Sharing internet with a travel router

[SoloAlaska]

Just now, UKstages said:

 

handcuffs are prohibited on NCL, too, as are "leg and head restraining straps."

 

It’s pretty hilarious. So many ways around that rule though. I take the spirit of it as saying “no cop gear”. If you take it in an extended literal sense you could say leather belts and silk scarves could be prohibited.

[dbrown84]

Just now, UKstages said:

 

handcuffs are prohibited on NCL, too, as are "leg and head restraining straps."

 

wow.  never knew that.  The beevis and butt-head in me is cracking up right now

[UKstages]

26 minutes ago, SoloAlaska said:

If you take it in an extended literal sense you could say leather belts and silk scarves could be prohibited.

 

indeed. the silk scarf prohibition could explain the recent scarcity of magicians onboard.

 

NCL mentions handcuffs and leg and restraining straps as examples, but the category of prohibited items is "restraining devices," which covers even broader ground. 

 

as for leather belts, i've been to the buffet on many NCL ships. so i'm a staunch proponent of more leather belts. in fact, i think they should be provided to many passengers who don't arrive with their own.

[SoloAlaska]

17 minutes ago, UKstages said:

 

indeed. the silk scarf prohibition could explain the recent scarcity of magicians onboard.

 

NCL mentions handcuffs and leg and restraining straps as examples, but the category of prohibited items is "restraining devices," which covers even broader ground. 

 

as for leather belts, i've been to the buffet on many NCL ships. so i'm a staunch proponent of more leather belts. in fact, i think they should be provided to many passengers who don't arrive with their own.

I recently started using an elastic type belt and adore it. No metal pieces so it doesn’t set off airport alarms. It’s washable. Much comfier especially for things like hiking. They should just sell them on cruise ships. Only downside is it’s not a great restraining device 🤣

[schmoopie17]

52 minutes ago, UKstages said:

 

NCL mentions handcuffs and leg and restraining straps as examples, but the category of prohibited items is "restraining devices," which covers even broader ground. 

 

So...if I restrain myself from commenting, will I get sent to the naughty room?

[MkeCruzn]

3 hours ago, hallux said:

No.  Travel routers take an existing WiFi connection and then broadcast their own network.  To do that they need two WiFi radios so it would not cut the speed in half.  Realistically, though, the internet speed on a ship is slow enough that such halving of WiFi throughput won't be noticeable.

 

I guess I was in a fantasy world when I grabbed this screenshot on my cruise on the Escape earlier this year - 

The Beryl spec sheet says specifically that connecting your devices through a wi-fi network uses "repeater mode" which means the radio will need to alternate between communicating with the WAN and the LAN sides. Otherwise, the transmit signal will overwhelm the much fainter receive signal from the laptop/phone/etc. if they are on the same band (2.4 or 5 GHz). It may be possible to have WAN traffic on one band and the LAN on the other, but that is not guaranteed. Even so, your devices will all have to share the speed of the main link (in this case, 5.82 Mb/s down and 3.15 Mb/s up).

You're fortunate to get 5 Mb/s in mid-afternoon.

[mking8288]

How about 550 paracords 😁😁😁 since I keep them around for emergencies and as improvised tourniquet, if there's nothing else around. 

 

On a more serious note, agreed with @MkeCruzn the router will have to in repeater and/or bridge mode, and not AP configuration to share the "masked" or cloned signal with the MAC addresses.  Very often, the server handling the traffic can and will detect these and block it ... saved me a few ounces leaving the Roku stick & remote at home. 

 

 

[MkeCruzn]

54 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

How about 550 paracords 😁😁😁 since I keep them around for emergencies and as improvised tourniquet, if there's nothing else around. 

 

On a more serious note, agreed with @MkeCruzn the router will have to in repeater and/or bridge mode, and not AP configuration to share the "masked" or cloned signal with the MAC addresses.  Very often, the server handling the traffic can and will detect these and block it ... saved me a few ounces leaving the Roku stick & remote at home. 

 

 

Hi Henry, thanks for the additional info. Personally, I am not hung up on watching TV shows from home when I am traveling (or many other times as well), but to each his own. I go on vacation to do different things. I suppose that it would kill some time if we were stuck at sea due to stormy weather, but still...

It looks like a lot of stuff to lug along. My wife is annoyed sometimes with just the laptop/phone/iPad drawing my attention away.

[MkeCruzn]

2 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

So...if I restrain myself from commenting, will I get sent to the naughty room?

I think so 🙂

[RD64]

This whole router thing sounds like too much work to actually be going on a cruise to get away from it all, Personally - if the Internet was that essential to my daily life I would just stay home - eliminate the need to “borrow” or whatever it is the OP is doing from purchasing one package.

Edited October 10, 2023 by RD64
Additional

[jules181]

31 minutes ago, RD64 said:

This whole router thing sounds like too much work to actually be going on a cruise to get away from it all, Personally - if the Internet was that essential to my daily life I would just stay home - eliminate the need to “borrow” or whatever it is the OP is doing from purchasing one package.

That works for you.

 

It's no extra work.  A person of moderate intelligence and low tech-savvy can figure it out...I've taught a few. 

 

But some of us need to stay semi-connected while away.  If the choice was between a trip I can't take (a vacation where I'm not connected) versus a trip where I have to open the laptop a couple of times, I'll take the one I can. I'm sure many others are in the same boat. 

[SoloAlaska]

51 minutes ago, RD64 said:

This whole router thing sounds like too much work to actually be going on a cruise to get away from it all, Personally - if the Internet was that essential to my daily life I would just stay home - eliminate the need to “borrow” or whatever it is the OP is doing from purchasing one package.

Some people actually travel as they work. My next trip I am taking in order to start writing a book. Long term I am looking at cruising for 3-4 months a year and working as I travel which will require internet connection. Not everyone cruises to disconnect.

[RD64]

25 minutes ago, jules181 said:

That works for you.

 

It's no extra work.  A person of moderate intelligence and low tech-savvy can figure it out...I've taught a few. 

 

But some of us need to stay semi-connected while away.  If the choice was between a trip I can't take (a vacation where I'm not connected) versus a trip where I have to open the laptop a couple of times, I'll take the one I can. I'm sure many others are in the same boat. 

Yes- I do need to stay connected for several reasons - but pay what I have to pay instead of resorting to complicated subterfuge.

[jules181]

44 minutes ago, RD64 said:

Yes- I do need to stay connected for several reasons - but pay what I have to pay instead of resorting to complicated subterfuge.

I've paid for a single device worth of bandwidth. And I'm getting just that, and using it how I please within the terms of my purchase. 

 

If there were subterfuge I wouldn't be telling cruise critic about it. 

 

 

[insidecabin]

10 hours ago, jules181 said:

I've paid for a single device worth of bandwidth. And I'm getting just that, and using it how I please within the terms of my purchase. 

 

If there were subterfuge I wouldn't be telling cruise critic about it. 

 

 

If it is ok to have 2 people use the connection one at a time.

 

What a  router does is allow very  rapid switching between each person as it sends the packets.

[cpqq]

6 minutes ago, insidecabin said:

What a  router does is allow very  rapid switching between each person as it sends the packets.

 

No, no it doesn't. That would be a 'switch' - not a router. 

 

12 hours ago, jules181 said:

It's no extra work.  A person of moderate intelligence and low tech-savvy can figure it out...I've taught a few. 

 

 

This. If you have the ability to navigate your cable box interface it should be easy. Hearing someone call it 'complicated subterfuge' is just sad. 

[mktmzm]

On 10/2/2023 at 3:35 PM, Grimix said:

I’m on the Encore right now and thought I’d share a tip (might have been shared before) for giving your whole cabin internet. I’m using my wireless travel router to share my connection (we upgraded to the FAS+ so have 2 unlimited) to the cabin with the same SSID (network name) we have at home. So the kids are able to log in without my credentials and do their homework on their chromebooks.

 

It’s not hard to do, but if you’re not tech savvy it might be (I write software for a living…) Just thought I’d throw it out there for those who know how to use a travel router that it does work!

I’m using a tp-link AC750 I’ve had for several years. Only around $40 on Amazon.

Remind me how one connects the "router" to the NCL Network, please? 

Edited October 19, 2023 by mktmzm

[jules181]

8 hours ago, mktmzm said:

Remind me how one connects the "router" to the NCL Network, please? 

Your router connects to the ships wifi. The user facing device connects to the router. 

[ltp579]

9 hours ago, mktmzm said:

Remind me how one connects the "router" to the NCL Network, please? 

There are tutorials online if you need them. Here's one. They use a different router than the one the original poster suggested on a different cruise line but it's the idea is the same

This is one for a different router but also talks about the benefits of using a router when traveling generally, not just on cruises

 

Edited October 19, 2023 by ltp579

[Grimix]

Yes, essentially you plug in the router. You connect the router to the ship wifi, and set it up to rebroadcast its own wireless network. Once the router is connected to the ship's wifi you connect to the router's wifi network. Open up your NCL app. Select the Internet 'button'. That should open up a page where you can eventually click a button that says connect to the internet. Even though you're using your phone, since you're going through the travel router the ship sees your phone with the IP of the travel router. So when you login you're actually logging the router in. When outside of your room you can always go to the internet tab in he app and 'take' the wifi from the router, but when you get back to the room you have to log onto the routers wifi and repeat the login to allow the router to 'take' it back.

[fstuff1]

On 10/2/2023 at 3:35 PM, Grimix said:

I’m on the Encore right now and thought I’d share a tip (might have been shared before) for giving your whole cabin internet. I’m using my wireless travel router to share my connection (we upgraded to the FAS+ so have 2 unlimited) to the cabin with the same SSID (network name) we have at home. So the kids are able to log in without my credentials and do their homework on their chromebooks.

 

It’s not hard to do, but if you’re not tech savvy it might be (I write software for a living…) Just thought I’d throw it out there for those who know how to use a travel router that it does work!

I’m using a tp-link AC750 I’ve had for several years. Only around $40 on Amazon.

 

i'm looking for a battery powered portable router.

i upgrade to unlimited basic wifi and connect the router to ship wifi. I put the router in my pocket.

my phone logs into the router.

any of my friends around me also can log on to the router.

 

does such a battery powered portable router exist?

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by fstuff1

[smillerholmes]

On 10/9/2023 at 9:34 PM, dbrown84 said:

I'm totally surprised the drink package police didn't jump all over this person.  That subject usually gets them all riled up.  Much more so than this wifi post.....but let's see how many pages this wifi post gets to 🙂

Who knew wifi might compete with the drink package?  Personally I prefer a good old fashioned water thread to keep me entertained.

[Smitheroo]

On 10/8/2023 at 1:05 PM, Cruising Lynne said:

If I do not have unlimited internet, how goes it count the minutes? Do they start ticking down once the first device that isn't the router logs on?

 

I am not that tech savvy, but my husband is. We usually take turns going on line when we are cruising, but it would be better if we could go on line at the same time. Sometimes we just want to quickly check a few things before bed at night or before venturing out for the day. 

You can go on line at the same time 

[Smitheroo]

On 10/8/2023 at 7:30 PM, RocketMan275 said:

If you can't afford to pay for something, then do without.

You're making essetially the same argument made by those looting stores, we can't afford what we want so we'll just steal it.  Besides the corporations have money and we don't.

The free at sea comes with enough connect time to check your email so there's something else going on.

You dont think NCL is not aware and is choosing to overlook it?  I really doubt it.  Its a legal loophole, just like all those legal loopholes people use for their income tax (and probably you as well) NCL may be working on eliminating this loophole.   Whether you choose to take advantage of it is your personal decision.   I know some people who dont take advantage of legal loopholes with their personal income taxes.  It doesnt "feel right" to them. Fine, dont do it then. 

[Smitheroo]

On 10/8/2023 at 7:36 PM, RD64 said:

Ripped off? They accepted the terms and conditions in the first place - so at the time did not think it was a “ripoff”. Their blatant promotion of this will eventually get it shut down - then of course people will complain that they are no longer able to take advantage of this loophole.

"their blatant promotion of this will eventually get it shut down"- emphasis on the word "promotion"   Are you saying do it, just dont tell anyone?