WiFi waste of money?
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like DD, I've just 're negotiated' this year's contract and have 15gb more for £2.50 a month.
first of all texts were chargable, then given away with almost every contract.
then voice minutes were chargable, then given away with almost every contract.
now data, which was very expensive, is the only incentive left (at the moment) to entice new customers, or keep savvy existing ones...
competition is fierce and large data bundle are there for the asking...
you just have to ask
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We spent 55 nights on 'proper CC' sites this year - excludes AS sites as well as other commercial and C&CC.
Of those wifi was fine except, Meathop Fell was useless, Moorhampton CC where there is neither phone signal nor general wifi and I don't normally use hot spots. On site at Southport for 15 nights the wifi was fine for 13 of those nights. So the CC wifi was used for 33 nights at a cost of £25. Usually I would expect to use it more.
This year it worked out relatively expensive but worked well.
We also used Gaer Hyfryd Caravan Club Site which is really an AS. We did not use our mifi as the wifi was very good and cost us £2 for our 5 night stay with two users.
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I always find it odd when folk say how rubbish the CC WiFi is. We are on, I think, our fourth annual pass and have had few problems. The only sites on which I can recall any significant issues, are Clumber, before the upgrade to gold and Morvich, where it was working but totally unusable for the two weeks we were there.
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I always find it odd when folk say they're happy with site Wi-fi, Steve. 😀
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Wifi is available on 149 of the club's 200+ sites. On some it works, on some it doesn’t and on others it doesn't exist.
Your luck, and Steve's, is obviously better than mine.👍🏻
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Given that occasionally complaints have been at the same time as we have been using the WiFi without issue, I can only assume that some folk have expections above what the system can provide. For email and general web browsing, including downloading small brochures etc. It's been fine. If I want to download larger OS map files, or the like, we would use the allowance on our 4G phones, assuming we can get a signal. This has improved significantly on our networks over the last 4 / 5 years, but then again so has the quality of the CC WiFi, with several sites getting upgraded to silver or gold.
Personally I think some of the problem is the dramatic increase in speeds at home, compared to sites where it has to be shared. Ours for instance is now fibre to the cabinet and gives us downloads of 70MB and upload of 20MB. Site speeds are bound to seem slow in comparison.
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Well over the last few years where available it has worked except for an odd 1.5 days on Hillhead fine rest of the 5 nights. 5 nights at the one near Grange O Sands and 2 days out of 15 at Southport. Strangely at Blaidon Chains I was away from the hotspot and it worked at the caravan despite not having a clear line of site. So that was a bonus.
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I don’t have high expectations, Steve, and never attempted anything beyond its intended use but speeds at far less than the old dial up rate, or failure to connect at all (quite common) caused me to call it a day.
I'm happy to be self sufficient.
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I follow a few youtube vloggers and occasionally watch the odd 10 to 15min video. I have quality set low as a small 10'' screen but no buffering as a rule so all good.
We are also self sufficient TW as we have the mifi and sometimes pop it into the car when off site so we can look up info on a tablet
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You can’t beat doing your own thing, Easy👍🏻
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Anyone ever used one of the wifi extenders to boost the wifi signal from sites and elsewhere ?
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Got a leguang lg-n120 .booster .plus solwise usbwifirpt-3000 . to use 2 devices , cheap at amazon .If you look at dedicated caravan / mh devices they are the same gear ,but with a heavy markup . works a treat ,also if youre on bt you can use fon
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I agree using our own phone data is an effective and convenient way to access the internet on a site and certainly joining the C&MHC 's Wifi provider is expensive unless you can use it often enough in a year for it to be cost effective (and it can be poor quality at that). However, we have just returned from a C&MHC site in the north of England where there was neither a signal for my phone network (Three) nor my husband's phone (BT), there was no TV reception other than the site's aerial which thankfully was accessible and the only Wifi was the costly C&MHC provider. This left us high and dry unexpectedly with no contact. If CC can provide accessible Wifi throughout their sites, as many privately run sites do then so can C&MHC, The site fees are on a par and can surely cover it. This is 2019, we have free accessible Wifi on buses, trains, in town centres and at 40,000 feet high in the sky on many planes. Time C&MHC caught up with the times, it's not acceptable generally but particularly on sites where it is clear there is no phone network coverage.
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Yes the perils of camping!
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And my use..... I pay my £25 annually to the Club for wi-fi use and are happy with the service given, not all areas have 4g, or even a mobile signal..back to string and tin cans (a landline in a phonebox...remember them ?) handy to be able to book online while away. But streaming no.
ps thankyou for contributing towards Mine and ETs Wi fi set-up ,we appreciate it.
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This is a bit like fully serviced pitches, I would never use one, so why should I subsidise others to be able to use one ? because we are a club , made up of different people with different needs. It will take a lot longer to recoup the outlay on Fully serviced pitches than it will on site wi fi. No groundwork for a start. Even at £27 a year its not exhorbitant.
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However, we have just returned from a C&MHC site in the north of England where there was neither a signal for my phone network (Three) nor my husband's phone (BT), there was no TV reception other than the site's aerial which thankfully was accessible and the only Wifi was the costly C&MHC provider. This left us high and dry unexpectedly with no contact.
For a few years we needed to be contactable by phone 24/7 and therefore researched a sites communications before visiting. The site information sheet usually has a statement like poor mobile coverage, or most networks work. Then a call to the wardens will often confirm which specific network is OK. Using coverage checkers provides only a very rough guide and should not be relied on. In our experience they are generally over optimistic. There were at that time several sites we would not visit due to poor communications.
Personally I think more details could be provided on the information sheet. We have often seen a CC inspection team wandering around with their clip boards. If they were provided with phones on the four major networks (not expensive these days) coverage could be checked and the information made available on the web site.
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Frankly don't see the point of the club providing wifi in this day and age with 4G so available and 5G in a couple of years. Yes, there will always be certain areas where you'll not be able to get a signal but on the whole coverage is pretty good now.
Why rely on the club to provide the internet if you need to use it? Why not provide it yourself? So using your mobile as a hotspot is surely the way forward. I get 100GB a month including all calls, texts and get data rollover every month that I don't use. I could stream all day and night if I wanted to lol!
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Why rely on the club to provide the internet if you need to use it? Why not provide it yourself? So using your mobile as a hotspot is surely the way forward. I get 100GB a month including all calls, texts and get data rollover every month that I don't use. I could stream all day and night if I wanted to lol!
Can you get all those benefits for two people for under £80 a year? And without a smart phone or one that would fit my ticket pocket? It depends on peoples other uses of mobiles. OH and I have identical mobile phones chosen for size and convenience and using ASDA PAYG (EE Network). Our small flip top phones are easy to carry and I paid £22 for the pair. We don't want a bulky phone. We do have a 4g router which cost £70 and we buy one CC wifi and use a £40 24gb data sim with 12 month lifetime. With our phone calls we spend under £80 and our phones need charging about every 10 days. That fills our usage of internet whilst away. We use sufficient CC sites to make it viable to use both data and some CC. Little saving by doing so but does provide an option if only 2G or no signal available rather than 3/4G.Everybody has different needs
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Just at low park wood site oops sorry Kendal site both WI-FI and tv reception rubbish using a lead and plugged into tv Ballard we can only get 13 channels and even they keep breaking up ,site still selling coax 25m leads which is a waste of money on this site
WiFi also erratic so glad I didn't waste money on it
Just reading a book or two to pass the time between day long hikes
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Anyone who thinks the wifi at club sites is poor should try the "free" wifi on the C&CC site at Kingsbury Water Park. A lovely site in all other respects but the wifi is truly awful and our pitch was right next to one of the extender points!
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