Free WIFI from CCC
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apologies, it was a good post. I have now liked it
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Yes DD. I think that at one time it was a faceless head shaped black thing on grey.
Now it is a black square with a little square like you might see on a list of image files prior to a thumbnail appearing
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DD, you could always change you site name to Black Blob to match.
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If you are now talking about CAMC site wifi my view is this.
If a site has 4g coverage then why spend the money installing wifi?
Surely resources should be concentrated on providing site wide wifi, a task easily achieved, at a speed equal to, or exceeding the absent 4g network.
Why would any customer spend additionally for a service already provided for within a mobile phone contract!
I would surmise that the C&CC offering free wifi is a result of poor uptake of the pay for service.
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Surely resources should be concentrated on providing site wide wifi, a task easily achieved, at a speed equal to, or exceeding the absent 4g network.
I think that would be unlikely in most rural cases. Even with a close Fibre to the cabinet connection, the total download is unlikely to exceed 100MB. Share that among a few users and it soon comes down. I just tested my 4G EE connection and it showed 30MB download. I think the only way you are likely to achieve speeds close to that is with a direct fibre connection. In many rural areas that could mean laying considerable lengths of optical cable at a significant cost.
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I use my mobile contract for data, W&M, as it suits me but it certainly doesn’t suit everyone to do that.
It surprises me how good the 4G network is in the U.K. now but it’s naive to assume you’ll get a signal on all sites. There are many rural areas where it simply doesn’t exist.
I think, too, that you over estimate the ease of providing fast Wi-fi in rural open spaces of varying terrain. It’s a far cry from providing it within a building.
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I think it depends where you take the snapshot of the decision making process. When the CMC started to install site WiFi it was before the widespread roll out of 4G. Since then they have been overtaken by more and more members using 4G devices. I have often wondered if the Club could have predicted the widespread use of 4G whether they would have been so keen to spend all the money they have on providing what is often only a just acceptable WiFi experience. The quality is not always under their control of course. There is no going back I suspect as a body of members have got used to using site WiFi and don't particularly want to go down the route of using 4G data for various reasons so we are where we are. As to why the C&CC have suddenly offered non chargeable WiFi it would be interesting to know. They will have to recover the cost from somewhere but perhaps won't be so keen to tell us from where!
David
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Yes, we fall into that category. We have PAYG sims, and get through less than £30 credit per year between us, why would we want a contract? We do not even have a call package at home at present.
I use Skype for keeping in touch with friends and family, and all our landline calls are incoming ones, if we need to make a call we use our mobiles.
For WiFi when away we have a dongle with PAYG pre loaded sim.
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Many people have phone contracts because they come with the phone when you buy them and I expect they carry on when the contract ends. Some of the high end models that some buy can be very,very expensive so spreading the payments over a couple of years is an advantage. If you want a decent smart phone its an economical way of buying it. I can use my phone as a WiFi point if needed. Margaret has just purchased a new phone, to replace her original Smart Phone, which is not a high end model but pretty well featured and I think she pays £17 a month including call and data allowance which I don't think is bad. Margaret is quite resistive of new technology and thought she was quite happy with her Nokia 6100.(perfectly good phone) That was until we persuaded to go for a Smart Phone and now you would have to fight her to get it off her
David
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No doubt I've said before but we have cheap smart phones, no contracts and use giffgaff goody bags to keep us going. We stopped using club site wi-fi a long time ago, the technology is out dated and hot spots seem an antiquated way of getting wi-fi. However it doesn't seem long since I didn't want to take a laptop or phone with me so that I could escape the constant barrage of communications and having to explain to people why I'd switched the whole lot off! Now I'm finding I use it more just to browse rather than communicate which I do mostly by text and it's easy just doing it via PYG.
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his pitch ended
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people have phone contracts because they come with the phone when you buy them and I expect they carry on when the contract ends
It does seem to happen a lot that folk are paying a whack every month and do not realise when the phone is actually paid for, and they can reduce payments to just the network charges. Where does that extra money go - do the newtorks issue a refund when the user eventually finds out?
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Not my experience with Virgin. When the 24 month contract came to an end they contacted me to say I had paid for the phone and they offered me various contract options and the one I took worked out at about £7 a month until I increased the amount of data to the plan I now have which costs about £12 a month. I have heard that some networks are not as much on the ball!!!
David
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We get our children's cast off phones, they still have life in them after they have moved on to newer technology! So spend very little on phones.
We did have to buy OH a new phone a few years back when the screen on her original one failed, she got a Microsoft one that was about £70. Then DS got a new phone, so she inherited his old one and the Microsoft one was mothballed. Recently however the old Apple phone expired, so the purchased one is back in use.
For internetting we have i pads which were presents from the kids and ourselves for significant birthdays (70 and 75)
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Our phones we buy outright, but ones several incarnations "out of date" sold at a fraction of their original price. There are dealers who buy this redundant stock, no longer the latest "must have" but for us very capable of doing all we need. Androids, we will not be suckered into the monopoly of Apple's claws having no yearning to be perceived as "cool".
We then each have a SIM only contract with significant data and tethering. Plus carry a PAYGO SIM with a different non partnered provider for where a signal from our base provider is difficult. Like to have the Telegraph & Times to read in the morning on our tablets, if doing so is viable.
Plus, if all cellular options fail, then pick up what wifi we can or simply wait till we go out to fresh new signal pastures, or get on without and not feeling that deprived about it.
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We use our smart phones which have enough allowances for our needs, they are sim only non contract devices. However, if the Camping Club are offering free WiFi and it is better then we would use it. If the Caravan Club ever choose to do the same, we would use that too. What we will never do is pay for WiFi, there is no need as we are not that desperate, it is nice to have, no more no less.
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I think it's a safe bet the the C&CC revenue for the paid for wifi would be pretty low, hence giving it away for free, if the reverse was true why give up a healthy income stream?
I think trying not to be rude, has this thread highlighted the generation gap?
Michelle and myself (Darren, hello) are very young 50 somethings, the smart phone, I wouldn't use the cliche right arm, but the list of its uses we have for them, are vast.
This morning apart from posting here, I've made a purchase, sent a list of items to my Son for his project, that in itself is amazing, compile a wish list at a Store, then WhatsApp it straight to his phone with working links.
I've controlled my new camera (Moon pictures), watched a bit of telly, listened to digital radio, checked the bank and Mastercard accounts, and after this and a coffee going on the OS app to plan today's walk, and then once out, use the phone's gps as route guide, oh then theres the drone and camera control, maybe a phone call, perhaps!
I pay £46 a month for the phone (Samsung S9 plus) and contract (Three), unlimited everything apart from a tethering allowance, which doesn't apply when using the Samsung telly in the caravan to stream movies.
I strongly believe it is worth every single penny.
Entertainment, research, connectivity.
But having said all that, I wouldn't pay for site wifi, even if there was no 4g, because I already pay twice, once for the phone, then again at home, I'd nip out for a coffee or shop and use all the free access points. It doesn't take long to download a few movies or TV shows!
My opinion, the days of paid for wifi are over. The C&MC should realise this, and bite the bullet.
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