Voom on Allure

With the Voom Internet, can you use Facebook, games and call while your on board? Please no judging posts, just answers. Thank you.

With the Voom Internet, can you use Facebook, games and call while your on board? Please no judging posts, just answers. Thank you.

Yes.

While VOOM is good on Allure, compared to land based internet, it has a very high latency so that interactive games, while they will work, will be fairly slow to respond.

Never used it to play games, but everything else worked very well. I was able to post, text, call, FaceTime, Email; along with sending photos and videos. As long as I didn't try to send to many photos or long videos at the same time it worked great.

We never had a problem at all.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Facebook, email is just as fast as on land. Playing games like Game of war on the Kindle was quite delayed and kept crashing. I tried Skype and it worked fine.

Do I need to get the streaming also for FB etc or just the wifi?

Do I need to get the streaming also for FB etc or just the wifi?

If you are just looking at posts and photos on FB, you can get by with Surf only.

Do I need to get the streaming also for FB etc or just the wifi?

Unless you are D or higher, it is cheaper to get the Stream package pre-cruise than buy Surf on board.

I was able to play FB games and stream shows from my Amazon account while falling asleep each night with no problems.

You can stream yourself during the sail-a-ways on the PTZ tv cams, that works very well. It's pretty funny seeing yourself on the ship through the webcam.

With the Voom Internet, can you use Facebook, games and call while your on board? Please no judging posts, just answers. Thank you.

We used VOOM on our last cruise on Navigator. It was the best internet experience we have had on our 23 cruises.

I used the surf pacakge, and I found it very reliable, not surprisingly fast, but acceptable enough to scroll down on facebook, upload pictures to Instagram, and share video clips thru WhatsApp.

Now my question: who plays video games or watch movies on a cruise? Stay home instead.

We were on the Allure last December and bought the Surf+Stream package and everything worked fine. Even our mobile company's VoIP app worked fine, so we could our families without using roaming. Latency was around 120-180ms roundtrip to the USA. It may sound like a lot (ok, it is if you compare to a land connection), but a regular satellite connection has a ton more (like > 500ms).

Latency was around 120-180ms roundtrip to the USA.

The best reported ping is just under 200ms with O3B internet (which is what Allure has). Any speed app that reports anything well under that, may not be reporting a realistic figure.

Anthem only offers the combination package. All I wanted was surf... But had to buy both.

I always had a company phone, but just got my own so I don't know much about the pricing other than I get free texts and calls. Are calls with the surf and stream free? Do I have to configure my phone? I just don't want to get a surprise big bill from Verizon.

Was on Allure in August and Voom was fantastic.

Anthem only offers the combination package. All I wanted was surf... But had to buy both.

 

I always had a company phone, but just got my own so I don't know much about the pricing other than I get free texts and calls. Are calls with the surf and stream free? Do I have to configure my phone? I just don't want to get a surprise big bill from Verizon.

You need to check your phone and enable WiFI calling if it's not enabled already. That way you can text and make/receive voice calls while on the ship's (or any) WiFi with no charges from the cell carrier. Call the cell carrier for help if you cannot find the settings. This is a one time configuration change that you don't have to mess with once it's done.

Do I have to configure my phone? I just don't want to get a surprise big bill from Verizon.

Call the cell carrier for help if you cannot find the settings. This is a one time configuration change that you don't have to mess with once it's done.

In addition, since you mentioned Verizon, I'll mention that you may need to call Verizon to make a small change to your account. WiFi Calling requires that HD Voice be enabled which may require human intervention on their side to set up depending on how your account is configured.

Thanks for the replies! I'll call Verizon today.

Anthem only offers the combination package. All I wanted was surf... But had to buy both.

.

VOOM naming might a bit confusing but there are two triers of service - Surf (only available on board) and Stream (named Surf and Stream which is not a combination, it's just a name).Currently, pricing is such that Stream precruise is cheaper than Surf onboard, so while Surf might be enough for most people's needs, it makes no sense to buy it when you can get Stream cheaper.

Thanks for the replies! I'll call Verizon today.

After you set it up try at home what you'll be doing on the ship. Put phone in plane mode, turn on WiFi only and call/text to ensure it works.,

If we all have iPhones, what do we need to turn off while on the ship so we don't get charged cellular roaming fees? Cellular data or just data roaming? Will our phones automatically use the wifi to send texts?

If we all have iPhones, what do we need to turn off while on the ship so we don't get charged cellular roaming fees? Cellular data or just data roaming? Will our phones automatically use the wifi to send texts?

I would turn off cellular data to be safe. The phones will use WiFi for texts if you have WiFI calling enabled or you are using an internet based texting program like iMessage.

If we all have iPhones, what do we need to turn off while on the ship so we don't get charged cellular roaming fees?

To be safe, put phone into airplane mode and turn on WiFi only.