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FYI: RCI blocking routers on their network

momo2000

By momo2000,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Cotswold Eagle

Cotswold Eagle

Posted
Posted (edited)
phishfan04: there are several products like that. They will take a WIRED connection and create a hotspot, but not a WIRELESS connection and create a hotspot.

 

Both Connectify and Virtual Router claim to be able to create a hotspot off any type of connection, including wireless, for example:

 

"Using Virtual Router, users can wirelessly share any internet connection (Wifi, LAN, Cable Modem, Dial-up, Cellular, etc.) with any Wifi device"

 

"Connectify Hotspot lets you easily turn your PC into a Wi-Fi Hotspot so you can share Internet with all your devices. Turn a wired connection into WiFi at the click-of-a-button and even share an existing wireless network as Wi-Fi. "

Edited by Cotswold Eagle
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  • 3 weeks later...
JupiterTwo

JupiterTwo

Posted
Posted
STEVE: I'd love to hear how it works for you. Thanks.

 

I'm on the Majesty now. I connected the router as a hot spot without any problems.

 

Here's what I'm seeing.

 

1. The connection is open and then you have to log into a webpage, so you cannot use one credential for all that is managed by the router.

 

2. Setting it in extender mode did not work. I kept getting authentication errors.

 

3. Connecting in AP mode is what I did. There are several Wifi hotspots around the ship. The Windjammer on deck 11 is one, and my stateroom is on deck 10 just below it. With the stronger router antenna I can get 2 bars, so my wife and I can connect to the route in our stateroom and use our credentials instead of going to a hotspot to hang out.

 

Steve

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firefox247

firefox247

Posted
Posted

Clever solution to your issue, OP. :) Still, this sort of stuff could be made much harder by Royal using even low-end Cisco equipment and configuring it appropriately. I'll be curious if they try to shut it down or if they just want to ward off the occasional rouge WAP.

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Jon-A

Jon-A

Posted
Posted

Thanks momo2000 for the heads up.

 

I know this thread is about a month old, but I will be traveling on the Liberty with my family shortly and my kids want to get wifi and I need to stay in touch with my office so I'm trying to save a few dollars by sharing the connection. Based on your suggestion, I will be bringing a router that has a clonable MAC address on the wireless port (TP Link TL-MR3020). As I understand it, Liberty was not upgraded to VOOM during its most recent drydock. I was told that this will happen in June. Do you happen to know if they throttle the connection or limit the speed of a single connection? Did you by any chance look at the speed of the Internet connection? I'm assuming email and light web surfing will be OK, but not VoIP and certainly not Netflix.

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

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Clarea

Clarea

Posted
Posted
Thanks momo2000 for the heads up.

 

I know this thread is about a month old, but I will be traveling on the Liberty with my family shortly and my kids want to get wifi and I need to stay in touch with my office so I'm trying to save a few dollars by sharing the connection. Based on your suggestion, I will be bringing a router that has a clonable MAC address on the wireless port (TP Link TL-MR3020). As I understand it, Liberty was not upgraded to VOOM during its most recent drydock. I was told that this will happen in June. Do you happen to know if they throttle the connection or limit the speed of a single connection? Did you by any chance look at the speed of the Internet connection? I'm assuming email and light web surfing will be OK, but not VoIP and certainly not Netflix.

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

Speed is slow, faster than old dialup, but not by much.

 

I've successfully used the Netgear Trek N300 travel router.

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Biker19

Biker19

Posted
Posted
Just curious, not judgemental, isn't this a way to get more internet than you paid for and second, doesn't this put additional burden on the passenger usable bandwidth

 

No, the BW the router uses is limited to the same BW a single device would be limited to. So, yes, using a router is sharing for more than one device, but you are only sharing one device's worth of BW.

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Biker19

Biker19

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Posted
Hi, why do I need a clonable MAC Adress? As another person wrote, HooToo device is working without the ability to do this. Anyone know? Thanks.

 

It was thought that the RCI network blocks known MAC address ranges of routers. With a clonable address you can change it to make it look like a permitted device.

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JupiterTwo

JupiterTwo

Posted
Posted
Just curious, not judgemental, isn't this a way to get more internet than you paid for and second, doesn't this put additional burden on the passenger usable bandwidth

 

In theory, yes. In practical application, no. Here's why.

 

If the router directly logs into the network and then lets other devices log into it so it can manage multiple device traffic through the single connection, then that would avoid paying for multiple device connections. But that's not how the RCI network works. Once you connect to the network, you are diverted to a login webpage where you have to provide your credentials. The router is unaware of this, so each device will still have to provide a web credential whether you connect directly to the network or via the router.

 

In fact, the network saw my device differently if I connected directly or through the router. When I was on the Majesty last week, I bought the 2 device package for my wife and me. If I connected through the router in my stateroom and did NOT log out via the webpage, I could not connect my device directly to the network later - it said I exceeded my two device limit. I would have to reconnect through the router to log out on the web, and then reconnect directly to the network with the device. Or, I could wait 2 hours for the system to automatically disconnect the inactive device.

 

To the question of using up bandwidth, that is debatable. It's a question of concurrent user activity. Without a router, my two devices will be hitting the network simultaneously, presumably consuming double bandwidth in the same amount of time. Going through the router, our two devices' traffic is managed by the router into a single traffic stream to the network, using the bandwidth of only a single device. However, that single stream is likely to be more continuous as it switches between traffic for two devices, while two separately connected devices might see more periods of inactivity as the user reads their screen.

 

Lastly, why use a router at all given the above? The short answer is, it depends. On the Majesty, there were Wifi hotspots scattered throughout the ship: at the Windjammer/pool, by the shops/Latti-tudes coffee, in the Centrum, etc. It was not like a hotel where every floor had a wifi extender that every room could reach. The router might have a stronger antenna than your computer or handheld device, making the signal reachable. I was on deck 10 under the Windjammer and only got 2 bars at night and often nothing during the day. In port, the signal was overwhelmed by port businesses on the same channels unless I went directly to a hotspot like the pool (which is what I did in Nassau). I would think that on a ship with lots of steel bulkheads, in-room Wifi connectivity would be spotty at best, unless you were very close to a hotspot.

 

Steve

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ahecht

ahecht

Posted
Posted
Hi, why do I need a clonable MAC Adress? As another person wrote, HooToo device is working without the ability to do this. Anyone know? Thanks.

 

Gesendet von meinem D5803 mit Tapatalk

 

Probably because HooToo isn't a major router manufacturer, and therefore their MAC addresses aren't on the blacklist.

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darrengs

darrengs

Posted
Posted (edited)
...Once you connect to the network, you are diverted to a login webpage where you have to provide your credentials. The router is unaware of this, so each device will still have to provide a web credential whether you connect directly to the network or via the router...

 

There are travel routers/apps that handle this for you so that you can still share the connection, without entering the credentials on each device.

Edited by darrengs
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Jon-A

Jon-A

Posted
Posted

Thanks everyone for all of the helpful replies. One more question, is the RCL WiFi a single device service (one device at a time) or one device for the cruise? If it is the former, I could live with that and log in and out as needed. I would use the WiFi for work as needed and let the kids fight it out with each other :) when I don't need it. If the latter, I will be needing my router (even if only for myself).

 

Thanks in advance for any more replies!

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Funbobby68

Funbobby68

Posted
Posted

Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about .... No sense marking it on a calendar, happens quite often but.... Couldn't you just add the iPhone to the plan as the one device and then use it as a hot spot , I do it for my iPad , sharing my phone network ....

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Clarea

Clarea

Posted
Posted
Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about .... No sense marking it on a calendar, happens quite often but.... Couldn't you just add the iPhone to the plan as the one device and then use it as a hot spot , I do it for my iPad , sharing my phone network ....

The iPhone can act as a cellular to WiFi hotspot, not as a WiFi to Wifi hotspot.

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JupiterTwo

JupiterTwo

Posted
Posted
Thanks everyone for all of the helpful replies. One more question, is the RCL WiFi a single device service (one device at a time) or one device for the cruise? If it is the former, I could live with that and log in and out as needed. I would use the WiFi for work as needed and let the kids fight it out with each other :) when I don't need it. If the latter, I will be needing my router (even if only for myself).

 

Thanks in advance for any more replies!

 

The package I bought was buy one and get a second device for 50%.

 

Steve

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  • 4 weeks later...
ExilePA

ExilePA

Posted
Posted
Hi, why do I need a clonable MAC Adress? As another person wrote, HooToo device is working without the ability to do this. Anyone know? Thanks.

 

Gesendet von meinem D5803 mit Tapatalk

 

Were there any config changes you needed to make to the hootoo or did you just hook it up and go? Does the HooToo have an interface that you put your login information in to allow you to connect to the WiFi? Did you have any issues with more than on device at a time going through the HooToo?

 

I'll be going on Allure in a few weeks and am wondering if any travel routers will work with Voom.

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