OceaniaNEXT: WiFi Before and After

[ricka47]

We'll be on the Insignia soon for our first O cruise.  To afford cruises, I teach online for a few universities and have to stay connected while aboard.  I don't need a lot of bandwidth for what I do and streaming is not required.  But, I do need to connect daily to see what those pesky students are doing (or, in most cases, not doing).

 

So far, the best Internet to be found has been Voom on RCI.  I'm wondering if anyone has experience with the former Internet quality and speed vs. the newer Wavenet service on Oceania?

[Flatbush Flyer]

36 minutes ago, ricka47 said:

We'll be on the Insignia soon for our first O cruise.  To afford cruises, I teach online for a few universities and have to stay connected while aboard.  I don't need a lot of bandwidth for what I do and streaming is not required.  But, I do need to connect daily to see what those pesky students are doing (or, in most cases, not doing).

 

So far, the best Internet to be found has been Voom on RCI.  I'm wondering if anyone has experience with the former Internet quality and speed vs. the newer Wavenet service on Oceania?

"Wavenet" is not new. 

There are two versions of internet access on Oceania ships:

1) The free one (one account per cabin, which you can use on multiple devices though only one at a time).

2) The extra charge account, which is exactly the same as the free version except that streaming is not blocked.

 

The connectivity and "speed" can vary significantly dependent on your geographic location while at sea (satellite dead spots are real) as well as your location on the ship. Note as well, that the ship's servers are located in Miami. So, while the speed of the local modems/repeaters/etc may be fine, it is the "latency" delay in the satellite transmission that can really slow things down to a very frustrating level.

[ricka47]

Thanks - I'm usually up fairly early and try to get things done before everyone else gets up and online.

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, ricka47 said:

Thanks - I'm usually up fairly early and try to get things done before everyone else gets up and online.

How many folks are online is certainly a factor. But, it really is the geographic location, your location on the ship and the latency of the satellite transmission that may cause you problems. 

On our travels, we've hit some dead spots in places like the North Atlantic and South Pacific. In those cases, there was no internet nor satellite TV feeds.

 

[bob brown]

We were on the Insignia for six month's, ATW, and found the 'regular' internet coverage to be generally very poor,  no matter where we were.   The number of passenger's online definitely affected speed.   The best time to use it was between 1 and 5 AM.  On port days, when most passenger's were ashore, speed improved also.

I found it especially difficult to upload photo's to post here on CC...sometimes 5 or more minutes for one small photo...I had to turn off the auto lock on my phone, because if it locked while uploading, the upload then failed...

[Go-Bucks!]

8 minutes ago, bob brown said:

We were on the Insignia for six month's, ATW, and found the 'regular' internet coverage to be generally very poor,  no matter where we were.   The number of passenger's online definitely affected speed.   The best time to use it was between 1 and 5 AM.  On port days, when most passenger's were ashore, speed improved also.

I found it especially difficult to upload photo's to post here on CC...sometimes 5 or more minutes for one small photo...I had to turn off the auto lock on my phone, because if it locked while uploading, the upload then failed...

 

Yes, it was totally frustrating!! It would take me anywhere from 15 minutes to several hours to upload 1 picture into an email or to CC.

 

Agree with Bob...had to do anything with pictures involved from 11pm to 5am. I'm hoping my next cruise on Princess will have faster internet...supposedly their new Medallion Net is much faster and more reliable than most cruiselines; we'll see.👩‍💻

[bob brown]

I think most of the newer megaships, regardless of cruise line, do offer a superior internet experience...

[FlyerTalker]

Most people don't realize the size of "one photo", especially from a phone where the sizes aren't readily apparent.  Hundreds of pages of text are still smaller than a photo - and don't even start talking about the data size of videos.

[LHT28]

12 minutes ago, Go-Bucks! said:

 

I'm hoping my next cruise on Princess will have faster internet...supposedly their new Medallion Net is much faster and more reliable than most cruiselines; we'll see.👩‍💻

is the wifi free?

[Go-Bucks!]

9 minutes ago, bob brown said:

I think most of the newer megaships, regardless of cruise line, do offer a superior internet experience...

 

I won't be on a new megaship, though. Just a new upgraded system. 

[Go-Bucks!]

1 minute ago, LHT28 said:

is the wifi free?

 

For me, yes.

[LHT28]

Just now, Go-Bucks! said:

 

For me, yes.

if not free for everyone that may work out better

[bob brown]

1 minute ago, Go-Bucks! said:

 

I won't be on a new megaship, though. Just a new upgraded system. 

IIRC, that's what 'O' said about the Insignia on its drydocking...if it was 'improved', I'd hate to experience what it was like before...

[Go-Bucks!]

1 minute ago, LHT28 said:

if not free for everyone that may work out better

 

Nothing could be worse than 7 months of super slow internet so I'm sure I'll be happy.

[Go-Bucks!]

1 minute ago, bob brown said:

IIRC, that's what 'O' said about the Insignia on its drydocking...if it was 'improved', I'd hate to experience what it was like before...

 

I was on Insignia before the refurbishment and it was the same.🙁

[LHT28]

39 minutes ago, bob brown said:

IIRC, that's what 'O' said about the Insignia on its drydocking...if it was 'improved', I'd hate to experience what it was like before...

It was fine  before it was free to all

When you paid for your  usage  people seemed more considerate & logged off  when not in use

YMMV

[ORV]

It will log you off now after a certain amount of non use. I think this is one of the problems with it, at least on the Marina. It seems to always be disconnecting you, even while in active use.