WiFi Work VPN's

[lakegirl16]

We are on a Mexican Riviera on the Solstice in December.  Both DH and I will need to access our work sites during the cruise.  We have the unlimited WiFi.  Wondering if anyone has experience and if you've had any issues with speed or connection?

 

 

Thanks!!

[sbcs5390]

I've used VPN before on Millennium with the upgraded internet in March/April/May. No issue. I think I took off the days we were going through the canal and going to the ports on the Pacific side, so probably didn't work those days from that area. I'll be doing same on upcoming Solstice cruises 10/15 and 10/22. Will try to report back or you can remind me if I forget. 

[lakegirl16]

12 minutes ago, sbcs5390 said:

I've used VPN before on Millennium with the upgraded internet in March/April/May. No issue. I think I took off the days we were going through the canal and going to the ports on the Pacific side, so probably didn't work those days from that area. I'll be doing same on upcoming Solstice cruises 10/15 and 10/22. Will try to report back or you can remind me if I forget. 

Thank you so much!!!  I think the Solstice still has the older internet?  Look forward to hearing how it goes.

[sbcs5390]

6 minutes ago, lakegirl16 said:

Thank you so much!!!  I think the Solstice still has the older internet?  Look forward to hearing how it goes.

Yes, though supposedly the whole fleet will be upgraded by next March so some of the ships will have to start coming on soon. I know on Royal people have been seeing the antennas appearing but don't think I've heard of it on any X ships other than Beyond yet. 

 

Just keep in mind if you use two factor authentication, you need a way to get the second device online. I was traveling solo for all but the canal cruise, so that was sometimes tricky. What I found was if I used my personal Mac and plugged in my phone to it via USB-C, I could be signed in to X internet on the laptop and it would also give me phone access, sharing the network connection from the laptop. As a couple (or stealing my Mom's code for a bit) it is simpler as long as you are not needing two-factor when the other person is on a call. I think suites are supposed to get additional device access (not just 1 per person like a regular cabin?) but not 100% sure on that. 

[jelayne]

Our experience had been High end suites get more that 1 access per person but Sky and Celebrity suites do not.

[lakegirl16]

23 minutes ago, sbcs5390 said:

Yes, though supposedly the whole fleet will be upgraded by next March so some of the ships will have to start coming on soon. I know on Royal people have been seeing the antennas appearing but don't think I've heard of it on any X ships other than Beyond yet. 

 

Just keep in mind if you use two factor authentication, you need a way to get the second device online. I was traveling solo for all but the canal cruise, so that was sometimes tricky. What I found was if I used my personal Mac and plugged in my phone to it via USB-C, I could be signed in to X internet on the laptop and it would also give me phone access, sharing the network connection from the laptop. As a couple (or stealing my Mom's code for a bit) it is simpler as long as you are not needing two-factor when the other person is on a call. I think suites are supposed to get additional device access (not just 1 per person like a regular cabin?) but not 100% sure on that. 

Great point, thank you so much.  We'll see if we can figure this out with our IT departments before we travel.  We are in a suite for one leg but I see someone posted only 1 device per person.  

[Jim_Iain]

I've used VPN on all of the ship and works pretty well even with Zoom calls.    Of course I have also had some dead zones where we have lost Internet for up to 1 1/2 days.  

 

Make sure you already have VPN installed because my experience has been that they block internet browser connections to all of the Major VPN providers and may be the *VPN word.    I needed to adjust my Credit Card and couldn't reach ExpressVPN Account without using a VPN.

 

 

[lakegirl16]

24 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I've used VPN on all of the ship and works pretty well even with Zoom calls.    Of course I have also had some dead zones where we have lost Internet for up to 1 1/2 days.  

 

Make sure you already have VPN installed because my experience has been that they block internet browser connections to all of the Major VPN providers and may be the *VPN word.    I needed to adjust my Credit Card and couldn't reach ExpressVPN Account without using a VPN.

 

 

Thanks.  We both work remotely currently, so everything is set up.  I don't think I will tell my husband about the dead zones.  I'm hoping we don't experience those!  Thanks again.

[Jim_Iain]

8 minutes ago, lakegirl16 said:

Thanks.  We both work remotely currently, so everything is set up.  I don't think I will tell my husband about the dead zones.  I'm hoping we don't experience those!  Thanks again.

Some of the dead zones may not have been "internet" problems and may have been internal problems as we couldn't even reach the logon screen.   I was told they had to reboot their main router but was out for a full day.   

 

Our dead zones were really unusual locations - e.g. between Boston and Portland Maine but had better than usual connectivity in the Arctic between Greenland and Iceland (that I didn't' expect).

I have done a number of TA's and had decent connectivity the except for one afternoon before they shifted from the NA Satellite to the European satellite near the Azores.

[1025cruise]

You're not going to like my answer. I would not go in expecting to always be able to work at all times. Cruise internet is satellite based. There might be times you are out of range. In addition, it's slow (as compared to home internet). You won't be fully productive.

[sbcs5390]

3 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

You're not going to like my answer. I would not go in expecting to always be able to work at all times. Cruise internet is satellite based. There might be times you are out of range. In addition, it's slow (as compared to home internet). You won't be fully productive.

I disagree a bit. I worked remotely while onboard for more than a month and I felt like I was just as productive as or more productive than people gossiping/fighting with photocopiers/having water cooler conversations/fire alarm drills/wasting time in a commute/listening to other people yak/long lunches back in traditional offices. I’d also just come off a terribly time consuming assignment where I was working all hours so to some extent I’d earned some time just being fully productive rather than ‘round the clock productive. 
 

I think in all that time there was maybe one afternoon or morning a couple hours I wanted to work and couldn’t. I did video meetings on Teams. I used my cell phone. I spoke with people, and got things done. Most significantly, none of my clients knew the difference and that’s what it’s really about after all. But yes, you’ve got to have some level of autonomy because Internet can go out for a bit so if you are “on call” working remotely from a ship can be challenging. If you have normal expectations from the people you work with to get back to them in a day or so, I think it would be fine. That being said, I don’t do transocean cruises while working for this reason, plus the time zone confusion. Wifi and cell service is never far on a Caribbean, northeast, or west coast itinerary. 
 

A lot depends on the nature of your work. I do emails and Word documents and calls, not video editing or graphics work that would be more intensely demanding of bandwidth. 

[canderson]

6 hours ago, jelayne said:

Our experience had been High end suites get more that 1 access per person but Sky and Celebrity suites do not.

I definitely did.  Had a notebook and both of our phones connected concurrently on one account in a RS.  Never logged in to the 2nd account.  

[AlbertaCruisers]

My experience has been varied, even on the same ship.  I normally have to work a bit each day (but we cruise at least 6 weeks a year, so I'm ok with that).  We were on Equinox once and had pretty solid internet (even streamed a hockey game) and then the next time I found it very spotty and slow.  I normally try and work in my room, as I don't want to find a space that is quiet and private.  I try to only use VPN when absolutely necessary, as I find it painfully slow most of the time.  I can connect to VPN no problem (as someone else mentioned, if you have two factor authentication, I borrow my husbands wifi to connect and then he can have it back), but the connection becomes laggy and even slower.  On our last cruise on the Infinity, trying to open word documents from the cloud was pretty delayed and slow, and generally makes the process painful.  If you can get what you need and work offline and then email or send things after, it isn't as bad.  I would just suggest being prepared to either try and go somewhere to find a better connection or be flexible in how you plan to work.  I'm so excited for the new internet, but it doesn't look like I will be on a ship that has it until after May 2023.  I was hoping for a faster roll out, but I found the estimated timeline on their website and it misses the ships I'm sailing soon.

Edit:  Also, I suggest you make sure you have the premium wifi, if you haven't already.  The surf wifi that comes for free with the booking will not be sufficient to get onto VPN or really to do much work.

Edited September 26, 2022 by AlbertaCruisers

[lakegirl16]

Thank you to everyone for your insight!  We both will mainly be checking emails and working with documents saved on our computers.  No heavy downloads.  Also, we are flexible on times and hours, so no set times we need to be online.  Appreciate everyone's thoughts!