Worst WiFi ever!

[ScooterPie]

We are here at the fort now and can honestly say the WiFi is horrible! For what Disney charges for these spaces it should blow my iPad up! Time of day or weather condition does not matter, it’s constantly on then off! We have stayed here off and on since 2013 and this is the worst yet. Thank God for hubby’s hotspot! Just be prepared.

 

[Teamubr]

Welcome to the Fort!

If the wifi is never fair (good is a stretch), I suspect you are too far from an access point or the AP closest to you is down. While the wifi is not great, we have found early mornings or mid day when a lot of people are at the parks, it is OK. Evenings, when people are back from the parks, checking out the DIS, posting pictures and steaming videos for the kids, is the worst.

I doubt it will help, but you might want to mention something at the office to see if they will check the AP in your loop.

Thank goodness for unlimited data and 4/5G devices.

j

 

[Stratman50th]

We didn't even try it. Just went straight to our hot spot.

 

[team bradfield]

We didn't even try it. Just went straight to our hot spot.

Same with us

 

[bama_ed]

At the DISMeet in 1100 two months ago, I was not far from an Access Point (antenna) or at least I thought I wasn't. But it would float in and out depending on which way the wind blew. (It was over by garneska's RV so maybe she was hogging all the bandwidth). I had to hotspot too when I wanted a constant connection with speedy reactions.

Here is what one looks like. It's mounted up on a telephone pole and depending on loop size you can have one or more among and between loops:

Take your phone or device and walk under/close to the AP early in the morning and see if you can see the "Disney" named wifi unlocked connection available to you.

And you may have been using some hyperbole about "worst ever" wifi which is understandable given your frustration. But I have been in some campground that offered "free wifi" that was stone cold nothing. With so many people streaming video nowadays, it can slow to a crawl pretty quickly. So I have zero expectations on free wifi anywhere and have a big honkin' data plan that I can hotspot with in confidence.

Bama Ed

PS - I was at the Fort when they officially turned on the new network to guests. I had checked in the day before and gotten one of the old cable modems. We woke up on March 20, 2016 to the new wifi available and boy it was FAST because nobody was on it yet. Met snowmedic in person on that trip as well, I recall.

 

[garneska]

@bama_ed i sure was hogging the bandwidth. My spot in 1100 was the best wifi I ever had at Disney after they dumped the cable modems.

 

[Teamubr]

My spot in 1100 was the best wifi I ever had at Disney.

Location, Location, Location

j

 

[StormyCA]

I don't think we've ever even tried to connect to Disney's wifi at the Fort. Hotspots all the way.

 

[bsjs0708]

....and that's why we invested in a AT&T wireless internet. Hubby works alot remotely and this makes a HUGE difference!

 

[jbrostek]

I almost miss the cable modem days. They did an OK job with their wifi deployment, I think they would have gotten more bang for the buck using a mesh system with hard wired hosts on each bath house. Or change the current units over to mesh units and add a few mesh APs in each loop to improve overall signal.

I think the failed to account for how much noise the 2.5GHZ band gets from all the people that run their own hotspots. When I did a site survey it wasn't that I had good signal, but I had so much noise from other campers that it made the signal I wanted useless. The only way to fix that is better saturation to drown out the hotspot 3 doors down causing all the interferance.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Its not very good in the regular resorts either. I usually have to switch to cellular data to stream shows in the resort rooms.

 

[Bishoparc]

I almost miss the cable modem days

Yes, if only we could convince them to bring those back.

Disney WiFi has always been pretty awful no matter where you are. I don’t think they planned well for it at all.

 

[PaHunter]

For those non techie people it is like supplying the whole Fort with a single garden hose, if everyone turns on the faucet at once, you are not getting much water.
We end up hotspotting for forums updates, but then again, usually too tired to keep up during the trip.

 

[tiggerdad]

Pa gave about a good as a description as you can give. Summed it up quite nicely.

 

[jbrostek]

Agreed, it was never designed properly for the sheer number of guests that use it. Big pipes cost money.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Agreed, it was never designed properly for the sheer number of guests that use it. Big pipes cost money.

Not like it used to. The access points are likely the worst issue and weakest point.

 

[jbrostek]

True, though the fort wifi was installed in 2016, so if they use a standard 5 year lifecycle they should look at replacing them in 2021. Though the units they used in 2016 where top of the line, I just feel the density was not there which is part of the problem. When you do have a solid wifi signal at the fort I feel like the backhaul bandwidth is not there. Either at the AP, the switch or just leaving the fort there is some nearby congestion.

Then you get into all the firewalls and backhaul for Disney and I think while their data centers have multiple 100Gig connections, WDW might be lucky to have a 10Gig connection for guest internet and clearly has some big backhaul pipes or fiber for internal systems.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

We are here at the fort now and can honestly say the WiFi is horrible!

1) alas, you have discovered the FW flaw.
2) The resort excels in almost every detail.
3) But, the WiFi is just what you describe.
4) There are not enough routers.
5) Many folks use/bring their own hotspots.
6) Sorry.
7) Just do not loo for improvements too soon.

 

[nomorethan8]

I know it is not WiFi but I see they installed 5g over at the Epcot resorts. I can totally go with that if they had it at the Fort.

 

[garneska]

what is so funny. last week i spent all my time on my hotspot. today my hotspot has been crap and i was getting better reliability with disney wi fi