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12-08-2019, 03:53 PM
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#1
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 187
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Will using your own hotspot interfere with campground wifi?
A recent post from an RV Youtuber reported the Durango North KOA did not want anyone to use their own personal hotspot because it interfered with the campground public wifi. Anyone know if our own hotspots really interfere or is it possible the owners want to hack into your computer because you use their non protected wifi access point?
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12-08-2019, 03:55 PM
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#2
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Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Mount Laurel, New Jersey
Posts: 9,230
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Sounds fishy to me. Each have their own signal.
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2012 SunSeeker 3100SS Toad-1962 Futura Average 100 + days camping
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12-08-2019, 03:57 PM
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#3
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Site Team
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 15,243
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If that was the case, apartments would not allow renters to use WiFi.
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12-08-2019, 03:58 PM
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#4
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Who Dares, Wins
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Chester County, PA
Posts: 7,063
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Your Hotspot uses the cellular network to get its service. The power it broadcasts the signal to your computer is low so I'd call bs and tell them to buzz off.
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2015 Chevy HD D-Max
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12-08-2019, 04:46 PM
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#5
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Retired Old Fart
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: McDonough, GA
Posts: 971
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I throw the BS card. If that was the case every cell phone in the campground would do the same. A hot spot is just a cellphone without the "phone" part. They are on the exact same frequencies and data scheme as cell phones. Their WiFi service would have no way of knowing if you were on a cell phone or a hot spot. The other thing is number of channels on Wifi in a given band are limited, but their Wifi would be overwhelmed either way even if you used their service if that is the issue.
Is that campground trying to get you to pay for their service? I would bet they are. Probably give crappy free service at a very low speed, and for a nominal daily fee offer you better speed. That's what a lot of the hotel chains have started doing also.
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Just the 2 of us in a...
"Currently between trailers"
Sold the 246RKS in 2023
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12-08-2019, 07:27 PM
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#6
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Part Timing It Now
Posts: 3,449
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dward51
I throw the BS card. If that was the case every cell phone in the campground would do the same. A hot spot is just a cellphone without the "phone" part. They are on the exact same frequencies and data scheme as cell phones. Their WiFi service would have no way of knowing if you were on a cell phone or a hot spot. The other thing is number of channels on Wifi in a given band are limited, but their Wifi would be overwhelmed either way even if you used their service if that is the issue.
Is that campground trying to get you to pay for their service? I would bet they are. Probably give crappy free service at a very low speed, and for a nominal daily fee offer you better speed. That's what a lot of the hotel chains have started doing also.
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I'd bet on that too. One has nothing to do with the other.
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"PT Crew Members Since 9/2010"
2011 RAM 2500 HD 6.7L CTD Crew
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12-08-2019, 07:53 PM
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#7
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: California
Posts: 7,616
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dward51
I throw the BS card. If that was the case every cell phone in the campground would do the same. A hot spot is just a cellphone without the "phone" part. They are on the exact same frequencies and data scheme as cell phones. Their WiFi service would have no way of knowing if you were on a cell phone or a hot spot. The other thing is number of channels on Wifi in a given band are limited, but their Wifi would be overwhelmed either way even if you used their service if that is the issue.
Is that campground trying to get you to pay for their service? I would bet they are. Probably give crappy free service at a very low speed, and for a nominal daily fee offer you better speed. That's what a lot of the hotel chains have started doing also.
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Depends on your hotspot. Many hotspots receive the cellular signal and then have a Wifi transceiver to talk to your devices. If your hotspot is on the same channel as the RV park WiFi, it definitely could interfere. That's one of the reasons when I set up a WiFi at my home that I use my WiFi app on my phone to set it to a channel that is not on the same channel as my neighbors.
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12-08-2019, 07:54 PM
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#8
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Northern KY
Posts: 5,724
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If the OP would post the youtube address they got that info from, perhaps we would have more/better information to base our theories on... because the premise does not seem correct to me...
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2014 Shamrock 183
2014 RAM 1500 Bighorn Crew Cab, HEMI, 3.21 gears, 8 Spd, 4X4 TST TPMS
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12-08-2019, 08:08 PM
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#9
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geezer with gadgets
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: SE Virginia
Posts: 672
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Your mobile phone hotspot broadcasts a wifi signal with a range of aprox. 30 feet. And that's without any barriers to have to broadcast through. I too would like to see the original youtube piece that started this.
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2011 Sunseeker 3170ds "Ladybug"
2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee TOAD
Days camped 2015: 37; 2016: 66; 2017: 86 2018: 57 2019: 30
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12-08-2019, 08:14 PM
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#10
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Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 825
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+1 to what Babock said. Yes, wifi on the same band and channel will have interference.
But as others have said, no worse than in an apartment complex, office building, commuter train and so on and so forth.
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12-08-2019, 08:43 PM
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#11
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Pickin', Campin', Mason
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: South Western PA
Posts: 19,051
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Quote:
Originally Posted by babock
Depends on your hotspot. Many hotspots receive the cellular signal and then have a Wifi transceiver to talk to your devices. If your hotspot is on the same channel as the RV park WiFi, it definitely could interfere. That's one of the reasons when I set up a WiFi at my home that I use my WiFi app on my phone to set it to a channel that is not on the same channel as my neighbors.
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True.
Depends on what you are calling a 'hotspot'.
If a cellular device (stand alone or within your cell phone) then they have a small transmit range so channel interference may be little but it would still be good not to step on the campgrounds channel.
If you are setting up a more powerful wifi LAN such as something like a Ubiquity airGateway LR device, you may very well cancel out other wifi signals on the same channel.
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12-08-2019, 08:44 PM
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#12
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: California
Posts: 7,616
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 757Dave
Your mobile phone hotspot broadcasts a wifi signal with a range of aprox. 30 feet. And that's without any barriers to have to broadcast through. I too would like to see the original youtube piece that started this.
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And if you are near the end of the park and someone between you and the park's WiFii antenna is on the same channel, you WILL have interference from that guy's hotspot.
I was assuming the OP was not talking about a cell phone's mobile hotspot but one of the standalone hotspots.
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12-09-2019, 01:20 PM
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#13
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Member
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 74
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It's very unlikely that your mobile hotspot will cause interference with a properly installed campground Wi-Fi--especially if your hotspot can operate in the 5 gigahertz range where there are many more channels.
The campground might be more concerned about people using travel routers. They typically get their signal from a Wi-Fi source such as the campground's network, then create their own Wi-Fi network allowing you to hook up many devices to it. (Many parks limit you to 1 or 2 devices on their network and a travel router would bust through those limitations.)
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MicroLite 19fbs _ Ringwood NJ
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12-09-2019, 04:39 PM
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#14
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: NC
Posts: 477
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Traveling Robert had the episode on last week. I too call BS. The KOA really gave him a hard time about it.
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12-09-2019, 05:54 PM
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#15
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jkoenig24
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Box Elder, SD (formerly NY)
Posts: 953
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No.
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12-09-2019, 09:48 PM
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#16
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: TEXAS
Posts: 9,097
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rogerkathy
Anyone know if our own hotspots really interfere or is it possible the owners want to hack into your computer because you use their non protected wifi access point?
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A normal hot spot should not interfer. There might be some confusion when other people try to connect to the KOA wifi and see your wifi listed as a stronger signal.
MAKE CERTAIN THAT YOUR WIFI HOTSPOT IS PASSWORD PROTECTED.
As to trying to hack into your computer... that's a pretty low probability.
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2015 Dynamax REV 24TB class C
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12-09-2019, 11:08 PM
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#17
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Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 4,223
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In all my travels I've only seen ONE campground that had WiFi worth using. So, I guess it's possible for a hotspot to interfere with the CG WiFi since most of them are so inadequate a possum passing gas will cause interference.
I have the LCI One Control router transmitting WiFi, there is a NetGear router used for the observation and security cameras transmitting WiFi and two small hotspots, one AT&T the other Verizon, each with 2.4 and 5 ghz channels. That's six WiFi signals within a 30 foot radius that have never shown any sort of interference with each other.
I'm curious how this CG is going know I am using a hotspot. I certainly am not going to allow them inside my MH to inspect it. All of the transmitters have unique (and misleading) names.
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BIRDS AREN’T REAL
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12-10-2019, 08:33 AM
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#18
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2019
Posts: 138
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Quote:
Originally Posted by emm-dee
I'm curious how this CG is going know I am using a hotspot. I certainly am not going to allow them inside my MH to inspect it. All of the transmitters have unique (and misleading) names.
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Part of the answer is in your post. Devices that are just connected to a wifi network do not broadcast a name (SSID). Not everyone renames their hotspot. I see the default SSIDs of Mifis, Linksystem and WiFI Ranger hotspots all the time at campgrounds. It does not take rocket science to walk around a campground with a cellphone and note the changes in signal strength of the various SSIDs. Many of the more powerful devices have external antenas or are mounted outside themselves and easily recognizable.
Some hotspot devices will let you hide the SSID so that it is not visible to those scanning for hotspots.
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12-10-2019, 09:02 AM
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#19
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"On the road again"
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Parker County Texas
Posts: 1,152
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rogerkathy
A recent post from an RV Youtuber reported the Durango North KOA did not want anyone to use their own personal hotspot because it interfered with the campground public wifi. Anyone know if our own hotspots really interfere or is it possible the owners want to hack into your computer because you use their non protected wifi access point?
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Personally, I'd tell them to mind their own business. I think that's a crock myself.
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Robert & Estha Shiflet
Georgetown XL 378TS
Jeep Gladiator Willys Tow Vehicle
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12-10-2019, 09:42 AM
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#20
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Southern NM
Posts: 9,505
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X2! I'm thinking that CG has decided to NOT spend the $$$ necessary to upgrade their WiFi to where it is usable, deciding instead to make this BS excuse statement and blame the poor service on their patrons, or, they have ulterior motives.
I wish them, and other CGs like them, much luck as the percentage of RVers using this type of connectivity equipment and software increases exponentially.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rjshiflet
Personally, I'd tell them to mind their own business. I think that's a crock myself.
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2012 Wildcat Sterling 32RL - w/level up (best option ever)
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