How important is on-site wifi?

[Markas]

Just asking this as am currently working on a campsite and the one thing that seems to cause the most headaches with guests is the quality of the wifi. I can't imagine this bring a problem anyone would have commented on ten, or even five years ago.
Had a visitor recently new to campervanning and with a brand new Pössl Road Car. Within minutes of arriving he was complaining about lack of wifi (it was a conflict between his devices - Apple - and our service provider - SFR) but it took him 3 days to admit his water wasn't being pumped and he wasn't that bothered about fixing it - quickly traced to a blown fuse the PDI hadn't picked up!
When I go away I revel in the lack of emails and absence of distractions from the interweb, more time to enjoy my surroundings or get stuck into a good book .
If you travel with a 'significant other' isn't it a time to converse or share experiences instead of stuffing your nose in a mobile phone or laptop? Am I alone in thinking this?

 

[Allanm]

If you provide a facility, someone will complain about it. If you got rid of the Wi-fi, they would find something else to whinge about. Probably the toilets and shower not being clean enough........

 

[hilldweller]

Am I alone in thinking this?

Oh YES.

The world lives on the web now.

A couple of weeks ago the first question I asked of a Spanish site was "do you have good WiFi". Why ? Because that weekend there was a major bike race on and after the winter drought we needed to see it.

Emails are an integral part of life.

And don't mention Facebook/Twitter/XXX/YYYY/ZZZZ without which life has no meaning.

You are asking the question on the web, aren't you.

 

[Ivory55]

Oh YES.

The world lives on the web now.

A couple of weeks ago the first question I asked of a Spanish site was "do you have good WiFi". Why ? Because that weekend there was a major bike race on and after the winter drought we needed to see it.

Emails are an integral part of life.

And don't mention Facebook/Twitter/XXX/YYYY/ZZZZ without which life has no meaning.

You are asking the question on the web, aren't you.

If on a site is the signal good enough to watch the race. Tried it at home and it was like watching a bad flicker show. It just kept freezing on a picture.

 

[Two on Tour]

Not, it's usually crap, we supply our own via our MiFi.

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[Eggs]

These days I think it would be insignificant, I've been hiding on a CS since last October, I've lived, and worked with my phone data with no problems. I guess it's what you need the Internet for.

 

[hilldweller]

If on a site is the signal good enough to watch the race. Tried it at home and it was like watching a bad flicker show. It just kept freezing on a picture.

It will of course vary site to site. In fact we moved pitch, to get away from the masses wanting a sea view, to the back where we got better bandwidth on a different node.

At home we watch all the bike racing via the internet, a lot cheaper and more flexible than Sky etc. It works fine at 5Mb/s and up. Though to be honest, a live broadcast can sometimes freeze, I think, because they don't have enough server bandwidth, occasionally we have watched an hour or two later when it always works fine.

 

[Clarky]

Gigabytes are cheaper now and 4G is plentiful.
Two or three years ago I would have been wanting good wi-fi but now, like many others, I rely on tethering from a mobile phone.
On the rare occasion that we use ‘proper’ sites good wi-fi is nice to have but not essential.

Richard.

 

[MyrtleGuru]

Gigabytes are cheaper now and 4G is plentiful.
Two or three years ago I would have been wanting good wi-fi but now, like many others, I rely on tethering from a mobile phone.
On the rare occasion that we use ‘proper’ sites good wi-fi is nice to have but not essential.
Richard.

You've hit the nail on the head there: on-site wifi is becoming less relevant as 4G coverage gets better and cheaper.

 

[Podney]

We’ve got summink called MIFI. Don’t know what it is,but it makes me iPad work. Management sorts out all that stuff.

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[steve 6644]

I look for sites without WIfI and a phone signal.
Real life is just too interesting to waste on the interbollox or a bloody phone screen.

Admire the view and wildlife, eat like a king, drink like a fish, talk to each other(preferable a load of cobblers) and shut out the noise of modern, so called life.

Its vanishing faster every day, the real world that is.

 

[Markas]

I look for sites without WIfI and a phone signal.
Real life is just too interesting to waste on the interbollox or a bloody phone screen.

Admire the view and wildlife, eat like a king, drink like a fish, talk to each other(preferable a load of cobblers) and shut out the noise of modern, so called life.

Its vanishing faster every day, the real world that is.

I could not agree with you more, Sir. A mere 'like' would not have done your comments justice!

 

[Markas]

Oh YES.

The world lives on the web now.

A couple of weeks ago the first question I asked of a Spanish site was "do you have good WiFi". Why ? Because that weekend there was a major bike race on and after the winter drought we needed to see it.

Emails are an integral part of life.

And don't mention Facebook/Twitter/XXX/YYYY/ZZZZ without which life has no meaning.

You are asking the question on the web, aren't you.

On the web, yes. Via site wifi, no. Use 4G on my phone, can stream Netflix with no problems if I want a quiet evening in!

 

[Guigsy]

I've got my own MiFi with a 4G antenna glued to the roof. I don't like to use open WiFi networks because I'm too paranoid about security... and in my experience, it tends to be about as fast as semaphore anyway.

 

[Markas]

What's this Mifi thing? I thought they made kitchens?
Is it part of the secret Apple i-conspiracy?

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[Eggs]

I look for sites without WIfI and a phone signal.
Real life is just too interesting to waste on the interbollox or a bloody phone screen.

Admire the view and wildlife, eat like a king, drink like a fish, talk to each other(preferable a load of cobblers) and shut out the noise of modern, so called life.

Its vanishing faster every day, the real world that is.

Lovely idea, although some of us still have to work while we enjoy our vans.

 

[Markas]

Oh YES.

The world lives on the web now.

A couple of weeks ago the first question I asked of a Spanish site was "do you have good WiFi". Why ? Because that weekend there was a major bike race on and after the winter drought we needed to see it.

Emails are an integral part of life.

And don't mention Facebook/Twitter/XXX/YYYY/ZZZZ without which life has no meaning.

You are asking the question on the web, aren't you.

Not sure about this, but are you being ironic in this post?

 

[Guigsy]

What's this Mifi thing? I thought they made kitchens?
Is it part of the secret Apple i-conspiracy?

Nothing to do with Apple.

If you have a mobile phone, you might know that you can 'tether' your laptop/tablet/etc to use the phone's 4G connection by creating your own WiFi hotspot. A MiFi is just a dedicated device that does the same thing, take a 4G signal (so needs it's own SIM and contract) and broadcasts it so you have your own personal WiFi connection. The advantage of MiFi devices is they can cope with more connections than a phone, and they usually get a better signal (especially if you can plug in an external aerial).

 

[two]

Site WiFi is no longer a requirement for us, now that mobile access is so easy.
Free WiFi seems to be in such demand that performance is limited wherever it's available because you need to share that service with so many others.

 

[Markas]

Nothing to do with Apple.

If you have a mobile phone, you might know that you can 'tether' your laptop/tablet/etc to use the phone's 4G connection by creating your own WiFi hotspot. A MiFi is just a dedicated device that does the same thing, take a 4G signal (so needs it's own SIM and contract) and broadcasts it so you have your own personal WiFi connection. The advantage of MiFi devices is they can cope with more connections than a phone, and they usually get a better signal (especially if you can plug in an external aerial).

Thank you for explaining that; it actually sounds like a good idea. Can you just put the sim card in from your mobile phone & use the data in your contract?

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[Stewart J]

Been using a mifi for 6 years now both here and on the continent data prices have dropped considerably over the years and speeds in the form of 4g are almost the norm now. Site Wi-fi we rarely use prefer the security offered by our mifi.

 

[mexican pete]

No Wifi = no Motorhome fun!!!!

 

[Lenny HB]

We rarely stay on sites but if they are including wifi in the price it should work but rarely does.
Doesn't bother us with data being so cheap now.

 

[two]

Thank you for explaining that; it actually sounds like a good idea. Can you just put the sim card in from your mobile phone & use the data in your contract?

If you have a phone, you can 'tether' your device to that. The only benefit MiFi can provide over that is that it can serve more than one device at the same time.
You'd need to put a 'data only' SIM into it. With few exceptions, most standard phone SIMs will not work.

 

[hilldweller]

Not sure about this, but are you being ironic in this post?

No I'm not. In some ways I totally agree with you about the concept of holiday but that is from another world of the twentieth century.

Just look around you, when did you last see a kid who wasn't glued to a little screen ? Go in a restaurant and watch people communicating by thrusting their screen into the face of their partner. Now I know all these actions are on the mobile phone network but this just conditions people to be locked to communications.

Look where any number of MHs park, very often the first thing you see is not the bottle being opened, not the kettle on, but the satellite dish having an erection.

How many time have you read on here "what size dish do I need to get Corri in Benidorm ?". People are now getting used to watching their favourite programmes via the web.

Look on FUN and see how many people ask for and give help to those on holiday. Possible the biggest private threads of the last two years is the much watched travels of @Northernraider.

So I say without a scrap of humour, if you want to maximise your business lay on good WiFi and maybe free though I think most will pay up for a good connection.

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[hilldweller]

What's this Mifi thing?

It's a play on WiFi, a little box that uses the mobile network to provide ( My ) WiFi when mobile. Problem is cost and speed compared to a site's hard wired internet service, it all depends where you are for the signal.

 

[hilldweller]

On the web, yes. Via site wifi, no. Use 4G on my phone, can stream Netflix with no problems if I want a quiet evening in!

Yes I understand that but when abroad, roaming, the phone network can be variable and expensive.

 

[Diggerdi]

My only vice is the internet- I'm a true junkie where it''s concerned. If I can't get a green light on my mifi router I have cold sweats and start shaking . I have 20gb/month on my mifi and 30gb/month on my phone. Comes in very handy when there''s no TV signal on a site because hubby''s the same about his telly. Thank god for Amazon firestick ​

 

[Reallyretired]

Don't use site wwifi even if free, and certainly wouldn't pay for it. I always get faster on my phone, and I pay for the contract on that even if I don't use it

 

[Reallyretired]

Currently not on a site but chez ukbill in Murcia I can recommend it, but wait till we move on just two mhs here, one of which is his. Good 4g signal

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