Wifi on the way?

[Poisson]

YAY for the cloud system.

 

[DiogoJ42]

Indeed, James. It's like when you want to buy one obscure item from an online shop you are never going to visit again, they still make you register. I can remember the days when online shops had the option to register, or "just buy the damn thing".

 

[Rocket]

As its through the cloud I won't have to register as I use the sky cloud offer so am registered through sky

 

[Jordan]

From PocketLint

UK theme park Alton Towers has signed a deal with The Cloud to offer all of its guests free Wi-Fi. The Staffordshire home of the hugely popular rollercoasters Oblivion, Nemesis and Th13teen will offer the unlimited service across its entire 500-acre site.

Visitors will be able to access site information through the wireless internet connection, and email and surf the web to their hearts' content. However, it is the access to social networks that may well see the most dominant use of the new service. Guests can post pictures and experiences they have from the site itself.

Merlin Entertainments, which owns Alton Towers, along with Thorpe Park, Madame Tussauds and many other tourist attractions, has already rolled out The Cloud Wi-Fi access to the London Eye earlier this year, and Katherine Duckworth, the park's head of consumer marketing believes that the free internet access will improve the overall visitor experience.

"The rapid growth in the use of smartphones and tablets has fundamentally changed how many of us use the internet and has increased people’s demand for internet access wherever they are, which is why we want to offer free WiFi access to guests of Alton Towers Resort," she said.

"The Resort is all about having fun and creating lasting memories, which people naturally want to tell their friends about on social networks and even share photos and videos throughout their day with us. The new WiFi offering lets them do all this and more, making it a more personal and interactive experience."

Alton Towers has yet to reveal the exact date that its free Wi-Fi service will start, but it does promise that it will go live "this summer".

Seems as if the press release did the rounds yesterday - other articles by T3, ComputerWeekly and curiously uSwitch.

 

[delta79]

is it easier to get an log on at home before going to the park? than trying to do it on an old smartphone?

 

[Tim]

I have a query based on the free Wi-Fi already at the hotels. After hearing that the hotels had started doing free Wi-Fi I took my tablet with me to try it out. However when I went to use it I found out it only lasted for an hour. As I didn’t want to waste the hour I didn’t bother using it at that time and ended up not logging on at all over my stay.

Is the on park Wi-Fi going to be the same? If it is I can see the same thing happening. Before I thought this was a great idea because if you got stuck in a long queue you’d have something to do. But if you’d already used the hour up earlier that day (seems likely to happen) then it makes the whole idea of free Wi-Fi fairly pointless.

Also does this mean that if you tried accessing the free WiFi on your next trip (let’s say a couple of months later) you wouldn’t be able to as you’d already used the hour?

 

[Scott]

The Cloud Wi-Fi on park will last as long as you stay connected. Though if your phone/tablet disconnects you'll need to sign in again. In the hotels, it does run on an hourly basis but you can use it for as many hours as you wish - you just need to sign into it again after the hour. Irritating I know, but it is a free system.

I assume the reason behind the hotel system being hourly is because it used to be charged. The park Wi-Fi has been installed in conjunction with The Cloud so it will work differently and not on an hourly basis.

 

[Tim]

Oh, so I could have used it for more than an hour and all I had to do was log in again...

Why on earth did it even mention their was an hour limit then :

Although reading Diogo's post it sounds like my e-mail has been saved from a lot of spam.

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Anyway thanks for the info mrbrightside. I hope then that the Cloud is also extended to the resort as it sounds like a much better system.

Also thought I'd note that as I wasn't actively looking for the Wi-Fi boxes I didn't notice them so wherever they've been installed they've been placed well enough that they blend in and do not stand out as I was originally concerned they would.

 

[Jordan]

There are suggestions on Twitter that wifi has gone live today:

Yeaah, resort wide Wi-Fi is here

Source

 

[Rob]

I used the WiFi for the first time on Sunday and I was very impressed. Yes you do have to register for it but that's not so bad. The coverage across the park is fantastic, there are very few places where you cannot connect to it. It's fast and makes using the internet on your phone at the park so much easier. This is only positive! All they need to do now is promote it a bit more around the park. I'd imagine it will be advertised on the park map next year, or maybe even the Scarefest map.