Internet in Japan

[SilvertoGold]

I remember reading something about Japan blocking internet for cruiseships in Japanese waters or in port. Now, I can't find this reference.

Does anyone know if this is being done?

 

Otherwise, being loathe to pay Holland America their high prices for what is becoming worse and worse internet service, I am wondering what kind of experience people have had with internet cafes or the like in Japan.

 

Any information or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

SilvertoGold

[j2ink]

We went to an internet cafe in Kobe about three months ago, and didn't have any problems, other than the owner couldn't speak English. The prices for everything in Japan are high, so the internet cafe was a little higher than normal, perhaps US$5 per hour, but still only a fraction of the price charged by the ship.

[Keith1010]

I read about this on the Crystal Cruises Cruise Critic site as the Serenity sailed to various port of call in Japan as part of the World Cruise. While they were in port and sailing the waters of Japan e mail service/internet service was not available for most of the time.

 

Their sailing was in the April, 2009 time frame.

 

Keith

[chipmaster]

I remember reading something about Japan blocking internet for cruiseships in Japanese waters or in port. Now, I can't find this reference.

Does anyone know if this is being done?

 

Otherwise, being loathe to pay Holland America their high prices for what is becoming worse and worse internet service, I am wondering what kind of experience people have had with internet cafes or the like in Japan.

 

Any information or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

SilvertoGold

 

Isn't internet on ships satellite? If so I don't think blocking / filtering should be an issue. I've traveled extensively in the far east and even in China found no issues with filtering/blocking.

 

What kind of sites are you planning on needing to access :eek:

[Keith1010]

Isn't internet on ships satellite? If so I don't think blocking / filtering should be an issue. I've traveled extensively in the far east and even in China found no issues with filtering/blocking.

 

What kind of sites are you planning on needing to access :eek:

 

It was the band that the ship uses which impacts cell phones and internet.

 

So, it didn't matter what specific sites as they could not get to the internet.

 

Keith

[j2ink]

It's hard to believe the web service would be blocked by Japan. What possible reason would there be for them to do this? On my last cruise, I was in and around Japan for six days, and I don't recall any problem with the internet service.

 

I've been in several areas of the world on many cruises where the satellite internet service was not available for a day or more. This could be due to a number of reasons such as a dead spots in the satellite coverage, rough seas when the satellite cannot maintain a connection with the ship's satellite dish, or a problem on the ship where the equipment was not operating properly.

 

In any event, unless you are desperate or money is no object, you should consider using the internet cafes on shore. They have very fast connections and are very cheap.

[Keith1010]

It's hard to believe the web service would be blocked by Japan. What possible reason would there be for them to do this? On my last cruise, I was in and around Japan for six days, and I don't recall any problem with the internet service.

 

I've been in several areas of the world on many cruises where the satellite internet service was not available for a day or more. This could be due to a number of reasons such as a dead spots in the satellite coverage, rough seas when the satellite cannot maintain a connection with the ship's satellite dish, or a problem on the ship where the equipment was not operating properly.

 

In any event, unless you are desperate or money is no object, you should consider using the internet cafes on shore. They have very fast connections and are very cheap.

 

When the Crystal Serenity was sailing off Japan as part of the world cruise they were asked to block the ships C-Band satellite access, because of the amount of capacity that internet and other useage consumes. This is not due to dead spots. It was due to a requirement of the cruise ship by the country of Japan.

 

Keith

[chipmaster]

When the Crystal Serenity was sailing off Japan as part of the world cruise they were asked to block the ships C-Band satellite access, because of the amount of capacity that internet and other useage consumes. This is not due to dead spots. It was due to a requirement of the cruise ship by the country of Japan.

 

Keith

 

Interesting, still find it not logically that this is a bandwidth issue. Satellite on c-band isn't the fastest and I can't believe a wired country like Japan would be relying on such a slow link as the ship one for internet for anything. Almost all modern local and trans-ocean high bandwidth is carried by fiber optic trunk lines not satellite. Its also hard to believe this is a interference issue as uplinks are usually directionally to satellite and downlinks are broadcast from satellite and would still cause issues regardless of where the ship was. Something for me to go dig more on... :D

[Keith1010]

Interesting, still find it not logically that this is a bandwidth issue. Satellite on c-band isn't the fastest and I can't believe a wired country like Japan would be relying on such a slow link as the ship one for internet for anything. Almost all modern local and trans-ocean high bandwidth is carried by fiber optic trunk lines not satellite. Its also hard to believe this is a interference issue as uplinks are usually directionally to satellite and downlinks are broadcast from satellite and would still cause issues regardless of where the ship was. Something for me to go dig more on... :D

 

As an FYI I was a senior executive for a large telecommunications company until I retired a few years ago.

 

Regardless, I am not making this up. This occured earlier this year.

 

Keith

[SilvertoGold]

Thank you Keith1010 and j2ink for your information. We usually use shoreside internet whenever possible and will plan to do so in Japan during this cruise.

It is good to have some forewarning of the possiblities.

 

SilvertoGold

[chipmaster]

As an FYI I was a senior executive for a large telecommunications company until I retired a few years ago.

 

Regardless, I am not making this up. This occured earlier this year.

 

Keith

 

Sorry if this comes off wrong, whether you are senior executive of a dog food company or a telecommunication matters little to me if you can't explain the why. That is the problem with most people these days is they don't seek to dig deeper and simply take the explanations of people whether they make sense or not as fact.

 

Maybe take the time to educate me and the rest of us curious people on the board versus try impress me would be more worth while for your few minutes on the keyboard or maybe you really don't know the real reason. No different then the handwaving about why cellphones are not allowed when planes are in flight.

[Keith1010]

Let's try this again. The OP mentioned they seem to remember that there were posts earlier this year about passengers not being able to use the Internet on one of the ships earlier this year due to Japanese requirements.

 

Specifically, the cruise line was informed by the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications that they would not allow the use of C-Band communication service by cruise ships while in Japanese territorial waters. The result of this decree was that neither internet nor cell phone usage wouldl be permitted for the period the ship sailed in these waters which in this case was approximately one week.

 

The rules in Japan called for all non-Japanese flag flying vessels to not transmit any signal, within range of the cell phone and C-Band systems.

 

Further the passengers were made aware thta in the event of an emergency the Captain had the authority and ability to dispense with this regulation.

 

Now we can go back and forth for the next week on the technical issues of this but I do not plan to.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

Sorry if this comes off wrong, whether you are senior executive of a dog food company or a telecommunication matters little to me if you can't explain the why. That is the problem with most people these days is they don't seek to dig deeper and simply take the explanations of people whether they make sense or not as fact.

 

Maybe take the time to educate me and the rest of us curious people on the board versus try impress me would be more worth while for your few minutes on the keyboard or maybe you really don't know the real reason. No different then the handwaving about why cellphones are not allowed when planes are in flight.

 

Just wanted to be clear. My point was not to impress anyone. My point was that I don't need an explanation nor (and don't take this the wrong way) do I care why they restricted the use of the satellite.

 

As I said, the OP asked if they remembered correctly about about seeing posts earlier this year on CC about restrictions using the internet from the ship on a cruise that visited Japan and the answer is yes.

 

If you think it's necesary to figure out why this is the case that's great but it is fact that the ship was told to restrict the itnernet and the cell phone services while sailing in these waters.

 

If the OP cares about the technical reasons great but I don't think that is the case.

 

Keith

[Aussieflyer]

On a slightly different topic but still related to telecommunications - our Australian mobile phone international roaming does not "roam" in Japan - something to do with a different system I was told. The first time it happened we were worried as we were on the way through to Europe (flying not cruising) and had recently changed our telephone company. When we could call home on the first night we thought it may have been a problem with our new carrier but others who had been there before said they could never ring on their Australian mobiles in Japan. In all other countries we have had no problems.

[BruceMuzz]

Japanese mobile telephones broadcast on a different frequency than the other countries' telephones.

 

Although a Japanese "Worldphone" works everywhere, so-called "Worldphones" from other countries do not work in Japan. Only Japanese residents are allowed to register a mobile telephone in Japan (but visitors can rent one during your stay in Japan).