WiFi waste of money?

NevChap replied on 27/04/2018 10:51

Posted on 27/04/2018 10:51

OK tin hat firmly in place. Here goes. I know that members have asked repeatedly about upgrading or installing WiFi on club sites and I read that large sums of our money are used to try to give decent coverage across as many sites as possible. However, are we not just throwing good money away with the pace of technology outstripping our efforts to catch up. When I go on a club site I no longer rely on the club WiFi but use my iPhone (other phones are available) to access the Internet and even piggy back a laptop or tablet, increasingly via 4g and soon to be 5g. This method is usually superior to the WiFi available on site. Now I know that at the moment not everyone has that facility but increasingly more and more people are.  In which case why keep trying to provide WiFi on a catch up basis costing a great deal of money. For what it's worth I would want to provide a decent WiFi signal close to reception that we could access maybe from a suitable 'shed' so that people could check emails and surf the 'net. This could be provided much more cheaply than a system which tries to cover the complete site: after all there has to be a decent connection for the site office to be able to run smoothly.

OK we may 'want' to sit in our caravan or motorhome and access the Internet but is it really cost effective for the club to spend huge sums providing this when better systems can be employed by individuals?

Just a thought, I'll now crawl into the bunker!

DavidKlyne replied on 29/04/2018 23:14

Posted on 29/04/2018 15:14 by JVB66

How much per month do all these "smart" phone contracts work out?  OH pays £4.99 per month on ee for her phone and i pay £60 per annum for my phone on anytime.com,and wifi on club sites for what we need is £25 per annum for useing my 10inch screen tablet,is there a cheaper alternative?when we do 150+nights away on (our choice) to use club sites.

Posted on 29/04/2018 23:14

Just an example. On Virgin using 4G £6 a month gives you 1gb of data, 1000 minutes of phone calls and unlimited texts so a bit more than you are currently paying. A Smart phone tends to dramatically increase the use you get from the phone because of their versatility. Obviously if you don't have a Smart phone you have to factor that cost in as well. The price ranges seems to be between £50 and nearly £1000!!!

David

DavidKlyne replied on 29/04/2018 23:27

Posted on 28/04/2018 11:40 by NevChap

I'm surprised but pleased that so many of the posts have generally agreed with me in that in today's age using your own personal phone or other device to access internet etc is the way forward, rather rely on the club providing access at quite a considerable cost. To quote the club:

Here at the Club we know how important having a decent Wi-Fi signal is, so we’ve invested £500,000 into our network - with a further £500,000 assigned in 2018.

So £1m investment in supplying something that almost becomes obsolete as soon as it is installed. Maybe we could think of other uses for our £1m?

Posted on 29/04/2018 23:27

If the Club have invested that amount in the provision of WiFi I am not convinced it has proved to be good value. I have no particular objection to paying £25 a year for Club WiFi because I tend to get the use out of it. However I have not yet been on a Club site where the speed could be described as anything other than slow. Rather than the Club banding Wifi as Gold/Silver/Bronze I would prefer to see an indication of the average speed. I don't for one minute think that will be forthcoming. As to the idea of using a centrally situated hot spot this surely is going backwards, isn't this what we used to do on sites 8/10 years or so ago?

David

Fisherman replied on 30/04/2018 07:33

Posted on 30/04/2018 07:33

Is the £500K already spent and the proposed £500K covered by subscriptions from those that actually use the service, or do I a non user again have to subsidise an unwanted service?

replied on 30/04/2018 07:46

Posted on 30/04/2018 07:33 by Fisherman

Is the £500K already spent and the proposed £500K covered by subscriptions from those that actually use the service, or do I a non user again have to subsidise an unwanted service?

Posted on 30/04/2018 07:46

As i saix earlier I pay towards play equipment, a few play games rooms, dog walks and I don't complain.

I suspect that over say a 5 year period costs are recouped. Maybe ask the club?

replied on 30/04/2018 07:51

Posted on 29/04/2018 22:42 by mbee1

I find the Club WiFi very poor. I’ve only ever paid for it once and thought what waste of money it was as it was so slow, and that was when it finally connected. I’m an Apple fan and there’s not many places we go that you can’t get 4G so use my iPhone and tether it to my iPad or MacBook.  

Posted on 30/04/2018 07:51

Over previous years I have found that on most sites with wifi it has not been a problem to use.

Fisherman replied on 30/04/2018 09:22

Posted on 30/04/2018 09:22

Not as savy as some technics on here, but it seems you get everything and better on the fancy Mobile phones. Why then saddle those of us who don't need such a service with the cost. Seems it will be obsolete within 5 years so no long term value either.

SteveL replied on 30/04/2018 11:54

Posted on 30/04/2018 09:22 by Fisherman

Not as savy as some technics on here, but it seems you get everything and better on the fancy Mobile phones. Why then saddle those of us who don't need such a service with the cost. Seems it will be obsolete within 5 years so no long term value either.

Posted on 30/04/2018 11:54

You do actually have to, pay to use the service, so I am not sure why you have such a problem. There are several things on site that I don't use that I am sure I must be contributing towards, it just how things work. Not everyone wants a fancy smartphone, or even knows how to use one and to some MiFi's are a complete mystery. At least it gives folk who just want to log on on their laptop to check emails etc the facility, without having to go down the higher tech route.

brue replied on 01/05/2018 08:35

Posted on 01/05/2018 08:35

It would be interesting to know, since communication connections have improved, the general take up v using own supplier.

JVB66 replied on 01/05/2018 08:52

Posted on 01/05/2018 08:52

As said i think in an earlier post that there is a system available that can "obstruct?" streaming ,if that was implemented on sites i understand it would help to increase the speed and availability of cc on site internet ,and as the system as "advised" to members is not what the system is for

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