Epic internet quality

[jwiese997]

As the subject line states, how is the quality of the internet on the Epic? I recently purchased the top tier internet with the streaming, but I really can't find any posts regarding what the quality of their internet is. Am I wasting my money on the high end? Should I just stick with the mid tier? Before there's any comments about "why would you go on a cruise just to get on the internet", I need to be able to get internet for my work. Thanks.

[jwiese997]

Anyone?..... Anyone?...... Bueller?....... Bueller?

[Beaches262]

I only had the social media package, but friends of ours who were with us had the top tier for work reasons. No complaints or issues. I think you'd be okay with the mid level. With just my social media my video calls worked great! 

[tombec1]

I bought the best internet package they offered on the Nov 2018 Epic Trans-Atlantic.

I got the package because I needed to be accessable due to some important projects I was involved in back home.

Of course, it wasn't as fast as the cable internet at home, but it worked fine.
 

I brought a mini vpn router and everyone in my cabin shared the bandwidth over the VPN.  We had (4) phones on wifi calling, and all of us were able to make and receive calls and texts at the same time with T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon service.  I was also able to view my security cameras and stream video to check on my house.

I can't think of anything we weren't able to do that we would normally do at home.
 

Anything specific you want to know?

[noobcruiser]

tombec1, in case it's not allowed to be posted, could you pm me the name/model of your router?

[tombec1]

Search Amazon for GL-AR300M and GL-USB150.  I've got several of each, and all work well.

On the ship, we plugged the GL-USB150 into a charging brick and brought it around with us, so we had use of our phones while on the go.  We used the GL-AR300M in the room.  Both units are small and portable.

 

I travel the world for work, and use these two routers everywhere.  They integrate really well with Azire's Wireguard VPN service, as well as any OpenVPN compatible service.  If you get one, upgrade to v3 firmware if it doesn't ship with it!!

 

Edited February 23, 2019 by tombec1

[66Cruisin]

I was on the Epic last week and found the internet to be surprisingly good for what i was using it for, like face timing, Wifi calling plus uploading pics and vids. It was great until every person on the ship started using it at the same time to try and change travel arrangements when they told us we were getting into PC 12 hours late

Edited February 23, 2019 by 66Cruisin

[BirdTravels]

On 2/21/2019 at 2:45 PM, jwiese997 said:

As the subject line states, how is the quality of the internet on the Epic? I recently purchased the top tier internet with the streaming, but I really can't find any posts regarding what the quality of their internet is. Am I wasting my money on the high end? Should I just stick with the mid tier? Before there's any comments about "why would you go on a cruise just to get on the internet", I need to be able to get internet for my work. Thanks.

It is satellite internet. You have the latency of sending every bit 23,000 mile up to the satellite and 23,000 miles back. If you are just surfing, you may get better perceived speed because the ship’s Cache server pre-fetches pages.  

 

You are also sharing a connection with several thousand people on the ship and the ship’s operations.