Our Site At North Texas Jellystone RV Resort
Sorry there has not been any postings lately. We are currently parked at North Texas Jellystone RV Resort in Burleson, TX, just south of Fort Worth. We’ve been here over a month now as David has been working non-stop on improving this park’s WiFi system.
You see, a friend of ours owns this park and asked for David’s help in expanding his WiFi system. Well, that simple expansion has turned into a complete rip out and re-build of a new and improved WiFi system. The old system was just that….old. So in order to support all the traffic and a new fiber line coming into the park, a whole new system had to be built in its place.
David explains that whenever you put in a WiFi system in an rv park it’s always a “Best Effort” install. You see, it can never be 100% for everyone all the time. You have to remember that rv parks are always in flux. There are rv’s coming and going all the time.
So you may be just fine connecting to the local campground’s WiFi system one day but then you may get a new neighbor and all of a sudden you have half the signal or none at all. It could be how they are parked and the signal could be bouncing off their coach now. It could be where you physically are inside your particular rv, by a window vs behind a wall. It could be that their camper is made of aluminum and therefore blocking anything coming to you. WiFi signals do not pass through aluminum.
Keep in mind also that your signal, strength or speed is also dependent on what the rv park has coming into their park. Some may not have enough speed to adequately support all the users that are connected. We’ve been in some parks where just their location is a hindrance on how much speed they can get, such as this North Texas Jellystone. They are located just 15 minutes south of Fort Worth, TX and you would expect them to have every resource available but this was just not the case. They fell just outside the install zone for the AT&T fiber until now. They could not even get cable tv here, therefore no cable modems. Their only option up until now has been AT&T U-verse. Unfortunately bad WiFi is the norm throughout the entire US. If the park that you are at has decent WiFi, count yourself lucky.
If they have limited WiFi in certain areas of the park, well, David came up with a solution for that too. You can build yourself an antenna to help bring in the signal to your rv and create your own private WiFi within your rv, for under $100. Here’s the post that David did on that and a step-by-step tutorial on setting it all up yourself. I was able to follow David’s instructions on the video and set one up myself. So I know if I can do it, anyone else should be able to. This will not increase your speed, just help bring the signal inside your rv so that you can connect easier.
David And Some Of The Equipment
David Working On WiFi In Park
So with over 70 access points and bridges from Ubiquiti, fiber coming into the park, a heavy duty Cisco Systems Router and a dedicated server, this system should be great by the time David’s done with it.
David Working On The Server
Sorry to say, I can be of no help what so ever. David was able to bring in a friend that is a programmer and he has helped a lot. We really appreciate Michael and his wife for coming into the park for a couple weeks to help out on this install.
WiFi Headquarters For North Texas Jellystone RV Park
Whisper Falling Asleep On Antenna
BK And Whisper Enjoying The Sun
Whisper of course is no help. He falls asleep all the time on the antennas that David is trying to program. He and BK have been enjoying the Texas sun though. Come on….you knew I had to get a kitty picture in here somewhere :)
Tequila Sampling After A Long Hard Day
After long days of programming this does help.
David’s put in some very long hours. Typically starting at 8 in the morning or so and working until well past 9 at night. I’ve learned to plan out meals so they can be eaten without much effort. There has been a few times we’ve been able to go out and enjoy a restaurant, but then it’s right back to work. I feel bad that I cannot help in any way. I guess just making sure he’s eating and drinking something will have to do.
So, we are still here in Texas. We were planning on only being here for a couple weeks as this was just going to be adding a couple more antennas for an expansion. We do have to be at another rv park in Panama City Beach, FL for another expansion of their WiFi that David worked on last year. We’ve delayed them a little bit so hopefully we will be back on the road soon and headed to Florida.
This has really turned into quite some projects across the country. I think I need to start telling David that maybe he should start charging for this. Yes, he does this for free, just to help out the mom and pop parks and friends.
So sorry it’s been so long for another blog posting. Not much in the way of action has been going on here. Programming, programming and more programming. Oh what fun!
Thanks for bringing us all up to date. Now, if we could only get David to convince the Texas State Parks Dept to add wifi to all of Texas State Parks we’d be all set.
Ha! Now that would be a feat.
Thanks for the update, and glad to hear that good friends are still out there helping people out.
A frien in need…. It is great David is so talented! I am going to look at the process David outlined for setting up our own wi-if network… Maybe an old dog can learn a new trick or two…
David and Brenda,
You two are so nice to help out someone in need like that. They are VERY lucky to have such talented friends to install their system… I hope they realize how lucky they are! :)
Folks, Ginger and I are the lucky ones David and Brenda are helping out. We have yet to meet nicer people than these two. If you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting the Bott’s, then I hope down the road you get too. They are wonderful and kind people and we are privileged to call them our friends. We love you David and Brenda!
Ronnie and Ginger Bowyer
North Texas Jellystone Park
Burleson, Texas
Thanks for sharing. We miss hearing from you.
You are such generous caring people.
Hopefully you are receiving free site parking.
Does lack of RV parks wifi services hinder the hot spot on our cell phones?
????
Hi…Nope, Wi-Fi in parks is totally separate from your cell phone service hotspot. :)
So if we have our Verizon jet pack with us we would not need to depend on the park wifi for Internet service? ????
Yes, if you have you own JetPack, you surely can use that. But not really sure what you are asking.
A campground’s WiFi and your broadband “MiFi” from your Verizon Jetpack or a tethered mobile phone are two completely separate and unrelated things. Totally Apples and Oranges. David is working on a campground’s Wifi – that’s the topic of this post – it has nothing to do with your Jet Pack. They both get you on the internet, but in completely different and unrelated ways. Hope this helps.
If anyone can do it it’s DAVID and it will be done the right way.
I literally just stumbled upon your blog while trying to come up with the best wifi solutions for our future RV purchase. Being in the I.T. field myself I have been considering performing this same type of work as we begin our travels. When I read that you do this for free I had to chime in. Being a fellow bald geek that likes to sample many different types of alcohol as well I hope to meet you someday on the road to share some stories, wisdom, and drinks. Keep up the fantastic work and once we finally decide on our RV (within the next few months I hope) if you ever need additional help I’d be glad to get involved. Safe and happy travels my friend.
David, Like you I’m trying to help a friend get WiFi setup at his RV park here in Arizona. He is using Ubiquiti NanoStations for the backbone network managed by UNMS. I’m trying to figure out which gateway to recommend, an EdgeRouter or a Unifi Security Gateway, and which model. He has about 50 sites and a Gigabit Fiber for Internet service. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
If he will be using UniFi to control the network and AP’s, then you will want to use at least a USG Pro4 to keep things all in within the software for easy control. As well as using UniFi switches. (I say the pro4 based on you mentioning fiber speeds as the standard USG is not fast enough for the throughput.) Otherwise surely an EdgeRouter would be just fine. An all in one solution look to the really nice… Ubiquiti USG-XG-8. Have, hummm, fun. :)
Hi David. Wondering what equipment was used. Have a friend who runs a non-profit campground with limited funding and poor wi-fi. They are trying to find a cost effective way to expand their external wi-fi signal to the RV’s and cabins in a 5acre area.
Any suggestions?
Hi…I use Ubiquiti gear… https://www.ui.com/ UniFi is the Wi-Fi system (Hardware and controller) and then for wireless bridging, to places you can run wire to, we use their AirMax line. First and foremost however is do that have the data coming into the park they would need to offer wi-fi park wide? That can sometimes be an issue all by itself based on where they may be located.