WiFi included but it’s not really

[NutsAboutGolf]

I would imagine these prices are just an estimate but it does drive home the data point the faster the more expensive

 

[NMTraveller]

6 hours ago, Mike981 said:

 

Remember that kids show back in the 90's, Lamb Chop? I feel at this point when it comes to WiFi it is "The Song That Never Ends. It's an interesting study into human behavior, "my experience was ___, so everyone has ___."

 

I have learned so much from @Jim_Iain and how he deals with the internet. The workarounds and the planning ahead.

 

When it comes to WiFi on cruise ships one persons experience might be different from others for so many reasons. We all use the internet in different ways/wants, different locations of the world, different times of the day with different equipment.

 

Ever do a speed test at home? In today's world it is hard to get a true reading at home because of how connected we are. Computers, tablets, phones, watches, streaming shows, connected appliances and so on. And who knows what software is updating when you do your speed test.

 

Maybe we need to use the old adage on food, for the internet on ships. WiFi is 'so subjective'.

 

Edited to add:

I have never used the Princess Medallion, but when I was searching Princess for a cruise, I saw many people complaining on many levels on how frustrating it was.

Nothing subjective about it.  Go to speedtest.net ...

[billc23]

6 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

Nothing subjective about it.  Go to speedtest.net ...

Speedtest for an individual device and then go to your router's setup page to obtain the speed from your cable modern or fiber connection. The difference may reflect your wi-fi limitations.

 

The actual rated speed and your subjective experience will vary depending on latency and jitter. Using an ad blocker may help to limit internet requests for stuff you don't want. On the ship, the fewer web pages and background apps running the better your perceived speed will be. I think that is why the less techy passengers often have a better subjective experience. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

Celebrity/X replied on Twitter/X, they've repeatedly ignored my question of why the speed was throttled down but did confirmed the speed for premium is throttled down to 5mbps which we all knew

[Rick&Jeannie]

On 3/28/2024 at 3:22 PM, Mike981 said:

 

Remember that kids show back in the 90's, Lamb Chop? I feel at this point when it comes to WiFi it is "The Song That Never Ends. It's an interesting study into human behavior, "my experience was ___, so everyone has ___."

 

I have learned so much from @Jim_Iain and how he deals with the internet. The workarounds and the planning ahead.

 

When it comes to WiFi on cruise ships one persons experience might be different from others for so many reasons. We all use the internet in different ways/wants, different locations of the world, different times of the day with different equipment.

 

Ever do a speed test at home? In today's world it is hard to get a true reading at home because of how connected we are. Computers, tablets, phones, watches, streaming shows, connected appliances and so on. And who knows what software is updating when you do your speed test.

 

Maybe we need to use the old adage on food, for the internet on ships. WiFi is 'so subjective'.

 

Edited to add:

I have never used the Princess Medallion, but when I was searching Princess for a cruise, I saw many people complaining on many levels on how frustrating it was.

There are *many* complaints about the Medallion app...not so much for Medallion Net. Princess needs to learn some lessons about how to name their product offerings. Many of their things sound so similar...it confuses a lot of people. (Not saying that *you* are confused...)

[kr00t0n]

11 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Celebrity/X replied on Twitter/X, they've repeatedly ignored my question of why the speed was throttled down but did confirmed the speed for premium is throttled down to 5mbps which we all knew

Because throttling speed allows for a more balanced bandwidth load across all users. Have it uncapped, and a handful of people streaming some 4k content would clog up things for everyone.
 

Remember, there will also be a chunk of bandwidth allocated to the actual ship and her functions as well, it's not all just for guests.

 

 

[NutsAboutGolf]

5 hours ago, kr00t0n said:

Because throttling speed allows for a more balanced bandwidth load across all users. Have it uncapped, and a handful of people streaming some 4k content would clog up things for everyone.
 

Remember, there will also be a chunk of bandwidth allocated to the actual ship and her functions as well, it's not all just for guests.

 

 

 

X seemed to have no problems with bandwidth before they throttled it down and other cruise lines with starlink also do not have problems.  We were on the Carnival's newest ship at the time, the Celebration in Dec 2022, during football sunday in the BBQ/sports bar area many were streaming their games that weren't on the TV on their phones / ipads

 

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

X seemed to have no problems with bandwidth before they throttled it down and other cruise lines with starlink also do not have problems.  We were on the Carnival's newest ship at the time, the Celebration in Dec 2022, during football sunday in the BBQ/sports bar area many were streaming their games that weren't on the TV on their phones / ipads

 

as always with Virgin (and not just Virgin Cruises) the devil is in the detail:

1) The speed you have highlighted includes the vital words ( up to).

2) Most Virgin cruises are currently in well populated areas and close to land (Caribbean, Med, around the UK) i.e. areas with the most satellite coverage.

[Rick&Jeannie]

6 hours ago, kr00t0n said:

Because throttling speed allows for a more balanced bandwidth load across all users. Have it uncapped, and a handful of people streaming some 4k content would clog up things for everyone.
 

Remember, there will also be a chunk of bandwidth allocated to the actual ship and her functions as well, it's not all just for guests.

 

 

5MB *should* be plenty of bandwidth...I would be thrilled to see that on *any* ship!

[NutsAboutGolf]

13 minutes ago, the penguins said:

as always with Virgin (and not just Virgin Cruises) the devil is in the detail:

1) The speed you have highlighted includes the vital words ( up to).

2) Most Virgin cruises are currently in well populated areas and close to land (Caribbean, Med, around the UK) i.e. areas with the most satellite coverage.

 

It goes both ways, technically, X is "UP TO" 5mbps...

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

It goes both ways, technically, X is "UP TO" 5mbps...

precisely - in the real world they may both be the same speeds.

We had no issues video calling from Reflection during our October TA but had several days with no connection on our Princess TA in March both ships  use Starlink

[NutsAboutGolf]

15 minutes ago, the penguins said:

precisely - in the real world they may both be the same speeds.

We had no issues video calling from Reflection during our October TA but had several days with no connection on our Princess TA in March both ships  use Starlink

 

I'm just pointing out that when starlink first deployed on X, people's SUBSTAINED speeds were well above 5mbps.  When I was on the Carnival Celebration, I often hit 60mbps, always above 40mbps.  IDK why people assume X's version of Starlink cannot reach sustained speeds beyond 5mbps.  An one on one video call take a lot less bandwidth than an MS Teams call when you can have 100 participating, someone sharing their screen, multiple people talking and multiple people typing in the chat.  MS Teams says 4mbps is required and I can usually connect but there are all sorts of issues with using it

[the penguins]

13 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

I'm just pointing out that .when starlink first deployed on X, people's SUBSTAINED speeds were well above 5mbps.  When I was on the Carnival Celebration, I often hit 60mbps, always above 40mbps.  IDK why people assume X's version of Starlink cannot reach sustained speeds beyond 5mbps.  An one on one video call take a lot less bandwidth than an MS Teams call when you can have 100 participating, someone sharing their screen, multiple people talking and multiple people typing in the chat.  MS Teams says 4mbps is required and I can usually connect but there are all sorts of issues with using it

All beyond me - I was commenting on Virgin's  claims which as everyone living the UK knows are often wildly different to the reality

[Arizona Wildcat]

3 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

X seemed to have no problems with bandwidth before they throttled it down and other cruise lines with starlink also do not have problems.  We were on the Carnival's newest ship at the time, the Celebration in Dec 2022, during football sunday in the BBQ/sports bar area many were streaming their games that weren't on the TV on their phones / ipads

 

When ships filled up the use increased proportionately.   Friendcwas on Virgin up.the coast of Norway - the ad was correct as their speed was 8mps!  Certainly correctly discussed as "up to 220mps".  

When in port or nearby had about 80+.

Again fewer passengers and on cruises like Alaska much less usage - no children. 

Depending on when and where the ship reserves at least 1/4 of bandwidth for ship use.

Don't think one needs Celebrity to respondctona question where we already know the answer

[NutsAboutGolf]

4 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

When ships filled up the use increased proportionately.   Friendcwas on Virgin up.the coast of Norway - the ad was correct as their speed was 8mps!  Certainly correctly discussed as "up to 220mps".  

When in port or nearby had about 80+.

Again fewer passengers and on cruises like Alaska much less usage - no children. 

Depending on when and where the ship reserves at least 1/4 of bandwidth for ship use.

Don't think one needs Celebrity to respondctona question where we already know the answer

 

Corporate ignored my question of WHY it was throttled down.  Seemingly, people just assume X can't reach sustained speeds above 5mpbs for some reason.  Once Starlink went live on X, many ships were sailing full or very close to full and we have to remember the ship itself plus its crew also use the wifi.  Many were getting 10x the speeds when it first deployed.  As I stated before, we were on the Carnival Celebration in December 2022 which was their biggest ship at the time with about 2500 more total people than the X beyond and was hitting 40-60mbps

[Club Eleven]

On 3/23/2024 at 5:09 PM, arealcheapskate said:

The Basic wifi limitation is artificial and is purposely restricted by Celebrity. 

We use a GL-AXT1800 router with a wireguard protocol VPN. It bypasses all the port blocks/social media blocks/speed limitations and the internet works as the premium would. (Video calls etc). 

 

Because it's not a traditional VPN it's impossible for them to block as it uses the same port as a secure HTTPS connection. In addition we can tether as many devices as we like - they don't seem to throttle the speed. 

 I'm not intimately familiar with VPN configuration. Can you do this with just the GL-AXT1800, or do you need to configure it as client and connect to a VPN service that offers wireguard as the protocol?

[Club Eleven]

Okay, got it figured out.  LOL