Why sky-high WiFi fee? (1 Viewer)

[ericonabike]

We've been on a few British camp sites in this, our first 'homing year and have been [or more exactly, I have been - Mrs E tends not to get stressy over such things] staggered by the cost of Wifi on site. £5 for five hours at a CC site, and similar exorbitant charges elsewhere. How can that be justified? Once the routers been set upo, surely there's no cost to the site owner? Feels very like the olden days on t'internet, when you'd book into a hotel and find similar charges being applied, as though it was a luxury. Au contraire, on the one French site we've stayed at, WiFi was free in the bar area, so folk would just take their laptops, I-Piddles etc along to the bar with them.

Does anyone else get irritated by this or am I being unfair? And would a site owner care to justify the charge, if there are any on here? I feel a campaign coming on...

 

[ShiftZZ]

Easy one word answer...

GREED

 

[olley]

The CC don't own the Wifi stuff, its all owned and managed by an outside company who want to make a good profit, that's why its dear. Site I am on at the moment has free Wifi. Last one didn't have it at all. Get a Mifi from 3G. :thumb:

Ian

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[steveclecy]

I think both the CC and C&CC have the same problem. They have set up an infrastructure to provide WiFi across their site, which to be fair, cannot be that cheap when you look at the hardware on poles.

Then technology moves on and where a 3G system is available, campers use their phones for internet access.

I rather think they both need to bite the bullet and provide free or low cost access in a smaller area - perhaps near the reception, reducing the need for site wide relays.

Steve

 

[GJH]

As Ian says, the CC & C&CC are simply using commercial services available to anyone an passing the charges on.

The alternative would be to increase pitch fees to cover those costs so people would be paying whether or not they used the WiFi. That, indeed, is the situation with sites which offer supposedly free WiFi.

 

[mondo]

We paid for Wi-fi on a site in Peniscola..25 euros a month..we were there just over 7 weeks so it worked out at basically a Euro a day..we actually had one of the local radio stations in Bradford on all day everyday on line..just so we could hear the weather back in West Yorkshire whilst we were sunning it in Spain!!
If the continental campsites can do it and make money out of it why can't CC and CCC do it come on chaps it's not hard to do lets face it why charge a pound an hour...mind you as Shiftzz says GREED pure and simple...

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[canopus]

We paid for Wi-fi on a site in Peniscola..25 euros a month..we were there just over 7 weeks so it worked out at basically a Euro a day..we actually had one of the local radio stations in Bradford on all day everyday on line..just so we could hear the weather back in West Yorkshire whilst we were sunning it in Spain!!
If the continental campsites can do it and make money out of it why can't CC and CCC do it come on chaps it's not hard to do lets face it why charge a pound an hour...mind you as Shiftzz says GREED pure and simple...

Maybe your Spanish campsites did it with free grants from the EU which we probably paid for anyway. And look at the sh1t they're in now, not to mention the other greedy gits who filled thier boots,:Angry:i.e. Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Greek Cyprus and Italy to name but a few:Angry: How much did they contribute per capita? Sweet FA in comparison :Angry:

 

[olley]

It all depends how you do it. We offer free wifi in our shops, it cost us nothing because I am paying for the internet anyway and I just give them the wifi password for the router, being a small shop the signal works fine even upstairs. Doing it this way brings in security issues, so to stop anyone hacking into your network, a site would I imagine use a separate system, and that's were the cost's start.

Rent for a new line, new computer, and wifi router, software program to manage the passwords and wifi access, more cost. small site or Wifi area could work from your Wifi router as ours does, but a bigger site may need repeaters, more cost. If your not competent to fit and manage all this then loads more money. I can see quite a few thousand being spent in some cases.

Ian

 

[activecampers]

Problem is, to non-IT people, wifi is "just simple wifi like I have at home" - and assume its a £20 box using existing wifi.

Sadly, it isn't the case for bigger setups.

Some campsites offer free wifi, and indeed use home-use grade equipment which works some of the time, but I know it doens't always work all of the time.

To cater for potentuially 100 devices over a large area you need commercial grade stuff, think high £100's to low £1000's, and then as the wardens aren't experts they may need maintenance contracts etc - all costs to ensure you have it reliable.

Some sites outsource this to BTOZ or Cloud to varying degrees, but there is still a cost.

So sadly, one of those things, you get what you pay for, sometimes home use stuff is great and works, someimes it isn't for the scale required.

(I know as I'm having to help a hotel who have some low-grade wifi kit, complaining customers, and will face a huge bill if they upgrade to commercial grade)

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[joner8888]

I found none of them are worth the hassle of trying to get logged on to---the slow connection because lots are trying to use it--- the cost---- just get this, and it works everywhere and you log your phone /laptop into it :thumb:
Link Removed

 

[GJH]

(snip)
Some campsites offer free wifi, and indeed use home-use grade equipment which works some of the time, but I know it doens't always work all of the time.
(snip)

And if the ISP discovers that a home set-up is being used commercially they will slap commercial charges onto the account.

 

[Terry]

I found none of them are worth the hassle of trying to get logged on to---the slow connection because lots are trying to use it--- the cost---- just get this, and it works everywhere and you log your phone /laptop into it :thumb:
Link Removed

We have bought one a couple of weeks ago -works brill -also bought a 3gb sim card for 90 days @just over 12 quid :thumb:
terry

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[Reallyretired]

I have found a few free ones in France but invariably they are the limited type that only work near reception. These are usually the best as only a few will use the connection at a time.
The ones that have put in site wide coverage and charge a lot to recover the cost, I have usually found to be very slow, as a lot of users on and only a relatively slow internet connection at the end of it. 3G is fine for UK and not too expensive on T-mobile abroad if you save all your non essential stuff for when you've got a free connection.

 

[NEV3]

I have to agree that the CC price for wifi is way too high. I usually manage with a dongle. A bit slow but ok for email and forums etc.

I recently stayed on PONT KEMYS campsite, four miles north of Usk right by the River Usk. They had a good free wifi system with repeaters set throughout the site.

Excellent site with plenty hardstandings for Motorhomes and really good toilet blocks. Sorry I digress; yes generally wifi fees are too high!

Regards

Nev

 

[lorger]

Because people will pay it.

We are with BT at home so have the use of btoz if we can find one and also use a dongle with a payg sim in it works out a lot cheaper and took us 3months to use the 1gb

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[Xoxoc]

It all depends how you do it. We offer free wifi in our shops, it cost us nothing because I am paying for the internet anyway and I just give them the wifi password for the router, being a small shop the signal works fine even upstairs. Doing it this way brings in security issues...

Ian,

If you are worried about the security of your setup and you have a spare router (cable not adsl) then you have all you need to have your free wifi in your shop and your wifi upstairs share the same internet connection but be invisible from each other.

If you want more info I can explain further via PM (rather than take thread off topic).


Bryan

 

[olley]

Hi Brian, I mentioned security issues in regard to campsites, where a hacker can sit unmolested in a camper and hack away. Sitting at a hair station with a hairdresser right next to you, its not so easy to do that.

Although we provide Wifi, the demand for it is near enough zero, I-phones and the like work fine without the need for it.

Ian

 

[joner8888]

I have found a few free ones in France but invariably they are the limited type that only work near reception. These are usually the best as only a few will use the connection at a time.
The ones that have put in site wide coverage and charge a lot to recover the cost, I have usually found to be very slow, as a lot of users on and only a relatively slow internet connection at the end of it. 3G is fine for UK and not too expensive on T-mobile abroad if you save all your non essential stuff for when you've got a free connection.

I got this for France
Link Removed

and will fit it in this, for coverage for booking campsites on the move
Link Removed

:thumb:

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[olley]

I got this for France
Link Removed


:thumb:

The offer at the top of the page is 13p a meg, that's £130 per gig!!

Ian

 

[joner8888]

The offer at the top of the page is 13p a meg, that's £130 per gig!!

Ian

0.13 per meg ,that is 1.30 euro per meg !
Did you misread?:thumb:

 

[olley]

your right. Sorry, €130 per gig!!

Ian

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[Xoxoc]

Hi Brian, I mentioned security issues in regard to campsites, where a hacker can sit unmolested in a camper and hack away. Sitting at a hair station with a hairdresser right next to you, its not so easy to do that.

Although we provide Wifi, the demand for it is near enough zero, I-phones and the like work fine without the need for it.

Ian

Good point...I don't think nerdy hackers are targeting hair salons just yet

And as you say, smartphone users generally have data included in their contract or have unlimited data through www.giffgaff.org.uk and therefore don't need wifi anyway.

The only real risk you could face is as with most people, from nearby residents but as you have password protected your access you have covered that.

As an aside, if you DID think you would get the traffic, using a spare router and a spare PC it is very easy to provide a proper hotspot (free or chargeable) and still have your home network protected but share the same internet connection.

Most

 

[bailey]

The £5.00 lasts a year unlike the ccc they charge £2.00 for 24 hours and the clock runs even when you log off

 

[Phill D]

I got this for France
Link Removed

and will fit it in this, for coverage for booking campsites on the move
Link Removed

:thumb:

i agree uk site prices for wifi are rediculous... so i bought a 3 mifi, but its locked to 3 can it be unlocked? and by whom? or how? :Blush:

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[Terry]

i agree uk site prices for wifi are rediculous... so i bought a 3 mifi, but its locked to 3 can it be unlocked? and by whom? or how? :Blush:

The link is the same as mine (mi fi)-it is unlocked - sims are £12.18 for 3 gb for 90 days starting from first use--I think thereis a link on ebay where they unlock for a tenner
terry

 

[Phill D]

sorry i must be DIM!oh: i bought the mifi from 3 with a 3 3gig 90 day
sim.:thumb: but i thought the mifi unit was locked to 3:Sad: ! is that not the case?

 

[Terry]

sorry i must be DIM!oh: i bought the mifi from 3 with a 3 3gig 90 day
sim.:thumb: but i thought the mifi unit was locked to 3:Sad: ! is that not the case?

If it is the one in link it is unlocked
terry

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[Viennese]

C&CC

Stayed last week at C&CC site at Thetford Forest - excellent free wifi all around the site. Free wifi at Pentney Park not far away was impossible to get into...

 

[TheTwoOfUs]

We don't have a problem with Wi-Fi simply because we don't take it. We try to get away from it all when we go off on our trips.

 

[Landy lover]

Best chargeable deal I have seen is Gate House Wood site in Kent - £10 per week unlimited access seemed to me a fair price. As already said good equipment has to be funded and replaced.

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