[jblum315]

I rented a house in Hadley Village in 2009 while I was waiting to close on the new house I had bought. The rental house had an internet connection and I had my own computer, but the cost of providing internet was included in the rent and it never occurred to me that it might be provided free or as part of the purchase price in my new house. What a silly assumption.

[My Daily Run]

My husband travels all over the country and the world so he has a wireless internet card - also called laptop cards, wireless modems and PC cards - it's a devices that attaches to your computer to give you access to the internet over a wireless carrier’s cellular network. Most wireless internet cards now support 3G data speeds, and are convenient if you want to access the internet wirelessly anywhere, anytime, without a Wi-Fi hotspot or a wired connection. It cost about $50.00 a month...NOW...if you don't want to spend that you can go to Best Buy and buy one that is temporary...the 5 P's Prior, Planning, Prevents, Poor, Performance...If the internet is so important...ASK or be prepared !!!

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by djm619

Hi,

Here is an email that I sent to our salesman after coming down for the Life Style Visit.

Hi,

With the exception of having to drive over to a recreation center to answer emails, the trip was nice and informative. For some people the idea of not having access to the internet may not be a big problem. For many, many others it is unacceptable.


If we did not have a friend with us to we would have locked the doors and went to the Waterfront Hotel. Our friend and collogue, Dr. Damon lost total interest in buying a home. His thoughts were that if they can not provide something as simply as internet, what else would they skimp on.


Here was a man that could've taken out his checkbook and purchased a home on the spot.


Me and Brenda are still interested in the Villages, but think you might do one of three things.

First, offer free internet.

Second option, offer internet at an additional charge. Many large hotels do this.

The very lease make certain that people renting from you know upfront that if they need the interenet they must leave their home or Vila and drive to a different location.

Rewritten....a little softer.
Surprised that our LSV accommodation did not have internet.

We enjoyed our LSV visit so much to The Villages. We loved all of the activities and how beautiful everything was. We enjoyed talking to people who live there and found them to be helpful and informative.

Our only wish was that we could have had internet connection so that we could access the information that would make it easier to find things, look at home listings and for me, keep up with my business.

We were so impressed with everything else here that we were a little surprised to not be offered a place with internet access. A friend who accompanied us was more than a little disappointed. Has anyone else mentioned this as a problem?

We loved everything else about this place you lucky people call home.

[Meddick]

We noted the lack of internet during our recent LSV and mentioned it in a (hopefully) constructive manner to our sales rep, who seemed to take it as helpful feedback.

My wife, who is addicted to the internet, found going to Barnes & Noble to be only a minor inconvenience. Plus, we got to meet more people at the store and get Starbucks coffee (which we do not have in India).

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

Rewritten....a little softer.
Surprised that our LSV accommodation did not have internet.

We enjoyed our LSV visit so much to The Villages. We loved all of the activities and how beautiful everything was. We enjoyed talking to people who live there and found them to be helpful and informative.

Our only wish was that we could have had internet connection so that we could access the information that would make it easier to find things, look at home listings and for me, keep up with my business.

We were so impressed with everything else here that we were a little surprised to not be offered a place with internet access. A friend who accompanied us was more than a little disappointed. Has anyone else mentioned this as a problem?

We loved everything else about this place you lucky people call home.

very well said GG

[BettyCrocked]

Originally Posted by jblum315

I rented a house in Hadley Village in 2009 while I was waiting to close on the new house I had bought. The rental house had an internet connection and I had my own computer, but the cost of providing internet was included in the rent and it never occurred to me that it might be provided free or as part of the purchase price in my new house. What a silly assumption.

Not sure who made this "silly assumption" but the OP said nothing about expecting free internet with the purchase of a house.

[ROCKETMAN]

I don't know why totv posters get rude and say nasty things about people. I agree it is unusual not to offer internet services in a rental and they should highlight that in their material they send you before your visit. For a few days walking to barnes and noble or the sales center should not be a big deal.

[Patty55]

Originally Posted by BettyCrocked

Not sure who made this "silly assumption" but the OP said nothing about expecting free internet with the purchase of a house.

It's obvious (to me) that part of the OP's issue is wanting it for FREE, if free wasn't the issue he could have gone to Walmart and got a temporary air card.

I would say the biggest part of his problem is not being able to effectively complain. He should have thought it through, organized his thoughts and restricted his complaint to HIS PROBLEM. Not his friend (the alleged Dr.), not his wife...his problem. Trying to read for comprehension, his problem is he couldn't check emails. He said nothing about SKYPE, floor plans or lot selection...only emails.

If having a connection to check emails was that important he should have worked it out prior to the visit. If it was that important while here he should have spoken to the Sales Dept. It's been my experience that TV goes out of their way to make all these people feel special, if he had opened his mouth and told them that the sale of two houses was contingent on a stinking $20 air card TV may have sent their goodwill ambassador GG over with an aircard and a box of cannolis (this is why she gets the BIG BUCKS-lol).

My initial response (and this one) was not intended to be snarky, just a little constructive criticism. If you want to be taken seriously get your act together.

[keithwand]

We went to Barnes and Noble. The no Internet idea is to get you out and about, not holed up in your villa.
Many people that bought here started out on the LSV w/o accessible Internet and are glad for it.

[Bavarian]

The solution for the future is to clearly state no phone, no WI-FI. If we needed to bring cell phones, no WI-FI is intuitively Obvious. We had an iPhone and iPad, with 3G.

When and if, one buys a house, they can set up their own INTERNET,

[senior citizen]

Actually, after we reserved our Lifestyle Visit at Creekside Landing, we had many follow up calls from the sales office. We took the advice of one woman there who suggested that we get a cell phone as there were no landlines in any of the homes.

My husband had an OLD cell phone which we really never used as we have landlines in almost every room of our house plus (at the time prior to retirement (at the business)...........but he obliged and went out and ordered the newest I-Phone which really came in handy in TV.

I was able to email the airport......make hotel reservations, etc. for day before our flight back..........he was able to navigate all over TV with his I-Phone as the rental car did NOT have a Garmin or navigational system as had been promised to us.....

Then, when we got to our one month rental, the owner had wireless internet service.....so we could have brought our laptops, but actually survived without them.

Everything we needed to know was in the Daily "Sun" newspaper.........and on the television. It was actually a nice break NOT to be "connected" for a month ++++ and hubby had the I-Phone to take and send pictures to our kids............and to all the home computers...........

[George Bieniaszek]

Originally Posted by Rosie53

Seriously? The Lifestyle visit is one of the best deals around. A beautiful fully furnished villa with a golf cart and bicycle for less than the price of most hotel rooms. I have never known the Villages to skimp on anything!

Totally agree!! It is actually nice to be disconnected from the internet, e-mails, etc. once in a while and maybe go outside and take a look around and experience the beauty of nature instead of having your face in front of a computer screen or smart phone all day

We did the Lifestyle preview at Creekside for 6 days. Went to Miona Rec Center to catch up on e-mails twice during the 6 days for 30-60 minutes each time. No big deal.

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by redwitch

I think I'd be seriously ticked off with no internet in my house/room, whatever. Yes, I could use my phone but it's a small screen, hard to type on and downright inconvenient. Yes, I could go to a WiFi spot, but why should I have to in this day and age?

That so many of you belittled the OP is inexcusable. You should all be ashamed of yourselves! So what if you think it was a petty reason to not purchase? The doctor had the right to decide what was important and probably decided that if the developer was cheap here, he would be cheap in other areas. The OP is still on the fence but I wouldn't be surprised if this thread would totally turn him off to TV and all of the good and great things here.

If you don't like the thread, either be an adult and respond politely in disagreement or say nothing. There is absolutely no need for the pettiness shown here. (And feel free to blast me, I'm a big girl and can take it. I am truly sick of seeing threads like this.)

The I-Phones are very hard to type on...........

I'm a fast typist on any keyboard, however, the new I-Phone which we purchased ahead of time before traveling to The Villages , just about drove me nuts.......and I'm a calm person. The tiny keys are very frustrating.

However, had the sales lady not called and told us that we needed to get a cell phone before coming to stay at the Villages, we'd have been in a real pickle.

Not so much after we moved into our one month rental home as they did have the WiFi connection..........but we didn't have our laptops or I-Pads or notebooks, etc. with us..........luckily, we had that phone.

[manaboutown]

On my LSV one of the smoke alarms started LOUDLY relentlessly beeping around 5:00 p.m. It was mounted too high for me or for that matter anyone to reach without a high ladder. It was literally driving me crazy so I called the number provided. Some guy answered it and I asked for someone (him, it turned out) to come over and deal with it. He told me he could not make it for a couple of hours and suggested I go somewhere for a few hours until he could come over. I told him I was settled in and did not wish to leave. Well, about two hours later he shows up. He admitted that when I called (his cell phone) he was on the golf course and wanted to finish his round, which he did. He was obviously a retiree working for The Villages and was on call. He clearly did not want to be bothered with doing his job. The way this was handled so unprofessionally left a very bad taste in my mouth.

On the same trip, actually just prior to visiting The Villages, I visited Terra Vista. It turned out the place they had rented to me for their lifestyle visit was not prepared. It was left very clean by the previous guests but had not been provided maid service. I called and a whole team of cleaning ladies came over within ten minutes and did a wonderful job, thoroughly cleaning the entire unit and providing fresh linens and towels. When I left a couple of days later the management voluntarily refunded my entire payment. That left a very good taste in my mouth!

[NotGolfer]

Generally folks won't find "Wi-Fi" in anyone's house. The houses/villas they put folks up in will eventually be sold. As other posters have shared a cellphone would work and there's several places one can go (McD's, Panera, and more) to pick up the internet. The houses aren't meant to be hotels/motels but a feature to show what it could be like to live here.

We have internet access in our home by connecting with a provider.