Slashdot Mirror
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."
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.
The service will be free in the five Texas parks for three months; then TengoInternet, the wireless provider, will charge about $15 a day.
Err... doesn't exactly sound all that "free" to me.
"Hence, in order to have good coverage, you need to put antennas all over the park."
Just to prevent the future fires that the spelling police will start.
Antennas is correct when talking electronics.
Antennae is correct when talking biology.
- Source
AlexTheBeast
--
Tech-Recipes - Leave Your Computer Knowledge for Future Generations
I hate to be a spelling Nazi, but I believe you misspelled "taxpayer-funded".
There's a Mercedes gap too. I want one and can't afford one, but it's not government's job to do anything about it.
Why does this cause friction? Can't they simply NOT use the WiFi service?
Portland, North Dakota Puppies
The article doesn't mention it, but the parks are: Choke Canyon State Park (Calliham) near Three Rivers, Blanco State Park near Blanco, Balmorhea State Park near Toyahvale, Goose Island State Park near Rockport, and Ray Roberts Lake State Park (Isle du Bois) near Pilot Point. Reference: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/news/news/041220b.phtm l
what I want to know is when are they going to add AC outlets to all of the trees?
I work for the texas state park and let me tell you how not happy people really are about this new service. What the article did not report was that we recieved a petition from 500 "naturalists" saying how strongly they object to this.
Naturally, we did what any good goverment body would do when handed a petition, we threw it away.
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.
Progress is a good thing!!
Be better in bed. Wikiafterdark!
As a Texas resident and an avid camper, I think this is great! There has been many time I have been camping and wondered what else there is to see and do in the local area. Sure one would argue that you could go to the lodge and collect a bunch of tourist pamphlets, or you could sit in your tent or at the picnic table and check the local weather and current fishing and river conditions or even post first on /.
[n8.r0n] http://petesweb.spymac.net/
But what about those who just want to get back to nature - and shudder at the thought of a woods where Thoreau could go online?
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not remembered to check my email."
--Thoreau (almost)
* Olaserov is in the process of thinking up a signature.
I don't understand why the "get away from it all" types would be so upset about this, it greatly enhanses the experience of a park. Think of how much more intereactive it makes the whole experience. You see a deer, you take a picture, upload it to your friends so they can check it out. You see some other form of wildlife...or plant and you pull up wikipedia to try and figure otu what it is.
I say bravo to texas!
Be better in bed. Wikiafterdark!
From the article:
And with proliferating access and declining price, the user's physical location has become less important than ever before.
I beg to differ on this point. Since we can change our location -- Wi-Fi allows us to unchain ourselves from our desks -- location can now be used to provide a richer computing experience, as in applications like Placelab, and Plazes.
Chalk another site up on the list to wardrive.
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
How am I supposed to google for information on how to set up the tent, use a fishing rod, etc.?
If you don't like wifi in the park, don't use it. Simple answer.
;-)
That said, I think if the folks who manage the parks want to put antennas in the campground areas, fine. Or where there's public amenities. That makes perfect sense - it's a potential revenue stream, it's cheap to provide, and a lot of "campers" (which here in the U.S. often mean RV owners who want all the comforts of home wherever they travel) may take advantage of it. Even after reading the article, I really doubt they are referring to putting antennas everywhere in the parks - just in the areas that are developed. I don't think folks who go off into the wilderness with their sleeping bags and a pup tent are the target for wifi in the park.
And I don't see why it's an issue. Most campgrounds that would have this sort of service are designed for the vehicular set. The "back-to-the-woods" folks already stay far away from them. I could see how wifi in the deep woods would detract from the park experience, but that's not what this appears to be.
Then again, my idea of camping is staying in a hotel that doesn't offer room service. As much as I like the outdoors, I see it as a rather poor choice for sleeping. And RV's aren't much better in my eyes. So maybe my perspective is a tad skewed
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
The wildlife will be fine.
As I genuine treehugger, I really don't see a problem with providing wireless into state parks.
Hell, with a satellite dish you can get anything you need, and we are already bombarded with enough excess radio to render us all infertile.
The WiFi Pandora is out of the box so to speak- bitching about it as akin to bitching about cell phones there. 'caus with a cell phone you could already find out about that blue-green warbler anyway.
The real reason I'm sure is that the state parks generate serious revenue in terms of camping, and the laptops are definitely coming along. So, serve the consumer becomes the rule.
I believe I read recently about Philadelphia considering going wireless- it's only a matter of time before WiFi coverage simply expands into areas we never even considered.
And of course any good bird watcher isn't checking the net- they're checking their Audobon guide like I did this morning to identify the Carolina Wren that arrived at the feeders in heavy snow.
I didn't reach for the laptop.
befuddled (noun) 1. Unable to create a pithy sig