Posts Tagged ‘WiFi’

While many people camp to enjoy nature and escape the buzz of constant technology, others find they can’t do without it.

“Because of peoples’ reliance on technology, we’ve had to add Wi-Fi in the campgrounds,” said Amy Raposo, at the Barrie KOA on Hwy. 93.

After 25 years of campers roasting wieners over the fire, they can now put the dogs on hold while they check their social media status, or simply return e-mails from the hammock.

A little farther north on Hwy. 11, Debbie Brunnel offers her mostly seasonal visitors every amenity they can think of.

“We’ve added satellite TV in the community room now,” said Brunnel from the Oro Family Campground.

Ontario Parks are slowly testing the waters by offering Wi-Fi in a pilot project in their Pinery Provincial Park in the southwest corner of Ontario.

They attempted to get it up and running last year, but ran into a couple of hardware and software snags at the 1,000-site park, and only really offered the technology through the month of August, said spokesman John Salo of Ontario Parks.

“We’d see people sitting at the picnic table using their laptop every day, so it was in use,” said Salo. “But I wouldn’t say the response was overwhelming.”

They got a good idea of how many people were taking advantage of the new service, he said, as they only offered the signal at the picnic table in the area near the park’s store.

People could still use their USB Internet connections and their cellphones at their site, he said, so they weren’t completely untethered to technology.

He does say, however, there will be areas in Northern Ontario where the provincial parks will not be able to offer the new service in the near future.

“Some parks in Northern Ontario are using generators for power. It would be very difficult to have Wi-Fi there.”

For information on the Learn to Camp program, visit www.ontarioparks.com.

A recent survey conducted at www.Camp-California.com took a look at the impact of WiFi on a camper’s decision making process. 242 participants responded to the question, “With other factors equal, do you choose a campground based on whether they have WiFi?”

There were 242 campers who participated from November 2 – December 10, 2010. A significant majority (161 respondents or 66.5%) said they did choose a campground based on whether WiFi was available. Of those, 101 said that was true only if the WiFi was free, while the remaining 60 respondents indicated they always chose a campground with WiFi.

An additional 20.2 percent  (49 respondents) said they rarely or sometimes used WiFi – indicating it was not a significant part of their decision making process.

Out of the 242 participants only 32 respondents said “No.” They indicated they either didn’t ever use WiFi or didn’t travel with their computer.

It’s easy at Camp-California.com to find parks that offer WiFi (either for free or with a fee). Simply click on the “Add Amenities and Lifestlyle Options” link, and select WiFi from the Amenity List. This will give you a list of parks that offer WiFi.

As you view each park’s listing you will see WiFi in the amenity list of items offered onsite. If it is offered at no charge, that information is stated in the park’s description.

Click here to view the results of this and other surveys.