Voom on Liberty of the Seas

[Vigilant007]

Hey guys, was curious about Voom on Liberty of the Seas. Last year I went and Boom was supposedly deployed but the speed wasn't that great.

 

Can anyone speak to the quality of Voom now on Liberty of the Seas?

[Clarea]

Hey guys, was curious about Voom on Liberty of the Seas. Last year I went and Boom was supposedly deployed but the speed wasn't that great.

 

Can anyone speak to the quality of Voom now on Liberty of the Seas?

It's been reported to be much faster now, as the O3b service is being used.

[Tim in Hollywood]

It's been reported to be much faster now, as the O3b service is being used.

 

Anyone know if it's severely throttled like my Stream package was on my Harmony cruise in February 2017?

 

All week, all over the ship, mid day or 2:00am was around 3.5 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 200 to 240 ping. For the amount that they charge, throttling so severely seems completely unnecessary.

 

On Liberty in February 2018, I'll likely use my cell phone to connect on all port days, then buy a couple single days while at sea to compensate. If it weren't throttled, I would likely just purchase a full week and not bother with the cellular connection.

[Clarea]

Anyone know if it's severely throttled like my Stream package was on my Harmony cruise in February 2017? ... .

Hard to predict, as the level of service is dependent on the number of users and the type of load those users are imposing on the service.

[payitforward]

I wasn't all over the ship with it, but I did stream before bed each night. (I also has a panoramic ocean view.) Every once in a while, it would seem like a show must have just ended or something, but the problems didn't last too long

[Tim in Hollywood]

Hard to predict, as the level of service is dependent on the number of users and the type of load those users are imposing on the service.

 

After looking around more, it appears that everyone is reporting nearly the exact same upload and download speeds, no matter the time of day/night.

 

That demonstrates rather clearly that it isn't a problem of over-saturated usage, rather significant throttling to minimize overall bandwidth usage. If not throttling, the speeds a 2:00am would be significantly (or at least somewhat) faster than those at 2:00pm. As it is, the speed reports are consistent, no matter the time of day/night.

 

 

Typical high quality video streaming (high resolution, fast-motion content and other non-entertainment uses) demands 5 Mbps. RCCL is throttling so that isn't possible. Why? :(

[Clarea]

... Typical high quality video streaming (high resolution, fast-motion content and other non-entertainment uses) demands 5 Mbps. RCCL is throttling so that isn't possible. Why? :(

I may have missed it, but I cannot recall where RC says that HD video streaming is part of their service?

[wildernessgal]

I've purchased the VOOM with my beverage package on LOS @ 24-31 Dec & was wondering. Will I be charged by ATT (my own personal phone) for any charges incurred if we are out in the middle of ocean if I use my service? we purchased the ship's phone service before in 2014 & while we were in Belize on the ship, I rec'd a phone call & was charged an enormous amount on my ATT phone bill. So, I'm wondering, should I get the ATT service in addition to the VOOM on the ship?

[Clarea]

I've purchased the VOOM with my beverage package on LOS @ 24-31 Dec & was wondering. Will I be charged by ATT (my own personal phone) for any charges incurred if we are out in the middle of ocean if I use my service? we purchased the ship's phone service before in 2014 & while we were in Belize on the ship, I rec'd a phone call & was charged an enormous amount on my ATT phone bill. So, I'm wondering, should I get the ATT service in addition to the VOOM on the ship?

Not necessary to purchase any additional service from AT&T. Just keep the phone in Airplane Mode (and turn on WiFi) and you won't get any AT&T charges.

[Tim in Hollywood]

I may have missed it, but I cannot recall where RC says that HD video streaming is part of their service?

 

Not sure why this comment is warranted. The point is that RCCL is unnecessarily throttling customers that are paying a small fortune for this service. It's demonstrable that this is not a bandwidth issue on the ship. Why has RCCL decided to hobble their superior technology, for no obvious reason?

[Clarea]

Not sure why this comment is warranted. The point is that RCCL is unnecessarily throttling customers that are paying a small fortune for this service. It's demonstrable that this is not a bandwidth issue on the ship. Why has RCCL decided to hobble their superior technology, for no obvious reason?

What you think is "unnecessarily throttling" is not relevant. Whatever reason they have for throttling, it's their service and they can allocate bandwidth as they see fit. If you don't feel it's worth the cost, then you can opt to decline to purchase. People have reported being given refunds if they report the speed is too slow, so that may also be an option.

[Houston15]

I may have missed it, but I cannot recall where RC says that HD video streaming is part of their service?

 

are you some sorta RC rep or something? you're being way too defensive here. OP has a legitimate concern

 

RC says "you would be able to stream your favorite movies", I don't watch movies unless they're At least HD.

 

I've tried it on liberty last year, they had SURF or whatever they called it then & Surf and Stream. The regular surf was extremely slow, complete waste of money. The surf and stream was okay to surf the web but definitely NOT to steam anything not even low quality youtube videos.

 

That was last year, I've cruised once since then and of course I didn't buy it and never will again. I don't know if it's faster now, but I don't trust them.

 

FYI, I did complain, and got no refunds whatsoever

[Clarea]

are you some sorta RC rep or something? you're being way too defensive here. OP has a legitimate concern ...

Not an RC rep. Just a network geek. I just think people need to realize this is a satellite internet connection shared among 3000+ guests AND ship services. Again, I apologize if I've missed it, but I cannot recall RC advertising HD video capability.

[Biker19]

I don't watch movies unless they're At least HD.

Then, don't expect to be able to see those movies.

[Biker19]

Typical high quality video streaming (high resolution, fast-motion content and other non-entertainment uses) demands 5 Mbps. RCCL is throttling so that isn't possible. Why? :(

Because if they didn't (throttle) they would crash their system. At one time some ships reported speeds up to 25 Mbps down, but perhaps that was not sustainable.

Surf = .5 Mbps

Stream = 5 Mbps

[Tim in Hollywood]

A network geek, but you can't see that the bandwidth to the ship isn't the issue, when user speeds are exactly the same, no matter the time of day or level of utilization?

 

If bandwidth to the ship were a factor, I could certainly understand throttling (at least based on utilization by users). There's no apparent reason to throttle in the middle of the night, when utilization is unquestionably low.

[Clarea]

... There's no apparent reason to throttle in the middle of the night, when utilization is unquestionably low.

How do you know utilization is unquestionably low? Do you know when ship services is doing their data transfers?

[Tim in Hollywood]

Because if they didn't (throttle) they would crash their system. At one time some ships reported speeds up to 25 Mbps down, but perhaps that was not sustainable.

Surf = .5 Mbps

Stream = 5 Mbps

 

Frankly, if Stream were actually 5 Mbps, I would not be posting anything about this.

 

Stream = 3 Mbps, based on my personal tests and several people that I have asked (on various cruises over the past year). This speed occurs at any time of day on any cruise with the current technology, so it's definitely throttled, not a bandwidth to ship issue.

 

 

For me, 3 Mbps is a little too slow for what I need to do. 5 Mpbs would be fine (though faster would be better). ;)

 

In my personal situation, I simply don't cruise as often as I otherwise would. The alternative is to stay at a land-based resort that has suitable communication capabilities. I'll likely have to cancel a cruise in early 2018 - entirely because of this unnecessary throttling.

[wildernessgal]

Not necessary to purchase any additional service from AT&T. Just keep the phone in Airplane Mode (and turn on WiFi) and you won't get any AT&T charges.

 

 

Never knew that, thank you so much for that info.

[payitforward]

After looking around more, it appears that everyone is reporting nearly the exact same upload and download speeds, no matter the time of day/night.

 

That demonstrates rather clearly that it isn't a problem of over-saturated usage, rather significant throttling to minimize overall bandwidth usage. If not throttling, the speeds a 2:00am would be significantly (or at least somewhat) faster than those at 2:00pm. As it is, the speed reports are consistent, no matter the time of day/night.

 

 

Typical high quality video streaming (high resolution, fast-motion content and other non-entertainment uses) demands 5 Mbps. RCCL is throttling so that isn't possible. Why? :(

 

My experience was not consistent with this. As I mentioned in my comment, I would be streaming just fine, and would then realize that a show had just let out, or that a lot of people had gone back to their cabins. I never had any issues after midnight or 1am. It was usually that 10pm - midnight time frame when it seemed like a lot of people must have jumped on.

[Tim in Hollywood]

My experience was not consistent with this. As I mentioned in my comment, I would be streaming just fine, and would then realize that a show had just let out, or that a lot of people had gone back to their cabins. I never had any issues after midnight or 1am. It was usually that 10pm - midnight time frame when it seemed like a lot of people must have jumped on.

 

I'm not making any comment about inability to connect in a place where large numbers of people are attempting to connect at the same time. That could legitimately be a problem with not enough capability for a large number of connections on the same area of the ship...which would never occur at midnight or 1:00am, when people are mostly dispersed throughout the ship (mostly in their staterooms).

 

 

I'm commenting on the speed / throttling, not connectivity. Occasional lack of connectivity is to be expected at those few times when large numbers of people are attempting to connect from the same location on the ship.

[Biker19]

Frankly, if Stream were actually 5 Mbps, I would not be posting anything about this.

 

Stream = 3 Mbps, based on my personal tests and several people that I have asked (on various cruises over the past year).

I have been keeping track of VOOM reporting (across many ships and dates) ever since VOOM was announced. You might be seeing 3 Mbps but that could be due to the demand. Now, it could be that very recently (in the past month) that 5 figure has been lowered to 3, but the throttling has been at 5 Mbps on most ships (we had reports from Liberty when O3B VOOM was first installed of around 5Mbps). On non-O3B ships it's closer to 3 Mbps.

 

Also, unlike land based Internet, many ship based speed test results suggest a somewhat erratic download. So the end result of your test may show an AVERAGE of 3 Mbps, but there are plenty of 5 Mbps peaks in that graph if you look closely.

 

None of this really helps the issue - if you need steady 5 Mbps on your vacation, don't go cruising since you are unlikely to find it on any ship (even on the newly announced CCL MedallionNet equipped ships).