250 minute internet plan

[misguy]

What level of bandwidth does the 250-minute plan include?  I know that there are three tiers of service, but I don't see any documentation on which level the 250-minute plan supports.

[misguy]

Still loking for an answer, I conduct online training, and want to know if the 250 package will provide enough bandwidth.

[neilkear]

That is a question with an almost impossible answer. Too many different factors are involved, which ship, how many people accessing, time of day, position of ship in relation to satellite. The larger the ship the slower the connection just because of the sheer number of people using it. All traffic goes through a satellite which sends it to NCL in Florida and into the mainstream of conventional internet from there. I was on the Breakaway in October and I had a usable signal most of the time, but never fast. It did cut in and out and went half a day with no connection at all. I had the 250 plan and used it as a credit to upgrade to the top tier, after all it's only 5 hours and 10 minutes. In researching your question I did come across one NCL paper that said any 250 plan was locked at 1000mb in the best of conditions. Bottom line, good luck, it's not at all like sitting down to your computer at home!

[PTC DAWG]

I doubt it will work for that...just based on all the comments I’ve seen here..

Edited January 1, 2019 by PTC DAWG

[misguy]

I am on the Breakaway sorry.  The class is conducted via a virtual learning platform, so all I am streaming is the audio portion, the power point is uploaded on a shore base server.  I only need to conduct 2 1 hour sessions, and so I am reluctant to spend more than the cost of the 250-minute plan.  If necessary, I can cancel for the one week and reschedule the course but I would rather not do that.

[BirdTravels]

On 12/31/2018 at 3:25 AM, misguy said:

What level of bandwidth does the 250-minute plan include?  I know that there are three tiers of service, but I don't see any documentation on which level the 250-minute plan supports.

So,,,, the three tiers have to do with the ports that are open and your capability. It is the same general “slow” but you can do more things slowly. You don’t get more “bandwidth”. Social media only. Email and surfing. Streaming. 

 

If you are doing general web surfing, the ship uses cache servers to pre-fetch pages so your perceived “speed” will be good. If you are hitting random pages that have to be loaded over the satellite 23K miles in space, you will think it to be very slow. 

 

The answer to your question is the middle tier. 

 

Edited January 1, 2019 by BirdTravels

[misguy]

So based on the chart, the 250 minutes is the same as the unlimited and not the premium unlimited?

[casofilia]

If you are talking about the "Free" 250 minutes you get as a perk you will find that is slowest level available at any point of time.   As you haven't paid anything you join the back of the queue.  If you have that go online at 5am to get the best service.

[Mrdell]

Not sure if this will help you but we were on the Dawn last February with the free 250 minute plan and we had a strong signal in our room. Our children have I Phones and we took our I Pads and we were able to do "audio" facetime with  them with no major problems. That is audio only with no video feed (Like a telephone call). Like someone else replied.... I think a lot depends on signal strength and the amount of people using it on any given time. Best of luck!

Edited January 1, 2019 by Mrdell
spelling

[rochelle_s]

On 1/1/2019 at 10:53 AM, neilkear said:

That is a question with an almost impossible answer. Too many different factors are involved, which ship, how many people accessing, time of day, position of ship in relation to satellite. The larger the ship the slower the connection just because of the sheer number of people using it. All traffic goes through a satellite which sends it to NCL in Florida and into the mainstream of conventional internet from there. I was on the Breakaway in October and I had a usable signal most of the time, but never fast. It did cut in and out and went half a day with no connection at all. I had the 250 plan and used it as a credit to upgrade to the top tier, after all it's only 5 hours and 10 minutes. In researching your question I did come across one NCL paper that said any 250 plan was locked at 1000mb in the best of conditions. Bottom line, good luck, it's not at all like sitting down to your computer at home!

 

Can you tell me what kind of credit you got for the 250 minute plan when you upgraded to the top tier?

 

Thanks 

 

Rochelle

[neilkear]

On boarding go directly to the Internet Cafe area and see the internet manager for the upgrade. I was on an eleven day cruise and got a credit of $125 toward the 24/7 online without streaming. My cost then was $135 out of pocket. They will give you credit for whatever it would cost you to purchase the 250 plan for your particular cruise. That figure can be found online at NCL's web site.

[Lionkingrichard]

I think I read her that the social media level could still email and visit web sites, but would be slow?

 

Than you and Happy New Year!

[phillyguy31]

The biggest issue is that regardless of what plan you have it may or may not work for you. The speed of the connection is dependent on many factors that have been mentioned in previous msgs. I would not trust you will be able to conduct a class using the ships WIFi. 

[zqvol]

On 1/1/2019 at 8:55 AM, misguy said:

Still loking for an answer, I conduct online training, and want to know if the 250 package will provide enough bandwidth.

 

As I recall ( and it has been a while because lately I have been getting the unlimited package), you will get about 1MB down and  256 K up. I would not thing that it is fast enough for a synchronous class. The unlimited package (the middle priced one) should be fine. As I recal I got about 5 MB down and 1.5 MB up.

 

BTW prior to retiring I conducted classes online all the time and always had enough bandwidth.

[rochelle_s]

5 hours ago, neilkear said:

On boarding go directly to the Internet Cafe area and see the internet manager for the upgrade. I was on an eleven day cruise and got a credit of $125 toward the 24/7 online without streaming. My cost then was $135 out of pocket. They will give you credit for whatever it would cost you to purchase the 250 plan for your particular cruise. That figure can be found online at NCL's web site.

 

 

Thank you very much, this response was very helpful.

 

Rochelle

 

 

[Comi.uy]

Been on 3 cruises and used the internet twice, its terrible. I also work from home and no, I wouldnt count on cruises internet for anything work related.

[bayboy]

Can you use the Internet cafe for less?

 

[holdon216]

Is there a way to have a count down clock for the free 250 internet minutes i'll be getting? Do i download an app. to get the free minutes?  Not sure how to even set up the free minutes once on board. 

[Mismatched]

4 hours ago, holdon216 said:

Is there a way to have a count down clock for the free 250 internet minutes i'll be getting? Do i download an app. to get the free minutes?  Not sure how to even set up the free minutes once on board. 

After connecting to ship's WiFi, use any browser to go to "login.com". First time setup will ask for you cabin number and last name. It will then show you a timer and data usage. After you are done with your internet work, you should go to "logout.com" from the browser to stop using your minutes. It will show you how much time you have used.

 

You have to repeat the above (login.com, work, login.out) each time you want to use your minutes.