The Terrible Wi-Fi Situation at Temptation Resort

Hi everyone,

I wanted to warn anyone who is planning on using the internet at Temptation resort that the Wi-Fi is incredibly unreliable. I realize Temptation isn't at fault per se, since they are using a third party contractor for their Wi-Fi infrastructure, but the terrible Wi-Fi very much cheapens an otherwise wonderful resort.

The connection costs 200 pesos per 24 hours (~$18 USD). In theory, you have two options to buy Wi-Fi time, either connect up and enter your credit card number, or purchase a Wi-Fi code from a physical dispenser machine at the resort. Conveniently, for the week I was there I was never able to pay online using a credit card, thus I was forced to use cash in the access code dispenser machine.

I feel this is not a coincidence, and I feel that the "online" payment option is deliberately "broken" so you are forced to buy the code with cash, on the resort. I suspect the resort gets a percentage of the proceeds from the sales from the machine, so it's not in the resort's best interest to allow you to pay with a credit card online, thus this ability is suspiciously "broken" with no specific error message, it just freezes and times out.

However, if you buy the $18 (200 pesos) card then you are able to get online... sort of. They advertise the speed to be "2 megabit", in reality the speed is closer to dial-up 56K like in the mid 1990's. I did speed tests to confirm this. More of often than not, you may have a very strong Wi-Fi signal but there simply is not enough bandwidth for you to access any web site.

As a technie, I can confirm that the problem is NOT lack of Wi-Fi coverage, as the signal is available in many, many places throughout the resort, including at all the pools, in many of the rooms, and in most places on the beach too. I saw the wireless antennas all over the resort, placed strategically on the rooftops, and elsewhere. The internet "pipe" is simply too "thin" for everyone to use.

The problem is the lack of BANDWIDTH, which means you'll be "connected" but won't be able to access anything very quickly. Often times pages will "time out", your Skype call will drop, and other issues will come up at random. The connection is simply not consistent, you are never sure if it'll work, even though you have "100% wi-fi signal".

Out of the 24 hours, I was able to access the web somewhat reliably for ~3 hours, the rest of the time it was either extremely slow or pages would time out and Skype calls would drop (forget the video feed, only audio worked). The time when the internet worked best was between 2:00 am and 6:00 am, which is when I suspect most people are either partying/drinking or sleeping, thus there is reliable bandwidth available for you to use when few other people are on.

I called customer service for the third party internet provider (the number is on the back of the prepaid access card you buy), and they spoke excellent English. Once I reached them I complained that I was only able to use 3 hours out of the 24 hours, which they agreed is a problem. At this point, this is where you negotiation skills kick in, just like everything else in Mexico, you have to "work something out".

You start negotiating, they tell you "we'll give you another 3 hours at no charge", at which point you counter their offer and demand another 21 hours (for a total of 24, which you paid for), and then they come back with "okay, how about we'll give you 6 hours for free".

This experience is not unlike haggling at the market, where you fight for the best deal you can get... except in this case you're fighting to use the internet time you've ALREADY paid for... thus you're at a disadvantage from the very start. I was lucky and was able to negotiate a reasonable extension of my internet time... which was still super slow and completely unreliable, but it was better than nothing. They held up their end of the "deal" and extended the super unreliable connection until the agreed upon time.

In closing, please do not consider mixing work and pleasure at Temptation resort, especially if your work requires you to have an internet connection. The resort itself is wonderful, I loved it, but it is certainly no place to work, so save your money and aggravation by "leaving" internet access at home. Otherwise, the resort was great.

 

Funny in May 2012 it was a different system, and worked decent. I could use it in my room etc..
In Sept 2012 tried it again and had a new system and I was holding my stuff in the air trying to get a damn signal.
Was like phone service in thr 90's. Holding my phone in the air looking for bars. Lol
Same thing you experienced. Super slow, pages would time out. Hell I wanted to check in to the airline and took over 30 minutes. Not cool. And so not worth the $$. They need to go back to the old carrier or a new one with higher bandwidth and higher speeds in general. Say a T3, or higher.
Just my opinion..

 

Just left the resort, my trip was April 21-26. We used our credit card to pay online with no issues and had no problem with connections or speed. Cost was $15 for 24 hours.

It is 2013, free internet would be assumed @ this point, but we had no issues with what they offered.

 

we've been reading so much lately about the internet problems there now we decided not to even bring the laptop.. Some family will get bothered by this but I dont see it worth wasting the $15 or what dollars for crappy internet.. in 2011 we had no problem with it and used it in our room just fine even with the webcam and everything for chatting. Sounds like they have a few kinks to work out..

 

Here now. Paid 80 for a week. Am having no problems at all. Maybe not many are using it now creating more bandwidth for me

 

Honestly... I'm software developer... Huge internet geek. TTR is the ONLY time I go longer than 12-18 hours without internet or telephone access, and while it takes me a few days to get used to it, its actually kind of nice..

I have used the computers in the lobby to check email or do something important if need be, and just pay them $5. The connection speed is fine.

We were there April 13-20, and Retinyl had the TTR Wifi... It wasn't GREAT, but it wasn't awful. We were able to stream YouTube videos on their laptop with only some buffering.

Leave work at home, and if you really need to, spend $5 once or twice a week and use the lobby computers for 30 minutes. You can skype on them and everything. Spend more time by the sexy pool getting shot towers.

 

I'm a developer as well. And I went an entire week without the internet (for the first time since the mid 90's).

Felt wonderful.

 

Yeah... September I had NO phone/internet at all.. We paid for 30 mins of internet on like day 3, I used it for all of 4 minutes (Mainly to post the Rebecca Black Friday video I post every week on Facebook lol), the wife used it for like 4-5, and we had enough and were ready to get back to vacation.

On our way home, I thought to myself, when was the last time I went without a cell phone, or internet access... For a cell phone, it was around 1996-1997, for online/internet, I can't really remember a time since about 1991 that I had gone a whole week without some sort of online access (Bulletin boards, IRC, etc etc).

 

I forgot about the computers in the lobby.. is it still $5 to use those and for how long?

 

$5 for 30 minutes...