Does Crystal's free wi-fi raise the bar for Regent?

[jhp]

 

 

JHP, as far as Satellite Constellation, a group of satellites providing services are called a Constellation and for things like GPS, there are a bunch of satellites in low earth orbit that appear to go around earth so your GPS which needs at least 4 satellites within view of your GPS to work which means quite a few satellites in a Constellation are required since the satellites are traveling at about 17500 mph so as one satellite goes over the horizon, another one comes up over the opposite horizon to keep your GPS working.

 

As to internet and TV, those satellites are in orbit above the equator and are quite high, about 22500 miles up and at that height, while they are still moving at about 17500 mph, the circumference of their orbit is such that they are actually stationary in relation to the point of earth below them so that they apear to be stationary in relationship to earth. They each cover a portion of earth so that on board ship, you receive the signal from the same satellite as long as you don't move too far east or west to be out of their range and then you do move out of range, you then pick up the next satellite broadcasting wifi or TV.

 

In this case, you move from one satellite to another while for GPS the satellite move over your location and change that way. Thus the term constellation for a group of satellites performing the same service.

 

As to bandwidth from the satellite. The satellites have a lot of bandwidth and it is quite expensive the more bandwidth the user wants to use. Thus it is really not a limitation of bandwidth from the satellites, it is how much do the cruise lines want to pay for how much bandwidth that is limiting us currently. If everyone wants more bandwidth, eventually the satellites will be overloaded. The satellites cannot be updated to increase bandwidth while in orbit but, new replacement satellites can be improved and are as time goes by. The satellites are not cheap. Probably in the range of $100M each with the cost to put in orbit in the same neighborhood $100M so not cost effective to replace the satellites until they have reached the end of their life which is in the neighborhood of 10 to 15 years.

 

Hope this explanation helps and will answer any further questions. Used to work for NASA so why I understand a lot of this.

 

Mr Funny26, thank you! I'm with my little grands this weekend, but will print this out pronto on my return home.It is never too late for some of us non tech people to keep up with this stuff, rather than staying in a "fog". Seems like Silversea (and Seabourn) need to make the leap as well. Just no avoiding it, especially for those still in the working world who really need to stay "available" if for nothing else than emergencies.

[commodoredave]

Seems like Silversea (and Seabourn) need to make the leap as well. Just no avoiding it, especially for those still in the working world who really need to stay "available" if for nothing else than emergencies.

 

So true.

[Travelcat2]

IMO, recent bandwidth changes have not been noticeable on the ships. I read somewhere (wondering if anyone else did) that the connections at sea will be much faster at either the end of 2014 or the beginning of 2015!?

 

One thing that I noticed on board last month (besides the slow internet) is that people with iPads were losing their connection constantly. This has been our experience when using iPads in our suites (the ones Regent provides). The internet guru on board said that iPads have things running in the background that slow it down. I was using a new Kindle tablet - not expecting much in terms of internet on board -- but, it outperformed the iPad consistently. The fact that it rarely dropped a connection was a big positive.

[Bodogbodog]

I read somewhere (wondering if anyone else did) that the connections at sea will be much faster at either the end of 2014 or the beginning of 2015!?

 

One thing that I noticed on board last month (besides the slow internet) is that people with iPads were losing their connection constantly

 

:D:D:D I think that improvement is only going to apply to Crystal :D:D:D - but on a serious note maybe that's why Crystal are delaying the introduction of free 60 min per day internet until later in the year

 

On the iPad drop outs maybe Regent need to get a review done of their wifi coverage, seems they have some weak signal areas. That's not unusual in wifi implementations. Like many "IT Guys and Internet Gurus" the one you spoke to seems to be trying to deflect the issue away from anything they can control. Did he try the old "Power it off and see if that helps" line

[Wendy The Wanderer]

...

As to bandwidth from the satellite. The satellites have a lot of bandwidth and it is quite expensive the more bandwidth the user wants to use. Thus it is really not a limitation of bandwidth from the satellites, it is how much do the cruise lines want to pay for how much bandwidth that is limiting us currently. If everyone wants more bandwidth, eventually the satellites will be overloaded. The satellites cannot be updated to increase bandwidth while in orbit but, new replacement satellites can be improved and are as time goes by. The satellites are not cheap. Probably in the range of $100M each with the cost to put in orbit in the same neighborhood $100M so not cost effective to replace the satellites until they have reached the end of their life which is in the neighborhood of 10 to 15 years.

 

Hope this explanation helps and will answer any further questions. Used to work for NASA so why I understand a lot of this.

 

Thanks so much for this explanation. We were just discussing this at lunch today, and my intuition was right--the cruise ships have to buy the bandwidth they're going to need, but it comes at a high price. Which is why they will probably always throttle things like Skye and Youtube, and why response seems to meager at times.

 

So it's a losing proposition for them--the more routers they put out around the ship, and the more offers they make for "free" internet, the slower it's going to get, until the ship buys more bandwidth, which they will drag their feet on.

 

Wes,

 

One correction. Passengers who obtain Silver status before October 1, 2014 will continue to receive unlimited free wifi. (See footnote at: http://www.rssc.com/seven-seas-society/members-benefits/.)

 

So nice of them to grandfather this benefit that's been in place for umpteen years! (Yes, sarcasm intended.) Of course, Regent didn't know what they had wrought when they offered free, unlimited internet after 21 nights, so long ago.

[CruisetheCs]

IMO, recent bandwidth changes have not been noticeable on the ships. I read somewhere (wondering if anyone else did) that the connections at sea will be much faster at either the end of 2014 or the beginning of 2015!?

 

One thing that I noticed on board last month (besides the slow internet) is that people with iPads were losing their connection constantly. This has been our experience when using iPads in our suites (the ones Regent provides). The internet guru on board said that iPads have things running in the background that slow it down. I was using a new Kindle tablet - not expecting much in terms of internet on board -- but, it outperformed the iPad consistently. The fact that it rarely dropped a connection was a big positive.

 

I'm on the Voyager now and haven't had any connectivity problems related specifically to my ipad. I've been able to connect in all the lounges and on deck eleven as well as in my suite.

 

The internet connection now cuts off automatically after 45 minutes of use according to staff. So it may be that some lost connections are due to that limit. I spoke with one passenger who said that she was unable to connect with her ipad in her suite but could connect in other areas of the ship.

 

There are many problems with the internet interface that are not specific to ipad though.

[Travelcat2]

I'm on the Voyager now and haven't had any connectivity problems related specifically to my ipad. I've been able to connect in all the lounges and on deck eleven as well as in my suite.

 

The internet connection now cuts off automatically after 45 minutes of use according to staff. So it may be that some lost connections are due to that limit. I spoke with one passenger who said that she was unable to connect with her ipad in her suite but could connect in other areas of the ship.

 

There are many problems with the internet interface that are not specific to ipad though.

 

Thanks for the information. Now I'm wondering where the Voyager is. Also, do you know if the computer person is a young lady from the United States (Emily)? She was so helpful when there were a lot of connection problems. I believe we were in the area of Indonesia at the time.

 

Agree that the internet interface problems were not specific to the ipad -- I just found it interesting the Kindle was doing a great job. Maybe someday we can get the same speed at sea that we do on land:-)

[CruisetheCs]

Thanks for the information. Now I'm wondering where the Voyager is. Also, do you know if the computer person is a young lady from the United States (Emily)? She was so helpful when there were a lot of connection problems. I believe we were in the area of Indonesia at the time.

 

Agree that the internet interface problems were not specific to the ipad -- I just found it interesting the Kindle was doing a great job. Maybe someday we can get the same speed at sea that we do on land:-)

 

Voyager is leaving Melbourne this evening for Sydney.

 

Yes, Emily is the computer person. She is helpful, but a lot of the problems can't be fixed at the level of the voyager's management, they need to be addressed by corporate because they extend across all Regent's fleet.