RRUGG
Newaygo, MI,USA
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The RV park we're in this winter has it. It's poor. Every park we've ever been in that had it, tengo was poor. Bought a Verizon aircard yesterday. Much faster and more reliable. One nice feature is that you can phone in and get it turned off. No charge while it's off. The contract length is extended by the time it's turned off.
RRUGG
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More To See
San Diego Area
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And your security for banking and other such internet activities is vastly greater with a cell tower connection. With wi-fi you would have to set up a VPN and not many do that. We just don't use campground wi-fi anymore.
95 Winnebago Vectra 34 (P30/454)
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docj
Fulltime--Home is where we park it
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Although I'm no fan of Tengonet, in its defense it should be noted that the way it is implemented at a CG is largely dependent on how much $$ the CG owner wants to spend on it. I have been at parks with good wifi and sometimes they have been Tengonet. Tengonet does have some intrusive software and I hate the "welcome" screens that seem to mysteriously like to re-appear. But once you are connected to it, the speed of the system is largely governed by how large an internet connection the CG has been willing to buy. Remember, an internet connection is like hooking up a water line; if it is too small and too many faucets are connected, no one will get much water.
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frank-2
Ontario
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I think the poor campground Wi-Fi is the normal we had been in very few that the Wi-Fi is good
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rk911
Wheaton IL
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our experience with most campground wifi systems including Tengo has generally been fair to good. a lot depends on the engineering of the park's system...how many nodes and the backbone connectivity (DSL vs. cable vs. T1, etc.). Tengo at the I-10 RV Park in Benson, AZ is excellent (at least it was the last time we were there) while the Tengo access at Mesa Spirit RV Park in Mesa, AZ is generally OK but there have been problems. the Mesa park has many nodes but they also support hundreds of RV sites. in any kind of public setting throughput is gonna suffer during peak loading times and in RV parks that seems to be, from my experience, early to mid-morning and 4pm to 8'ish or so.
we carry the Millenicom device which backbones onto the Verizon network ($50 for 20gb) and my iPhone can become an instant hotspot as well ($20 for 2gb). both can be toggled off an on as needed although the Millenicom device is limited to full months either way. the iPhone hotspot can be literally turned off and on daily. i've used both of these from time to time and while they provide pretty good throughput speeds there have been occasions when sessions have crawled.
i'd say that better than 90% of the time using our laptop's built-in wifi adapter/antenna is sufficient for decent throughput but i also have a crank-up external wifi adapter/antenna mounted on the TV mast to provide better range and throughput.
unfortunately there is no magic bullet when it comes to internet access on the road. but the more tools one has in their tool chest the better the odds become.
73,
rich, n9dko
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Vulcaneer
Northern New England
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Not sure it is all the fault of Tengo. But I also have had trouble with it. But most park Wifi's are quite marginal. Some all the time. Some only at certain times. I think it has a lot to do with people streaming at certain times. In the morning, some stream to get their home news, or to Skype friends and family. Same in early evening. And then there are the movie streamers, too.
Doesn't take too many streamers to bring down a network.
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rr2254545
Minnesota/New Mexico
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Vulcaneer wrote:Not sure it is all the fault of Tengo. But I also have had trouble with it. But most park Wifi's are quite marginal. Some all the time. Some only at certain times. I think it has a lot to do with people streaming at certain times. In the morning, some stream to get their home news, or to Skype friends and family. Same in early evening. And then there are the movie streamers, too.
Doesn't take too many streamers to bring down a network.
Right on this is the problem with campground Wifi
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JJBIRISH
Butler, PA, USA
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RRUGG wrote:The RV park we're in this winter has it. It's poor. Every park we've ever been in that had it, tengo was poor. Bought a Verizon aircard yesterday. Much faster and more reliable. One nice feature is that you can phone in and get it turned off. No charge while it's off. The contract length is extended by the time it's turned off.
You might want to check again on turning off the Verizon air card…
When I talked to them yesterday, I was told it could be suspended for up to 6 months out of a 12 month period in 90 day intervals ( at the end of the 90 day it would be turned back on until you called again, and there is a $15 fee each time it is turned off (up to 90 days), and the contract is extended by a day for each day its turned off…
So there is no fee while it turned off but it cost the $15 each time you turn it off…
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Starcraft21SSO
Atlanta, Ga.
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Joined: 10/18/2011
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More To See wrote:And your security for banking and other such internet activities is vastly greater with a cell tower connection. With wi-fi you would have to set up a VPN and not many do that. We just don't use campground wi-fi anymore.
If your bank** is using SSL (HTTPS), there is absolutely no need to establish a VPN to conduct secure transactions. If your bank is not *requiring* SSL for all transactions, your problem is the bank not the campground.
**or any other secure site
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JRS & B
Florida/Michigan
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Skype can be a real burden on a wifi system when people connect to family using a video call and then just leave it connected all day. It does not cost them anything to do so, and it is more commonplace than you would imagine.
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