Sometime's Park WiFi still is the winner:)!

Smitty77_7 · May 11, 2017

We're just starting out second week of travels on this years big trip. Prior to leaving I made several upgrades of our Communications Arsenal. (WiFiRanger GOac & Elite AC FM, Mobile Mark MIMO Rooftop Antenna, Dual 13" Maximum Signal Magnetic Antennas (One feeding the MS Max Amp, the 2nd available to dual up to the Unite Explore antenna ports.), Mobley, and our cell phones in Hotspot mode too.)

We've run up from San Diego to Reno, stopping on the Eastern side of the Sierras in a few places. Found ATT Mobley supported us well in Bishop, my Verizon S6 in Hotspot mode in Lee Vining, ATT Mobley at the Southwest side of Reno, neither ATT or Verizon had good download speeds at Sparks, NV (Regardless of antenna's combinations and amplification or not used.) so Park Wifi via GOac was used their. In West Wendover, NB the Verizon S6 had the fast download speeds, no amp on. And last night in Rawlins, WY we had strong signals at of both ATT and Verizon devices, including a test with the Unite Explore via roof top Mobile Mark MIMO feed - but I assume due to tower traffic - no device could get us very good download speeds. (Unite Explore via MM MIMO feed was the best, as just under 3 Mbps.) So back to the WR GOac, and could get about 6 Mbps on park WiFi. Changed over to the Elite AC, and dang if we were not pulling in 15-17 Mbps speeds. (Park wifi source said Charter/Spectrum during Speedtest.

Due to DW's request for an evening adult beverage, I did not get a chance to see if the two 13" Maximum Signal antennas feeding the Unite Explore would have made a difference. (Don't think it would, as again we had good signal strength on all devices...)

My purpose for posting? Well it was a classic example, as well as a timely rationale to the DW - on why having multiple methods of obtaining Data is needed while traveling. (IF staying connected is important enough to warrant the costs to the individual. Many get along fine with every few days, or every few weeks free WiFi. Others, like myself, really want connectivity to the internet at all times. (Stock trading, banking, property rental management, etc.).

As I'm in the age bracket that gets me a few times during a nights sleep:)!) I waited until around 1:30AM and then set a show we wanted to record to download. (Figured I was not hurting the park members at that time, with speeds of low park traffic of GT 22 Mpbs.)

Looking forward to more testing of and tweaking of the new equipment over the next 3 1/2 months...

Best to all, may the data be with you (And at useable speeds too!!!),

Smitty

richfaa · May 11, 2017

CG WIFI is IMO in general much better than a few years ago. We always check the CG WIFI first before turning on out Hot spot.

Jack Mayer · May 11, 2017

7 minutes ago, richfaa said:

CG WIFI is IMO in general much better than a few years ago. We always check the CG WIFI first before turning on out Hot spot.

In general availability, and reliability have improved overall on campground wifi. End user experience is probably not that much better, overall, since there are a number of people that DEMAND to stream on campground wifi. If there is no mechanism to block streaming - which in general there is not - then that essentially kills the bandwidth in many instances. So I'd say that in my experience that the wifi is not really much better. Although you will certainly find some "cooking" setups. I've seen as much as 32mbps on some systems, which is near the limit of technology, once deployed into a live system.

I can get in the 30's on the system at the campground where I manage the network. But not when it is loaded, and not over multiple hops. Our loaded down speed averages around 8 mbps. Which I consider marginal from a deployment perspective. But it is all about cost/performance tradeoffs.

Pat & Pete · May 11, 2017

26 minutes ago, Jack Mayer said:

In general availability, and reliability have improved overall on campground wifi. End user experience is probably not that much better, overall, since there are a number of people that DEMAND to stream on campground wifi. If there is no mechanism to block streaming - which in general there is not - then that essentially kills the bandwidth in many instances. So I'd say that in my experience that the wifi is not really much better. Although you will certainly find some "cooking" setups. I've seen as much as 32mbps on some systems, which is near the limit of technology, once deployed into a live system.

I can get in the 30's on the system at the campground where I manage the network. But not when it is loaded, and not over multiple hops. Our loaded down speed averages around 8 mbps. Which I consider marginal from a deployment perspective. But it is all about cost/performance tradeoffs.

I've seen that scenario more than once .

'We LOVE Netflicks' is not a good thing to hear at most campgrounds .

Smitty77_7 · May 11, 2017

Things may change for us if (When(:!) Verizon GF UDP disappears. But for now, more for data security reasons then any other reason, well besides it is usually faster Download speeds too, our order of preference is (And this is new, due to the added equipment, and subject to change as we learn ahead.):

-Verizon Samsung S6 Hotspot mode, feeding WR GOac (All go thru WR GOac, some tethered vs WiFi connected.)

-ATT Mobely

-ATT Unite Explore

-ATT iPhone 7

(ATT iPhone 7/Unite Explore & MIL's Samsung S5 at home - share 20GB (Down from the promised, but not able to deliver 40GB due to the problems we had trying to establish the Rural Homebase Plan. MIL maybe on a real busy month, will use close to 1GB (She connects via WiFi to the Spectrum Broadband while in the house, so that really cuts back on her data usage.)

And I think my example above, where I waited to download off hours on a Park WiFI, is an example of what many people do. My wife even limits Youtube streaming while on Park WiFi. Emails and surfing the net are our primary usage of Park WiFi.

If we're not able to use my Verizon GF UDP, then we'll also use Park WiFi for say system updates, or phone syncing duties, to preserve data usage. While traveling, my Verizon S6 remains on as a Hotspot, positioned within 4-6' of the inside Maximum Signal internal antenna. My wife uses both her iPhone 7 on WiFI connected - if I have a signal, to preserve data usage.

In general, I find 10 Mbps speeds to be an exception on Park WiFi. Have been in a handful of parks, where they've installed a system capable of streaming for park members. (Oddly, two of the bests were free, and a breath of fresh air!)

I do think that as parks upgrade, higher speed internet (When available in their area.) is usually pretty high on their punch list.

Best to all,

Smitty

Zulu · May 11, 2017

3 hours ago, richfaa said:

CG WIFI is IMO in general much better than a few years ago. We always check the CG WIFI first before turning on out Hot spot.

A number (but not a majority) of the last dozen or so campgrounds we've been in recently had good to very good WiFi.

However, I also have to credit some of the success to our WiFiRanger equipment. The new CORE we started using is a step up from our old WiFiRanger Pro -- Here's some WiFi data on our current campground.