Wifi Options

Dear Lazywebz:

My campground has a new wifi offering. One can purchase relatively speedy wifi from an outsourced provider by the hour, day, week, month, etc.. Alas, once one has purchased the wifi access, it isn't transferable between devices: if you bought it on your laptop, you can't just logout & login with your tablet or mobile phone.

Is there some novel hardware or software mechanism by which I could create an in-house (in-trailer) shared hotspot while purchasing just a single $100 per season package for one device?

Alternatively, I already pay for hotspot functionality with Verizon Wireless via my mobile phone but the signal strength in extreme rural West Virginia is so feeble that I get only "1X" data rather than 3G or 4G LTE, and even that meagre offering is only available on good weather days from the south end of the trailer deck. Does anyone have a recommendation on a repeater/amplifier which could boost the gain enough that my phone could latch onto the 3G network and thus use my Verizon hotspot instead of the camp's wifi?

Help me, Obiwan: you're my only hope!

Trailer De-winterizing

Another camping season at Roseland Resort has begun!

Actually, since the campground is open 12 months of the year, it's always been camping season here, but the trailer is not exactly comfortable in the depth of winter so we close it up in early November and open it again when weather & scheduling allow in the spring. Since spring seems to have come early this year, we de-winterized in mid-March rather than early April.

De-winterizing was a breeze: connect the utilities, flush the antifreeze from the lines, install the battery & propane tanks, power up the appliances and park our asses.

Roseland has changed a little since we left last fall. The rec hall has been expanded by about 50%, making it much more spacious and including a wrap-around porch. An ATM is now available for those who need quick cash. Internet access has been outsourced to WVHotSpot.net who has installed wifi hotspots across the campground: we can even get a signal inside our trailer instead of the machinations I employed to find an open wifi signal in the dining hall last year.

The wifi is a bit less than optimal for us geeks. One purchases a block of time as one would at an airport: $4/hour, $10/day, $15/week, $30/month, $50/60 days, $70/quarter, $100/half-year. Alas, the purchased account is tied to that single device and isn't transferable. If I purchase wifi access on my laptop, I can't logout and then login with my tablet. If anyone has an idea of how to work around this limit, let me know.

If you're reading this right now, it's because I purchased a day's wifi bandwidth for testing & evaluation. If only Verizon Wirless' 3G or 4G signal reached into these rural parts of West Virginia, I could use my phone's hotspot instead. *sigh*

While talking over schedules a few hours after arriving, we realized we don't actually need to dash home Sunday afternoon. After all, Michael is effectively self-employed, I telecommute and Kent is job hunting right now: what's the rush to be home & refreshed for Monday morning? Accordingly, we're going to stay at the trailer until Monday morning, then head home at our leisure. I can handle my regular work remotely from the back seat of the minivan as we trek across western Maryland for home.

I had a long nap this evening as I was still exhausted from a late night work shift. This probably means I'll be up half the night, but that's no tragedy: I have lots of reading material, a couple of writing assignments, a business plan to compose and some square dance choreography to create.