I-Pad Reception

[DeepFreeze63]

Hi:

We'll be on the Mariner twice this year :) with cabins at about mid-ship on Decks 7 and 8. Anyone have experience with I-Pad reception in these areas?

:confused:

Jim C

[RachelG]

Well, I am typing from an iPad in 764right now. No problems.

[chicagogal]

Hi:

We'll be on the Mariner twice this year :) with cabins at about mid-ship on Decks 7 and 8. Anyone have experience with I-Pad reception in these areas?

:confused:

Jim C

 

Mine worked ok in 776.

[Hambagahle]

I think Orpington T said he had problems with iPad WiFi in his Horizon suite in November ... maybe he can tell us? I am also interested since we have an aft suite in March.

[OrpingtonT]

I think Orpington T said he had problems with iPad WiFi in his Horizon suite in November ... maybe he can tell us? I am also interested since we have an aft suite in March.

 

I am not sure what the problem was. whether the WiFi, the IPad or me. It was the first time I had ever used one. However, without assistance, I managed quite happily to connect, read my e-mails and Cruise Critic comments in my suite (8103), but I never got the hang of sending. The connection would drop. I would go to the computer room and, being aware of incoming messages, found it easy to quickly send on their computers.

[SuzCruise]

We had the same experience in 825. Not sure if it was the iPad, or just a problem with reception dropping.

[rallydave]

We had the same experience in 825. Not sure if it was the iPad, or just a problem with reception dropping.

 

For all those having reception issues with their ipad or other tablet or smart phone. The wifi hardware and antennas on those types of devices are not as good as those on a full laptop so you won't get as good reception of the wifi signal as using a laptop. You can check this out for yourself at home if you have both pieces of hardware. Open your laptops wifi and see how many routers you see. Doesn't matter if you can connect to them or not. Then open up the wifi on your tablet or smartphone and you will see fewer routers.

 

This is one of the reasons for having issues with wifi on your tablets. Shipboard wifi is notorious for not being real strong and slow. This increases the number of bad connections and drops. The poorer strength receivers on tablets and smart phones adds to these issues.

 

Right now my laptop wifi is showing 10 routers while my iphone is showing 2 and sometimes 3 and only the strongest. Hope this helps understand tablet wifi issues.

[OrpingtonT]

For all those having reception issues with their ipad or other tablet or smart phone. The wifi hardware and antennas on those types of devices are not as good as those on a full laptop so you won't get as good reception of the wifi signal as using a laptop. You can check this out for yourself at home if you have both pieces of hardware. Open your laptops wifi and see how many routers you see. Doesn't matter if you can connect to them or not. Then open up the wifi on your tablet or smartphone and you will see fewer routers.

 

This is one of the reasons for having issues with wifi on your tablets. Shipboard wifi is notorious for not being real strong and slow. This increases the number of bad connections and drops. The poorer strength receivers on tablets and smart phones adds to these issues.

 

Right now my laptop wifi is showing 10 routers while my iphone is showing 2 and sometimes 3 and only the strongest. Hope this helps understand tablet wifi issues.

 

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks, Rallydave.

[cruiseej]

The other issue is that people with iPads can connect -- but then find their login dropped. I believe Regent's system is set to log people off automatically, and without warning, to prevent people from running up large Internet bills because they fail to logoff their laptops. (I'd guess many people simply close their browser window, or close their laptop, instead of affirmatively logging off as they say you should. I find myself doing this, because I get free Internet, so I don't care if I waste a few minutes of connection time that way I did when I had to pay.)

 

So if you have an iPad, and you download your mail and start reading through it, or if you visit Cruise Critic and start writing a long post about your day, the connection logout can easily occur occur before you've finished writing and click send on your email or click submit for your post. This is why we have people writing that they wrote a long post and it "disappeared" -- they were actually logged off from Regent's system without knowing it.

 

The way to avoid this problem is to make sure you're forcing your laptop or iPad to access the Internet fairly frequently. For example, on an iPad, click the icon to refresh your email, forcing it to connect to your email service to see if you have new messages. Or, if you're in a web browser on an iPad or laptop writing a post for CC, open a second window or tab, and every couple minutes, switch to it and refresh the page. This activity will prevent you from being logged off automatically.

 

(The above strategy applies for those with free Internet; if you're paying for your minutes, you should try to do most of your writing offline: download your email or open your CC threads, logoff, write your reply/ies while offline in whatever word processing program you use, log back on, copy and paste your reply/ies, send, and logoff.)

 

-- Eric

 

-- Eric

[DeepFreeze63]

Thanks for the info; I've copied it for the cruises.

Jim C

[kingfoot]

The other issue is that people with iPads can connect -- but then find their login dropped. I believe Regent's system is set to log people off automatically, and without warning, to prevent people from running up large Internet bills because they fail to logoff their laptops. (I'd guess many people simply close their browser window, or close their laptop, instead of affirmatively logging off as they say you should. I find myself doing this, because I get free Internet, so I don't care if I waste a few minutes of connection time that way I did when I had to pay.)

 

So if you have an iPad, and you download your mail and start reading through it, or if you visit Cruise Critic and start writing a long post about your day, the connection logout can easily occur occur before you've finished writing and click send on your email or click submit for your post. This is why we have people writing that they wrote a long post and it "disappeared" -- they were actually logged off from Regent's system without knowing it.

 

The way to avoid this problem is to make sure you're forcing your laptop or iPad to access the Internet fairly frequently. For example, on an iPad, click the icon to refresh your email, forcing it to connect to your email service to see if you have new messages. Or, if you're in a web browser on an iPad or laptop writing a post for CC, open a second window or tab, and every couple minutes, switch to it and refresh the page. This activity will prevent you from being logged off automatically.

 

(The above strategy applies for those with free Internet; if you're paying for your minutes, you should try to do most of your writing offline: download your email or open your CC threads, logoff, write your reply/ies while offline in whatever word processing program you use, log back on, copy and paste your reply/ies, send, and logoff.)

 

-- Eric

 

-- Eric

 

Another issue to be aware is the autologin feature of iPads. When your credentials are lost (you need to log in again), by default the iPad scrolls up a special login screen. This seems to create problems sometimes with the MTN network. When on board, I just set the mtndsi network to disable autologin. (Click on the blue arrow next to mtndsi in the WiFi settings, set autologin to "OFF"). This will make the iPad behave more like a laptop. When you need to login again, the iPad will just redirect the browser to the login page, rather than slide up the authentication panel. It has helped me before on Mariner. Try it and see if it helps....

[ChatKat in Ca.]

I was so frustrated with the ipad in my suite I returned it to the Butler and used my own laptop. When I told the guy in the computer room he said that I should have brought it up to him and he'd have changed a setting so it would not drop the wifi. It was Regent's ipad

[OrpingtonT]

I am impressed. Really good advice, Eric, kingfoot and Chatcat.

[Hambagahle]

I am too! Impressed!

 

Dave - how do I see the routers?? I assume I go into settings on the iPad but then? And on the computer? we have both WiFi and hard wired computers here at home. You may find me running to you for help!

 

kingfoot and Eric - many thanks as well!

Gerry

[rallydave]

I am too! Impressed!

 

Dave - how do I see the routers?? I assume I go into settings on the iPad but then? And on the computer? we have both WiFi and hard wired computers here at home. You may find me running to you for help!

 

kingfoot and Eric - many thanks as well!

Gerry

 

No worries Gerry, I'll be glad to help as much as I can. Have never used and Ipad but, should not have an issue seeing the router. Used that phrase as I thought it would be understood but, alas, not the best of descriptions.

 

I'll try another explanation. When you want to connect to wifi, you open (click on ) the wifi icon and when it opens, you see several names of wireless routers (assuming there are others close to home; on Regent you will see only the Regent one). You choose which one you want to connect to and log in with your password which protects your data from others. Hope that helps and sure in person it will be a piece of cake to show you exactly what that crazy American is talking about.

[cruiseej]

Gerry, just to get the semantics correct, in case you consult the onboard IT guy, what Rallydave is describing is mostly correct -- but they're not actually routers. When you open your WiFi connection, the name you see is a wireless network. The one on Mariner is called "mtndsi". A wireless network is made up of one or more wireless access points (often referred to as hotspots) -- a series of little devices embedded around the ship to transmit and receive the WiFi signals from passenger wireless devices. All the wireless access points form a network, and the network is connected to a device -- a router -- which, via the satellite, connects the ship's network to the Internet.

 

Short version: just call it a wireless network, not a router.

 

Gerry, you asked how you'd see it on an iPad, and you guessed right. Click the Settings app, then on the Settings screen, tap Wi-Fi under Settings on the left side, and then on the resulting Wi-Fi Networks screen, you'll see any networks it finds under the Choose a Network heading.

 

 

Thus ends tonight's tech enrichment lecture. ;) Sorry if that's more than anyone wants to knowQ

 

-- Eric

[rallydave]

Thanks for the clarification Eric. I couldn't come up with the correct name or the pictureori you so kindly posted. Hope this help Gerry and others see some of the possible issues with wifi on Regent as well as at other "hotspots". Now I know what to look for if helping others with their i-pads. Very similar, as would be expected to an i-phone settings menu. I do have an i-phone so working with an ipad should be a piece of cake.

 

Thanks again

[catenai]

In 837, my iPad works fine. Last time on the ship on deck 10, maybe 1064 or thereabouts, I had spotty reception. Computer room person said it was probably my location.

For those who use Face Time, it is choppy and freezes up. I really like to use Face Time with friends who have iPads and I was planning to show them around the ship, but that won't work.

Because typing on a keyboard is much faster, when I want to send emails I do go to a computer on deck 6, where I am right now.

[cruiseej]

For those who aren't Apple product users, FaceTime is similar in what it does to a video chat over Skype -- so those who want to use Skype for face-to-face communications can expect somewhat similar results to what catenai reports.

 

-- Eric

[shuguley]

I love to sit in the Observation Lounge with my notebook, surf the Internet, read books, enjoy a cool drink and take in the view. This next cruise I was thinking of leaving the notebook at home and just taking my Kindle Fire.

 

Just wondering if anyone had tried to use an iPad, or similar device, in the Observation Lounge? Any help would be appreciated.