The more things change, the more they stay the same!
6 years ago, Jim had the idea that he could install high-speed Internet in RV parks. It was that thought that gave us the belief that we could make a living on the road. So we sold the house, bought an RV (on eBay!), and took off. Jim discovered that delivering an Internet connection to RV sites in an outdoor space was a lot more difficult than the home and office networks he was used to. He wanted to use a technology called Ethernet over Powerline – but he found it just didn’t work right on the kind of power grid one finds at RV parks. We ended up hooking up with Coach Connect, a company that was installing Wi-Fi in RV parks all around the country. For 2 years (2004 & 2005) we were part of the Coach Connect team. We visited over 80 parks nationwide and did support. We made ‘house-calls’ to guests having issues with the Wi-Fi, we gave Wi-Fi ‘briefings’ to the staff at the RV parks, we gave seminars at the parks and at rallies for Coach Connect, and Jim was sometimes called upon to do a little troubleshooting.
Coach Connect eventually disappeared from the scene, but not before we built a solid relationship with Frank Drew, the owner. We spent a lot of time with Frank, and his family, in Austin, Texas. We were even included in his family’s Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations. Austin, and the Drews’ feel like a second home now! That’s where we had our mail delivered this time around, and we had a delightful dinner there the other night. I didn’t take any pictures this time around, but you can check out the blog post from the last time we were here.
Fast forward to today, and Frank has re-appeared on the RV park Wi-Fi scene as the Director of Development for Tengo Internet. Frank has introduced us to Tengo Internet and now, guess what we’ll be doing?! Visiting Tengo Internet RV parks and giving seminars. Our first stop is the Carlsbad KOA in New Mexico. Tengo will also be a sponsor of Geeks on Tour at the upcoming Rally in Albuquerque.
Thanks Frank!
OK, gotta go. We need to be in Carlsbad tomorrow.
7 comments:
Looking forward to seeing you at "THE RALLY"
Alicia
That is now "OLD" Tech. Air cards is the way to go in this day and age!! Anybody want to buy a Hughes net...Boy i feel like i was ripped off and all the down time i had and terrible support AND FAP all the time with doing basic banking....Thank goodness for AIR CARDS! ! ! Finally..
And if you are beyond a cell tower?
Anonymous - I agree that aircards are amazing. They are quickly becoming the main way that travelers connect. But we'll still use Wi-Fi when it's available. And, if you're a park owner and don't offer Wi-Fi, you'll quickly see how many people want it! When it's good, Wi-Fi is still the best of the 3 ways to connect.
If you were getting FAPped all the time with Hughes, my bet is that you'll go over your 5GB limit with your cell provider too. And the extra charge from the cell company is usually quite a bit more painful than the day of slowdown (FAP) with Hughes. We know someone who got a bill over $1,000!
What a great tie in! Looks like it will build well into your over-all business plan.
Good luck!
Mike
I would like to get a list of all the Tengonet parks so I can avoid them like the plague .... I have never had such bad internet connection. I would rather have no internet connection than tengo net slow , unreliable service
Dec 2009
I might as well use dial up. tengo Internet connection is horrible. sometimes up, most the time down.
I connect at 11Mbs to the wireless but do you think I can actually get to the internet,,,,uh no.
There service team is extremely poor. All I get is the excuse that it is my hardware. Well, I am very savvy at wireless networking and don't have a problem anywhere elese but here at Santee Lakes Park, CA.
It is free and I guess worth the price.
I have only stayed at 5 different parks around the west coast but never had an issue like this with my FREE internet wifi connection.
I would defineitley not recommend Tengo Internet to anyone. Go with something else, even dial up is better than this.
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