Ship's Internet - Always on? Mesh roaming? (Escape)

[POA1]

Question for anyone who has used the unlimited Internet on the Escape: Does your connection stay up, or do they use a short IP address lease that requires logging in repeatedly?

 

Also, do you have to log back in when you move around the ship, or does does their system hand your device off to the nearest access point as you move hinder and yon?

[POA1]

Sorry. That should have said hither and yon. It got spell corrected to hinder. I guess I shouldn't have gotten fancy and just said "move around."

[FreestyleNovice]

Cue Mking! :cool:

[Moby0215]

I haven't been on a ship with unlimited however I can't imagine one staying connected the whole time. You connect via a login on a website and I want to say that it will log you off at some point at least daily if not more often.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[POA1]

I haven't been on a ship with unlimited however I can't imagine one staying connected the whole time. You connect via a login on a website and I want to say that it will log you off at some point at least daily if not more often.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'll have to log off and on to switch between my phone and laptop, I was just wondering if they use short leases. You don't have to actually connect to the Internet to keep the lease alive, just to the local network. In olden days with per minute or metered Internet, you always logged off to stop the clock. That shouldn't matter under unlimited plans.

[mking8288]

Question for anyone who has used the unlimited Internet on the Escape: Does your connection stay up, or do they use a short IP address lease that requires logging in repeatedly?

Cue Mking! :cool:

OK - paging me ;p

Well, will sail the Escape at some point in 2018, one of my BIL/SIL can't get to do Bermuda next year. Have yet find the needs to go unlimited since we love our Google Project Fi cellular services abroad.

 

But, I will take a shot at it - generalizing from Breakaway & more recently from the Gem ... the router/server probably does set a short/dynamic DHCP or short lease, timing the connection/node out after a period of inactivity ... using whatever schemes behind the scene. Uploads & downloads (Tapatalk) and mobile browsing would keep it "active" ... similar to https sites like banking or even NCL's own booking section. I've seen the "alert" or "reminder" ... unless you click to continue or resume, "system" will disconnect in xx seconds, etc. etc.

 

Otherwise, the "hands off" as you move from your garden villa, thru Haven, into/out of the elevators ... LeBistro, back to the spa, and stopping at the casino cashier, etc. etc. - connections seemed to not get dropped - those wireless routers mounted high on the wall along the corridors doing the magic, I suppose.

 

This is true even for simple staying connected to iConcierge App or WiFi inTRAnet only. I do know, when we go to sleep & wake up hours later, we need to reconnect again (and, sign in - being on a time or MB plan) to check emails, SMS or news, etc. Suffice to say, not set to "timing out" in as little as 30 minutes or even 1 or 2 hours.

 

Push notifications/text messaging on the device isn't affected (non-iConcierge App like Hangouts or Tapatalk alerts) from what I can tell.

 

Escape & Getaway apparently under Global Eagle Comm (EMC) and (should) not be under MTN ... behind the scene/backend - can't say for sure if they are managing the hardware & resources a little differently.

[POA1]

Thanks. Exactly what I was looking for.

[dexddd]

OK - paging me ;p

Well, will sail the Escape at some point in 2018, one of my BIL/SIL can't get to do Bermuda next year. Have yet find the needs to go unlimited since we love our Google Project Fi cellular services abroad.

 

But, I will take a shot at it - generalizing from Breakaway & more recently from the Gem ... the router/server probably does set a short/dynamic DHCP or short lease, timing the connection/node out after a period of inactivity ... using whatever schemes behind the scene. Uploads & downloads (Tapatalk) and mobile browsing would keep it "active" ... similar to https sites like banking or even NCL's own booking section. I've seen the "alert" or "reminder" ... unless you click to continue or resume, "system" will disconnect in xx seconds, etc. etc.

 

Otherwise, the "hands off" as you move from your garden villa, thru Haven, into/out of the elevators ... LeBistro, back to the spa, and stopping at the casino cashier, etc. etc. - connections seemed to not get dropped - those wireless routers mounted high on the wall along the corridors doing the magic, I suppose.

 

This is true even for simple staying connected to iConcierge App or WiFi inTRAnet only. I do know, when we go to sleep & wake up hours later, we need to reconnect again (and, sign in - being on a time or MB plan) to check emails, SMS or news, etc. Suffice to say, not set to "timing out" in as little as 30 minutes or even 1 or 2 hours.

 

Push notifications/text messaging on the device isn't affected (non-iConcierge App like Hangouts or Tapatalk alerts) from what I can tell.

 

Escape & Getaway apparently under Global Eagle Comm (EMC) and (should) not be under MTN ... behind the scene/backend - can't say for sure if they are managing the hardware & resources a little differently.

 

Forget the BIL/SIL there will be plenty of us fun folks sailing Escape next year to Bermuda. Take a trial run so when the BIL/SIL do go you'll be ready.

[mking8288]

Forget the BIL/SIL there will be plenty of us fun folks sailing Escape next year to Bermuda. Take a trial run so when the BIL/SIL do go you'll be ready.

Gotcha ... I meant to type they can't wait & wanted to go in April/May (it's a "new" ship for NY market & prices #cough #cough.) They brought 4 CruiseNext certificates this year w/o blinking & eager to use it (gunning for Platinum status too, LOL.) Rest of extended family debating Asia around the same time, looking at options ... possibly going with Princess or X. Plan C - Gem/Carib for 10 days in March ... don't mind 3 sea days & love not to repack so soon.

 

Hey, going on MSC Divina next weekend, huh - have a wonderful time & safe one, look for your ?? trip report soon :p nice weather all the way.

 

Not to hijack or sidetrack this thread, been scouting for news about this new/better (and, hopefully faster) satellite internet rolling out across the NCL fleet ... not happening or what, rather be proven wrong.

[TheDougOut]

Probably more generic than what you're looking for... but I will say that the internet service has vastly improved over the past year.

 

I attempted to stay connected during all waking hours. Random disconnects happen, both while in one location and while roaming the ship. I often had a connection to what I assumed to be the on-board server (digital-something domain name), but couldn't get "outside". More often than not a log-off and signing back on did the trick.

 

In my live thread from Jan 2016, I had to resize photos locally to 640x480, and then attempt multiple posts before one would go through (if at all). Last week, I was uploading HD videos to YouTube at all hours. A slight improvement, I must say!

[BirdTravels]

Question for anyone who has used the unlimited Internet on the Escape: Does your connection stay up, or do they use a short IP address lease that requires logging in repeatedly? Also, do you have to log back in when you move around the ship, or does does their system hand your device off to the nearest access point as you move hinder and yon?

 

There is nothing that precludes you from staying logged on continually. But, in practice, you do get bumped from time to time as you go int/out of dead zones. You can move around freely and you will stay up on the wifi.

[POA1]

Probably more generic than what you're looking for... but I will say that the internet service has vastly improved over the past year.

 

I attempted to stay connected during all waking hours. Random disconnects happen, both while in one location and while roaming the ship. I often had a connection to what I assumed to be the on-board server (digital-something domain name), but couldn't get "outside". More often than not a log-off and signing back on did the trick.

 

In my live thread from Jan 2016, I had to resize photos locally to 640x480, and then attempt multiple posts before one would go through (if at all). Last week, I was uploading HD videos to YouTube at all hours. A slight improvement, I must say!

And we all really appreciate your efforts! :) I wasn't sure about the connection persistence because I had read that every time you moved from place to place, you had to log back in. That information was from about a year ago, so I wanted to check for more current data.

 

I was going to ask you on your thread, but I figured you had given so much already.

[Russ_MT]

Sounds like bandwidth OUT has improved, but internal IT has not.

By comparison, our Royal cruise on Allure we stayed logged on the entire time without ever having to log back in and had enormous bandwidth. Twitter Periscope out at will. Video, no sweat. Granted, this is the O3B network that has ample bandwidth for for 5k passengers. ALL cruiselines should adopt this network. Why on earth use 20th century satellite tech?

 

NCL needs to hire RCCL IT folk and get the shipboard stuff worked out. There is no reason for short DHCP lease timeouts. Reset them all when ship returns to home port.

[gtaylor]

On the Epic recently, I didn't have much of a problem moving around the ship with the same device.

 

When I switched from Netbook to Tablet to Phone, I didn't bother logging off of the previous device, just tried to log on and was advised that another divice was logged on and did I want to terminate that connection.

 

gary

 

p.s. Hope this isn't a recollection of Internet on the MSC Divina.

[Had01]

I did reply to a similar thread last week whilst onboard the Escape - we had the Basic unlimited package and it held up well and did not noticeably drop off. It is limited to one active device at a time, but as gtaylor states it simply offers you to terminate an exiting connection if there is one already active on another device in your family.

It was the best internet service we have used on NCL to date we found. Pictures posted to WhatsApp no issue at all. The unlimited package also removed the default initial 1GB cap we had on our initial 250 minute package - the upgrade to unlimited was $55 one off fee available on the Sunday of our 7 day sailing.