Texas State Parks Offer Wi-Fi

digrieze writes "Here's a story raising a holiday ruckus. Texas has started providing free Wi-Fi service at state parks, causing friction with the 'get away from it all' crew. Looks like a nice place to vacation to me."

Comments

Everything is bigger in TX even wifi charges!

[garcia]

causing friction with the "get away from it all" crew

You don't go to a state park and stay within wifi range (I assume their RV/tent sites in the main campground) if you want to "get away from it all". If you want to get away from it all you go backpacking in remote areas of the park or the State. Amenities like showers, flush toilets, electric hookups, and swimming pools doesn't exactly put you in the "roughing it" category.

So far, the vast majority of users are conducting business, and have both the tools and the ability to pay the average daily service fee of $10 to $20, says Phillip Redman, a research vice president at Gartner. But there are also a growing number of free Wi-Fi hot spots, which make the cost of connectivity irrelevant. And with proliferating access and declining price, the user's physical location has become less important than ever before.

I see a lot of RVs in campgrounds with DirecTV. Why not Direcwav while you're at it? It's $100 setup and $50/month and all you need is a direct view of the southern sky (in TX I doubt that would be a problem - and no, I'm not even a customer of theirs). If you're a serious "snow bird" RV fan it would sound like the best way to go. Hell, you could undercut TX State Parks and offer wifi for $5 or less. I can't see the $15/day pricetag honestly... The article mentions that they realize that putting wifi into the wilderness would be difficult due to terrain/etc and would require numerous antennae throughout the park but they mention that TX state parks have great RV/tent campsites that will have coverage... So why the high cost?

I bring my hiptop with me when we go "camping" but I generally only check my email twice a day from it and make phone calls only when necessary. It is nice to have along but I'm more for enjoying my freedom when I'm "camping".

I just can't see businessmen making it a regular practice of saving money on their overnight stays by using a state park campground and firing up their $15/day wifi when they can probably pay $15/night more (with parking fees, camping fees, and wifi fee) at a hotel and get it free.

YMMV.

Re:Complaints about it already

[ostrich2]

Bottem line is that technology is good and that this is going to make our lives and everyone else who uses the park but is not crazy, lives easier.

Technology is not good. Technology is also not bad. Technology is, and that's probably the most you can say about it.

I think the part people are very nervous about (myself included) is that while they are out trying to enjoy the seclusion and serenity of the outdoors, someone else will be enjoying it while loudly playing Doom with the accompanying noise and such. I admit I'm a lot more negative on the possibility of cell towers than I am wifi, but it's basically the same thing.

What I can't understand is why would someone go so far away from their homes just to reproduce their home environment? Maybe I'm too sensitive, but I was in Utah a few months ago in an area positively reknown for its night-time views, and it upset me that the first thing some people would do when it got dark was turn on a 1M candle-power unhooded flood light at their campsite.

Believe it or not, many people actually dislike the confinements of their city lives and are weary of making their escape location just another tourist spot. I know I am.