Skyroam

[4hends]

Has anyone used Skyroam Mobile Hotspot in Alaska for Inside Passage cruise?

[jakeconmag]

I have the same question! I am considering buying one for a Europe trip and have an Alaskan cruise coming up in September and want to use it for that too. I did a google search and I searched Amazon reviews for Alaska and nothing came up. Hopefully someone will answer!

[Glaciers]

You'll still need cell phone coverage and for most of the trip there is none.

[Eaglecw]

You need a good strong Wi-Fi signal to get it to work. On the ship you’re going to have to pay for your internet time so it’s not going to be a very good deal. My brother has a Wi-Fi cell phone that flips between Wi-Fi and regular cell service, if there is no Wi-Fi it’ll switch over to cell. The voice quality isn’t very good. He’s in France right now and he called me the other day, totally useless, couldn’t understand a word it was so garbled.

[gpb11]

You need a good strong Wi-Fi signal to get it to work.

You must be thinking of something else. A Skyroam hotspot provides a wifi connection to its owner by using something like 90 different worldwide cellular carriers. Of course with no cellular service available it will be a useless brick.

My brother has a Wi-Fi cell phone that flips between Wi-Fi and regular cell service, if there is no Wi-Fi it’ll switch over to cell. The voice quality isn’t very good. He’s in France right now and he called me the other day, totally useless, couldn’t understand a word it was so garbled.

Wifi calling is a feature on a number of more recent cell phones and works quite well provided there is adequate wifi signal and bandwidth. I don't doubt that you've had a poor experience with your brother using it, but in my experience that is an exception rather than the rule. Myself and others I work with have had very good experiences with the capability on our phones. As mentioned though, if the wifi signal is poor or the wifi provider has a poor Internet connection, the quality will suffer just as it does when you have a poor cell signal.

[gpb11]

I am considering buying one for a Europe trip and have an Alaskan cruise coming up in September and want to use it for that too.

 

On an Alaska cruise it'd likely work when in port, but so will your cell phone if it provides hotspot capabilities as many do these days. Between ports there's little to no cell service, so the Skyroam is unlikely to do much for you.

 

Also note that according to the Amazon page, after 350MB of data in a day the speed drops to 2G rates (aka *sloooow*)...

https://www.amazon.com/Skyroam-Mobile-Hotspot-Unlimited-Pay-as-you-go/dp/B00OU6GF3G