll agree that the WiFi is pretty much hit-or-miss. I've had good rooms and I've had bad rooms since they've done the upgrades. I wouldn't doubt that Disney overlooked the fact that only a small percentage of guests used the internet when there was a fee associated with it, and that now, practically everyone uses it -- and in many cases with multiple devices. The amount of bandwidth they selected is probably the issue.

Let's be honest, though. I think there's a little bit of rosey retrospection going on. Everyone's looking back on the wired connections with such fondness. I remember them being pretty much crap, too. Yes, it was reliable that you'd always get a connection, but the speed was awful.

 

[RatherBeWithMickey]

Let's be honest, though. I think there's a little bit of rosey retrospection going on. Everyone's looking back on the wired connections with such fondness. I remember them being pretty much crap, too. Yes, it was reliable that you'd always get a connection, but the speed was awful.

Depends on what you are used to at home. Mine isn't the greatest (we live in the middle of nowhere), so the wired service at WDW was just as good as what I have at home. Same with the service available on DCL. To me, it was decent service. So no rosy retrospection on my part. However, if you are used to blazing fast service at home, then the WDW service probably doesn't seem very good to you, whether it is the old wired service, or the new wireless.

 

[jekjones1558]

I hope that everyone who has had poor wifi in a DVC room has emailed Member Satisfaction.

 

[Sammie]

I hope that everyone who has had poor wifi in a DVC room has emailed Member Satisfaction.

They are aware but since Disney resorts is offering the service, not much they can do but pass on the info and of course now that it is "free" you know how far that goes.

 

[Sammie]

I'll agree that the WiFi is pretty much hit-or-miss. I've had good rooms and I've had bad rooms since they've done the upgrades. I wouldn't doubt that Disney overlooked the fact that only a small percentage of guests used the internet when there was a fee associated with it, and that now, practically everyone uses it -- and in many cases with multiple devices. The amount of bandwidth they selected is probably the issue.

Let's be honest, though. I think there's a little bit of rosey retrospection going on. Everyone's looking back on the wired connections with such fondness. I remember them being pretty much crap, too. Yes, it was reliable that you'd always get a connection, but the speed was awful.

Yes the speed was bad, but as you said, at least you could connect and check emails or cancel a Dining ADR. Now it is really hit or miss if you can even connect.

I don't really expect high speed out of a hotel connection, but I was hoping for at least what you get at the interstate Hampton Inn.

 

[Sammie]

The internet is not great but the tv is pretty good now. They are using Directv and have all of the channels that we have at home. Now this is at BLT so i am assuming they other DVCs are the same.

Does anyone know if all the resorts are the same now. In Dec. we did not have the new channels.

 

[LisaS]

Let's be honest, though. I think there's a little bit of rosey retrospection going on. Everyone's looking back on the wired connections with such fondness. I remember them being pretty much crap, too. Yes, it was reliable that you'd always get a connection, but the speed was awful.

For the past few years we had problems with the wired service at BWV. We often resorted to using my DH's 3G wireless instead because as slow as that was, it was faster and more reliable than the wired Internet at BWV!

We were at BWV when the wireless service first became available last October. We had problems the first day but after calling Tech Support the service was great the rest of our stay. It was much, much, much better than the wired service we had suffered with for the previous few years at BWV. I suspect that not very many guests were aware that wireless was available those first few days so the performance was very good that trip.

Unfortunately the service varies from room to room and gets slow in the evening when there are more users. On our last trip (Kidani) the wireless was decent. It's not as fast as our home Internet service but it was adequate for what we needed to do.

 

[nerb]

I usually take my travel router so does anyone know if they removed the actual Ethernet cords????

 

[drusba]

^Though the Ethernet wall sockets are still there, they no longer hook up to any wired service. The mostly lousy wireless service is all that exists now.

 

[DebbieB]

I usually take my travel router so does anyone know if they removed the actual Ethernet cords????

The ethernet cord isn't the issue, the outlet is disconnected. I brought my router and cord in late April to BWV and it did not work. I wish they would have left it working, at Disneyland you have the option of both for free. When I stayed at VGC last year, the wireless was pretty much worthless but at least I could connect to the wired.

 

[RatherBeWithMickey]

The ethernet cord isn't the issue, the outlet is disconnected. I brought my router and cord in late April to BWV and it did not work. I wish they would have left it working, at Disneyland you have the option of both for free. When I stayed at VGC last year, the wireless was pretty much worthless but at least I could connect to the wired.

I tried the same thing at OKW a couple weeks ago, and the outlets no longer work there, as well.

 

[Starshine]

We were at BWV last month, and I didn't have any problems with the wireless on my iPad. I did notice that the first time I connected every day I needed to open a web browser and click through to accept the user agreement. I suspect that if I hadn't done that (like on a phone where you don't necessarily go to a browser right away) it wouldn't have worked .

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

At VWL right now, and will eat some crow. Excellent signal quality in our room and fair speed. I suspect there are a good number of people using the network right now, too. Pouring rain to beat the band, so I know I'm not the only one looking for something indoors to do.