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VOOM! Internet - is it worth the cost?


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Seeing that VOOM! Internet will be available on my upcoming cruise in Sept.... and the offer of 30% off interests me....

 

But knowing the past RCI Internet has been sorry, to say the least.... I am wondering if VOOM! Internet is worth the cost....

 

I'd use it to text &/or email my spouse on board (so we can find each other), also others sailing with us might get it too...so we could all keep in touch... plus I'd like to be able to keep in touch with the family back home (I have an elderly mom).

 

 

Those of you that have used it.... what are your thoughts?

 

THANKS in advance.

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I had VOOM on the Anthem and it worked great. It was a free perk for me. I wouldn't have spend any money on it because I prefer to disconnect from the world while I am on vacation. So whether it is worth it is really up to the individual.

Edited by Zigggypup
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We had a mixed experience on Anthem in our cabin, probably because of where the nearest router was in relation to our cabin. With that in mind, it was a solid service that's worth the cost if you think you'll use it. Obviously, if you don't think you'll make use of it it's not worth the money. :)

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Awesome! Just what I wanted to hear!!! THANKS!!

 

So one more question.... I just put my phone in Airplane mode & turn on wifi, right? No need to call my carrier?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Edited by SRV FAN
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Awesome! Just what I wanted to hear!!! THANKS!!

 

So one more question.... I just put my phone in Airplane mode & turn on wifi, right? No need to call my carrier?

Correct.

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Just saw on Cruise Critics Facebook page the differences... The surf & stream is for video uses including facetime... The surf only is for email, facebook.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

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I'm trying to understand the different packages:

Voom Surf Voyage & Voom Surf & Stream

 

I'm wanting to email, Facebook and Facetime, any idea which one to choose?

Facetime requires Stream.

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Seeing that VOOM! Internet will be available on my upcoming cruise in Sept.... and the offer of 30% off interests me....

 

But knowing the past RCI Internet has been sorry, to say the least.... I am wondering if VOOM! Internet is worth the cost....

 

 

All of the comments here are from folks who were on ships with real Voom - it could very well be that your sailing on Liberty (I'm assuming that's what you are asking about) will still have that "sorry" WiFi from the past - as of now it does not have the speedy Voom. However, you do get 50% off with the current promo (current price is $20/day one device, but $9.99/day with Voom promo).

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If you want to text, which plan do you need to get?

 

The plan says 24 hours, so when you board the ship and log on at 5 pm, does the 24 hours start then?

 

Do you have to buy it for the entire cruise like you do with the beverage plans? Or can you buy it for like day 2 and then day 4?

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If you want to text, which plan do you need to get?

 

The plan says 24 hours, so when you board the ship and log on at 5 pm, does the 24 hours start then?

 

Do you have to buy it for the entire cruise like you do with the beverage plans? Or can you buy it for like day 2 and then day 4?

 

The 24 hours start at the time of purchase.

 

You can buy for single 24 hours, but those rates are usually higher than the package rates where you purchase for the entire cruise.

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When on Ovation last week we tried out the 'SURF' package - speeds on this are awful, it's barely fast enough to load up pictures on facebook. It just about suffices I suppose but do not expect to be doing anything that is even remotely demanding in terms of internet bandwidth. The speed is quite severely capped on this one, reminding me of the old dial-up speeds from years gone by.

 

The 'SURF + STREAM' package is the one you really want for internet speeds more like broadband you get at home. This can easily allow streaming of video.

 

Looking at the differences in prices I don't think I'd ever go for the lower SURF package anymore, it's just too painful an experience compared to the faster service.

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When on Ovation last week we tried out the 'SURF' package - speeds on this are awful, it's barely fast enough to load up pictures on facebook. It just about suffices I suppose but do not expect to be doing anything that is even remotely demanding in terms of internet bandwidth. The speed is quite severely capped on this one, reminding me of the old dial-up speeds from years gone by.

 

The 'SURF + STREAM' package is the one you really want for internet speeds more like broadband you get at home. This can easily allow streaming of video.

 

Looking at the differences in prices I don't think I'd ever go for the lower SURF package anymore, it's just too painful an experience compared to the faster service.

It may very well be that the internet performance experiences on Ovation are not representative of Voom while she is still north of France. We need more info from when she gets into the O3b full coverage area.

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It may very well be that the internet performance experiences on Ovation are not representative of Voom while she is still north of France. We need more info from when she gets into the O3b full coverage area.

 

I've got friends on there now who currently in Spain.... they went for the SURF package and it's still just as slow. The problem is not with Voom itself, it's the deliberate throttling done on that package by Royal - it's very carefully designed to be stop any possibility of even poor quality streaming to the extent that loading any high graphical content page takes much longer than you'd expect. I get the feeling they've essentially set up SURF to be around the same bandwidth as the old internet system.

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I've got friends on there now who currently in Spain.... they went for the SURF package and it's still just as slow. The problem is not with Voom itself, it's the deliberate throttling done on that package by Royal - it's very carefully designed to be stop any possibility of even poor quality streaming to the extent that loading any high graphical content page takes much longer than you'd expect. I get the feeling they've essentially set up SURF to be around the same bandwidth as the old internet system.

Thanks for the update, I was curious about how they were going to do the throttling.

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We are on her just now and in Gijon. It's still fast on my iPad and no problem with loading pictures to here or Facebook.

I bought the full weeks worth but not the streaming one, I can connect one device only at a time. But if I wanted to use my phone instead, so long as I log out on the iPad from the wifi I can log back in on my phone.

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