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Cell service in the parks?
- Thread starter Choodles
- Start date
real mad hatter
Well-Known Member
Agree.
Yeh,those pirates in the Caribbean that are locked up looked terrible.It's about time that cell was cleaned up. Definitely poor cell service.:lookaroun.Sorry,Iam as mad as a hatter.:wave:
Yeh,those pirates in the Caribbean that are locked up looked terrible.It's about time that cell was cleaned up. Definitely poor cell service.:lookaroun.Sorry,Iam as mad as a hatter.:wave:
donsullivan
Premium Member
It's not you. If you're on AT&T I find it common for the data service to be all but unusable especially in Magic Kingdom and Epcot on a regular basis (I'm a local so I'm there often). It used to be an issue only on major holidays but over the last 6 months I seem to have problems of some sort during nearly every visit.
Yea something changed because like you said in only used to happen during the holidays.
Oh Disney why can't you get wireless in the parks :brick:
love disney
Active Member
I haven't noticed at all. I have Verizon and have never had a problem. Heading back this weekend and will check, but have never encountered a problem with Verizon service in the parks (and no, this is not a plug for Verizon, once my contract is up with them I will likely switch, just stating who my carrier is as I have heard lots of complaints about others, just not mine).
nepalostparks
Well-Known Member
AT&T service within the parks has been rough the last few months. I've always lost service inside many of the buildings/attractions, which is no big deal. Lately though, it's been tough to get any connection for internet/apps within the parks. I haven't had any problems making calls, though.
Verizon service is much better from most of the people I talk to who have Verizon.
Verizon service is much better from most of the people I talk to who have Verizon.
phlydude
Well-Known Member
I have found that for the last 5 years of so, AT&T coverage has been OK but not great, especially on the south side of the property. Cell service in my rooms at the All-Stars is weak at best.
I found the same to be true when I was on Sprint years back (but I can't speak of more recently than 5 yrs back).
I am taking my Verizon LTE enabled iPad to the parks with me this year...interested to see what service I get. Plus, the sharing on the Verizon iPad will let my iPhone connect at better speeds as long as I can get LTE service (otherwise, the AT&T iPhone will beat it out on 3G).
I found the same to be true when I was on Sprint years back (but I can't speak of more recently than 5 yrs back).
I am taking my Verizon LTE enabled iPad to the parks with me this year...interested to see what service I get. Plus, the sharing on the Verizon iPad will let my iPhone connect at better speeds as long as I can get LTE service (otherwise, the AT&T iPhone will beat it out on 3G).
DznyGrlSD
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
I have Verizon and it's what I like to call the "Disney bubble of no cell service" - I swear it gets worse every time I'm there. All I wanna do is upload photos to facebook!
...ON THE OTHER HAND - we should probably put our cells away and enjoy the parks.
...ON THE OTHER HAND - we should probably put our cells away and enjoy the parks.
Polydweller
Well-Known Member
From the cell tower maps available online, it looks like all companies cell towers are on the edges outside WDW property. So you can be a good distance away from them and that's going to mean spotty service especially in buildings. Also your body being mostly water can block signal so even turning a bit can improve or worsen signal strength.
Yea or they could offer wifi in the parks I would even pay for it.
dreamfinder
Well-Known Member
This. The cell structures in most places were built when people still used WAP data to connect. And that may be generous. With the recent explosion of smartphones over the last few years, all the carriers are playing catchup. Look at how many kids 5 years ago might have had a phone to text/call their friends, that now have iPhone or Droids and are posting pictures every 5 minutes to their Facebook wall or Tweeting about they just saw so and so in the parks. They just get overwhelmed. And in most cases, the ability to make phone calls will trump data, so data gets the short end of the stick.
Rowdy
Member
Exactly. I went to the Daytona 500, and the phone was useless. Way too many people.
I have amazing service except the usual. Soarin', Pirates', etc.
Polydweller
Well-Known Member
I agree about the number of users. The problem is that towers have to be off property which makes it hard to increase the number of towers and thus capacity. Each tower can only have a finite number of connections and the way to increase capacity is more towers and adjusting cell size but without being able to get onsite at WDW that's difficult, and so far Disney hasn't allowed that according to the tower maps. The place is twice the size of Manhatten Island so you are a long way from a tower when you are in the middle.
donsullivan
Premium Member
Actually there are a number of towers on-property.
You can see one to the west of World Drive just north of the ramps to Epcot. There is another one in south tree line in the easternmost section of the Epcot parking lot. There is also one on the northwest side of the visitor parking lot for Grand Floridian. There is another one on the west side of Animal Kingdom in the service area almost directly west of Pizzafari. I know there are a couple of others on the property but right now I'm drawing blank on the locations.
The bottom line seems to be that while they do have antenna all around the property, the investments have not been made to meet the growing demand for data services and as a result the service continues to decline. It used to just be slow on busy days but on holidays AT&T now goes to No Service for hours on end. It's unclear who owns/manages those towers but at some point it seems they'll need to make some investments in capacity to match the demand for data services throughout the property each and every day of the year.
Whether you think folks should be doing these things on vacation or not is irrelevant to the simple fact that people expect these services to be available in todays world. When Disney releases apps for iPhones that allow me to see the wait times at attractions, or make an ADR at Epcot I'd like to have data connectivity in the parks to take advantage of those tools. Not to mention all of the other tools I might choose to use during a day in the parks.
Disneydreamer23
Well-Known Member
Was there In October had Verizon and AT and T worked great Sprint not so much (my phone and my husbands plus his work phone)
RonAnnArbor
Well-Known Member
The reality is, ANY location that has hundreds of thousands of people all trying to connect to the same towers will result in problems, and those will be across the board for all carriers...wether that is Disney World, your local baseball stadium, or anywhere else.
The problem at WDW isn't that the cell service has gotten worse -- it's that the use of data-based cellphones has exploded in the last two years and they just absolutely can not keep up. You will normally find that your PHONE will work --but your DATA will not (i.e. SMS, photo upload, internet use, Facebook, etc).
You will also find that your battery will wear down in just a few hours instead of lasting all day, because your smartphone is trying to connect to the data towers all day long, and wearing down the battery without even using the phone. My iPhone, for example, goes from 100% to 65% in just a few hours walking around the parks WITHOUT EVEN USING IT....
It's a huge problem, but it isn't Disney's problem -- it's the cell providers problem, and it costs hundreds of millions to upgrade those things, so they just dont....
The problem at WDW isn't that the cell service has gotten worse -- it's that the use of data-based cellphones has exploded in the last two years and they just absolutely can not keep up. You will normally find that your PHONE will work --but your DATA will not (i.e. SMS, photo upload, internet use, Facebook, etc).
You will also find that your battery will wear down in just a few hours instead of lasting all day, because your smartphone is trying to connect to the data towers all day long, and wearing down the battery without even using the phone. My iPhone, for example, goes from 100% to 65% in just a few hours walking around the parks WITHOUT EVEN USING IT....
It's a huge problem, but it isn't Disney's problem -- it's the cell providers problem, and it costs hundreds of millions to upgrade those things, so they just dont....
Polydweller
Well-Known Member
Interesting. They don't show on cell maps. Could they be internal Disney communications and not cellular? Our local utility uses lots of towers to report info to the control center and their antennas look somewhat like cellular but aren't. When I did a facility wide communications system at the hospital I worked at (grounds are the same size as MK) I had several towers installed that looked like cellular but weren't. Are the towers at WDW confirmed as publuc cellular not wifi etc towers for internal company communications? Again I ask because they don't show on the cellular maps I've seen.