[Dick]

I assume you also get free unlimited calls to Mexico too….

[Dick]

Now why wouldn’t the RV Park and Big Bend Telephone Co. work out a deal to provide that kind of service as WiFi in the park?

Get some hardware/software that allows the RV Park to sell WiFi at different speeds. Or have the Big Bend Telephone Co. install the equipment, service, and sell WiFi directly to the campers … bypassing the RV Park which looks at the WiFi service by Big Bend Telephone Co. as a value added amenity of the park?

Or is this SOOOOO obvious that I’m missing something.

Slick solution!

BTW … Milwaukee’s General Mitchell Field (MKE) this week started to offer FREE WiFi throughout the terminal areas. Just another reason to FLY MKE and visit Wonderful Wisconsin … which we think might still be open for business.

[David]

Good move Ronald, I did the same thing here in FL when we were building. You can’t count on the campgrounds for anything Wi-Fi related, it’s mostly useless.

[Roger]

This RV park is 8 years old. When you look at it, you think it was built 20 years ago. The interior roads and sites are paved. That is good. Once upon a time, there was grass between the sites. Very little is left of that. The FHU are good with 20/30/50 amps at each site. A few sites have cable TV. That is to say, 24 of 101 sites. Those sites are all in one part of the park. My guess is, those are the only sites where cable is still working. The reception is analog and is really bad. Like in the old days when you used rabbit ears for an antenna, Very grainy. Our site has an RG11 receptacle for a telephone/DSL modem hookup. The innards are so corroded that there was no dial tone when the BBT tech tried to hook-up the modem. A maintenance guy created a temporary connection.

I can see a small equipment building, which is apparently owned by BBT and houses their equipment which provides WiFi to the park. The BBT technician told me that this little building has fiberoptic cable inside and in theory, the park could have high speed Internet.

Problem is that the owners do apparently not care and will not spend the money to lay down the conduit needed for running the cable to each site. I was told the resort is owned by a very rich man who owns, amongst other things, pipelines. He also owns 2 jets to fly his friends, buddies and paying guests to the resort.

On the other hand, one has to remember that this is the best RV park in the area and being part of the golf resort, we have access to everything the resort has to offer. This includes an on-site restaurant, a bar, 2 bakeries and a few other things. The views are great. They have hiking and walking trails on the property and you can continue past the property lines hiking up into the mountains. Or, you can go down to the river and launch your kayak. It is also considered normal to go a few miles down the road, cross over into Mexico for dinner.

Anyways, I guess, not everyone is obsessed with wanting fast Internet and many people who come here, do so for the outdoors.

[Bill]

This hotel / golf resort has been through so many “re-do’s” it is not possible to keep up with them. It originally was a California sourced investor, I believe, who wanted a “get away” for the ultra rich. A later owner even had the side of a hill removed to allow for jet travel… as I understand it …

You have to see the hotel and remote park and you would better understand it … On many occasions, there may be two or three coaches there … There was one other coach in the park when we were there last ….

Try being there when it is dusty and 110 degrees …. been there and done that …

The drive South along the Rio Grande River, however, is one of the most beautiful in America … there is one big pull …

Pres

[Archived]

Be sure and hit the Thirsty Goat Saloon if it is still open.

[Archived]

We’ve attended a 3 day mountain bike event Bikefest link there in Feb and the RV park gets packed.

Be sure to eat/drink at La Kiva La Kiva link

During the dot.com era, there was scheduled airline service to the resort from Austin and Dallas if my memory serves me.

[Walter]

Ronald,

Sounds like you and Gabi are having a good time. We’ll miss you at Pelican. Jean and I stayed there when it was new. I would check the pool before went in though. There were tiny little things swimming around in it. I’ll second dinner at Kiva. They had an awesome open mike night. I’ve tried to attach a photo of our Essex (at the time). We were the only ones there.

[Ronald]

one reason for it is that the mobs caused too much damage in the park during the „after hours“ events and the park decided to not host this any longer. The people who set up the event agreed because it was too much effort and too costly for them.

[Ronald]

🙂

[Corey]

We have decided to stay here for another month and they are on our list of places to visit.

🙂

[Doug]

with my Internet stories.

Well, the DSL modem never quite delivered for us. We were promised 18 down and 1 up but at best, we got 3-4 down and much less than 1 up. This kind of data speed is just not enough for serious work. Especially, when you have to download or upload files.

As I had mentioned in my earlier post, the park does have fiberoptic cable right into the middle of the park. But it is not being used.

The resort hotel across the street does have fast Internet, however, so I had to go over there a couple of times to download some 1GB plus files, which would have been nearly impossible to do in the RV park.

So … when DSL did not cut it for us, I contacted BBT (Big Bend Telephone) and asked them about connecting me to fiber.

To make a long story short, they did. All it took was 2 point-to-point Ubique 5Ghz antennas and a lot of $$$ and about 5-6 hours of labor on the part of the tech.

We have been enjoying broadband internet for over a week and we are the envy of the park … 🙂 – We typically get 50-60 down and 25-35 up as opposed to the park‘s WiFi of about 2 down and 1 or less up.

I had to buy the equipment, i.e. 2 antennas and the router. Have somebody already wanting to buy them of of me when we leave here at the end of February.

Incidentally, there is an app which shows you detailed covereage for all the major carriers. The name is Coverage. You can select the carrier and service and then drill down on your location. I am attaching a screen print sample.

We will be traveling within reach of civilization again after we leave here. So no more boring stories, for a while.

🙂

[John]

Amazing, you found a way to make it all happen, you’re neighbors are probably real jealous.

[Towson]

NOT wanting to sound arrogant, boisterous or whatever, this comes down to what you want

and need AND how many Dollars you are willing to throw at it.

It cost us close to $700 to get connected to fiber.

Surely much more $$$ than most people would be willing to pay for this.

We arrived here on Dec 16 and will leave on Feb 26.

Somebody wants to buy our equipment when we leave here and that should net us about $350

So the net cost is bearable.

Again, as I have tried to say in other posts, not everyone wants or is willing to pay for high speed

Internet , which is quite ok.

We are willing to pay for this, however, because the added speed allows us to conduct

our business when we want to.

It is a matter of thinking outside the box.

If you stay for just a few days, all this is not worth it.

If you stay for a month or longer, then it may be within your pain threshold.

Cheers,

Ronald