Daily charge PER DEVICE for wireless

Y'all may be familiar with this, but I must have led a sheltered life, 'cause although I've been places that charged $2 or $3 per day, I've NEVER seen a place that charged PER DEVICE....

We're in a campground in southern MN, and were told the campground wi-fi was fee-based... OK, antiquated and undesirable, but it's their sandbox and if it works...

So, connected the laptop to the network and got the "Ace Wi-Fi" screen to create an account. Did so. Provided credit card and logged in. Just for the record - AT NO POINT DURING ANY OF THIS ACTIVITY DID I SEE ANYTHING STATING THAT THIS ACCOUNT WAS PER DEVICE.

Fiddled for a minute, then told my cell phone to "use WiFi" 'cause WE'RE IN A BIG HOLE IN THE GROUND WHERE THERE'S NO CELL SERVICE.

Connected, logged in, and was told "your account is already in use by another device"... YES, Virginia, IT'S NOT ONLY $5 (YES FIVE) DOLLARS PER DAY, IT'S 5 DOLLARS per day PER DEVICE!

I'll be sure to let the campground folks know on the way out that we won't be back until they get a realistic wi-fi setup for the campground. It's a nice place but $15 PER DAY to connect a couple laptops and a cell phone is a bit much...

And, of course, I now know there's a NEW question to ask campgrounds and hotels! Not only do you need to make sure they HAVE wi-fi, but is it in any way specific or limited to a single device...

Oh, and just to add insult to injury... Even if you SHUT DOWN the system that WAS using the connection, there's a TEN MINUTE delay before you can use a different device. I talked to "repair" at Ace Communications and they couldn't figure out how to fix that either. BUT, eventually, after Larry, Darrell, and Darrell had a confab, they explained that ONLY when you log in, if you open an "info window" and KEEP IT OPEN, you can then LOG OUT through the info window so you don't get stuck with the 10 minute delay every time you switch devices...

As I said, y'all may be used to this, but for me, it's a new low in maximizing income and minimizing availability, flexibility, and service in 2012. Reminds me a bit of being in Canada where you still go to some dingy wi-fi cafe to get connected.

You lead a sheltered life. As mean as it sounds, it's not an unusual setup at all. They provided you with a paid connection...they don't have an obligation to tell you it will work simultaneously with more than one device.

It's not adding insult to injury, likely it's the time required to release the IP from a DHCP server, or any other number of reasons.

Could be too sheltered... I'm used to the scumbags ON the Internet. Just figured the folks SELLING it were a little more ethical. Of course, you're right - there's no OBLIGATION to disclose... It worked great for the cigarette manufacturers for decades... They had no "obligation" to tell their customers either.

But, it all worked out. Ace Communication ended up getting nothing... BTW: Their FINE five dollar/day, single device plan ALSO wouldn't even connect and retrieve email. So, in the end, they got NOTHING. I used the amplified cell to do what I needed, and my wife switched to her company air card.

I just figured I'd let anyone in here that cared know they need to watch out for companies like this. When finding the next campground I asked several additional questions to ENSURE their wi-fi covered the campground, DIDN'T involve an additional charge, and DIDN'T have device limitations or restrictions... Seemed rather sad to have to ask...