Holiday cottage has WiFi but requests no streaming ,no Netflix,no U tube

[peridito]

The request is because it would use too much data .
Is it just me or is this unusual ? Don't most people have unlimited data on their home wifi ?

I'm not au fait with all this so perhaps I'm misjudging .

We stayed at a very upmarket "resort" in Devon a couple of years ago. Listing described a Smart TV, Wifi etc so we went ahead and booked. When we got there, our young adult DC then realised that the wifi was intermittent at best and spent more time not working than working. We had no signal on our mobiles let alone 4G, and we had to walk up a steep lane to get a signal. All we had was freeview tv and to be honest, on a couple of wet days, it was a struggle. We left a review saying we'd rather they had said No Wifi than it being advertised and being shit.

I was happy reading books etc, but if you advertise something, it should work.

These comments are all very helpful ,thank you everyone .
I did phone the owner ( after booking ) to ask about the wi fi and she did say that attempts to get local residents to commit so that they could get a community broadband .Does this give a clue to the problem ?

At least they are letting you know beforehand, but this would put me off booking it in the 1st place. I don't play games or download much, but when away, I do look up things to do. Tripadvisor, restaurant recommendations, maps, things to see/do etc.

Unless you currently use a dial up connection, I think you'll find the connection there is just so, infuriatingly slow, even for basic emails

It'll be one of two scenarios.

1. slow speeds = little bandwidth to be shared between devices

2. reasonable speeds but shared amongst other properties which will bring the capacity down because of the number of devices.

If you really wanted to know which, just run a speed check as if you were moving into the property and it'll tell you what the line is capable of.
Probably not very much from by the sound of your description though.

Download film,take dvds and sort out lot of data for your ds,if he's happy you'll cope.
Also take a pack of cards and play card games,make it competitive.

@peridito

These comments are all very helpful ,thank you everyone . I did phone the owner ( after booking ) to ask about the wi fi and she did say that attempts to get local residents to commit so that they could get a community broadband .Does this give a clue to the problem ?

Yes that does sound like the issue we had. Rubbish bandwidth, and BT not able or willing to put fibre in as we are a small community. It took 5 years of lobbying here by parish council and MP to get the decent fibre we have now. So it is really beyond their control. Maybe look at buying a dongle with 4g package?

I would say very slow broadband, it's all to do with how far you are from the box or something, we are rural and thankfully have just got overhead fibre, but on normal broadband it could 2 days to download an hour long programme in the standard format, HD could take weeks, and if you were down loading a programme then the computer or phone would be as slow as dial up used to be.

I guess then if one member from one cottage starts downloading something then it will grind to a halt for the owner and other cottage, the joy of country living.

This is a really common issue in lots of rural communities. Netflix, Prime, iPlayer and Sky Go (if you have Sky at home) all allow downloads, albeit usually to a limited number of devices, so download anything that you know you want to watch in advance. Make sure that you have checked the data limits on your mobile data contracts and buy add-ons if necessary before you go - the pricing for ‘out of bundle’ data can be astronomical.

That would be a deal breaker for me! We look for WiFi because even though we are on holiday the children still study plus, if the weather is bad, we like the option to watch a film. Our next holiday doesn’t have a TV but the WiFi is very important as DD will be working on her dissertation while we are there and as DS has SEN he sometimes just gets “overloaded” with family and needs to find a corner with a laptop and a film.

Buy a couple of good box sets and pack a DVD player. Don’t forget the scart/HDMI cables and the remote.

I wonder if a workaround would be to take a DVD player and some DVDs or a box set so at least if it rains or in the evenings you can watch a film with whatever your favourite movie snack is!.

I'm not massively fussed about being on the internet loads apart from checking for where the local stuff to visit is on the map but I do think there needs to be something like films for when your eyes are sore from reading or the jigsaw is finished!

*Reallybadidea

It's unusual IME and you should be made aware in advance imo. We had similar where it turned out that we were limited to a certain amount of data over the week (pretty paltry amount) and had to pay extra if we wanted more - fair enough, but we would never have booked it if we'd known in advance.*

Yes, I had this in an Airbnb last year on the outskirts of a town surrounded by a rural area. It was advertised as having WiFi and it materialised that basically it was metered and we had to pay for more after about an hour. It was like internet access abroad in hotels about 20 years ago.

We had this with a cottage in the New Forest. First few years we were there it didn't matter too much but a couple of years ago we all had smart phones and had a very very wet weekend

Owner came over shouting the odds. Apparently they use an expensive satellite link. It had put us off as frankly with British weather we do need to plan the holiday on a daily basis

It does sound a bit of a nuisance. As others have said download things before you go. Take reading material and games.

And apparently the TV doesn't like being left on standby and won't work if it is

What the heck's that supposed to mean? Does the TV somehow rely on the wifi too, or have they just put their knackered old set into the place and hoped for the best?

It is common in rural areas.
But surely your ds can download things to watch before he goes now you know.
It is part of the 'deal' of booking a break in some of the most beautiful parts of the country.
Options could include increasing the data on phone for that month, or maybe a dongle (? - not sure how well these work?), or, acknowledge that a week's holiday is different from the other 51 weeks and try less streaming ?

@Puzzledandpissedoff

And apparently the TV doesn't like being left on standby and won't work if it is

What the heck's that supposed to mean? Does the TV somehow rely on the wifi too, or have they just put their knackered old set into the place and hoped for the best?

Yes probably DIL runs two holiday lets. They have much better tvs than she has. She buys smart tvs so people can run their netflix, amazon, disney accounts. There is even a tv in the bathroom. I guess standards vary from let to let.

Why not just advertise it as being tech free? It’s so frustrating.

We had this in a holiday let. DS1 was beside himself for the first 48 hours. He managed to eke his 4G data allowance out to day 3. In practice, we read more, played cards together and listened to music. It made for a better holiday in the end.

@Fanthorpe

Why not just advertise it as being tech free? It’s so frustrating.

Well because they do have wi-fi just not as many people know it, but it's good enough for checking email and googling days out etc

take a usb pen with you loaded up with some downloaded movies, or download stuff from Netflix before you go.

I live very rurally but have mobile WiFi and it’s awesome. Faster than broadband in output previous house so for anyone who is saying they live rurally and have shit WiFi try looking into it. I have three and needed to put a small external aerial up on the side of the house but it’s reliable, fast and uncapped and £23 a month and I don’t need a phone line

I have to admit that I would be pissed off to find out this after I had booked.

A note in the advert that the wifi can be patchy due to "the beautiful rural location" (you know, how an estate agent would word it!) wouldnt stop me booking it but would help me be prepared. As it is, I wouldnt use it much on holiday anyway, the kids would but they have unlimited data afaik (ex pays their mobile) so they would be fine. But a heads up before booking would help someone who maybe may need to work remotely for part of the week.

My friend works 3 days a week, all from home, so often goes away during the summer hols and works from there, decent wifi is essential for her.

We’ve had that once in the Highlands because it was satellite broadband and it costs a fortune. And no phone signal at all, kind of wish we’d known before we went, could have dug some DVD’s out.

I think it the wifi were crucial (if one of you were working on the 'holiday' as suggested above) then you would check before booking.
The same as other people would check the detail of whatever was crucial to them on holiday - having a hot tub or if you are taking a small dog, checking if the garden is secure, or if you have a small child checking the pond is covered, or checking some detail about the kitchen if you are keen cooks or whatever. Most people just want to check in on their e-mails or FB or MN, which they will be able to do.

I would start with the assumption that wifi in a remote holiday cottage is unlikely to be as fast as the cable I have in a City, and be chuffed if there were no problems with it.