When our new Triton finally arrives, (its taken half the time it takes to construct a cruise ship and fit it out so far!) we will be starting out on our caravanning adventure. To be fair, it’s not my bag but the other half harboured the notion and since a brand new van was cheaper than a place in France I thought I’d go along with it for now.
However, it has just dawned on me that their will be no Sky TV in it therefore no wireless broadband either. Let’s face it, it doesnt even have an oven or microwave!
The thought of being stuck in a field with no access to free internet sends shivers through me. I’ll have withdrawal fever. I won’t even eat in restaurants or drink in pubs that don’t have free WiFi.
Do sites generally offer it? Or are you stuck with your phone provider ration complete with normally poor signal?
This is a major concern, our first trip could turn me off the whole idea (that might happen anyway of course) and send me scurrying back to French property websites.

Most sites provide WiFi these days, though some offer it free and others make a charge. As caravan sites tend be mainly in rural areas often mobile phone data signals are poor and site bandwidth is restricted because they are a long way from exchanges and there isn't enough potential traffic to justify fibre installation.

We have a lovely 3 bed bungalow for sale in the Charente, complete with wifi and caravan storage!

Don't have a TV in ours but when desperate i set my phone up as a hot spot and watch tv through a surface pro…. just fits nicely anywhere in the Van….no signal then I read a book…..

Just back from a 3 week tour of Scotland and north Wales, 9 sites, and we gave up trying to get wifi, even on the CCC and CMC sites. Where you could buy wifi (we didn't visit one site where wifi was readily available, free), we had to hang around the toilets to get a signal! What a contrast with sites we visited in Holland and Belgium earlier in the year, where wifi was often free and readily available wherever we were on the site.
We resorted to using a phone signal - and ran out of data.I had to learn to read a book again!
We still had a fantastic time - possibly even better without the internet!
Sorry to be so negative, but it was as we found it.

If you're coming to France, then it depends. Some campsites only have it at reception, others all over. Sounds like you're not going to enjoy it anyway so....... grumpychops!

In this day and age, where electronic communication is king, you would have thought that Wifi accessibility would be a 'must provide' for all sorts of commercial enterprises where their customers are expecting to be in contact with the grater human race! It is a little surprising then to find that within the world of camping and caravanning this is not the case.

Yes there are some very good sites that provide free wifi and our proud to let you know you can access it all over their sites, however the reality is that yes free wifi is available all over, but you try and get a useable signal, it is impossible unless it is about 3 am! I don’t need to go into the economics of it all, but bottom line is there is no such thing as a free lunch!

Question is what to do about it?

If you are in this country (or even in Europe now) it can be economic for you to use your mobile phone and link your laptop or tablet to your phone using your phone hotspot technology, you just have to be mindful of what your data plan is and if you are in a suitable signal area.

Some campsite will provided a decent wifi service for a charge, now the only problem here is that the charge is per device. More often we found in Europe that the bar/restaurant provides of a good usable signal which is free but limited to about a 20 metre radius of the premises (well of course it would they want you to be sat in their bar drinking their drinks and eating their food).

So the answer is to use a booster as suggested by eribaMotters, if you are looking to be a bit cleaver then look to get a repeater that will not only enhance your signal but then produce a little secure next work around your van so you can log in as many devices as you wish – so if you pay you only have to do so for one device.

I have found Solwise (https://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-usb-outdoor.htm) a very useful resource and provider of equipment for wifi matters.

If the truth be known, we have got to the stage now where wifi like the telly (which we have never carried in our vans) has some what diminished in importance. You can't beat a good Wine/Beer/Gin and a good book (or friends if they are about).

Clippie

Quote: Clippie wrote in post #9

---

If the truth be known, we have got to the stage now where wifi like the telly (which we have never carried in our vans) has some what diminished in importance. You can't beat a good Wine/Beer/Gin and a good book (or friends if they are about).

Clippie

---

Being 'always on' is a form of addiction and at least when on hols we should try and relax away from it, if we can.

In the UK we get by very well using our mobile phones as a wifi hotspot. I have made sure that we are with different service providers currently O2 and Virgin (EE) and we have big enough data sims to satisfy one person's social media requirements :)

Quote: steamdrivenandy wrote in post #11

---

Being 'always on' is a form of addiction and at least when on hols we should try and relax away from it, if we can.

---

Quote: SteveJ wrote in post #13

---

But we can see your addiction with a post count so high in just 4.5 months of over 200/mth with less than a handful of days missed maybe you need to chillax a little

---

I just download a selection of films and series to watch offline with Netflix and the BBC iPlayer.