Wi-Fi charges

[oldagetraveller1]

Just returned to France (where we live) having spent 7 weeks on Club sites and one exceptional CL. The Camping Club sites were very good value with their special offers. Caravan Club sites were as good but noticeably more expensive.
One thing, though, why are Wi-Fi charges so sky high? Prohibitive when compared with our local Municipal site (Free!) and other sites in Spain for example? It feels like a rip-off to me, yet the Club continues to congratulate itself on its Wi-Fi costs!

 

[graham_somersham]

I'm not 100% sure but I think both clubs sub contracted the provision of wifi to a third party company who can effectively charge what they like, much in the same way as in some hotels where they charge £10 a night for wifi. I tend to rely more on my phone as a means of connecting to the internet now and am thinking of getting one of those new mifi units and mounting it on my aerial mast as I think it will work out cheaper in the long run. As an aside I costed up installing a dedicated high output wifi aerial and associated cabling for a friend of mine who has a CS and by shopping around it is possible to self install for about £200 using parts from fleabay etc. Effectively an extra 20 -30 extra nights would pay for it which should be possible in the first year and this would be without charging users any additional fee.

 

[DavidKlyne]

I am not sure that £1 an hour is a rip off? That is what the new generation of Caravan Club WiFi is charging. As Graham has pointed out both Clubs use professionals to install and run their on site WiFi service so there is likely a higher cost basis to start with. I am not convinced this cost should be included in the overal site fees as that would be unfair to those that don't use it. Another major difference between the UK and Continental sites is that a lot of us tend to use a phone/dongle to connect to the internet so unless we can't get a signal would not use site WiFi. Mobile internet in Europe seems to be much more expensive so. no doubt, the higher use of campsite facilities. Whilst you will find campsites with free WiFi in Europe there are also a lot of campsites that make a charge and some that make the Caravan Club charges look really good value!
David

 

[joeby]

£5.00 per hour is not bad if you can use just an hour a day , or make it last longer , but i have heard you have to use it by a certain time , otherwise you lose the remaining hours , thats extortion

 

[Reg]

oldagetraveller
You mention the free local municipal sites being free in france, I have often seen these but whenever I try to connect to them I get no success.
How do I get connected?

 

[Surfer]

I would say that £5 an hour is ridiculously expensive. Even £1 per hour is expensive if yu are staying on a site for a week or longer. Much cheaper if you have a dongle even on a monthy contract rate

 

[OmOnWeelz]

Travelling on the continent and in Ireland we've always had free wi-fi on sites. Caravan Club charge is disgusting, I wouldn't mind betting that somebody gets 'looked after' when outsider providers sign the deal. I asked a site owner what it had cost him to set up his wifi network. It was quite a large site and he said it was so little he couldn't even really remember as he needed a network for the site he never really looked at the costing for slightle better equipment to off wider coverage. A wireless router modem setup and he'd had 3 wireless boosters fitted on 3 of the sites EHU boxes earlier this season to improve coverage at a cost of 120 euros maximum for all three.

 

[joeby]

£5.00 per hour is not bad if you can use just an hour a day , or make it last longer , but i have heard you have to use it by a certain time , otherwise you lose the remaining hours , thats extortion
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Sorry i meant £1.00 per hour , had a senior moment there or it could be jet lag after returning from OZZ , i use a vodafone pay as you go dongle cost £15.00 per top up which can last 6 months , in fact i just topped it up today , but i have used a few sites where its free , if every body stopped using the wi-fi on these sites the price would have to come down

 

[Guest]

Can only comment that in Spain I paid €23 for 30 days unlimited access. I accept the download speed was not always that fast but there was no difficulty in getting what I wanted with patience. I also accept that the longer you take the wifi access for, the cheaper the cost. For 1 day it can be quite high. You can buy unlimited access for a period of time, as I did, or get so many hours access which is fine if you always remember to log out after each session.

 

[NickinFrance]

You mention the free local municipal sites being free in france, I have often seen these but whenever I try to connect to them I get no success.
How do I get connected?

I've normally asked at recepton for the user name & password which has connected without any problems.

 

[Surfer]

We were on a site in Dean Forest and the WiFi was free! I think the caravan club were suckered into a sales pitch and are now stuck with it. For under £8 per month I can download up to 1GB of data which is more than ample. For £15 I can dowload up to 15GB of data. This makes the caravan club at £1 and hour look very expensive. When they say £1 per hour is this log on time or download time as ther is a big difference? If log on time then it isn't even worth considering.

 

[NickinFrance]

As has been said, the clubs contract the Wi-Fi provision to a 3rd party, who then give the club a percentage of the fees.
I'm not a member of either club but aren't the management of these clubs answerable to the members ?
I feel these Wi-Fi should be included, I don't use site showers but don't expect a reduction because of that.
Hotels that charge are just 'Nickle & Diming' & I avoid staying in any that charges.

 

[DavidKlyne]

We were on a site in Dean Forest and the WiFi was free! I think the caravan club were suckered into a sales pitch and are now stuck with it. For under £8 per month I can download up to 1GB of data which is more than ample. For £15 I can dowload up to 15GB of data. This makes the caravan club at £1 and hour look very expensive. When they say £1 per hour is this log on time or download time as ther is a big difference? If log on time then it isn't even worth considering.

The second generation WiFi now being rolled out across the Caravan Club network is £5 for 5 hours actual use so you can log in and out as often as you wish and it will last up to 6 months and can be used on anyother CC site with the same system.
David

 

[Surfer]

So for the 5 hours I can download as much as I wish which could be a couple of GBs, but at what speed? Still think it is very expensive and cheaper to use a dongle.

 

[Reg]

I signed up to an Orange dongle.... only £5.99/month and an extra £7.99 to us it abroad.
Great I thought as I only want to send emails and settle up my credit card whilst away.

Strewth!!!!! when I got back I then got charged about another £50............
As soon as the 18months is up it goes.

Will stick to finding hot spots in future. (free ones that is.)

 

[Surfer]

I looked at the Orange dongles, but too many catches and limited to 500mb for the lower priced packages. Three seem to be offering the best deal at the right price but don't like delaing with theri CS. T-mobile is sipposed to be the top mobile broadband provider but it seems they only do two packages at a price!

 

[graham_somersham]

From what I remember T-mobile and Orange are now the same company and are in process of merging networks and they use the same 3g network as 3. From this I would have a look about for the bet offer and maybe have a little chat with their sales people who sometimes come up with offers to get the business.

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

I'm with VodaFone. So far I have got nowt on sites up to 3g+ whatever that is but it was fast. The beauty of VodaFone is there is no time limit to use your allowance and it couldn't be simpler topping up.

 

[JTQ]

I'm with VodaFone. So far I have got nowt on sites up to 3g+ whatever that is but it was fast. The beauty of VodaFone is there is no time limit to use your allowance and it couldn't be simpler topping up.

Like me your lucky to have an old Vodafone dongle; they have now pulled that deal and they expire monthly.

 

[DianneT]

I do not consider £1 for 1 hour is a lot considering how much you can use email and download in and hour. Most of the sites we visited in Europe this Summer were 1 euro per hour and you can use it up to 6 months as the Caravan Club here. If you do not use all of time up you can alwasy give it or sell it to another visitor to the site. Using a Mobile Phone can be very expensive with a Dongle that you can use in Europe. If no WiFi I always use a dial-up connection with my laptop and mobile for email, get good reception no problem.

 

[GrahamDerby]

There is a cheaper way . Find a pub with a sign "free wifi". Get a pint , relax and enjoy the enviroment and use the internet. Much nicer than sitting in the van.

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

I'm with VodaFone. So far I have got nowt on sites up to 3g+ whatever that is but it was fast. The beauty of VodaFone is there is no time limit to use your allowance and it couldn't be simpler topping up.

Like me your lucky to have an old Vodafone dongle; they have now pulled that deal and they expire monthly.

Thanks for the info JTQ

 

[Oldgirl]

In the UK another option for checking emails while touring is to call into the nearest Macdonalds. For the price of a cup of coffee you can get free WiFi. If you are a BT Broadband customer it is also possible to get free internet while touring on their BT Openzone locations.

 

[oldagetraveller1]

Yes - you're right! I used MacDonalds quite a bit on my UK trip.
It certainly seems that the 2 Big Clubs are way out of line - and out of touch! They seem so complacent and still insist that members get a good deal on WiFi when obviously, it's not the case. But then, that's nothing new. The Clubs do some things very well indeed - like the quality of their sites - but they seem profoundly averse to criticism.

 

[Gabsgrandad]

I have had an Orange dongle now for 18 months, I have used it up and down the country in that time (We spend about 50% of our time away in the caravan) In those 18 months I have failed only once to get on line, and that was at Rosedale Abbey CC site N. Yorkshire. No phone signals either, had to go up to the car park on Chimney bank to get one!!
My contract was up to 1 gig per month @ £9 per month. My contract has just expired, I contacted Orange and asked to renew my contract, told them I didn’t need a new dongle as nothing wrong with one I am using. Unexpectedly they offered to renew my contract at £5 per month for same 1 gig (as never been near that limit) and not wanting a new dongle. Highly delighted to accept.