How does the WiFi work at BWV?

[donmil723]

OK. That makes sense. Thanks for the quick reply.

Donna

 

[MomWith2Cinderellas]

My DH used the cable in our room at the BWV last month and he found it v-e-r-y s-l-o-w..........lots of cussin' in frustration!

My husband works for an IT firm. After doing research this is what my husband found when researching the Swan, Dolphin, and BW. The term "high speed" internet access is a facade. Those 3 hotels the (Swan Dolphin and BW) get there internet access from the same vendor. After analyzing the "high speed internet" he found that the speed and duplex of the internet traffic is 10 MB half duplex. Most places (hotels, offices, homes) that have true broadband internet connectivity have a speed and duplex of 100 MB full duplex. Basically, at the Dolphin, Swan and BW you have to change your computer's Ethernet card's speed and duplex setting from "Auto" to "10 MB half duplex". The broadband internet speed test conducted at these 3 resorts resulted in no better than an unstable 56K dial up connection. VPN is almost impossible at these 3 resorts. My husband even nixed entertaining a sales conference at the BW because supporting 400 people who cannot VPN into the company network is not an option. As atrocious as the accommodations were at the CBR, my husband found there internet connectivity to be spectacular.
Having just typed what he asked me to, I still love the BW and plan to return again!

 

[HowGrumpy]

WEP = Wired Equivalent Privacy, a wireless network security standard. The popup window was asking for the required security key that the wireless host had set on its access point (broadcast router/hub). I suppose if you really wanted to get fancy or you had more than one laptop in your party to support, you could bring a wireless hub and plug that into the resort's LAN port. But you probably need some practice to set that up!!!! I'm sure I could waste a couple of my precious vacation hours messing around with that the 1st time!

I recently used the in-room wired connection at OKW and it worked fine--I didn't do a speed test or anything. But, having done dial-up @ $.75 a call several years ago, it was a vast improvement. Plus, you can time your email sessions so you can use your 24-hr window every OTHER day.

Though I'm not surprised, I find it discouraging that WDW would have different quality/speed data services at the different resorts. I hope they get all of them "up to speed" and equivalent sooner than later.

 

[jco_direwolf]

Let me start with I've never used any connection though a Disney Resort. The only connection I've used is my cellphone bonded with my laptop.

I use to work for BBNPlanet/Genuity in Network Operations as a system engineer so I know a bit about how the internet is knitted together.

My husband works for an IT firm. After analyzing the "high speed internet" he found that the speed and duplex of the internet traffic is 10 MB half duplex. Most places (hotels, offices, homes) that have true broadband internet connectivity have a speed and duplex of 100 MB full duplex.

The speed of your ethernet connection has nothing to with the other links. I don't know what he did as far as testing. For instance my home broadband connection is 6mb/s (megabits) per second, but the broadband adapter (aka the modem) has a 100mb/s ethernet on it. Each "hop" can have a different speed faster (normaly) as you get toward the tier one providers or slower as you get toward leaves.

TCP is tolerant of dropped packets, so for the most part it doesn't matter which way the speed goes.

Lots of things can cause a problems with setting up a VPN. Depending on what "flavor" of VPN it is, some have problems with Network Address Translation (NAT). Also there could have been a problem with what ever peering point they go though to get back to where he was landing the VPN. You would need atleast some traceroutes to figure this out. Also looking at Nanog would tell you about any network issues.

Basically, at the Dolphin, Swan and BW you have to change your computer's Ethernet card's speed and duplex setting from "Auto" to "10 MB half duplex".

That could be for two reasons. First off they could have old equipment that doesn't do Auto-neg (I sorta doubt this and 10MB hdx is what the card should default to if it doesn't see the auto-neg stuff.) Second it could be the first step in the "problem" script.

The broadband internet speed test conducted at these 3 resorts resulted in no better than an unstable 56K dial up connection. VPN is almost impossible at these 3 resorts. My husband even nixed entertaining a sales conference at the BW because supporting 400 people who cannot VPN into the company network is not an option. As atrocious as the accommodations were at the CBR, my husband found there internet connectivity to be spectacular.
Having just typed what he asked me to, I still love the BW and plan to return again!

They could be rate limiting each connection or the aggarate of all the customers. Finaly, most hotels have an event services group which can add bandwidth. I've worked on a number of high bandwidth uses conferances, and for the last 10 years or so we've been able to get pretty much as much bandwidth as we needed.

Usenix Annual Tech has 1000-1300 people and pretty much EVERYONE has a laptop all the time.

johno

 

[jco_direwolf]

WEP = Wired Equivalent Privacy, a wireless network security standard.

Yea with a MegaBytes(MB) of traffic, and the right software you can find the key. WiFi Protected Access (WPA) is the new standard.

I suppose if you really wanted to get fancy or you had more than one laptop in your party to support, you could bring a wireless hub and plug that into the resort's LAN port. But you probably need some practice to set that up!!!! I'm sure I could waste a couple of my precious vacation hours messing around with that the 1st time!

Several vendors make products just for this, travel router/APs. Because lots of us don't like being tied to the desk in the room. I'd rather be sitting up in bed.

johno

 

[DVC Grammy]

My husband works for an IT firm. After doing research this is what my husband found when researching the Swan, Dolphin, and BW. The term "high speed" internet access is a facade. Those 3 hotels the (Swan Dolphin and BW) get there internet access from the same vendor. After analyzing the "high speed internet" he found that the speed and duplex of the internet traffic is 10 MB half duplex. Most places (hotels, offices, homes) that have true broadband internet connectivity have a speed and duplex of 100 MB full duplex. Basically, at the Dolphin, Swan and BW you have to change your computer's Ethernet card's speed and duplex setting from "Auto" to "10 MB half duplex". The broadband internet speed test conducted at these 3 resorts resulted in no better than an unstable 56K dial up connection. VPN is almost impossible at these 3 resorts. My husband even nixed entertaining a sales conference at the BW because supporting 400 people who cannot VPN into the company network is not an option. As atrocious as the accommodations were at the CBR, my husband found there internet connectivity to be spectacular.
Having just typed what he asked me to, I still love the BW and plan to return again!

I thank you so much for the explanation, but I have no idea what you said ! I can't speak a word of "computerese" . I leave all foreign languages to my DH..French, German, and Computer and he leaves the "better" English to me !

 

[HowGrumpy]

Several vendors make products just for this, travel router/APs. Because lots of us don't like being tied to the desk in the room. I'd rather be sitting up in bed.

Luckily, I don't have to do much travel for work on a regular basis anymore. Thanks for the update--a travel router/AP doesn't sound practical for me for once or twice a year vacation travel where I might check email every other day. I agree with you; I'd rather be in bed or out on a balcony, too.