Broadband: does it bring in bookings?

Up, down, could be better? How to get more bookings is our number one obsession. Talk shop here.
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debk
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Post by debk »

Debk, why don't you allow them to connect their own PCs?
For the same reason that I don't guarantee digital camera connections, transfer of photos to CDs, etc.: I do not want to play tech-support.

(I'm flexible though. Several self-described techies have asked to bring their laptops for personal use and I always agree -- with the caveat that they are "on their own" for support. None of them, however, has been able to navigate our Portuguese installation disk as required to connect with our modem so they end up using the rental PC instead. :roll: )

debk
A-two
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Post by A-two »

Goat, you're not looking very goatish today..... :?

I bought a Linksys 2.4ghz router which only has a range of 150ft, so I guess those pesky scubadivers with underwater PCs (do they make them yet?) could sneak up on us and plant a keylogger, otherwise I'm not too worried, although thanks for the thought.

Debk,
If there are discs involved, then I perfectly understand why you give them the PC, but so far as I understand these things, (which isn't a lot), what I'm providing is no different from what a NYC cafe owner is providing, or a hotel or even the City of New York (if they provide connectivity these days in Central Park and on street corners, which is quite possible). People who connect in those public places don't need discs or passwords do they, so why do you ? I'm just a little confused....

Actually, I think the whole thing is shifting quite rapidly around here... One of my guests from California arrived with highspeed wireless internet on his cellphone, making our brand new cable service redundant. I wonder whether that's less or more secure.

All I know is that the Cat 5 wiring they went to a great deal of trouble to install in my house 5 years ago to ensure computer terminals could be put throughout the house (not by us I might add) was a complete waste of money from day one. It's never been used. Maybe we're missing something, but it doesn't take the TV, that's a different cable.

Anyway, I guess the cable at the beach house won't last long either as everyone starts arriving with highspeed cellphone wireless, but that's OK as they installed it for free and it was done for the price of the $49 router. Do they have some form of encryption in the cellphones?

Sorry for rambling post.... fried brain...it's something like 46 celcius/ 110 farenheit in the shade and it's nearly 5pm....
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debk
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Post by debk »

46 celcius/ 110 farenheit in the shade and it's nearly 5pm
Ack. And we're all moaning because it's going to be 5C/10F above average this weekend which will put us at 33C/92F. I can't even imagine 46/110... Be careful, Joanna!

debk
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vrooje
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Post by vrooje »

Joanna, I feel your pain! Just across the Sound here, it's over 90 degrees and it's almost midnight! In fact, one of our circuit breakers just tripped because the AC is working so hard!

Our wireless in France requires a simple code for access, but it's nothing terribly secure. I'm not too worried, because our exterior walls are something like 2-foot-thick stone, so the signal doesn't get far!
Brooke
la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

It sounds roasting over there in the US and Portugal! I don't want to make you jealous but I've had to put some jeans and a jumper on here the last few days as it has got so chilly! Not sure the guests are quite so happy about the sudden fall in temperature though....
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Mountain Goat
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Post by Mountain Goat »

Joanna:

Goat, you're not looking very goatish today.....
Bad hair day.

scubadivers with underwater PCs......keylogger......
In fact it's virus-type software, not hardware; really cool.

Cat 5 wiring ...... a complete waste of money from day one. It's never been used.
Boys' toys for that CAT5 could, in fact, be useful. Costing very little are:

1) Movement detectors for security
2) Temperature detectors - fire / water flood / low temp. warning
i.e. http://www.openxtra.co.uk/product.php/6/1/
3) Webcam (security?)

These gadgets plug into your CAT5 sockets, then can zap you an email/SMS if any parameters exceeded. OK, boring I know, but it solves our problem of winter central heating failure at -25C which, by experience, is very expensive; fire in boiler room; and Webcam for calling out the snow clearer.

Audio, video and phone are all possible as well; buying in the US about 1/2 UK as usual.
http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/article1667.html

Goat
shelley
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Post by shelley »

For us, a family living in the technology obsessed SF Bay Area, a high speed internet connection is the DECIDING factor between similar properties. We have paid $$$$ more per night just because we could have internet accessibility. And you can be darn sure we offer it at our rental villa in Mexico.... and people use it, all the time.

We are looking at a rental in the Luberon for next summer, and my husband's first words about it were.... do they have DSL?

Cheers,
Shelley
www.yourperfectvilla.com
www.vrbo.com/94960
Fraise
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Post by Fraise »

Coo, thanks for that Shelley, mmm, food for thought .I don't provide it but I am considering having something installed for next year.

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la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

Shelley, are you from the US? Internet access does seem to be far more important to US guests than any other nationality. I haven't had many guests from the US, but they have all wanted to have access to the internet, but UK, French and other Europeans aren't that bothered about it (at the moment).
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Angel
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Post by Angel »

We have broadband in our place in Cyprus because I believe it is an important differentiator. But we live in the UK and couldn't find anyone to be the local technical support, even if we could work out how to ensure the kit didn't disappear.

So we just offer dial-up if guests bring their own laptop. And no-one has, so far.
shelley
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Post by shelley »

Susan wrote:Shelley, are you from the US? Internet access does seem to be far more important to US guests than any other nationality. I haven't had many guests from the US, but they have all wanted to have access to the internet, but UK, French and other Europeans aren't that bothered about it (at the moment).
Yes, I live in the SF Bay Area. And we are fairly typical in that we work quite a bit, but also have jobs that are quite flexible. So we use internet connections to keep things moving at the office while on vacation elsewhere. And making little kids sit still in an internet cafe while I send quick emails back to my office does not work particularly well... and now we are addicted to Skype, so the computers we lug around have become even more valuable. Besides, how I can respond to rental inquiries without it???

We can and do go places without internet access, but when given a choice between two similar places, that is typically THE deciding factor.

Cheers,
Shelley
www.yourperfectvilla.com
www.vrbo.com\94960
Bienvenidos!
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debk
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Post by debk »

now we are addicted to Skype
ditto
We can and do go places without internet access, but when given a choice between two similar places, that is typically THE deciding factor.
ditto

debk
langley
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wireless distances

Post by langley »

I'd like to offer wireless access to our guests but a major problem seems to be our granite and schist walls which are up to a metre thick. Has anyone solved this yet and if so which modem/router are you using?
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vrooje
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Post by vrooje »

Some of our masonry walls are around two feet thick, but our wireless is apparently not having a problem with it. I suspect it may be just that the signal is going through the floors rather than the wall (this is possible for our house given where we have put the router), but we also get a signal in the gardens... so either it goes through the windows and is still strong enough, or it doesn't care about the masonry, which I find hard to believe.

Anyway, one solution I've seen is a new type of wireless access point which uses standard electrical lines -- you plug one unit into your router and into the wall, and then another unit into the wall somewhere else. The internet signal is transmitted through the wall and is then broadcast wirelessly from both plugs. You can add lots of plugs to this system, but as far as I know, it's pretty expensive.
Last edited by vrooje on Thu Aug 24, 2006 1:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Brooke
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Post by Vally »

Our building is solid granite and lots of things like wireless bells and walkabout/mobile phones can fail in portions of it ..luckily broadband doesn't!! I have a router to my husbands computer in a different part of the building and it works a treat , once ( my next purchase) I have my lap top so long as that also works I am going to advertise wireless internet access via their own lap top .,
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