WiFi yet?

[Napria]

I've been off the DIS for a while but I was listening to Lou Mongello's recent podcast about Ft. Wilderness and he said the cabins have wifi. Is there wifi at the campsites now too?

 

[jbrostek]

to my knowledge they do not. In January they where still doing the cable modem routine and had a backlog list for them. I was not aware the FW cabins had wifi yet either. Though I could see them using the cabins as a way to test deployment.

FW unlike a hotel is a challenge to cover with wifi as is any outdoor area. Only in the past 24 months has wifi and wifi mesh technology gotten to a point where its possible.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

We left the Fort March 14th and there was still no Wi-Fi at the sites and we did not see anything to indicate they were working towards that goal. We rode the bikes up to the pool when we wanted Wi-Fi or we just checked our mail while we were at the Settlement.

 

[Napria]

I knew implementing wifi at the campsites had been a technical challenge. I was surprised to hear Lou say so confidently that the cabins had it. Maybe he is mistaken.

Wifi has been at the pool/settlement for a while now. Unfortunately we need wifi at the site for the same reason we started RVing... For my autistic son's comfort. He is compelled to stream his PBS Kids "learning shows" in order to enable him to to things, i.e. wake up, take his seizure medicine, etc. Yes, we have the shows downloaded onto his iPad, but he lives in his world of OCD rules and change can be paralyzing. We just need to spend a fortune to allow him to stream via AT&T wireless when we're there.

 

[bama_ed]

Some folks in the 600 loop close to the Meadow TP report picking up the TP wifi.

Although if you have a Premium site, the back of 1100 is within spitting distance of the cabins in loop 2100. So if "all the cabin loops have wifi" that means there might be another opportunity to "sniff" some wifi in 1100.

Bama Ed

 

[avani'smom]

We have wifi in our cabin this week. However when we were in loop 1400 campsite end of April we had no wifi

 

[Napria]

Some folks in the 600 loop close to the Meadow TP report picking up the TP wifi.

Although if you have a Premium site, the back of 1100 is within spitting distance of the cabins in loop 2100. So if "all the cabin loops have wifi" that means there might be another opportunity to "sniff" some wifi in 1100.

Bama Ed

That's what I was hoping!

 

[garneska]

We are in 700 and can't puck up a wifi signal. I expected that so we came with our own router. We went yo the meadows and picked up the kit. I will say using our own is the best wifi I have had at Disney. Stayed at contemporary in January and could only pick up wifi in the common areas.

 

[rav4lcrv]

We are in the 1700 loop, NO Wifi, Ethernet cable available but our I pads do not work with this. How do they have WIFI all over the Parks and not the camp ground? don't buy it that tech. support can't do it

 

[jbrostek]

Buildings are easier because pulling cables to connect all the wireless bridges is pretty inexpensive. In an open air environment you have to take a different approach. And up until the last 18 months, wifi mesh bridges technology has not been there. Based on older technolgy that is why I would not be surprised if the cabins saw wifi first since they are cabled much like a hotel. The camping loops are not as easy unless they have lots of open conduit through each loop. From my semi trained eye (network and telecommunications engineer) I do not see a lot of conduit other then at the comfort stations that would have room to hard wire wifi bridges through each loop.

I would hope their network engineers are now looking into wifi mesh solutions. I think it could be done rather well using each wired comfort station as a mesh center and then only need 3-6 mesh controllers/bridges through each loop. Since the mesh controller/bridges only require power and be mounted say 14-16' in the air with reasonable line of site to the next mesh or mesh controller location it is very possible and finally cost affective compared to a few years ago.

For now, like many others, I just get a cable modem kit (even if I have to go on the waiting list) and use my own router to make a wifi location for my iStuff and computer to use.

For those of you in a hotel or cabin without wifi, there are inexpensive solutions to take the in room ethernet and make it a usable wifi when its not provided. Something like this is very capable in those situations. I carry one for work travel as even in high tech cities there are hotels that only offer wired connectivity in room.

 

[Napria]

Buildings are easier because pulling cables to connect all the wireless bridges is pretty inexpensive. In an open air environment you have to take a different approach. And up until the last 18 months, wifi mesh bridges technology has not been there. Based on older technolgy that is why I would not be surprised if the cabins saw wifi first since they are cabled much like a hotel. The camping loops are not as easy unless they have lots of open conduit through each loop. From my semi trained eye (network and telecommunications engineer) I do not see a lot of conduit other then at the comfort stations that would have room to hard wire wifi bridges through each loop.

I would hope their network engineers are now looking into wifi mesh solutions. I think it could be done rather well using each wired comfort station as a mesh center and then only need 3-6 mesh controllers/bridges through each loop. Since the mesh controller/bridges only require power and be mounted say 14-16' in the air with reasonable line of site to the next mesh or mesh controller location it is very possible and finally cost affective compared to a few years ago.

For now, like many others, I just get a cable modem kit (even if I have to go on the waiting list) and use my own router to make a wifi location for my iStuff and computer to use.

For those of you in a hotel or cabin without wifi, there are inexpensive solutions to take the in room ethernet and make it a usable wifi when its not provided. Something like this is very capable in those situations. I carry one for work travel as even in high tech cities there are hotels that only offer wired connectivity in room.

Thanks for the link! I've put one in my Amazon cart and I'll get it before our next trip. You just saved me a bundle, I think!

 

[bama_ed]

I did the Fort modem thing back in April 2013. However this past March I had upgraded the cell phone and plan and just tethered my phone to the laptop to do my trip report. It worked better than I had hoped - no problems connecting up and the AT&T speeds weren't bad at all at the site.

You should investigate if your phone can support tethering and if your data plan will allow it (it can be added on to some existing plans). I was using a Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 (4g/LTE) and I think we have the newer Family Mobile Share plan. As long as you will be doing simple stuff like updating your live trip report on the DIS , checking email, etc it goes fine. If you want to stream a lot of video this is not as good since you will burn through your data allotment.

Just another option to consider.

Bama Ed

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

I went back and looked at the video of the "Florida project" and its clear when Walt says that the Fort campsites as well as the cabins would all have Wi-Fi. Not sure what the holdup is.

 

[2goofycampers]

I went back and looked at the video of the "Florida project" and its clear when Walt says that the Fort campsites as well as the cabins would all have Wi-Fi. Not sure what the holdup is.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

That video is linked on You tube with the one of the new Hall of Presidents where Lincoln comments that you cant believe everything you see on the internet.

 

[tiggerdad]

That video is linked on You tube with the one of the new Hall of Presidents where Lincoln comments that you cant believe everything you see on the internet.

I'm a French model...

Bonjour...

 

[jbrostek]

You should investigate if your phone can support tethering and if your data plan will allow it (it can be added on to some existing plans).

Ed, the only issue is most hotspot plans have limited bandwidth. So upload a few hundred pictures and you have wiped out most of you monthly data. I have hotspot on my phone as well and did use it the one day it seemed the cable was just slower then cold molassas. But out of my 5 gig of hotspot (seperate from my phone data which is unlimited) I had used half of it in the 48 hours where the cable modem was nearly unusable.

It has a lot to do with my use habits as well, I like to upload fresh pictures while on my trip and there are times I need to handle work even when on vacation. But its one of the small things I deal with to be able to take 2 weeks off from a very busy office.

 

[Mmketeer]

Yada, Yada Disney could add wi-fi to the camp sites if they really wanted too.
I'll list below campgrounds in Florida that have been offering it for years.

That said I am not paying AT&T almost $60 a month for a hot spot for my phone. Plus they are not gonna let me do anything other than pay for their hot spot since I am grand-fathered in on the unlimited data plan on my phone. I checked and double checked with ATT&T and Bust Buy to name a few.

I have to work while at the fort and using my Android tablet with wi-fi from my RV is better than nothing. But, it's still not like using my laptop for buisness purposes.

So this time, I bought a wireless router on the reccommendation of some folks here and I am going to once again get their ethernet kit. Annoying, but hopefully I won't have to have wires all over the 5fer this time.

I mean seriously, too many people work from their RV's to be dealing with this old school non-sense and no we don't want to sit around Meadow's Trading Point and or the pool and watch everyone else enjoying themselves while we are trying to be on a conference call.

a couple RV resorts and campground in Florida with FREE wi-fi:

Holiday Cove RV Resort-Bradenton, FL

Rock Crusher Canyon RV Resort- Crystal River, FL (and this place is as big and just as tree'd as Disney!)

Campers Holiday- Brooksville, FL

And I bet ya'll can name a ton more.

 

[jbrostek]

You are right, they could like most RV parks just slap it up and call it wifi. I have used many campground wifi systems, some are great most are not. On the east coast about 90% of them either had limited signal coverage or just not enough bandwidth to do any meaningful work via VPN. The other 10% where great.

Disney being how they are would probably stick with the cable modem system until they can find a cost affective way of offering the same or improved level of service at the loops.

 

[rav4lcrv]

Just left the Fort, DW said it was OK to have wires draped all over the camper for TV & Ethernet, Our I pads had to be used with our Hot spot I phone for big bucks, Now staying in a $32 a night camp ground with flying WIFI speed in Marianna Fl.-Come on Disney, pick up the pace