BBX Internet Service at Shilshole Marina is Terrible

[ddenver]

We spent the weekend at Shilshole Marina for my wife's B-Day actually heading over Thursday evening for an extra long weekend.... we went out to Ray's Boathouse and other nearby restaurants, and walked over to some areas of Ballard along Lake Union, all of which was real new to us so we had an enjoyable time.

Shilshole is a gorgeous marina, well laid out w/ nice facilities. A bit disorganized and confused from a management point of view but, since it is run by the city effectively, that probably explains that aspect.

The thing that really frustrated me is I was dumb enough to forget my Verizon WiFi card so, since I was actually supposed to work on Friday (I work online providing mainframe computer support and can work from anywhere as long as I have a reliable internet connection; I do not require extreme high connectivity speed either) I signed up for what I thought (99.9999% certain) was a $10.95 one-day access plan thru BBX provided by Beacon Wi-Fi. Terrible decision.... the BBX wi-fi signal was so bad I could literally not connect up from our boat which was on the H dock (almost right in front of the office) and less then half way down the dock.

Since I was trying to work I wound up wandering around the area adjacent to the office from 0600 until about 0900 Friday AM with my BBX Wi-Fi signal constantly fluctuating from great to terrible. Once second my laptop would show I had a real strong 11.0 MBPS signal so I would stop and sit on a bench or the ground right there but then - usually within seconds - the signal would drop to a weak 1.0 MBPS rate and my connection would fail.

I wound up notifying my boss of having to take the day off due to no usable Wi-Fi access even though I could not get any closer to the marina offices from which I assumed the BBX Wi-Fi signals emanated.

I complained to the folks working in the marina office .... they claimed people always complain to them about the poor BBX service but they said they had nothing to do with it. Regrettable, since I am sure the Port of Seattle who run Shilshole have a service agreement w/ BBX otherwise BBX would not be able to place their equipment on the premises.

Feeling ripped off as it was for having wasted $10.95 for such terrible Wi-Fi service and having to use up a precious vacation day instead I was willing to just leave it at that. No big deal just definitely never, ever contract w/ BBX again.

However; when we got home Sunday and I connected up for the 1st time since Friday AM (1st usable internet connectivity anyway) I saw a bill in my Inbox for 3-days of BBX service at $24.95. I assume since I had my laptop powered up for other purposes - and likely still connected (connected but not receiving a usable signal) - that their contract had some fine print for rolling a one-day contract into 3 days even though I never again tried to access anything online.

I called and complained to the BBX technical support folks .... they checked their records and said I used up a whole 200 MB internet service in the 3 day period and they said they had ZERO claims for any guaranteed internet connectivity speed. Not having a guaranteed speed is one thing but the service was so absolutely pathetic that I would be ashamed to actually charge people for such a pathetic product.

I have no idea if BBX Wi-Fi service is that bad at other marinas but I will never, ever contract w/ them again and would suggest anybody considering doing so also save their '$' and avoid this pathetic service.

Take care,
Dan., Tanya, and Hannah on C-Renity

[Will-C]

ddenver,
I use a Sprint hot spot. Because I was traveling to New Brunswick Canada for a couple weeks I thought spending 125 dollars for what I think was only 350 MB of data allowed before extra charges would start to pile up. I decided to sign up just to be able to stay in touch if need be. After being unable to connect in the cities we were in Saint John, Moncton, Fredericton I called Sprint. The techie determined I had a bad unit. As soon as we crossed the border back into the U.S. the hot spot worked fine. Of course Sprint charged my account for the Canadian plan even though it never worked. They tried to credit me 104 dollars instead of the whole 125 as they said I was four days into the plan before I told the teckie to pull the plug on the Canadian plan as they could not get it to work. After spending enough time explaining I never had the use of it they reimbursed the complete amount. Sometimes it's tough to stay connected.
D.D.

[redbaronace]

Dan, we use T-Mobile and have the wireless data plan which allows our phones to tether as wifi hotspots. Sometime we do not have good cellular connection (san juans, union (hood canal), and in those cases, we have no phone or internet.

For the most part, when near land, we typically have good connection. It costs $10 per month more than regular service and it is nice to have internet service on the water and be able to not rely on the marina's connection for wifi.

Perhaps your wireless carrier offers wifi tethering. Your phone will also need to be tethering capable to accomplish this.

[Bess-C]

Dan,
It wasn't just you and it isn't just Shilshole. I had a similar experience a couple of years ago at Skyline Marina in Anacortes. I was even dumb enough to sign up for a month and buy their booster. A very bad experience, I can't believe they're still able to stay in business.

I now tether my Android phone and pad.
Lyle

[ddenver]

Thanks for the replies gents and I am not surprised to hear I am not the only person who has had a bad experience w/ BBX.

I normally carry my Verizon "MiFi" 4G LTE card with me but forgot it this trip. My MiWi has been extremely reliable everywhere I have tried to use it. I previously used a Verizon USB modem and had good luck w/ that also. Trying to use the pathetic BBX service for the day was just an attempt to get online in lieue of my forgetting the MiFi.

As I mentioned, I complained to the folks working at the Shilshole office and they said people complained about the poor BBX service all the time. Regrettably, they don't do anything about it and feel it's not their business.

I called Beacon Wi-Fi - the folks who offer the BBX service - and complained to them multiple times. They offered no apology and were of no assistance.

I then placed a call to complain to the Port of Seattle offices for allowing this con of a business to charge people for services that do not work since the BBX equipment is obviously based on the Port of Seattle owned Shilshole Marina property. I will be surprised if anybody from the Port of Seattle offices follows up on it though.

Lastly, I called my credit card company to dispute the Beacon BBX charges. Hopefully, the dispute process works and this ripoff outfit gets nothing from me.

BTW, thanks for your comments Lyle! Nice to see you still on the C-Brats site. We were lucky enough to have toured your gorgeous yacht (it was a yacht to us anyway!) and briefly meet you and your lovely wife a few years ago in Bellingham during one of the last CBGTs Joe & Ruth hosted.

Take care,
Dan, Tanya, and Hannah on C-Renity