Any experience working remotely via Premium Wi-Fi?

[philamike]

Hello -- Does anyone have experience working remotely while on board an NCL ship, using the Premium Wi-Fi service?  I'm considering an upcoming sailing on Epic, but I would need to spend a few days working.  This means having a dependable Internet connection (it doesn't need to be fast per se, just reliable -- similar to a public wi-fi in a coffee shop, etc.), connecting to a VPN, and a few online conference calls (Zoom or BlueJeans) -- no video needed, but screen-sharing would happen, and being able to have a conversation without disruptive lag.

 

I've used the regular Wi-Fi on NCL ships with some mixed results; Wi-Fi calling (via Facebook messenger) seemed to work well, but I've also experienced outages that could have lasted for a half-day.

 

Hoping to hear from any others who have actually done (or attempted to do) a full-day's work while on board.  Thanks!

 

- Mike  🙂

 

[Funky Fusion FoodsJ]

Ive tried it on both the Sun and Jade this year.  The only times I had consistent luck was doing it between 3am and 5am.

[erdoran]

Not working but I was able to FaceTime (just voice, not screenshare) late afternoon with the regular, non-premium internet - pleasantly surprised...

[pixiedust777]

DH worked everyday on the Breakaway in February - couple hours in the early morning and couple late afternoon. VPN connection , video, emails, large contract files etc.

Sea days were not good for speed and I know he had to sign back in a couple of times. 

Port days were great and he got a lot more accomplished in a shorter period of time.

[CookieShip]

Sounds like it will eventually work, but wouldn't be dependable for something that needs to happen at a certain time (like the conference calls).

[snownow]

Yes, but using a VPN was sloooooow. Got it done, but it was painful.  May be better if you got ship to shore calls, and dialed in voice that way. 

[BirdTravels]

 

Quote

I've used the regular Wi-Fi on NCL ships with some mixed results; Wi-Fi calling (via Facebook messenger) seemed to work well, but I've also experienced outages that could have lasted for a half-day.

 

Hoping to hear from any others who have actually done (or attempted to do) a full-day's work while on board.  Thanks!

 

- Mike  🙂

 

Premium Wi-Fi is exactly the same as regular Wi-Fi on ncl ships. The only difference is that the premium Wi-Fi opens additional ports to allow you to use streaming services and virtual private networks. 

Edited September 20, 2019 by BirdTravels

[xitappers2bx]

I also work remotely and often while on vacation.  On the Epic two summers ago I had wifi, but not the premium (that was just for the addition of streaming which I did not need).  The best answer I can give you is... sometimes it was great, and sometimes I wanted to throw my mac off the balcony while trying to work.  It was better at sea than in port, and in port it was really hard to connect via my phone's hot spot, because of the ships' wifi.  I ended up jumping off and just walking towards the port a little with my phone and mac so I could get what I needed done quickly and then go back to vacation. 

[BirdTravels]

On 9/19/2019 at 8:18 PM, BirdTravels said:

 

Premium Wi-Fi is exactly the same as regular Wi-Fi on ncl ships. The only difference is that the premium Wi-Fi opens additional ports to allow you to use streaming services and virtual private networks. 

We do a lot of live posting from our cruises and the wifi is excruciatingly slow. I can't imagine trying to do any meaningful work.