How do WiFi and dataports work in a RV?

my husband and I and other retired Army couple are heading to Tyndall AFB next week-end. This will be our first trip in our new Holdiay Rambler 5th wheel and our first RV trip in 19 years!!

I would like to take my laptop to be able to keep in touch with my family and I also have a subscription to Netflix that allows me to watch movies over the internet along with renting DVD's. My internet connection is a broadband cable and we have set up a wireless network in our home.

Last winter we rented a cabin in Gatlinburg, TN and it advertised free internet service but the managers didn't even know how to connect to it. They kept telling me that all I had to do was hook the phone to my laptop and the laptop to the phone jack.

I've used my laptop in hotels but they provided connection to the phone and a daily password.

Do I need to buy equipment or subscribe to a service in order to have internet service in a campground?

C. Oliver

no equipment is needed if you're going to depend on finding WiFi at the campgrounds. Many have WiFi, but not all. Sometimes there's a fee, sometimes it's free. If on base and the campground doesn't have WiFi, you might find a cyber cafe, or WiFi at the base library.

tyndall AFB, FAMCAMP has free WiFi. Just ask them if your site is close enough to the antenna for good reception. If there is more than one WiFi in range make sure you log onto the Tyndall site. Is your broadband connected to an ISP? If not, you will have to have one for the world wide web to recognize you when you log on.

FastEagle

Is your broadband connected to an ISP? If not, you will have to have one for the world wide web to recognize you when you log on.

This doesn't matter when using another's WiFi connection. You'll be using the ISP that the WiFi is connected to. Some WiFi connections are "local" only, with no Internet connection. But you don't want to use these anyway. A WiFi provided by the campground (free or $) will be using an ISP allowing Internet connections.

does anyone know of an English language explanation of the options available to people on the road? I think I understand it and have a good system using my Verizon wireless telephone with a wire (they call it a Mobile Office Kit) connected to my computer. I also pay the extra bucks for full-time digital access. But there are a lot of places where it just will not work.

Whenever I try to get answers to questions on this subject, those answers are written in Geek (a dialect of Greek).

Glenn

Kinda agree with Glenn on this one -- most of the time, when we get a response (most other forums too) the person writing it seems to think the questioner already knows about WIFI or Satellite on the road and is looking for "a sophisticated response" to "fine tune" a set-up. And, each uses jargon or terminology that pre-supposes the questioner already knows what those terms mean and how the componets are to be used.

For example: How do you get online in a campground??

Answer 1: Get a Verizon card and an ISP and hook it up ...

Answer 2; Click on your wireless connection if the CG has a WIFI system (but you have to be within range) ...

These do not give a usable answers if you don't already know what a Verizon card is or how that card attaches, and what other systems must be in-sync to allow the CPU to function and get online.