Worst WiFi ever!

[Sjm9911]

I'll be at the Fort in January 2022 and might run some side-by-side hotspot versus wifi comparisons. They have been closing loops intermittently in the past year and doing "wiring" work but we couldn't confirm if that was for electrical, communications, or something else. Faster wifi would be fine with everybody. As would improved cellular data throughput. @jaxjags gave us some hard data for tmobile and spring which is good.

Data wins every time when compared to speculation.

I don't miss the days of dial-up modems or cable tv boxes for internet connectivity checked out from the Meadow Trading Post. Not one bit.

Bama Ed

PS - the Fort was the last on-property resort to get wifi several years ago so I would assume whatever kind of upgrades (wifi/cellular) taking place at the Fort has happened or is happening at the other Disney resorts too.

Speculation and feelings beat out hard data everytime Ed, don't you watch the stock market?

 

[Teamubr]

I switched to ATT 1 gig fiber at home about a year ago. Here is what I was seeing in December 2020 and what I'm getting now.



I'm pretty happy with this. Ian just bought a new computer and had to reinstall his flight simulator. It is 153 gig. It downloaded on a wired connection in less than 2 hours.

j

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

I switched to ATT 1 gig fiber at home about a year ago. Here is what I was seeing in December 2020 and what I'm getting now.

View attachment 623135 View attachment 623136

I'm pretty happy with this. Ian just bought a new computer and had to reinstall his flight simulator. It is 153 gig. It downloaded on a wired connection in less than 2 hours.

j

Man, I live out in the sticks and I'm tickled when I'm pulling 25 Mbps down. Triple digits let alone nearly 4 digits would be unreal. Ready for Musk to get all those satellites going for Starlink.

 

[jbrostek]

Part of why I never moved fully out to the sticks was because I needed solid internet for my job. I have fios gigabit and upgraded to wifi6 around the house. Most of the computers can't leverage wifi6 yet, but we regularly speed test at 400+ per device. I would be completely satisfied if I could regularly test at 25Mb/s at disney.

 

[Sjm9911]

I get about 80 at home , but thats higher then normal. For us, with maybe 3 streaming tvs going and at most like 3 pads and a computer its more then enough. I have never sceen tripple digit speeds. Lol. I really want to ask , what could you possable need all that for, but since its probably for uploading goverment secrets, i will not ask.......

 

[Teamubr]

What could you possable need all that for, but since its probably for uploading goverment secrets, i will not ask.......

I have a 20 something son who streams videos constantly AND on line games while DW and I are trying to work. We use to have Spectrum 400 mg service and it was ok, but prone to reliability issues. We live in a really old part of town with aging cable and phone infrastructure. I've been told the cable has lots of pin holes from squirrels running along them for years. (Looking at TiggerDad) Water gets into the pin holes and effects service.

ATT fiber was just introduced into my part of town last year and the 1 gig service was the same price I was paying for Spectrum. New fiber cable vs old coax cable AND twice the speed. It was a no brainer.

I also have networked video cameras around the house, a video door bell and some other things connected, so having good bandwidth is a plus.



j

 

[jbrostek]

Same here, we have 4 ring cameras, lots of streaming and me working from home. Zoom users about 2.5Mb/s per user, webex about 2.1 and it does not increase if you have more people on a call. Streaming is all over the place but you need good service for multiple streams.



Even now I know some have seen recent Apple TV push to to 40Mb/s.

As for my work needs, I do regularly download firmware images for various network equipment. Those images can be 1-2GB in size each, then upload them to our distribution server. Plus price wise it would only save me 20 bucks a month to drop to 400Meg service, so why bother since when the kids are here we use a decent chunk.

 

[bama_ed]

Same here, we have 4 ring cameras, lots of streaming and me working from home. Zoom users about 2.5Mb/s per user, webex about 2.1 and it does not increase if you have more people on a call. Streaming is all over the place but you need good service for multiple streams.

View attachment 623352

Even now I know some have seen recent Apple TV push to to 40Mb/s.

As for my work needs, I do regularly download firmware images for various network equipment. Those images can be 1-2GB in size each, then upload them to our distribution server. Plus price wise it would only save me 20 bucks a month to drop to 400Meg service, so why bother since when the kids are here we use a decent chunk.

That chart was helpful to me, @jbrostek. Although it didn't list YouTube TV, it gave me the search words to get info.

I am taking baby steps to drop Directv and go with a streaming channel provider like YouTube TV. I have slow internet service at the house ("up to 50 mbps" down and I consistently get about 30 mbps) but it's cheap. I got two Rokus for our home tv's (to supplement programming not offered on YTTV) and ran them both on HD channels and there was no drop in signal quality and I could still DIS. YTTV streams at 7-9 Mbps per channel depending on the frames per second. I'm guessing that Roku vs YTTV bitrates aren't vastly different.

I'll probably pick up YTTV ($65/month) and disconnect DTV ($150/month) after the SEC Championship game and before the bowl season.

I wonder if the cabling changes at the Fort will improve wifi bandwidth and I could bring my camping tv and it run YTTV? I'll be at the Fort briefly in January 2022 but not bringing the tv. Going back for an extended stay in November 2022 and would bring it then.

Interesting .....

ED

 

[Sjm9911]

Ed, i streamed prime/ disney + / hbo max and whatever the direct tv streaming is now. Np. The disney cable had like 4 channels, and not one of them was good. The fire stick ( amazon) worked fine, and at home I have the roku sticks and TVs because they load faster.

 

[ILove2Travel]

Just returned from The Fort in November. We were in Loop 2000. Great wifi signal and a full 5G signal on my iPhone 12. We both have T-Mobile and never needed to hotspot while at Disney.

 

[Stork]

Just returned from The Fort in November. We were in Loop 2000. Great wifi signal and a full 5G signal on my iPhone 12. We both have T-Mobile and never needed to hotspot while at Disney.

Ditto that. At the Fort now...streaming news and weather on the smart LG TV in our 5er. What a great upgrade.

 

[bama_ed]

Ed, i streamed prime/ disney + / hbo max and whatever the direct tv streaming is now. Np. The disney cable had like 4 channels, and not one of them was good. The fire stick ( amazon) worked fine, and at home I have the roku sticks and TVs because they load faster.

Just returned from The Fort in November. We were in Loop 2000. Great wifi signal and a full 5G signal on my iPhone 12. We both have T-Mobile and never needed to hotspot while at Disney.

Ditto that. At the Fort now...streaming news and weather on the smart LG TV in our 5er. What a great upgrade.

Maybe all these rolling loop closures were to access the the wireless access points (antennas) for wifi to provide higher speeds. Will be glad to try it out next month - may bring the tv after all.

Thanks for the confirmation, folks.

Bama Ed

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

With everything thats been going on at the Mouse house it makes me wonder if we arent going to see a paywall in the Wi-Fi future ?

 

[jbrostek]

With everything thats been going on at the Mouse house it makes me wonder if we arent going to see a paywall in the Wi-Fi future ?

Not these days, they will only hurt them not help them. They want to make money off Genie instead.

@bama_ed Delayed response, but they are all about the same, there are only so many codecs they can use for video and the bit rates are just based on the compression rates they are willing to use, compression of course hurts the picture so thats why the bit rates are near the same though some are drastically different as they choose not to compress 4k feeds as much.

 

[bama_ed]

Thanks, @jbrostek.

I thought about that after I posted that Genie has probably triggered a wifi upgrade in all the on-property resorts. You're right - they want to make money off of it. Can you imagine the outcry when the wifi is slow or won't connect at 7am to book the first ride? Like the initial wifi installation years ago, I bet the Fort's upgrade was last on the schedule (red-headed step-child syndrome).

I am currently running Directv and YouTubeTV for a few more days in parallel before I drop DTV. So far YTTV has been acceptable at half the price (once I figured out how to pull up the channel guide, record, etc.). It's not as clear as satellite sometimes but I've read that Over-The-Air antennas provide the highest bit rate (no compression) which are the local channels mostly but I'm fine with the value/price point so far.

Bama Ed

PS - YTTV offers a 4k upgrade for an additional monthly fee but I don't feel the need right now.

 

[jbrostek]

@bama_ed actually that was what I put on my after visit survey last trip. WIFI was slow and lack of microcell for various carriers to combat the congestion the MDE app was creating. You cannot make everyone rely on the app and not have either stellar wifi or localized bandwidth augmentation in place. Everyone will lose their minds if things won't load. I found it miserable when things got really congested just to order food, we actually gave up ordering counter service and just had some cheap snacks instead on day.

I would not pay more for 4k access, not that many shows are in 4k anyway. I been fine with just park cable, OTA plus streaming in most places. Though I found that since meeting Melissa, there is a lot less TV watching while camping. It's limited to end of day wind down and rainy days, at home we watch enough that at least my current deal with Fios makes moving to streaming not worth it. Though if they raise prices, we might just go to DirecTV stream or YTTV as a replacement and just pay for internet.

 

[Sjm9911]

@bama_ed actually that was what I put on my after visit survey last trip. WIFI was slow and lack of microcell for various carriers to combat the congestion the MDE app was creating. You cannot make everyone rely on the app and not have either stellar wifi or localized bandwidth augmentation in place. Everyone will lose their minds if things won't load. I found it miserable when things got really congested just to order food, we actually gave up ordering counter service and just had some cheap snacks instead on day.

I would not pay more for 4k access, not that many shows are in 4k anyway. I been fine with just park cable, OTA plus streaming in most places. Though I found that since meeting Melissa, there is a lot less TV watching while camping. It's limited to end of day wind down and rainy days, at home we watch enough that at least my current deal with Fios makes moving to streaming not worth it. Though if they raise prices, we might just go to DirecTV stream or YTTV as a replacement and just pay for internet.

I did that, had the direct tv now before att bought it and spun it off , its direct tv streaming but called somethibg else. It saves little now, as they keep uping the prices. If i didnt need a cable or streaming service for my hockey games, I would just do hulu. But not live. Some places have live stuff for free, but its like national coverage. So, roku has news stations to stream for free. Its a mess with everyone having a paid service now. I have , disney, prime, netflix, apple tv, and the direct tv now streaming thing. I like the roku stick as it will tell you where a show is. So, if you ask it for say a specific movie it will tell you where its playing and if its a paid service or free.

 

[Stratman50th]

I did that, had the direct tv now before att bought it and spun it off , its direct tv streaming but called somethibg else. It saves little now, as they keep uping the prices. If i didnt need a cable or streaming service for my hockey games, I would just do hulu. But not live. Some places have live stuff for free, but its like national coverage. So, roku has news stations to stream for free. Its a mess with everyone having a paid service now. I have , disney, prime, netflix, apple tv, and the direct tv now streaming thing. I like the roku stick as it will tell you where a show is. So, if you ask it for say a specific movie it will tell you where its playing and if its a paid service or free.

I've had Roku for a year now and we really like it. There's a Roku in the coach and it's nice having the same viewing on the go as at home. I'm sure satellite is the same but I've never had it is I don't know what we're missing.