Internet Access = $30 an hour or $1000 for Cruise - Stealing?

[coiran]

You see Ron knows better!...took him a while!;)

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

 

In one of your recent posts you self proclaimed yourself to be "all knowing" - So it must be true, and if it isn't as long as you believe it, it will be so in your world.

 

Ron

[Princess Chatterer]

I fail to see a Princess corporate problem. The Internet fees are not a secret. It cost Princess plenty of money to supply an Internet connection out in the middle of nowhere. $30 an hour sounds about the same as what it cost me to play Bingo on the ship. With your booked on board credits, assuming you previously booked on board, you can Internet for free using those free cabin credits. And since your wife is going to use the Internet for business she can deduct the Internet cost on her tax return and let the rest of us subsidize her extra tax refund.

[Admiral Horatio Nelson]

It's not sort it is...:rolleyes:

 

FYI Admiral, the only additional cost to Princess is the seperate router they use for the MTN system for wireless internet vs Internet Cafe which is on seperate router as well. (is what's it's called onboard Princess Ships). there is no additional soft or hard costs to provide it FREE to pax's who have attained Elite or Platinum. The Company pays a flat monthly fee for the saltelite connection wether they talk on it one minute or 50000 hours. It's a bulk rate.

 

I don't blame the Company at all in sourcing a new revenue generation as this.

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

 

I install and maintain this equipment so I know it intimately and I also worked for MTN in the past. Not all ships use MTN, some use other suppliers like Harris. Furthermore, the access is split between admin (crew official use) and Internet cafe. The pax internet is routed through the same equipment whether it be wireless or wired.

 

If they give everyone free access and everyone uses it all day, every day then the service will collapse, because of lack of bandwidth. So making the cost 10C per minute or free to everyone would make it just too convenient and more people would want to use it. So people like the the guy who started this thread who want to use it to run his business would overload the service especially as people now want to use VOIP to make phone calls which uses up lots of bandwidth.

 

Reference the price increase, was this on ships that have changed over to the MTN kiosk style setup? I know they are menat to be taking over the running of the cafe onboard, not sure if it's happened yet.

[futaba951]

I know a fellow who refuses to pay for internet. He goes to Starbucks where they have free internet service. Of course, he pays $4 for a cup of coffee...somehow, someway you always pay.

 

That's insane. Has he done the math? He's easily paying double if he goes everyday and just has one cup.

[TexasMom2]

I install and maintain this equipment so I know it intimately and I also worked for MTN in the past. Not all ships use MTN, some use other suppliers like Harris. Furthermore, the access is split between admin (crew official use) and Internet cafe. The pax internet is routed through the same equipment whether it be wireless or wired.

 

If they give everyone free access and everyone uses it all day, every day then the service will collapse, because of lack of bandwidth. So making the cost 10C per minute or free to everyone would make it just too convenient and more people would want to use it. So people like the the guy who started this thread who want to use it to run his business would overload the service especially as people now want to use VOIP to make phone calls which uses up lots of bandwidth.

 

Reference the price increase, was this on ships that have changed over to the MTN kiosk style setup? I know they are menat to be taking over the running of the cafe onboard, not sure if it's happened yet.

 

Do you still have contacts at Princess you can ask to find out? Are you still in the cruise business, or now land-based?

[Admiral Horatio Nelson]

Do you still have contacts at Princess you can ask to find out? Are you still in the cruise business, or now land-based?

 

Yes I am still at sea, right now as it happens. I am checking to see what's happening with the prices.

[Admiral Horatio Nelson]

Do you still have contacts at Princess you can ask to find out? Are you still in the cruise business, or now land-based?

 

Oops

[T&J]

I install and maintain this equipment so I know it intimately and I also worked for MTN in the past. Not all ships use MTN, some use other suppliers like Harris. Furthermore, the access is split between admin (crew official use) and Internet cafe. The pax internet is routed through the same equipment whether it be wireless or wired.

 

If they give everyone free access and everyone uses it all day, every day then the service will collapse, because of lack of bandwidth. So making the cost 10C per minute or free to everyone would make it just too convenient and more people would want to use it. So people like the the guy who started this thread who want to use it to run his business would overload the service especially as people now want to use VOIP to make phone calls which uses up lots of bandwidth.

 

Reference the price increase, was this on ships that have changed over to the MTN kiosk style setup? I know they are menat to be taking over the running of the cafe onboard, not sure if it's happened yet.

 

All Ships within the Princess Fleet use MTN now fully Admiral.

As to share the satelite link, that is only true for the phone lines between Admin and Pax's that I am aware of.

 

As to sharing the internet satelite link; I have no sure answer about that one but would be logical to assume so as well.

 

Yes with the new Internet Card readers and system now in place they (Princess) have rolled over to this new vendor....hence the problem with simultaneous AOL users and the sytem locks up and freezes...a bug they ahve been working on since the end of October when I was last on the Golden Princess.

 

FYI, I was told by Ruth, Chief Computer Officer on the Golden Princess that there is a SEPERATE router for wireless internet access and therefore why the Company charges Elite/Platinum to use it....go figure?:rolleyes:

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

[Admiral Horatio Nelson]

All Ships within the Princess Fleet use MTN now fully Admiral.

As to share the satelite link, that is only true for the phone lines between Admin and Pax's that I am aware of.

 

As to sharing the internet satelite link; I have no sure answer about that one but would be logical to assume so as well.

 

Yes with the new Internet Card readers and system now in place they (Princess) have rolled over to this new vendor....hence the problem with simultaneous AOL users and the sytem locks up and freezes...a bug they ahve been working on since the end of October when I was last on the Golden Princess.

 

FYI, I was told by Ruth, Chief Computer Officer on the Golden Princess that there is a SEPERATE router for wireless internet access and therefore why the Company charges Elite/Platinum to use it....go figure?:rolleyes:

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

 

All external traffic whether it is phone, email, internet goes throught the C-Band Satellite. You have obviously talked with people at length however, your information is not 100% Even though you have talked with Ruth. I know Ruth, her last name is Gore, from the UK. She is a Senior Computer Officer but that doesn't mean she knows everything about these systems. She is senior because of her time with the company.

 

She is responsible for the network only onboard. Whereas I look after all communications whether that be bridge Inmarsat systems, Iridium, SARTS EPIRBS, Broadcast, C-Band (Internet), I also look after navigational like X and S band radar so I know what I am talking about.

 

The reason that you are charged for wireless is because the Wireless Access points are routed differently but only internally and they cannot refund those charges as the system stands today. They all go through the same satellite, which is C-Band, including voice.

 

Also if MTN have fully taken over then the charges that Princess pays will not be one bulk payment like you described. They take 50% of the takings. So if Princess gives free Internet to you they still have to pay MTN 50% of what you would have paid for that service.

 

Ruth is a good IT Manager but her knowledge is learned from onboard, she has no formal training. If the satellite goes down, she makes a phone to call to someone like me.

[coiran]

All external traffic whether it is phone, email, internet goes throught the C-Band Satellite. You have obviously talked with people at length however, your information is not 100% Even though you have talked with Ruth. I know Ruth, her last name is Gore, from the UK. She is a Senior Computer Officer but that doesn't mean she knows everything about these systems. She is senior because of her time with the company.

 

She is responsible for the network only onboard. Whereas I look after all communications whether that be bridge Inmarsat systems, Iridium, SARTS EPIRBS, Broadcast, C-Band (Internet), I also look after navigational like X and S band radar so I know what I am talking about.

 

The reason that you are charged for wireless is because the Wireless Access points are routed differently but only internally and they cannot refund those charges as the system stands today. They all go through the same satellite, which is C-Band, including voice.

 

Also if MTN have fully taken over then the charges that Princess pays will not be one bulk payment like you described. They take 50% of the takings. So if Princess gives free Internet to you they still have to pay MTN 50% of what you would have paid for that service.

 

Ruth is a good IT Manager but her knowledge is learned from onboard, she has no formal training. If the satellite goes down, she makes a phone to call to someone like me.

 

Sounds logical to me, but Tony seems to have more info than you - How can a pax have more insight than the tech who installs and maintains the systems?, but then, he admittedly confuses port with starboard.

 

Ron

[spongerob]

Are you still in the cruise business, or now land-based?

All Ships within the Princess Fleet use MTN now fully Admiral....go figure?:rolleyes:

Geez, give the guy a break, it sounds like he knows what he's talking about.

[spongerob]

...Never mind...but I did see your comments about the Admiral that were posted on another thread. Ahem.

[coiran]

Is it wrong to ask questions? He's been gone from Princess awhile and while knowledgable, didn't know about the MTN conversion. He doesn't seem to be bleeding or anything, so he's probably OK. :)

 

How do we know that all Princess ships have gone to MTN? Just because Tony says so?? Let's see - which side is port! I'll go with the guy that installs and maintains the systems.

 

Ron

[bdjam]

Is it wrong to ask questions? He's been gone from Princess awhile and while knowledgable, didn't know about the MTN conversion. He doesn't seem to be bleeding or anything, so he's probably OK. :)

A while back questions were asked and then the information forwarded to Princess so the employee would get into trouble...hopefully the Admiral is taking care this time. It would be a shame to again lose his helpful insight into issues discussed here.

[TexasMom2]

How do we know that all Princess ships have gone to MTN? Just because Tony says so?? Let's see - which side is port! I'll go with the guy that installs and maintains the systems.

 

Ron

 

Admiral is going to find out for us.

[TexasMom2]

A while back questions were asked and then the information forwarded to Princess so the employee would get into trouble...hopefully the Admiral is taking care this time. It would be a shame to again lose his helpful insight into issues discussed here.

 

How do you know this to be true, or are you projecting what you think happened? Since he's not a Princess employee any longer, I don't think he can get into any trouble with them, but he may not have first-hand info anymore. Still, it's interesting to hear about it. I don't think $.50 is a bad price, I would pay it for the little amount of time I would spend online. I am wondering if the uptick in the price has to do with the conversion?

[bdjam]

How do you know this to be true, or are you projecting what you think happened?

The Admiral confirmed himself in a post on another thread that he got in trouble from Princess for his posts on the boards and that's why he changed his screen name. There were enough posts here and on other forums that indicated his postings were being forwarded to Princess that it was quite easy to figure out what happened. Two and two still equals four.

[Admiral Horatio Nelson]

Is it wrong to ask questions? He's been gone from Princess awhile and while knowledgable, didn't know about the MTN conversion. He doesn't seem to be bleeding or anything, so he's probably OK. :)

 

I did know about the MTN changes. However there are two things going on. Firstly, MTN had some ships when I was there working for Princess. However, only the hardware and satellite was MTN, the cafe experience was Netstop, that little program they have running on the machines in the cafe. Other ships had Harris equipment.

 

Now what is happening is MTN is taking over the management of the cafes, like on Carnival, NCL and HAL. So there will be a Cafe Manager working in there full time. This has only happened on three ships at the moment. However it will eventually happen on the whole fleet. It will improve the experience for you people trust me. If they adapt the system they have on my new cruise line it will be a very nice system indeed.

 

The price has increased I am told to pay for the changes made to the wireless system. I am told they are trying to make the ships all wireless (meaning all areas onboard), something that costs money, like I said earlier. This all has to be paid for, it’s not just a one-month payment, nothing is ever that black and white.

[Admiral Horatio Nelson]

ops again!

[TexasMom2]

I did know about the MTN changes. However there are two things going on. Firstly, MTN had some ships when I was there working for Princess. However, only the hardware and satellite was MTN, the cafe experience was Netstop, that little program they have running on the machines in the cafe. Other ships had Harris equipment.

 

Now what is happening is MTN is taking over the management of the cafes, like on Carnival, NCL and HAL. So there will be a Cafe Manager working in there full time. This has only happened on three ships at the moment. However it will eventually happen on the whole fleet. It will improve the experience for you people trust me. If they adapt the system they have on my new cruise line it will be a very nice system indeed.

 

The price has increased I am told to pay for the changes made to the wireless system. I am told they are trying to make the ships all wireless (meaning all areas onboard), something that costs money, like I said earlier. This all has to be paid for, it’s not just a one-month payment, nothing is ever that black and white.

 

Thank you for the nice reply - it makes sense that the increase will be to help pay for the wireless system. Will the Emerald come out with whole ship wireless coverage?

[blder2]

If your business depends on that much internet access i would check into Cingular or some other Satellite access to see if it would be feasible. I think it's cingular but could be another phone company, but i do remember it's $59.99 a month but if you think that's expensive for just a cruise consider it's use when not on a cruise and, it can be charged as an expense on you every day business dealings.....

[Admiral Horatio Nelson]

If your business depends on that much internet access i would check into Cingular or some other Satellite access to see if it would be feasible. I think it's cingular but could be another phone company, but i do remember it's $59.99 a month but if you think that's expensive for just a cruise consider it's use when not on a cruise and, it can be charged as an expense on you every day business dealings.....

 

That service works through the cellphone signal not through satellite. However, if you go on a ship with the new cellphone mast, you might have something! However, I would make sure to check the roaming charges as that could get very expensive.

[j!m]

hey armandpaul

 

do you think you could have joan, your "pissed off" wife give mr ferrari a call for me. why cant he sell me a car for the same price as toyota? its highway robbery what he charges.

 

if you dont wanna pay, dont play

[ccrain]

Now what is happening is MTN is taking over the management of the cafes, like on Carnival, NCL and HAL. So there will be a Cafe Manager working in there full time. This has only happened on three ships at the moment. However it will eventually happen on the whole fleet. It will improve the experience for you people trust me. If they adapt the system they have on my new cruise line it will be a very nice system indeed.

 

So that's what happened on the Dawn? On the 12/1 cruise, Princess, or at least a uniformed member of the crew, was aiding passengers in the internet cafe. Now we've been told by later cruisers that a 3rd party has taken over the internet cafe functions.

 

Looks like Princess is starting to outsource a lot of internal functions.

 

 

The price has increased I am told to pay for the changes made to the wireless system. I am told they are trying to make the ships all wireless (meaning all areas onboard), something that costs money, like I said earlier. This all has to be paid for, it’s not just a one-month payment, nothing is ever that black and white.

 

Making the entire ship wireless would not be cheap. That much metal will attenuate 2-3GHz signals quite a bit requiring many more access points and associated cabling - I don't think repeaters would work that well - with its higher labor intensive install costs.

[ccrain]

Yes I am still at sea, right now as it happens. I am checking to see what's happening with the prices.

 

Why is the internet service in the older Sun class ships much "worse" or "not as good" as the Coral or newer ships? Is it outdated RCV equipment.

 

I've noticed this on Mexican Riviera and Alaskan cruises. The Sun class is almost useless above Vancouver, whereas the Island did pretty well.

 

By outsourcing, will the new contractor upgrade the connections to improve lag and bandwidth or are they just operators and Princess provides the equipment?