Starlink on Beyond, a disappointment.

[SusieAV8R]

15 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

Please define “fair share”?  Everyone can pay more for better internet.

 

15 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

Please define “fair share”?  Everyone can pay more for better internet.

 

15 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

Please define “fair share”?  Everyone can pay more for better internet.

Actually, Celebrity may want to consider adding an internet tier for those who want to telework or feel the need to FaceTime constantly.  That way, those who need that service can pay for it.   What would that cost?  Good question.  Starlink is a relative bargain at $5,000.00 per month but is slowing down due to the high demand. Traditional satellite service for ships is more than 10X as expensive.

[Charles4515]

44 minutes ago, SusieAV8R said:

 

 

Actually, Celebrity may want to consider adding an internet tier for those who want to telework or feel the need to FaceTime constantly.  That way, those who need that service can pay for it.   What would that cost?  Good question.  Starlink is a relative bargain at $5,000.00 per month but is slowing down due to the high demand. Traditional satellite service for ships is more than 10X as expensive.

They already have. The premium tier. And I would not call Celebrity's pricing for it cheap. 
 

 

Edited October 6, 2022 by Charles4515

[SusieAV8R]

1 minute ago, Charles4515 said:

They already have. The premium tier. 

 

1 minute ago, Charles4515 said:

They already have. The premium tier. 

The Premium Tier will not support pax teleworking or FaceTiming constantly from the ship.  More bandwidth will be needed to support this.

 

1 minute ago, Charles4515 said:

They already have. The premium tier. 

 

[Charles4515]

3 minutes ago, SusieAV8R said:

 

The Premium Tier will not support pax teleworking or FaceTiming constantly from the ship.  More bandwidth will be needed to support this.

 

 

What is your proof of that? One person has said they were disappointed and many more said the new service was great. The disappointed person may have been a one off. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 hour ago, SusieAV8R said:

Bottom line: coneectivity is limited on a ship and can't currently support everyone teleworking. Why do some folks feel they are entitled to use more than their fair share?

1) Starlink seems to remove any limitations

2) 25-50% of the ship is retired

3) You falsely assume teleworking is always using a lot of bandwidth and while it can, folks streaming long videos or FaceTiming friends/family can use far more bandwidth.

4) Princess figured out a way to remote any limitations, they actually advertise you can telework: “remote working, distance learning and the opportunity to securely conduct important transactions available, all while enjoying the most picturesque video conference backdrop on the horizon, thousands of miles from home.”

[bdstickks0944]

5 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

I am retired and have no need to be connected on a cruise but I want to be. I like to download the news in the morning and read some of  it later. I like to maintain contact with family. I am able to control myself and not spend every. moment on the interent. It is my vacation and don't need a presumptous lecture not to connect on vacation. Celebrity understands that many passengers do need it, some for work or business, and desire faster internet and is making an upgrade. That is what this topic is about. Your posts on this thread have nothing to do with the topic. 

Sure they do.  I’m saying I’m on vacation.  I do not need to be connected to my phone every second while I’m on board.  That’s why it’s called a vacation.  

[canderson]

1 hour ago, bdstickks0944 said:

Sure they do.  I’m saying I’m on vacation.  I do not need to be connected to my phone every second while I’m on board.  That’s why it’s called a vacation.  

I'm with the others.  What does whether you need to be connected to your phone every second have to do with anyone's preference for a particular quality of WiFi service aboard?

 

[intr3pid]

3 hours ago, bdstickks0944 said:

Sure they do.  I’m saying I’m on vacation.  I do not need to be connected to my phone ... while I’m on board.  That’s why it’s called a vacation.  

To a skeptic, this would suggest one - or both - of two things:

 

1.  You hold little importance to anyone (or an organization) outside of your ship.  They can happily live their lives and run the world without you. 

 

2.  Your connected life is so stressful that you need to disconnect to have a vacation.

 

The truth is, you can disconnect and have a great vacation.  And I can stay connected and have a blast of my own.  There is no 'a vacation' - to each of us, it's our own.

[prmssk]

9 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

4) Princess figured out a way to remote any limitations, they actually advertise you can telework: “remote working, distance learning and the opportunity to securely conduct important transactions available, all while enjoying the most picturesque video conference backdrop on the horizon, thousands of miles from home.”

Princess isn't actually delivering on what they advertised when ships are full and a lot of people want to connect.  

[NutsAboutGolf]

20 minutes ago, prmssk said:

Princess isn't actually delivering on what they advertised when ships are full and a lot of people want to connect.  

 

Sounds like 1-3 are validated.  I'll comment on your #4 claim.  Many say otherwise and post actual proof of it.  Non-Starlink X's internet is usually well under 2 during the day and well below 1 during peak times.

 

[dlh015]

2 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Sounds like 1-3 are validated.  I'll comment on your #4 claim.  Many say otherwise and post actual proof of it.  Non-Starlink X's internet is usually well under 2 during the day and well below 1 during peak times.

 

Don't know the date of that blurb. But I can tell you from personal experience that this past June for 3 weeks in the Mediterranean, that is balderdash. And we were cruising on the Regal Princess (a very nice ship btw).

 

The ship was 3/4 full. And we were in a suite midship. During 'regular' hours when you expect the connection to be slower, it was fortunate when one could connect. Many times when one could connect, you couldn't get to the web. And on sea days, forget it. 

 

Fortunately, we didn't need to be connected...so I backed up photos to Google after 10 pm. And the 'order anywhere thru the app' left a lot to be desired. I finally gave up after the first week.

 

This is just one datapoint though...and we didn't really care...we were having a wonderful time. But I pity any folks that were attempting to get any work done...

Edited October 6, 2022 by dlh015

[Bo1953]

On 10/3/2022 at 3:44 PM, sgadk87 said:

Hi.

 

I've just returned from Beyond's sailing from Barcelona to Rome, and had high hopes for the new Starlink Internet. I have seen speedtest that shows over 100 Mbit/s posted on this forum.

Unfortunately the internet didn't felt much better than before. The speed maxed out around 2-3 Mbit/s, so my thought is that celebrity is limit the speed a lot. I talked with one of the officers, that told the speed was excellent the first week, but now slow as before. He mentioned that the first week even gaming was possible.

 

I had to do some Facetime calls (without video), but have to give up. The upload was suffering a lot, so every 30-45 second, the other person wasn't able to hear me.

 

This is quite a bummer for me. I know people have different expectations, but if you have to use it to work, it has to be stable. One thing i noted was the latency was improved, and around 50ms.

 

I'm wondering if Starlink is okay with this user experience, if Celebrity limit the speed so much?

s87 - I would wonder how many other passengers were using similar intensive programs on the system which may have slowed it down as well...

 

While I did not read other posts yet, to know what others may have recommended.

 

Next sailing, will it be possible for you to schedule such meetings when in a port and have access to a hot spot?

 

bon voyage

Edited October 6, 2022 by Bo1953

[prmssk]

3 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Sounds like 1-3 are validated.  I'll comment on your #4 claim.  Many say otherwise and post actual proof of it.  Non-Starlink X's internet is usually well under 2 during the day and well below 1 during peak times.

 

I don’t dispute posts like this because if you are in a location with good satellite coverage AND there are not too many users overloading the system, those speeds can be seen on Princess ships. I experienced that on the Emerald in February but we were only at 60% capacity and the demographics were people who didn’t seem to carry around devices. 
 

A different Princess ship I was on in the same general area a few months later was at 100% capacity and everyone seemed to have a device in their hands. When we could get the internet to work, I was getting speeds around 1.0 download and less than 0.5 upload. 
 

If you read Princess boards you will see my experience is pretty common. In the winter when capacities were low there were very few internet complaints. The second capacities went up for spring break, the complaints were consistent across ships. The biggest factor seemed to be the number of people on board trying to use the internet.  Princess is not able to deliver on what they advertise when ships are full. 
 

Edited to add:  I don’t know enough about your number 1 and 2 points to comment so my lack of commenting on those points means nothing. 
 

I do agree that it is not just telework folks using all the bandwidth. Many sites people use for personal use also use a lot of bandwidth. 

Edited October 6, 2022 by prmssk

[HMR74]

On 10/5/2022 at 11:21 AM, grandgeezer said:

I’m glad the fate of the company that I worked didn’t depend on not being able to contact me for a week or whatever length of time. I surrounded my self with good people who I could trust and made sure they had the tools to handle just about anything that would come up. If we were staying home, I would check my e-mails, maybe twice, and reply if it was semi important. If we were traveling, never checked it once. Thirty two years on the job, and not one call or e-mail of any importance, and the company flourished.

Its somewhat different if you have your own business, AND its not just a week you are away, but 6-8 weeks.

 

My deal is if its a high level problem, call.   Never happened yet, although I got a call on Yantzee river cruise one night  from big customer  just to say hello.

 

Not so hi, text.  A few

 

A FYI thing, e mail. many. I  get around to reading them eventually before I get back. 

 

On cruises I check in at night and a faster internet means less time waiting for the e mails to download. like 3  minutes on new faster e mail vs up to an hour on S class. Good fast PC wifi 6.  Then I scan thru titles and senders to see if there are priorities. 

 

Then I can get back to late night reading books. Hopefully on balcony.

 

There was a prior thread which identified and extender/amplifyer. I understand on Beyond and possible Apex, the  suites have wifi access point in each cabin. If so, that should be worth the prices of admission.

 

Between us big boys and girls, we like to facetime home to see and talk to grandkids. They ask us what we are doing and have seen and we ask then what they are doing.

 

Nothing like it-including vacations.

 

[carolina_yankee]

Being connected isn’t a sign of importance or power. I’m essentially the boss of a mid-level non-profit. But I have the power to say, “I’m on vacation now. It’s your problem until I get back.” That’s winning in my book.

 

And then I can surf / upload / chat / research / whatever online to my heart’s content while I’m on vacation and know that nothing can interrupt me. 🙂 That’s called Freedom in my book! 

 

Somebody else getting aggravated and having a bad vacation because they see me on my phone or tablet surfing away? That’s called Karma.

 

If somebody wants to experience good internet on board - for whatever reason - it doesn’t help for somebody else to come in and say, “I don’t know. It’s not important to me and shouldn’t be important to you.”

[zitsky]

13 minutes ago, carolina_yankee said:

Being connected isn’t a sign of importance or power. I’m essentially the boss of a mid-level non-profit. But I have the power to say, “I’m on vacation now. It’s your problem until I get back.” That’s winning in my book.

 

And then I can surf / upload / chat / research / whatever online to my heart’s content while I’m on vacation and know that nothing can interrupt me. 🙂 That’s called Freedom in my book! 

 

Somebody else getting aggravated and having a bad vacation because they see me on my phone or tablet surfing away? That’s called Karma.

 

If somebody wants to experience good internet on board - for whatever reason - it doesn’t help for somebody else to come in and say, “I don’t know. It’s not important to me and shouldn’t be important to you.”

Karma?  So one side of this wants to tell people what to do and the other side is wishing storm clouds over their head?

 

What happened to live and let live?  Even with the people you don’t like.

[HMR74]

Here is another take:

When I have access to good internet , I feel that I do not have to worry abut a thing, as someone can call me if there is an emergency. Everything else can wait. Fast internet is like an insurance policy.

 

It is a great feeling to be free from the internet but it is just not realistic for many. But it is nice to detach and just look at e mails late evening...I just wish ships internets was faster so I could download  and be done.

 

I have VPN built into my security software --

 

so here is a different question:

When  away on a b2b or b2b2b, with extended land stays after the cruises we can be away for more than a few weeks. So what do people do for paying bills. etc    Most things  go to a credit card or debit checking account.

But I still have bills that are not automatic pay AND very periodically, every other day,  just check credit cards to make sure nothing  bad is happening. Many years ago My credit card info was taken in London and same that night 30 tollway charges in Germany appear before I called and reported it

 

I like to hop on and hop off to see what snail mail I received (use informed USPS delivery) and I have  to pay bills electronically.

 

So again, for folks away for extended period what do people do? BTW, I hate doing things like bill pay and cruise check in on a phone or ipad. Thats why I bring a PC, albeit a lightweight 13 inch one which has little in the way of important info on it

 

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

On 10/5/2022 at 2:53 PM, Charles4515 said:

The only problem could be is that X has been known to block some VPN's too. 

My experience having used almost all of major provider, is  that they do not block VPN they block access to VPN websites needed to download the software and possibly to access your online account.  I  also use NordPassword and couldn't log on without first using a VPN to get into my Nord Account to verify my credentials. 

 

As recent as two weeks ago I was able to use ExpressVPN, NordVPN and Tunnel Bear.

[NutsAboutGolf]

Like it or not, X has partnered with starlink which should be huge improvement with speed especially with congestion at peak times.  It's up to you if you want to mine bitcoin, disconnect or somewhere inbetween

[zitsky]

I have this image in my head of suite passengers wearing tuxedos and ball gowns with assistants following you around, paying all your bills online and answering your calls so you never have to touch the internet.  Is that how it is?

[HMR74]

37 minutes ago, zitsky said:

I have this image in my head of suite passengers wearing tuxedos and ball gowns with assistants following you around, paying all your bills online and answering your calls so you never have to touch the internet.  Is that how it is?

do you know how much valuable space a tux and shiny dress shoes takes up in a suitcase?

 

On paying bills, for some reason the image I immediately saw when reading your response  was Chevy Chase in CaddyShack when he brings the  blonde to his home and she finds a $50,000 check he forgot to deposit.

 

CaddyShack is a 1980 movie and I'd guess that the $50k check would be the equavelent of 300k now. Give or take.

 

The other thing, we and contemporaries  were together the other night and we were discussing SNL of almost 50 years ago, and how much different it was then. Belushi , Chevy Chase etc, . That show and Rowan and Martins Laugh in.

 

The tie in to fast internet on board is we have basically unlimited streaming with good internet using Ipad so if in mood, especially on a TA , you would  have plenty to watch except days 3 and 4 at sea. Sometimes at home you have so many things going on  you miss out on simple pleasures of life. Doing nothing.

The one thing we both do is avoid telephone calls while on board. Except for emergencies.

 

[Charles4515]

2 hours ago, HMR74 said:

 

So again, for folks away for extended period what do people do? BTW, I hate doing things like bill pay and cruise check in on a phone or ipad. Thats why I bring a PC, albeit a lightweight 13 inch one which has little in the way of important info on it

 

I do everything on autopay. And I get alerts on all my accounts of any activity.  I don’t take a computer. The iPhone and iPad are more secure than a PC. A PC would be a weak link. But since everything is on autopay that was set up at home I have not needed to usually to access my accounts on the iPad. 

Edited October 7, 2022 by Charles4515

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

My experience having used almost all of major provider, is  that they do not block VPN they block access to VPN websites needed to download the software and possibly to access your online account.  I  also use NordPassword and couldn't log on without first using a VPN to get into my Nord Account to verify my credentials. 

 

As recent as two weeks ago I was able to use ExpressVPN, NordVPN and Tunnel Bear.

I am using NordVPN these days. I connect with their mobile app since I don’t do anything anymore where I need a Mac or PC when away from home. I can do pretty much everything on my iPad Pro and I have a keyboard for it.  I had some inconsistency with PIA so I switched to Nord which seems to work fine. PIA by the way is owned by the company that bought Express VPN. 

Edited October 7, 2022 by Charles4515

[NutsAboutGolf]

Cisco AnyConnect VPN works without issues

[zitsky]

4 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Cisco AnyConnect VPN works without issues

I’ve used that for work in previous companies.  Is it available for personal use?