Internet usage

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daisydaisy
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Internet usage

Post by daisydaisy »

Hi All, I've been reading and lurking for a time and have been learning lots from everyone - so thank you!

My question is about internet - does everyone include free unlimited internet or do you charge the guests for it? At the moment we are offering a small amount (1.25GB) a week for free and after that the guest pays the actual cost of $10 per 1 GB - the 1.25GB would be fine if people were just checking out local attractions, e-mail and doing some light surfing - of course this hasn't turned out to be the case - uploading, downloading and streaming really drive up the usage and of course they don't want to pay!

I would be very interested to know what others have done - some of you probably are in places where internet fees are much more reasonable, in Canada they are truly stupid, especially as the house is in a rural location so our only option is cellular internet.

Thanks for your help!

Best, Lisamarie

edited because my fingers don't care about the difference between MB and GB
Last edited by daisydaisy on Thu Jul 09, 2015 5:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

Internet is very topical for me at the moment as I am having an absolute nightmare. I won't bore you with the details, but I am now having to change provider to a much more expensive service and I'm not happy! These days people expect WiFi, and they expect it to be unlimited. I have been paying a reasonable 20€ per month but now have to change to an alternative costing three times that :( However I have no choice - 'internet' is the second highest ranking search term for a holiday rental of my type after 'private pool'.

I am also in a rural location - no landline telephones, just mobile - so my internet is via a mobile signal like yours.
newtimber
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Re: Internet usage

Post by newtimber »

daisydaisy wrote: My question is about internet - does everyone include free unlimited internet or do you charge the guests for it? At the moment we are offering a small amount (1.25MB) a week for free and after that the guest pays the actual cost of $10 per 1 MB - the 1.25MB would be fine if people were just checking out local attractions, e-mail and doing some light surfing - of course this hasn't turned out to be the case - uploading, downloading and streaming really drive up the usage and of course they don't want to pay!
I never thought it would be that expensive! Do you really mean per Mb? I receive emails that are that size.

In Europe I pay £1.99 per day for unlimited usage on the mobile data network.
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kevsboredagain
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Post by kevsboredagain »

$10 per MB??? That's like a roaming rate
daisydaisy
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Post by daisydaisy »

Crap, I meant GB - not MB, pesky letters!
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edinburgh
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Post by edinburgh »

I provide 152mbps internet, but market it as 50mbps, so that if it's sluggish sometimes, people aren't disappointed. It's free.
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kevsboredagain
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Post by kevsboredagain »

I think the majority of people offer unlimited so if you have that option, it would be the best. 1GB is fine for say a mobile device but use a PC or start watching movies or streaming music, then that allowance will be quickly used up. PCs tend to use more data with programs like Windows Update downloading stuff in the background.

If you truly are limited, then offering what you do with $10 for an extra GB is very reasonable. Some guests could easily use 100GB in a week if it were unlimited and you can't be expected to pay for that at $10/GB. Maybe it worth letting them know exactly why the internet is limited.

Edinburgh - 50mb sluggish? Most people, including myself, would barely notice the difference between 10MB and 100MB. When running at these speeds, the bottle necks are external servers and not your own connection speed. Only when you exploit the full bandwidth, when say trying to download torrents, will you notice the difference because you are connected to multiple servers simultaneously.
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edinburgh
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Post by edinburgh »

I doubt anyone has used anywhere near the maximum speed we offer - even if every guest was streaming HD video :D
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anya752000
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Post by anya752000 »

We share our internet with the holiday cottage so it is restricted. We put the following clause in our T&C:

Wi-fi
We have a rural internet connection that is suitable for checking emails and surfing the web. The internet speed may not be as fast as you are used to and you may not be able to watch films or stream programmes.
The internet connection is provided free of charge, if it fails we will do everything possible to get it reconnected but we do not guarantee availability. Please use the internet responsibly and ensure that illegal material is not viewed or downloaded using our wi-fi connection.

We also put this information on the website/OD advert and pre-arrival email so guests are not expecting high speed internet. So far no complaints. We have lost the connection a couple of times this year but have managed to get it back the same day.
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cleanforum
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Post by cleanforum »

Struggling with internet and our HL guests this year. Our internet connection is mobile supplied (orange). We supply the first GIG free and then guests pay for extra if they need it.

All the HL guests this year have used the 1GIG up almost immediately. I explain the problems we have and that we can only receive limited service in the campo etc etc.

This used to be a minor nuisance in the past but now find that guests internet expectations and our offering are diverging rapidly.

With HL and most sites of this type you only can choose WIFI as search option and although I detail wherever I can exactly what our offering is I still find there is an expection gap.

So my question is do you offer Limited WIFI/PAYG or some other option'

How do you manage this??
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edinburgh
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Post by edinburgh »

May I suggest this as a compromise:

http://www.skydsl.eu/en-ES/Internet-via ... 2p/sky2pt9
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

I am in rural Spain west of Malaga cleanforum. I was using Internet Directo (who I don't think cover your area) and they had very cheap unlimited internet at 20€ per month. Unfortunately I had a long running issue with reliability - just me, my neighbours with Internet Directo were fine - so in the end I had no choice but to switch. I still have unlimited, but my monthly bill is now much higher :( I got a system via Sky Doctor: http://www.theskydoctor.com/ Mine is now a 4G service with Movistar providing the mobile signal. I have yet to see it in action myself but the guests currently in residence have no issues with it.
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cleanforum
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Post by cleanforum »

Thanks, I have asked for quotes for the above we´ll see. Unfortunately our villa seems to be uniquely blessed with mountains that block any and all mobile masts from our house...have tried quite a few. :(
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barbersdrove
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Post by barbersdrove »

we are not in a rural area where internet is concerned so don't have the problems that gives. we have unlimited and I don't think I would go to charging. I would want it if I was renting as I am lost without my devices.

I was counting up the other day how many people were online here one evening. I had family staying so in total there were 15 people here on site all using the internet.

My family: both adults had tablets, one was watching a fishing video and one was on facebook. one of the children was online too.

Guests 1: were checking out venues for places to visit. Their 2 teenagers were both on line doing what I don't know.

Guests 2. They had bought a laptop so they could stream the formula 1 racing. Their olderst was on facebook and the other was watching you tube

Me; I am always on line!

The only people not online were my hubby and the 11month old baby. BUT we have a Smart TV and he was watching a film on Netflix.

Hubby now has a tablet after years of saying he wouldn't know what to do with one so this situation is likely to change.

I am with EE and pay around £44 a month (that includes landline rental). I don't know if that is good or bad but whatever it seems like good value entertainment to me and keeps guests happy. It does buffer a bit at times but nothing too disrupting. We will also shortly be going live with fibre optic broadband. Again, I can't quite see at the moment how that will affect speeds etc. I'm can't quite see how it couldbe any quicker than it is already.
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Gazpacho
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Post by Gazpacho »

Casscat, I shall be very interested to see how your experience goes with Skydoctor as I am planning to do something about this issue next spring!
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