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Wifi on the way?

G

GAGrathea

TS Founding Member
From TS News:

In the past few weeks, several TowersStreet members have noticed new devices being set up all around the park, and as far out as the car park Monorail station, which are believed to be wifi transmitters. Indeed, these have been sporadically testing in the last few days and many new wireless networks were identified, especially around Towers Street. These are likely to be used to provide guests with a wifi service around the park.

We have reason to believe that The Cloud have been working closely with Alton Towers since last November, and have been on site installing the equipment. This move comes following the introduction of free wifi in both resort hotels last season, though whether the on-park service will also be free remains to be seen.

With the park's mobile signal sometimes scarce in places, the introduction of this service could result in far more promotion for the park over social networking, with Alton Towers already one of the most checked-in to places in the UK on Facebook, a position highly valued by the park (as witnessed on the free day in February Half Term last year, which had a temporary wifi hotspot set up for the occasion), as well as greater integration of the park's own mobile application, which could achieve wider usage from devices such as iPods. We will strive to update you with any further information on the service as soon as it is available.
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:)
 
Great news. Clearly shows how AT are trying to compensate for guests, when the majority would clearly feel this to a good decision. Looks like it'll cover the whole, or vast majority, of the park as well.

However, I can't help but think this will allow Merlin to put posters up everywhere suggesting "Like us on Facebook" etc. Another opportunity for Merlin to shove advertising into our faces...
 
The one I saw yesterday was at the entrance to the toilets on the path between Valley and Gloomy Wood. :)

Very exciting news if so, Alton have one of the best social media presences of any park worldwide (see their fan numbers compared to Europa's!) and this'll vastly improve that if people can freely and easily check in when on park!

I really really hope it is free.
 
I thought most of TST was already aware of this as a staff member confirmed it at the start of the season? I was told it would be run by The Cloud and would be running by the start of the season so maybe they changed to BT which is why it has been delayed?

They are keen to have wifi available in all major footfall areas including queue lines so people can talk about Towers via the numerous social media channels. The sooner this is in the better as my mobile signal is terrible when on park.

Sam said:
I really really hope it is free.
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It will be free*

*Subject to Towers changing their mind ;)
 
If it were charged it would defeat the object...

Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using Tapatalk
 
I highly doubt Alton would charge for such a service on park.

It's advertising at its best, technically free advertising for Alton. With wifi, they can advertise it well and the majority of guests will take advantage of this, using social networking sites and by 'checking in' on Facebook.

Hotel wifi after many years is now free, I'm sure the theme park will follow the same way.
 
Sam said:
The one I saw yesterday was at the entrance to the toilets on the path between Valley and Gloomy Wood. :)
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I've been saying for years about the awful wifi coverage in the Gloomy Wood toilet!
 
Jem8472 said:
Free? LOL

It would be a good touch if it is free but I doubt it will be.
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It will almost certainly be free. Relatively, a wifi network is very low-cost to set-up and operate. But if they charged for it, virtually nobody would use it (they'd just use their mobile connection to the net). If it's free, people will use it to Facebook and Tweet, and generally provide masses of free advertising for the park, while seeing it as a service the park are generously giving them!

It's a win-win. :)

Edit: It's quite telling that Europa charge a small fee for their wifi except two services: Facebook and Twitter, which are free.
 
We spotted no end of these new boxes yesterday while on park, I can think of at least 20 that I saw yesterday and I imagine there are many more around the park. Some are black, white and brown depending where they are in the park.
 
This is a very welcome move! It's virtually impossible to get any sort of descent data service from mobile network at Alton Towers. With the introduction of WiFi, I'm sure there will be a massive increase in the number of people posting videos, pictures and updates etc from the park! Which all benefit Alton Towers!

I really do hope it is free though, however I'm not getting my hopes up, considering the only other thing they don't seem to charge for is fresh air and the right to breath it! ;)
 
I'm sure when you log on there will be a page full of the wonderful variety of upsells available to you ;)

On a serious note it is a great idea! It is a win win situation for both guests and the park - providing it is free that is! I can see it being popular all over the park, although I hope this does not slow the network down too much!
 
It will allow much wider use of the Resort app and will encourage more to use it... Currently the only thing loadable frequently are the queue times.

I hope that this will bring about a refresh of the app too. With a more immersive experience as data usage will be less of an issue. More little games and fun for killing time in the queues would be welcomed!
 
Oooh, on that note, you could do a fun little mobile version of what they were trying to attempt with MyAltonTowers and have games where you ultimately win vouchers and wallpapers and the like! Hell, you could have a Duel scores leaderboard - the the possibilities are endless!
 
I my eyes I think that merlin would put a small increase on entrance tickets to make wifi slight profitable even though it's great marketing when those with smartphones would increase time on social network sites
 
I suppose to connect to the wifi you could enter a Towers website, which might make you sign up to emails or something, or just has some adverts for fast track, etc on it.
 
I know that it's only in testing stages at the moment, but Towers Street Wi-Fi was free yesterday when Craig accessed it.

I have a feeling that it will probably remain free as Towers will no doubt rely heavily on it for Marketing purposes. There's no better advertising than Facebook check-ins/Mobile uploads at the moment. I can see a lot of 'check in here to receive such-a-thing' being used around the park.
 
They could take advantage of Foursquare and offfer discounts for checking in to places. I know Merlin do this already because when I checked in at the Birmingham sea life there was a offer for 25% off in the shop when you checked in.
 
I do wonder if this could backfire on them. With the easy access to social media, and the cuts. I can see complains on AT FB page going up.

just a thought.
 
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