New WiFi system
Just back from our first trip of the new season. Has anyone found the new WiFi system seamless? We took advantage of the free one only to find it was dropping out. As we needed something a bit more stable we paid the £15 and took note that only one device could be used at a time - so the wife disabled her WiFi. Didn't matter how hard we tried, no connection longer than a few seconds was made. Cue telephone calls to helpline (who said they'd had problems at our pitch already and they'd contact the 'network team' to reboot) several days of trying and we eventually gave up (we only wanted to check something not download any films etc). An email has gone to camc wifi team requesting a refund, won't be using it again.
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My only surprise is that you parted with money despite finding the 'free' service to be lacking. Most people who need to rely on the internet seem to make their own arrangements by using the mobile network. You’ll find similar threads if you search around.
Hard luck. I hope you get your refund.
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Also not had any problems on the free side, apart from the slight faff of getting back on when your hour times out if you are using it at the time. On my pad the internet just stops working with no announcement and you are still connected but with no bandwidth. I find it necessary to tell the pad to forget the network, then rejoin it again. If you have come back to it, after say a day out, there is no issue. It puts up the rejoin screen as soon as you try to go online.
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Thanks for your responses. It just kept sending us back to the "pay" page, guess we were unlucky in finding a spot that wasn't working well. No response from camc yet about our refund! We usually use our data allowance but there's one of our apps that only connects via a strong WiFi signal, so we'll have to re-think what to do next time.
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We usually use our data allowance but there's one of our apps that only connects via a strong WiFi signal, so we'll have to re-think what to do next time.
If you have a pad as well as a phone couldn’t you run the App on that. On the phone when I go to download something I get a warning that I am downloading over a cellular network and using my data. However, when I tether the pad I get no such warning. I have always assumed this is because it doesn’t know and as far as it’s concerned the 4/5G is just WiFi. As to strength the 4/5G is normally better than anything the CAMC will provide, even on their paid for service.
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When it works it is good, but the premium WiFi is not as the club advertise. It clearly cannot cope with large numbers of people using it in the evenings. I was not able to get more than .5mbs at Brecon last night. There are also blind spots on some sites. I don’t mind paying for an annual pass as mobile signals do not always work in some areas but the club really need to address the issue and make sure members get what is promised.
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Just trying to access camc website (discussions) using camc free wifi.
Average response time - 3 minutes !! (if I get a response at all !)
According to ookla speed test download time is 0.24Mbps, upload 0.91Mbps
It seems to me that the new wifi system is far worse than the system it replaced.
Only managing to post this by using my phone.
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I joined for the year, which was a good deal. But the wifi at Carnon Downs was atrocious. Every time I logged on I would open something and it dropped out. I mean I managed as I wasn't on it that often but was so annoying.
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I've only tried the free version once - and that was at Sandringham this June. I was getting 1Mbps download! Absolute rubbish - plus I am always concerned about security when using such public systems. My own set-up of a TP Link router, Poynting aerial on a 10' mast was giving me a consistent 90Mbps download last month at the NYM site near Whitby - which is hardly one of this country's most populated areas - and it's been there or thereabouts at virtually every site we have been to in the last few years (apart from that particular pitch at Sandringham!). Well worth investing in your own system IMO.
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At Seacroft download wifi speed is 0.92Mbps; upload 0.98Mbps.
BUT - although I can connect using my laptop my ipad resolutely refuses to connect.
Just get :- Error code : 72213ce137ee3728976a638e04013f73
According to the CAMC help info I am supposed to contact BT on the phone to resolve the issue.
What a waste of time - don't think I'll bother.
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I've tried the free WIFI and the paid one on several sites, both are absolute rubbish and not fit for purpose. Frankly reading through the comments I'm amazed that the club continue to promote this. The previous system was much more reliable and stable. Using this I could stream on my firestick with no problem at all. I now use my mobile phone as hotspot.
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I suppose if you only use sites which have Wi-Fi it might be worth using the club system. We use a whole range of types of sites from Aires to full fat sites. We want internet that works, both on site and on the road so we have our own MiFi system with a Smarty sim card which we have been very pleased with. For our data use, email, web browsing, bit of you tube viewing, we pay £8 a month which can be paused over the winter when we don’t go away. I too am not keen on public Wi-Fi and I don’t want to get into VPNs.
The other benefit is that as our van sits in front of the house we can access the van Wi-Fi from the room at the front which we use as a home office. Was really useful when we had problems with our home internet.1 -
Just been to several Club sites over the past 10 days. Not only is the mobile phone signal poor at most, but the free Wi-Fi is atrocious. It either fails to work completely for simple email and internet, or drops out and fails to reconnect at regular intervals. We have been touring across Europe from Norway to Slovenia over the last 3 years and nowhere did we have the connectivity issues that have occurred in the past few days. I would not mind paying good money for reliable Wi-Fi where the mobile signal is poor. It is not a ‘nice to have’ but a basic requirement. The other UK sites we stayed on had reliable and reasonable Wi-Fi. Why does the Club not take this up with their provider? It is now a reason to not choose a Club site.2
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Yes that's why it's free and not charged for. I agree it's not good at all but I manage on my mobile signal which on all club sites bar one I use is good enough.
Did you try the pay for service that is available?
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Yes we use our mobile signal where possible, but at more rural sites that can be poor. Even Cirencester Club site which is extremely popular, has dreadful mobile signal, made worse by very poor wifi, even when pitched next to the mast. We have not tried the Premium service, as I understand it does not improve the wifi signal/bandwidth, simply stops you having to reconnect every hour. We just want to have basic contact with the outside world. How can we get through to the Club hierarchy about this?
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I've never used it but the premium wifi does offer significantly higher upload and download speeds - full details here
How to take this further? Well almost certainly not on here, I suggest you write/email the club, or even table a question for the upcoming AGM.
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Good idea. Just sent a question in for AGM.
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I must say that under the new system I didn't bother with the paid Wifi as I used to tether my Smart Phone and use my data allowance. Because Margaret and I were on different networks it was very rare not to be able to get a reasonable connection. There were notable exceptions, Clumber Park and Buxton being two examples, there may be more but they were exceptions.
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Another option that may suit some owners is the possibility to take your home wi-fi with you. We do not have a "phone line" internet set-up at home, but a 4G router as the performance is far better. We simply take this with us in the caravan and continue with unlimited and secure internet.
Colin
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