Wireless on Site (1 Viewer)

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Mark&Sue

Deleted User
Hi Funsters,

As some of you may know from previous posts, Sue and I have taken on the prestigious role of Wardens at Cornish Farm Touring Park and after two weeks in the role, although early days, we are loving it.

To the point, we have decided to start trials on wireless internet access for the site and would like your feedback.

Do you think that internet access on a site is a good idea?
What do you use the internet for when you find a site with wireless access?
Should internet access be paid or free?
If free, what would you do about contention for use if some people are over using the facility for such things as big downloads etc....?

These and any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Best Regards,

Mark and Sue.

:thumb:
 
Apr 27, 2008
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I would use wireless if provided free. As a rule if it is charged for it is cheaper to use my 3G Vodaphone contract dongle.
Used mainly for email and this site of course.:RollEyes:
 

traveller

Free Member
Oct 27, 2007
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Hello


We would only use it if free as we would only be using the email for keeping in touch. If no free wifi then would just keep in touch with family by phone.

Motorhomer
 

hilldweller

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Dec 5, 2008
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>> Do you think that internet access on a site is a good idea?

Not a good idea, *essential* in this day and age.

>> Contention

Why not suck it and see. The big problem now is iPlayer, it and it's like is screwing up the internet. I can see that this will cause problems for you.

What I would want is this site ( and similar ), travel news, weather news, site booking, email, sort of thing that would not cause you headaches.

Free/Charge ? Well we've paid €5 an hour in Italy, free in France. I preferred free. Setting up and using a payment system will be an added problem for you to live with.
 

Onderweg

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Free for guests only.
When on holiday we use internet to stay in contact with the children and grandchildren, that will be Skype (voice or webcam), Msn, Mail and Hyves.

Regards
Paul and Ineke

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Mark&Sue

Deleted User
Good feedback guys, I agree with the iPlayer issue, although its a good utility it does use masses of bandwidth, similar to downloading films etc. It is easy to block sites like that if required, depends if its abused or not, time will tell.
 

JeanLuc

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Nov 17, 2008
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Agree with the idea of free WiFi - it is becoming quite common now anyway (McDonalds et al). Most useful for checking e-mail, finding local interests, site booking, Google Earth to see exact location of next port of call and identify SatNav co-ords etc.

Be aware that whilst I am all in favour of free use of Skype, as a 'point to point' system it can be a bit bandwidth hungry if used for video calling. Fine if just for chat.
 

Bulletguy

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Feb 7, 2008
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Agree with the idea of free WiFi - it is becoming quite common now anyway (McDonalds et al).
Has to be free or people will simply go elsewhere.

I've never used wifi but my mate regularly does whilst touring and like JeanLuc points out, McDonalds offer free wifi and this is where he always heads for when he wants to use the internet.

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Spacerunner

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Apr 7, 2008
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I stayed on a CL that supplied WiFi, they made a one-off charge of £3.00 no matter how long you stayed. This seemed quite acceptable to me and I was happy to pay it.
Such thoughtfulness on the part of site and CL managers needs to be encouraged, it may shame the bigger players into making more reasonable charges.

I use the internet to find local information, looking for the next stop, LPG suppliers infact general stuff that makes travelling so much more enjoyable than when we used to blindly stumble around the country with our fingers crossed that we didn't run out of something.

Of course when you couple internet information with your satnav you can 'drive like a local', hopefully blending in and giving motorhomers a good reputation. :Cool:
 
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Mark&Sue

Deleted User
I like the £3 unlimited time idea, sounds good, not only because it pays for the cost of the broadband and maintenance but maintenance is lowered as the security codes will only need changing weekly. It also encourages longer stays because the longer you stay the more broadband you get for your money! Hmmmm

While in the trial period it will be free but secured so acces will be given on request we are thinking of ways to limit contention when the site is near capacity.

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Ven

Aug 15, 2008
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Hi Mark,

Having just returned from a snowy Cornish Farm - I would definitely have used wi-fi if it was available. I think although Free is always good, I certainly would have paid for the priviledge as long as it was a reasonable fee, using it to do things that are not possible or more difficult via my mobile.

I would mainly use it for forums, Facebook, Twitter etc., but may download if I was on a site for longer periods.
 

eddie

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Oct 4, 2007
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I think that wireless on a site is a great idea and I would happily pay say £10 - £15 pound a day for it.

This would still be excellent value for money

Eddie:thumb:
 

PenelopePitstop

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I think that wireless on a site is a great idea and I would happily pay say £10 - £15 pound a day for it.

This would still be excellent value for money

Eddie:thumb:

£15 - £20 per day is a complete rip-off!!

We've paid €20 a week in some places in Spain but it has usually either been free or a few euros.

The site we're on now has free wi-fi on each pitch also cable TV ( they've put in a big Sat dish so we can get BBC 1 & 2, ITV 1,2,3 &4 and Film 4). Excellent site with spotless facilities, 16amp electricity . Good supermarket (a bit like a Spar shop) on site also 1st class bar and restaurant! All this for €250 a month if you stay for 2 months (€200 for 3 months or €300 for 1 month) :thumb::thumb:

Wi-fi is very important to motorhomers on long trips / fulltiming and as most of them are pensioners it would be a shame to price yourself out of business Eddie!:Sad:

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eddie

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Oct 4, 2007
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Hey PP Take a chill pill:Cool: I thought that by saying £10 - £15 A DAY that no one would think I was serious! :Doh:

Eddie
 

PenelopePitstop

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Hey PP Take a chill pill:Cool: I thought that by saying £10 - £15 A DAY that no one would think I was serious! :Doh:

Eddie

Glad to hear you're joking Eddie - but we have had experience of UK campsites charging extortionate rates like that!

We actually use pay-as-you-go dongles when in the UK - at £15 a month we find we have plenty of internet access.

However if you supplied free or very cheap wi-fi it would make your site a lot more attractive to many people!

We have yet come across a UK campsite with such vision!:roflmto::roflmto:

Generally speaking we find UK camping expensive compared to the rest of Europe.:Sad:
 
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Mark&Sue

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So what is a good rate if it is to be a paid service? I have my own ideas but I would really like to know what people would find reasonable, bearing in mind that if there are 40 users on 1 wireless system it would get incredibly bogged down?
The argument for a paid service is obviously contention for bandwidth so if it were a reasonable rate some would use it happily and some would opt not to.

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scotjimland

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Jul 25, 2007
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So what is a good rate if it is to be a paid service? I have my own ideas but I would really like to know what people would find reasonable, bearing in mind that if there are 40 users on 1 wireless system it would get incredibly bogged down?
The argument for a paid service is obviously contention for bandwidth so if it were a reasonable rate some would use it happily and some would opt not to.

if it is a fast broadband service,I would happily pay £1 per day per van, this is comparable with using a dongle on PAYG which is general slow .. however , I foresee some unscrupulous users passing on the code to their pals..

If it's free or built into the daily rate I don't think it will be abused, most folks are not heavy into downloading on holiday.. browsing forums and emails would be the main use.

Have a word with Bob who has a free service at Parc Verger.. he should be able to advise.

The other problem if you charge for it as a separate service it may breach the terms and conditions of the ISP .. not sure about that but worth looking into.
 
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Mark&Sue

Deleted User
Some good points there Jim, I can and will police the logs on a regular basis and block IP's that have gained access to the codes unfairly, easy to do, even remotely from my laptop so I don't see a problem there. As for the ISP issue, that will be part of bringing it all online and legal, the system will be on an unlimited usage business plan anyway, we will have to make the required legal adjustments.

I think that many people have dongles that they can and will use. I have one and its good but some people will want fast internet that many dongles just don't offer. I have Vodafone and its 7.2 mbps but i still prefer to use a wireless connection as it is more stable and it allows greater usage.

We'll see how the trial goes over the coming weeks and go from there.
 

Benwick Rambler

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An interesting discussion. Because of the high cost of <Link Removed>, I've decided to go down the Vodafone dongle route.

Brian
 

scotjimland

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So you're not really Scottish. Throwing money around like it grows on trees.

When it comes to throwing money around I'm only a amateur ...:winky:

Gordon Brown is a real pro :thumb:

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Mark&Sue

Deleted User
Blimey Brian, see what you mean. 1 Hour for £5! :whatthe:

Caravan Club Wireless Prices.

# 1 hour - £5 (Valid for use over 72 hours from first log in)
# 4 hours - £8 (Valid for use over 92 hours from first log in)
# 7 days - £20
# 30 days - £33

Anyone got any thoughts about these? :whatthe:

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Papa Smurf

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Sep 25, 2007
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Yes.

It's a rip-off.

You wouldn't get enough usage to recoup the cost of the equipement.
 

hilldweller

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Anyone got any thoughts about these? :whatthe:

None printable.

Though I did pay €5 in a desperate bid to find any good weather in Europe last June. Failed. But that was a commercial camp site, not a "Club" I was a member of.

A few days later I paid €12 for WiFi on a French municipal site, but they did throw in a night's stay with EHU.
 

sandyketton

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Aug 29, 2007
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Eight years but ten years tugging in an earlier life
Anyone got any thoughts about these?

Extortionate!
But if the cost of this system is not recovered from members paying for online time, will charges be reduced to a more acceptable level to increase uptake and fetch cash in that way?
I would like to think so but more likely the costs will be consolidated into the pitch fees in the same way electrics and TV boosters costs are.
What price a pitch then?

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Jim

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Jul 19, 2007
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The CC have a sort of BBC mentality, they think they are doing us a favour, and we should be grateful, after all its only a fiver for a whole 60 minutes::bigsmile:
 
Jul 29, 2007
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Hi the CC don't own this system, they contracted the Wi-fi out so have no control over the price.

One of the directors of the Wi-fi company came on the "other" site last year to defend himself, he reckened it was good value, pretty certain he didn't convince anybody. ::bigsmile:

I did buy the week voucher at Black Shaw Moor where I couldn't get 3G on my dongle, and it worked fine.

Olley
 

hilldweller

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Hi the CC don't own this system, they contracted the Wi-fi out so have no control over the price. Olley

Ah, shades of the NHS bed phone/entertainment rip off.

Take a captive audience and milk it for all it's worth.

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