Several years ago when we launched "RVers Online" we began by offering a short list of our favorite RV parks, and an editorial encouraging RV parks to become "Modem Friendly". It was the first time that phrase had ever been used. And, happily, oh how the tmes have changed! In the first years park owners and managers had no idea what we were asking about when we inquired if we could connect ourlapop to a phone line. Six years later we find it commonplace for RV parks to offer a free phone connection for its RVer guests. In the first years a few outside service providers saw a profit opportunity, and provided a fee based dial up service. But these "swipe your credit card" services proved extremely unpopular with RVers, and it appears they were not successful. While a few parks still charge for a modem connection, most have concluded that internet access has become a necessary amenity for RVers, and the cost is covered in the daily rate. In addition to dial up connections at RV parks, RVers have found a growing source of additional places to connect a laptop to a phone line and download the day's email. These include most truck stops, community libraries, and even some nationwide chains such as Kinkos, where an extra line is usual available for casual users.
In the first years the demand for internet access by traveling RVers was relatively light. Today it is widespread -- and growing. Email is no longer the only service RVers require. Now they want to use the full spectrum of Internet offerings, from making reservations to paying their bills and managing their investments -- all online. As new online capabilities began to be used by RVers, they were once again out-pacing the ability of many RV parks to provide the services needed. In an effort to make sure more RV guests would have access to a designated modem line, many parks posted signs limiting modem access to 5 or 10 minutes. Unfortunately, with many RVers now having the majority of their communications in electronic format, and with increased use of the internet to carry on their personal business transactions, an "allotment" of 5 or 10 minutes was quickly becoming inadequate for many RV guests. And a single phone line was often not enough to provide for the needs of the growing number of RVers who were looking for a place to log on. Moreover the connection speed offered by dial up services, which only recently seemed perfectly adequate for sending and receiving a few emails, suddenly seemed glacial -- especially after more RVers had experienced the much faster speed offered by new delivery options such cable, DSL, and satellite.
Some parks attempted to deal with the growing online needs by expanding their telephone capability to include phone hookups at some or all of the sites, usually charging an added fee to help defray the significant added costs involved in providing the enhanced service. A real limitation for many parks was the substantial infrastructure costs involved -- both the excavation required to bury the wire system, and the cost of the equpment and extra lines needed to support an in-park instant phone system.
Even as these issues were being considered by park owners, key new technologies for addressing the issue in an entirely new way were emerging. With the adoption of a common standard for wireless communications known as "802.11(b)", it was now possible to provide a high speed wireless internet connection for hundreds of feet from special antennas used to broadcast and receive the signal. Special PCMCIA cards for use with laptops could be acquired for under $100, and would enable the laptop to connect to the park's wireless internet connection -- right from the comfort of one's own RV (Mac users have had this capability built into their laptops for years). No phone connections are needed, and the connection speed is 10 times or more faster than using a phone line. No more need for site telephones, and no more need for limiting online access to 5 or 10 minutes.
Compared to the cost of adding site phone connections, wireless networks can be provided at very reasonable cost. In fact the costs are so low that some outside service vendors will provide the needed equipment at no cost to the park owner. And the provider will also handle all the billing and support. A few park owners have discovered the relatively low cost of installing and maintaining an in-park wireless service, and concluded that they would assume these costs and offer high speed wireless service as an added park amenity. These parks are looking to increase revenues by increasing their occupancy rates, rather than through fees collected from RVers using a wireless service provided by an outside vendor. The parallel here to the early days of "modem friendly" is not difficult to recognize.
Just a few years ago finding a park that offered a phone connection for a laptop was difficult. That challenged RVers to find other places where they could plug into a phone line, primarily to access email. Today most parks don't offer wireless (yet!). But as RVers discover how to use wireless connections to get high speed internet access, they will once again become creative in finding alternative sources for wireless connections. Many coffee shops, taverns, and retail establishments are finding that by offering a wireless connection they can attract more business. Many of these are fee based services, meaning you can expect a request for your credit card billing information on the first screen you'll see when you're within range of a wireless antenna. However some businesses find they can compete most effectively by offering a free wireless connection -- meaning anyone within range can access the internet with a high speed connection without having to pay a fee.
It is too early to predict what the outcome of the present "fee versus free" wireless contest will be. But in the meantime it has spawned some important new resources that will be of interest to RVers looking for wireless connections. In our opinion the best of the growing compilation of free wireless connection listed by city and state is at http://www.wififreespot.com/index.html Here you'll find an up-to-date listing of all the places you can take a laptop and get connected. Another listing that includes both fee based connections ("hot spots") and free connections ("free spots") is found at http://www.boingo.com We suggest RVers take note of these two websites, because as more RVers discover the ease and convenience of wireless connections, the more they'll want to know where they can go to take advantage of this new capability. And when you're staying at a park that does not offer wireless, or has an excessive fee for its use, you may find a convenient "free spot" just a short distance away. And while hot spots may be difficult to locate in some locations today, it seems inevitable that fee based wireless options will expand exponentially over the next year. We think the growth rate will be nothing short of phenomenal.
The new wave of high speed internet connectivity will have broad implications for RVers and park owners alike. With vastly increased online capabilities offered through high speed connections, RVers will find it easier to manage all their personal affairs while on the road. Many will find it easier to extend their RV travel time. And park owners will find, in time, that the choices they've made in offering the service will begin to impact their bottom line. Their range of options is from offering an "expensive" service, in which they participate in the revenue stream from fees collected from RVers -- to parks that will offer a free service to attract more guests. In between will be the relatively low cost service offerings, where the park has opted not to share in the revenues in order to provide the lowest possible cost to its patrons.
In the long run we believe the cost for wireless access will become an important part of the decision process for many RVers in selecting an RV park. Coffee shops that offer a fee based service may soon find they are losing market share to other coffee shops that provide the service either free or at cost. The same, we believe, may play out in the RV park industry.
One cost issue of particular importance to RVers is the daily (versus weekly or monthly) rate. Most RVers, almost by definition, are frequently "on the move". They frequently spend only a night or two at a given location, then go on down the road to see what discoveries they'll next at the next destination. They will usually not be able to take advantage of a weekly or monthly rate, since the odds of finding the same service provider at the next location are remote at best. Therefore to them, the daily rate will be of primary interest. In reviewing the vastly different rate structures that outside vendors are charging for their service, we find that the monthly rate seems usually to be in the $20-$40 range. Amortized over 30 days, a buck a day doesn't seem bad for a DSL connection. But these same providers are all over the lot with their daily rates. We've paid $2.50 for a 24 hour period at Buckhorn RV Park in Kerrville, TX. And we're also seeing rates at other parks as high as $7 per night. (Update: A recent "announcement" by KOA proudly states that their parks will soon be able to offer a per-day rate of --- $8!) We think it is predictable that most RVers, as they gain knowledge about the use of in-park wireless systems, will begin paying careful attention to the added cost of an overnight stay attributed to a wireless high speed connection.
To be sure there are many other issues involving the move to wireless that deserve attention. RVers must become familiar with the equipment required, and how to configure it. While not difficult, it's something "new" to be learned. Service providers and parks will need to learn which equipment (and configurations of same) work best in the environment of an RV park, where vehicles are often parked in close proximity to one another. And RV owners will likely find that their best connections will be achieved by having some sort of an external antenna -- likely roof mounted -- to ensure the strongest possible signal when the rig is parked at some distance from the park's wireless antenna. And finally we need to adapt to the still changing wireless technology, which has already produced a new and better "standard" than used in exixting wireless systems, and already available to Mac users [happily these are "backwards compatible"]. These are all issues both parks and RVers will wrestle with in the near future. There will be a few frustrations en route -- just as there were in the early days of "modem friendly". But with a bit of patience these will all be resolved, and the element of cost -- particularly the daily cost -- will in the long run prove to be the factor of greatest significance.
Move over, phone line....there's a new game in town!