Why does Disney Internet stink?

[Tigger031266]

I have stayed in many different DVCs since they put in wireless and it's awful. In this age, going on vacation still means you may need to do occasional work. Or get fired. Every chain hotel (Hilton, marriot...) is significantly better.

This issue alone seriously lowers my satisfaction with DVC. It's time for Disney to get with the times, and put in some basic technology.

i guess it's time to complain to that black hole, DVC customer satisfaction. Friendly folks with no real power.

 

[DebbieB]

I have stayed in many different DVCs since they put in wireless and it's awful. In this age, going on vacation still means you may need to do occasional work. Or get fired. Every chain hotel (Hilton, marriot...) is significantly better.

This issue alone seriously lowers my satisfaction with DVC. It's time for Disney to get with the times, and put in some basic technology.

i guess it's time to complain to that black hole, DVC customer satisfaction. Friendly folks with no real power.

I don't know that it's under DVC's control, it might be under Disney Resorts. We were better off with the free wired.

 

[Chuck S]

I agree that the wired service was better, even if we needed to be tethered or provide our own routers, but how many threads did we see here over the years basically demanding FREE WIFI, saying even Motel 6 had free wifi.

A lot of Disney is "Be Careful What You Wish For." I used the wifi for the first time at OKW this past May, it wasn't awful, but still the wired was superior. I've had far better and far worse wifi at some of the national hotel chains.

 

[DebbieB]

I agree that the wired service was better, even if we needed to be tethered or provide our own routers, but how may threads did we see here over the years basically demanding FREE WIFI, saying even Motel 6 had free wifi.

A lot of Disney is "Be Careful What You Wish For." I used the wifi for the first time at OKW this past May, it wasn't awful, but still the wired was superior. I've had far better and far worse wifi at some of the national hotel chains.

When this issue came up before the wireless was installed, I said the same thing. I've traveled alot for business and wireless in hotels is almost always slow, especially in the evening when it's being used alot.

I haven't stayed in a Hilton or Marriott recently but the last time I did they both charged $10-$12 daily for internet. Their lower priced brands didn't but the main hotels did.

 

[disneynutz]

WiFi at the Disney resorts is contracted by Disney Resorts, not the DVC.

Issues and comments can be reported to:

wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

and

dvcmembersatisfactionteam@disneyvacationclub.com

Bill

 

[breakin2]

At the BLT last week, I honestly didn't think it was that bad.

 

[JulieWent]

We usually travel with my DH's pc and with my Mac. (Don't ask... it has to do with business. We DO need to lighten up.) However, the Mac never has any trouble connecting. The PC requires all kinds of magic to actually stay on-line. Go figure.

Julie

 

[dbs1228]

My daughter brought her mac in Feb and she had the same problems as all of us - she had the mac, middle DD had PC and DH had ipod (DD's are in college and missing a few days of school so had to stay connected - very frustrating).

 

[drusba]

Make sure you email a complaint. Very often in the past to get Disney to recognize its own stupidity a cacaphony of complaints over a long period has been required. The MBA "suits" who made the decisions have a hard time being taught they are wrong. You see some who say the service was OK but that is simply because quality of service depends on room and where you are and I like others have had absolutely awful service.

 

[Chuck S]

I haven't stayed in a Hilton or Marriott recently but the last time I did they both charged $10-$12 daily for internet. Their lower priced brands didn't but the main hotels did.

InterContinental, the "highest" level of the Holiday Inn operated chains have free wifi internet that is only fast enough to check basic email. For a "real" wifi connection it is $15 per day.

 

[ffcheff]

We stayed at Kidani village in june and the wifi was not good in the room but great in the lobby area?

 

[Tigger031266]

I agree the lobbies are better. It just is a cheap way of doing things for Disney. It makes vacationing tough.

 

[Hunnypaw]

Just stayed at Aulani. I work while on vacation sometimes as well. I asked for their outgoing mail server information so I could send email via my Laptop which has Microsoft Outlook. Aulani IT rep said they do not provide that "outgoing" server information... and I should send emails via "webmail".... which my work does not allow (security reasons). I thought that was odd as every chain hotel I stay at offers this to their business guests. They know SMTP info is needed to send email using Outlook or a similar program.

 

[Brian Noble]

Every chain hotel (Hilton, marriot...) is significantly better.

I've had very mixed results, even in name-brand business-class properties. I *always* travel with at least two different cellular options---these days, Verizon 4G and ATT 3G, both with tethering---as fallbacks in case the property's network stinks. As often as not, the cellular is required, and even then sometimes one works but the other is ineffective. FWIW, most of the places I travel (Boston, SF, San Jose, etc.) seem to have slightly better Verizon coverage.

 

[bwang123]

My daughter brought her mac in Feb and she had the same problems as all of us - she had the mac, middle DD had PC and DH had ipod (DD's are in college and missing a few days of school so had to stay connected - very frustrating).

That's why its slow. So many people on sometimes multiple devices on a wifi network (not just Disney) that can not handle all that bandwidth. If they start charging, it will be faster because less people will pay creating less people on the network. There isn't a lot they can do with the technology that is available and its all regulated by the FCC. You want Disney to offer faster wifi? Then a pay per use model is the quick answer.

 

[crisi]

I've had very mixed results, even in name-brand business-class properties. I *always* travel with at least two different cellular options---these days, Verizon 4G and ATT 3G, both with tethering---as fallbacks in case the property's network stinks. As often as not, the cellular is required, and even then sometimes one works but the other is ineffective. FWIW, most of the places I travel (Boston, SF, San Jose, etc.) seem to have slightly better Verizon coverage.

Yep. If necessary, be ready to tether.

Its been very hard for everyone to keep up with the ever expanding bandwidth needs. When Disney wireless was spec'd, we'd show up in Disney with one laptop. Now we show up with a laptop, three iPads, three Kindles, and three iPhones - all which could consume wireless bandwidth.

I've been to a number of truly embarrassing conferences - especially the first two years of the iPhone release, where you just couldn't get onto a network at all. When 10,000 techies descend on a town, looking for connectivity almost every minute, its hard.

 

[wdrl]

I'm at Pop Century right now and I'm using Disney's wi-fi to surf the web and post this message. The response time seems to be as good as what I'm use to at home. So Disney won't be getting any complaints from me about the wi-fi. We'll be moving to SSR in a couple of days and I'll check the wi-fi there as well.

 

[bdoyledimou]

Disney should block streaming services from their wifi -- netflix, hulu, etc should be off limits as this just choke the net.

Think about it like this ..

If Each resort has a 100 MBps synchronous pipe to the internet, that would provide about 500 kbps per room. if you are just doing basic surfing, like checking email or surfing the web -- you may even get up to 2Mbps -- ut streaming media is a constant block of data -- it sucks it ALL up.

but --

if they have an asynchronous service ( say 100 Mbps down and 50 Mbps up -- with a bunch of people uploading photos, and downloading movies -- its going to choke.

 

[Sammie]

As Chuck said the change to wireless was due to guest feedback, so do let them know you are not satisfied with the Wifi.

Also as said this is not a DVC decision.

I think they really do not want anyone in their room and I guess they forget some need to work while on vacation.

As the previous poster said, it is also about how many are trying to use it at the same time and for what purpose. I doubt many at the Hampton Inn on the Interstate for business travel are uploading hundreds of photos.

 

[majortom1981]

I am a network admin by trade(at a public library). The more people on a wireless ap's the slower it gets. IF the access points are 802.11g if a person with an 802.11b card signs on every device will drop down to those speeds.

802.11n devices do not do that.

It could also be disney did not put in backend equipment that can handle all the people . For more then say 20 people on and surfing at once it can take some hefty pc's to serve that many people.

Here on long island this past september we had a tropical storm and here at the library where I work we were the only ones to have power and internet . we had 100 + people here charging devices and using our wifi at once. I had to make a server the router for our wifi network to handle all the connected users.

It seems to me that disney probably doesnt want to spend the money on the wifi networks. Knowing disney the wifi is probably run by offsite contractors who just do not care.