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New Wifi system on Oceania


captjohn
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Oceania Cruises is rolling out its new Wavenet high-speed Internet service fleetwide, at no extra charge for all accomodations categories.

 

 

 

Wondering when or if Regent will do the same. See link below.

 

 

 

http://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/oceania-cruises-introduces-free-high-speed-wi-fi.html

 

 

 

 

This looks amazing. Apparently there are a number of competing new technologies rolling out, designed specifically to boost onboard internet speeds. Kudos to Oceania for implementing this.

 

 

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Great news. We are on Oceania regatta in June, so hope it is working by then.

 

I'm still trying to wrap my head around you and George going on Oceania. We toured the Regatta and it wasn't to our taste but look forward to your review.

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I'm still trying to wrap my head around you and George going on Oceania. We toured the Regatta and it wasn't to our taste but look forward to your review.

It is one of those compromises for the family things. We get the suite. We can afford which is actually comparable to Regent, and everyone else gets what they can afford. We get the included drinks package. Now, with hopefully better internet, I will be a happy camper as the horrible internet was one of my major gripes once I figured out and accepted that to get what I wanted I would be paying as much or more than what I would on Regent. And I stay away from the buffet as much as possible!

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This shouldn't bother me, but it does. I can't help but think that especially with the vocal dissatisfaction with the internet service on Regent, corporate should have rolled out this new technology on Regent before Oceania. It's like being able to get some cool technology on a Chevy (okay, a Buick) but not on a Cadillac. But then again, I'm not booked for anything on Regent in the immediate future so hopefully they'll get it on board before I sail next...

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Perhaps they are rolling it out to O first to see how it goes and if there are any major hiccups.

 

We have our next (first) O cruise coming up later this year, so I will try to assess the performance of the new system vs. what we experienced on the Mariner last Nov/Dec.

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Perhaps they are rolling it out to O first to see how it goes and if there are any major hiccups.

 

We have our next (first) O cruise coming up later this year, so I will try to assess the performance of the new system vs. what we experienced on the Mariner last Nov/Dec.

 

When you are on the ship (Oceania), also find out how many passengers are typically online at the same time. This has been the issue that is killing Regent's connectivity. BTW, what ship will you be on? We have sailed the Riviera twice -- beautiful ship!

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It’s the bandwidth being eaten up when many people are online and the internet slows to a crawl. Repeaters are all over the ship but that has nothing to do with bandwidth just reception from the server.

 

The Rivera is the only ship that we might try in the premium market as we heard the owners suite is drop dead gorgeous with Ralph Lauren decor.

 

I guess I should go over to the O board and ask questions.

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It’s the bandwidth being eaten up when many people are online and the internet slows to a crawl. Repeaters are all over the ship but that has nothing to do with bandwidth just reception from the server.

 

The Rivera is the only ship that we might try in the premium market as we heard the owners suite is drop dead gorgeous with Ralph Lauren decor.

 

I guess I should go over to the O board and ask questions.

 

You explain the internet situation much better than I do! thank you.

 

Yes - the owners suite on the Riviera (or Marina) is drop dead gorgeous (as much as I hate to say it, it is nicer than the master suite on Explorer). We have only visited the owners suite but have stayed in the vista suite (equivalent to the grand suite on Regent) and it was also amazing although I forget who the designer was. There is a small workout room - large living room area - great bathrooms -- fabulous! However, sailing on Oceania is not the same experience as on Regent. Fortunately on Oceania in the upper suites you can dine in a specialty restaurant every night which was necessary for us as we did not care for their MDR or La Veranda equivalent).

 

The internet on the Riviera was horrible - they likely needed an upgrade more than Regent does. Also, keep in mind that Regent made big claims about their upgraded internet a year or so ago. They surely believed that the massive upgrade would made the internet speeds as fast at on land. Have to give Regent credit that once they saw how inadequate the upgrade was, they changed their advertising.

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TC, in the end the guests just want the internet to work.

 

With that said, I wish it was so simple. This is my background having spent my career in Telecommunications with world-wise responsibilities the last several years for internet, international, date and voice (local, long distance and international) for what was the second largest telecommunications provider at the time in the USA.

 

The issues include satellite technology, bandwidth, the design of the ship (and that includes placement of the repeaters which is a big issue), where your room is located, the ability to throttle certain downloads, the competency of the personnel who work on the ship and on land, the ability to take down users with no activity for a predetermined amount of time and I could add about fifteen more items but don't want to bore you with too many details.

 

The technology being deployed is relatively new. It is not about bandwidth.

 

Hopefully it will work as planned.

 

Again users don't need to know all about this because from their perspective they just want things to work but trust me it is not just about bandwidth. I wish it was. That would be simple to address.

 

Keith

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We have had both the Owners Suite and Vista suite on Riviera. I prefer the Vista because the balcony is a LOT more useable. The internet in both was just fine. We had the Owners Suite during the Masters (on a trans-Atlantic) and were able to get Sky sports golf on my IPad with no problem. We also liked the MDR. A lot. Last time we were on Regnet we were very disappointed with the food...in all the restaurants. I hope that this will not be the case next time!

 

 

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TC, in the end the guests just want the internet to work.

 

With that said, I wish it was so simple. This is my background having spent my career in Telecommunications with world-wise responsibilities the last several years for internet, international, date and voice (local, long distance and international) for what was the second largest telecommunications provider at the time in the USA.

 

The issues include satellite technology, bandwidth, the design of the ship (and that includes placement of the repeaters which is a big issue), where your room is located, the ability to throttle certain downloads, the competency of the personnel who work on the ship and on land, the ability to take down users with no activity for a predetermined amount of time and I could add about fifteen more items but don't want to bore you with too many details.

 

The technology being deployed is relatively new. It is not about bandwidth.

 

Hopefully it will work as planned.

 

Again users don't need to know all about this because from their perspective they just want things to work but trust me it is not just about bandwidth. I wish it was. That would be simple to address.

 

Keith

 

Keith, thank you for the great explanation:D

 

Actually, I don't care much about what Oceania is doing as, In my opinion, they are simply not the same calibre as Regent. They could have the best internet in the world (as some mainstream cruise lines have) but this would not make me want to sail on Oceania again. The only reason my DH likes Oceania is because of the amazing top suites.

 

Gerry, while I know that food is very subjective, we simply could not tolerate the food in Oceania's MDR and would not even eat in the Terrace Cafe (La Veranda equivalent) as we were concerned about being poisoned (not an exaggeration - anyone that tries to pry a dead clam open to serve it to a passenger has no clue what they are doing).

 

Anyway, since this is not an Oceania board and is only referencing their internet, I won't go on further about the reasons why I personally do not care for Oceania.

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Keith, thank you for the great explanation:D

 

 

 

Actually, I don't care much about what Oceania is doing as, In my opinion, they are simply not the same calibre as Regent. They could have the best internet in the world (as some mainstream cruise lines have) but this would not make me want to sail on Oceania again. The only reason my DH likes Oceania is because of the amazing top suites.

 

 

 

Gerry, while I know that food is very subjective, we simply could not tolerate the food in Oceania's MDR and would not even eat in the Terrace Cafe (La Veranda equivalent) as we were concerned about being poisoned (not an exaggeration - anyone that tries to pry a dead clam open to serve it to a passenger has no clue what they are doing).

 

 

 

Anyway, since this is not an Oceania board and is only referencing their internet, I won't go on further about the reasons why I personally do not care for Oceania.

 

 

 

Jackie...Though clearly horrific, I’m wondering if your experience with the dining on Oceania was an anomaly, in that most reviews are sensational.

 

Regarding the WiFi, it’s confusing to me that a luxury line like Regent wouldn’t fix what is clearly a problem with either the system or equipment installed. It might not be an issue for you, but frankly it is for me, and the potential of a vastly superior system on Oceania is an attractive selling point.

 

No one’s arguing that Regent isn’t wonderful, but wouldn’t a much needed fix on a well known deficiency make them even more wonderful?

 

 

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Jackie...Though clearly horrific, I’m wondering if your experience with the dining on Oceania was an anomaly, in that most reviews are sensational.

 

Regarding the WiFi, it’s confusing to me that a luxury line like Regent wouldn’t fix what is clearly a problem with either the system or equipment installed. It might not be an issue for you, but frankly it is for me, and the potential of a vastly superior system on Oceania is an attractive selling point.

 

No one’s arguing that Regent isn’t wonderful, but wouldn’t a much needed fix on a well known deficiency make them even more wonderful?

 

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Hi Paul - we did sail on Oceania twice. The specialty restaurants are "sensational" but those are the only dining venues that we enjoy. While the array of food on the buffet is amazing, the quality just isn't there (and, as we know, food is subjective).

 

 

In terms of Regent's wifi deficiency, I definitely would like to see the quality improve. However, since the big upgrade that was done less than two years ago was a failure (due to the number of people online at the same time), I question whether Oceania's upgrade would work on Regent. In my opinion, the only way to tell is to have the same number of people online at the same time. When we were on Oceania, the wi-fi was not as good as Regent's is now and there were likely less passengers online since all passengers do not get unlimited included internet (to be specific, Gold and above loyalty members get a log-in each while others get one log-in per suite). So, since I know little about the subject of wifi (which is why I love when posters take the time to explain it), it would take someone from Regent to convince me that Oceania's system would improve Regent's wifi (and even then I would need to see it for myself).

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Dining on Oceania - last November we were on Riviera. Wonderful food in all venues. The Terrace Cafe buffet was great for breakfast and lunch. We did't try it for dinner because we were "fully booked" as it were at Jacques, Red Ginger and Polo. (Toscana or any other Italian restaurant on any other ship we have been on - we don't bother with because they cannot match the quality of dining in Milan which is two hours away from our home in southern Switzerland...)

WiFi - no problem at all. Whether using computers, iPads or getting Sky Golf we never had a problem. In 2015 on a TA on Riviera we watched the Masters on SkyGo on my iPad. SO I shall be interested to see how Regents Wi Fi now compares. Doubt it could be better...but would be glad to see it is(of course)

 

 

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Gerry, it does not compare favorably to what you described on Oceania (although our experience on the Riveria was not good - very slow).

 

In my opinion, Regent just has too many people on at the same time. You would not be able to watch what you mentioned on Regent without paying a fee (this fee for streaming is new and I will check it out more later this week.) From what I know, I’m all for charging people that need to use a lot of bandwidth (if streaming, etc. does that). I once suggested that a suite be turned into four work stations with faster WiFi, printers, etc. and charge by the hour an amount equal to what the suite would cost.

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I'm still trying to wrap my head around you and George going on Oceania. We toured the Regatta and it wasn't to our taste but look forward to your review.

 

I personally only like the Mariner and the Riviera, the service was wonderful, and the food superb!

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Just signed on to WiFi and it is fine so far. I did see, for the first time, the $34.75/day option for streaming. This make me quite happy as I believe that passengers should pay for online activities that may slow down the system for the rest of us. I understand that some people have to work while on vacation but, in most cases, you are reimbursed for costs because it is part of your business or your job.

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The problems have little to do with the amount of pax online. On Explorer for last 3 1/2 weeks . The internet is just as poor as it ever was on any of the other ship .

 

It doesn't matter as to pax . At 2:00 am or 5:00 am it is just as slow and clunky as at 3:00 pm

 

I use Oolka Android speed-test . Average download 0.4 mbps up 0.2 Mbps. 685 Ms ping. 565 jitter.

 

J

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On board Explorer now.

We find that Wi-Fi is much better in the public areas than in our suite, where it is very difficult to connect and then keeps dropping out. So annoying!!

 

Just did a speed test (4:15pm) in the Cafe - upload and download speed both only 0.12 Mbps; very poor :(

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I wonder if any of the techno geeks out there have ever brought along a WiFi booster such as the Ubiquiti NanoStation to improve signal strength in their suite, and if the increased signal strength led to improved connection speed?

 

 

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