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Ask Slashdot: Updating a Difficult Campground Wi-Fi Design?

Posted by timothy on from the streaming-for-the-airstream dept.

MahlonS writes "I am a retired network hack wintering in my RV in a campground in southern GA. 3 years ago I reconfigured the Wi-Fi system to a marginal working ability; It's now ready for a serious upgrade, prompted by a new cable net connection replacing a weak DSL. 5 dual-radio HP Curve access points connect to a 6th via single or double radio hops (effectively a Wireless Distribution System) in heavily wooded space. Unidirectional antennas at the APs (the APs are in water resistant enclosures) are placed on poles above the RVs, about 15 feet above ground. Primary hops are about 300 feet to 3 of the APs, secondary hops about the same. Signal measurements indicate that there is adequate RF between the access points. In 2008, average user count averaged about 30 users; newer devices (smart phones, etc) will likely increase that number (winter population total is about 80 RVs). While the old design worked OK when lightly loaded, I suspect that the single DSL line generated so many packet resends that the APs were flooded. This is a quasi-State Park, so money is always an issue, but there is enough squawk from the user community that a modest budget might be approved. The main AP connects to an old Cisco router. Burying wire is frowned upon, due to shallow utilities, and campfire rings that float around the campsites — sometimes melting TV cables. Since I'm not up on current Wi-Fi tech, are there solutions out there that would make this system work much better?"

2 of 237 comments (clear)

  1. I got a solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Tell them all to put down the electronics and go enjoy nature.

    1. Re:I got a solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Tell them all to put down the electronics and go enjoy nature.

      Eh you can mod it down because he didn't go along with the premise and you just can't stand that ... but it's the fucking truth. Whoever modded this down is a pansy girlie-man with no functional testicles as evidenced by his inability to deal with a contrary opinion. It was apparently an editor, too. Maybe the site would have higher quality if they spend less time enforcing their brand of censorship and more time running a spell-checker.

      Sometimes when you encounter difficulty and feel a need to bring in outside expertise (via Ask Slashdot in this case), it's because you are doing something novel and interesting and just need some help. Other times, it's because what you are doing makes no sense and THAT'S why it's so difficult. This is the latter. If you wanted to teach them how to use computers and networks a wi-fi question makes perfect sense. But this is a campground.

      Putting wi-fi in a campground is contrary to its purpose. I don't care if the asker and the editors failed to notice this. I don't care if that rains on someone's little parade. It's a dumb idea. Whatever you're doing there, it isn't camping. It's using the Internet outside. That's my genuine opinion, and not only is it as valid as the asker's, it's more valid because it's more consistent with what a campground is for. Some ball-less soul-less sack of shit will mod me down anyway because he hasn't the guts to argue against me, but that's okay.