janice2348 Posted February 14, 2012 #1 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Don't mean to sound cheap, but my DH wants to be able to surf the net without paying for the wifi onboard. Personally I think the prices are ridiculous. Is it possible to get free wifi by chance in your cabin or do you have to sign up to get it? Is paying for the wifi worth it? Like I said, I'm not cheap, but I am money conscious. No flaming, please!! Thanks for any and all suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanJ Posted February 14, 2012 #2 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Someone posted a link to a device that would supposedly steal the signal, but I won't repost that here. Other than that, no, you have to pay to access it. You can sometimes get free wifi signals at some ports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YubaSutter Posted February 14, 2012 #3 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Don't mean to sound cheap, but my DH wants to be able to surf the net without paying for the wifi onboard. Personally I think the prices are ridiculous. Is it possible to get free wifi by chance in your cabin or do you have to sign up to get it? Is paying for the wifi worth it? Like I said, I'm not cheap, but I am money conscious. No flaming, please!! Thanks for any and all suggestions. No free wifi in cabins. If you think the prices are ridiculous, the. It's probably not worth it. In over 20 cruises, I've never used the Internet on board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sail7seas Posted February 14, 2012 #4 Share Posted February 14, 2012 (edited) There is no free WiFi on ships except for some loyalty programs for which you would qualify after a certain number of days/cruises on some cruise lines. Some people have reported they picked up free Wifi signals from their verandas when in port. I tried in San Juan and St. Thomas and was not able to get a signal other than the ship's. We always buy a ship's internet package as we cannot be totally out of touch on our cruises. They are pricey but worth it to us. Edited February 14, 2012 by sail7seas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cb at sea Posted February 14, 2012 #5 Share Posted February 14, 2012 (edited) TO access the wifi, you have to PAY for the password. There is no "free" wifi on ships, unless (on some lines) you're in a suite. And, don't expect it to be "high-speed"...it's not! There are spots in ports where wifi can be accessed....coffee shops/restaurants, etc....the crew can point him in the right direction. Edited February 14, 2012 by cb at sea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janice2348 Posted February 14, 2012 Author #6 Share Posted February 14, 2012 The reason he wants the wifi is he "surfs the net" while drinking his morning coffee. I told him he may have to "adjust". It's more of a habit. Personally, I can live without it. I didn't think there was anything free. Thank you all for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul929207 Posted February 14, 2012 #7 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Not while the ship is at sea. The only wifi network is the ship's and they will charge. You can find places in most ports offering free wife. McDonald's does and Starbucks. If you are interested, ask your cabin steward or wait staff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceMuzz Posted February 14, 2012 #8 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Don't mean to sound cheap, but my DH wants to be able to surf the net without paying for the wifi onboard. Personally I think the prices are ridiculous. Is it possible to get free wifi by chance in your cabin or do you have to sign up to get it? Is paying for the wifi worth it? Like I said, I'm not cheap, but I am money conscious. No flaming, please!! Thanks for any and all suggestions. The Internet / WIFI prices are not ridiculous. What is ridiculous is the hundreds of millions of dollars the WIFI company had to pay NASA to build 24 satellites, launch them into outer space, and continue to maintain them in a geo-synchronous orbit around the earth every day. When you think of just a few hundred or a few thousand passengers on a ship using those multi-million dollar satellites at any given time, it is a true wonder that satellite time costs less than $1 per minute. Not only does somebody have to pay for all that technology, but the companies who invested all of those millions of dollars are hoping to make a profit for their trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davechipp74 Posted February 14, 2012 #9 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Don't mean to sound cheap, but my DH wants to be able to surf the net without paying for the wifi onboard. Personally I think the prices are ridiculous. Is it possible to get free wifi by chance in your cabin or do you have to sign up to get it? Is paying for the wifi worth it? Like I said, I'm not cheap, but I am money conscious. No flaming, please!! Thanks for any and all suggestions. you could always bring a wifi decoder, it will decode the 10 digit alpha-numeric code that most cruise lines use as the host signal. i'd equate this to bringing a rum-runner on board. you also need to be a bit computer savvy. dont flame me, for using legal technology, there a 10,000 threads on how to sneak alcohol on board, maybe i should start one on how to sneak wifi on board Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janice2348 Posted February 14, 2012 Author #10 Share Posted February 14, 2012 you could always bring a wifi decoder, it will decode the 10 digit alpha-numeric code that most cruise lines use as the host signal. i'd equate this to bringing a rum-runner on board. you also need to be a bit computer savvy.dont flame me, for using legal technology, there a 10,000 threads on how to sneak alcohol on board, maybe i should start one on how to sneak wifi on board Now that would come in handy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitty9 Posted February 15, 2012 #11 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Don't mean to sound cheap, but my DH wants to be able to surf the net without paying for the wifi onboard. Personally I think the prices are ridiculous. Is it possible to get free wifi by chance in your cabin or do you have to sign up to get it? Is paying for the wifi worth it? Like I said, I'm not cheap, but I am money conscious. No flaming, please!! Thanks for any and all suggestions. Have you been on a cruise before? The reason I ask is, surfing the web on a ship is not really surfing, it's more like a slow crawl. Computer usage is VERY, VERY slow. It can take 2 minutes or more to download just one page. Heck, once I tried to download a photo for an email and it took 20 minutes. Wifi on ships is even slower than the old fashioned dial up modems we used to use. I think it's probably best for hubby to break the habit this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefly333 Posted February 15, 2012 #12 Share Posted February 15, 2012 I bought 5 hours for $12 in Cozumel good for 6 months they said. I still have almost 3 hours left to use next time Im there .. in March. You can buy time cheap in the ports .. or I could play the game, buy coffee in the port and get a hour of time. Id rather just buy the time in bulk and stay on as long as I want in a internet cafe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sail7seas Posted February 15, 2012 #13 Share Posted February 15, 2012 you could always bring a wifi decoder, it will decode the 10 digit alpha-numeric code that most cruise lines use as the host signal. i'd equate this to bringing a rum-runner on board. you also need to be a bit computer savvy.dont flame me, for using legal technology, there a 10,000 threads on how to sneak alcohol on board, maybe i should start one on how to sneak wifi on board Really? That is legal to do? :eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
circuitrider Posted February 15, 2012 #14 Share Posted February 15, 2012 For any american ports (Key West, St. Thomas, maybe Puerto Rico) just bring a smartphone that can tether to your laptop. Make sure you have plenty of data available. Worked great for me. There used to be a way to get very cheap internet on board, think it was about $40 total for all you can use (did this on a transatlantic a few years back). You need T-Mobile, have a data plan, AND add international data to it. Technically, it says it's for email only. We were able to use it for web browsing too, though most of the usage was for email. No additional charge. Now, just because it worked for us years ago doesn't mean it'd work for you now. But if you already have T-Mobile, might be worth looking into (note, I was able to add the Blackberry international data even though I was using an iphone at the time). Now, this is slow cellular data, speed is Edge or slower (i.e., dialup). However, data on the ship's wifi is about the same speed, so... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyShiva Posted February 15, 2012 #15 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Really?That is legal to do? :eek: Oh, it's allllll over illegal... Just depends which laws the ship cares to apply if they get upset. The ship has its choice of federal, state, and international laws to choose from if they get really annoyed by the theft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davechipp74 Posted February 15, 2012 #16 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Oh, it's allllll over illegal... Just depends which laws the ship cares to apply if they get upset. The ship has its choice of federal, state, and international laws to choose from if they get really annoyed by the theft. its no more illegal than bringing a rum-runner on board, perfectly legal to own, and use in the entire western hemisphere. if someone (the host in particular) wishes to broadcast the password over the open air, and i have a legal device witch can decode it, no crime has been committed. sorry ladyshiva you have been grossly misinformed. i have been hacking computers and networks since it was called phone-freaking (over 25 years) in fact im am employed part time to teach major companys what they can do to better protect themselves from people like me, so i can assure you i am very familiar with all kinds of laws. none of witch apply here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhnsnfamily Posted February 15, 2012 #17 Share Posted February 15, 2012 The Internet / WIFI prices are not ridiculous. What is ridiculous is the hundreds of millions of dollars the WIFI company had to pay NASA to build 24 satellites, launch them into outer space, and continue to maintain them in a geo-synchronous orbit around the earth every day.When you think of just a few hundred or a few thousand passengers on a ship using those multi-million dollar satellites at any given time, it is a true wonder that satellite time costs less than $1 per minute. Not only does somebody have to pay for all that technology, but the companies who invested all of those millions of dollars are hoping to make a profit for their trouble. That is so true ... thanks for the perspective! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njhorseman Posted February 15, 2012 #18 Share Posted February 15, 2012 its no more illegal than bringing a rum-runner on board, perfectly legal to own, and use in the entire western hemisphere.if someone (the host in particular) wishes to broadcast the password over the open air, and i have a legal device witch can decode it, no crime has been committed. sorry ladyshiva you have been grossly misinformed. i have been hacking computers and networks since it was called phone-freaking (over 25 years) in fact im am employed part time to teach major companys what they can do to better protect themselves from people like me, so i can assure you i am very familiar with all kinds of laws. none of witch apply here It may be legal to own the device, but using it to decode a password that the provider normally sells sounds like theft of service to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottbee Posted February 15, 2012 #19 Share Posted February 15, 2012 you could always bring a wifi decoder, it will decode the 10 digit alpha-numeric code that most cruise lines use as the host signal. i'd equate this to bringing a rum-runner on board. you also need to be a bit computer savvy.dont flame me, for using legal technology, there a 10,000 threads on how to sneak alcohol on board, maybe i should start one on how to sneak wifi on board The signal (WiFi) isn't encrypted, the proxy only allows passing traffic from authenticated connections. Likely it authenticates a session (after your user/password) by tracking the MAC address of the wireless device, so I suspect, you could spoof someone else's MAC address once they were connected, but until they disappeared, it would be hard to not lose half the packets transmitted. Hopefully this was a simple enough explanation. if not, let me know, I can elaborate Your Computer's Wifi --- WiFi access point -- proxy/router -- satellite internet connection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanJ Posted February 15, 2012 #20 Share Posted February 15, 2012 its no more illegal than bringing a rum-runner on board, perfectly legal to own, and use in the entire western hemisphere.if someone (the host in particular) wishes to broadcast the password over the open air, and i have a legal device witch can decode it, no crime has been committed. sorry ladyshiva you have been grossly misinformed. i have been hacking computers and networks since it was called phone-freaking (over 25 years) in fact im am employed part time to teach major companys what they can do to better protect themselves from people like me, so i can assure you i am very familiar with all kinds of laws. none of witch apply here What a pathetic attempt at self justification. I mean, you can't come up with a better comparison than rum-runners? See, what you are advocating isn't like a rum runner. It's like walking into the ship's store and taking a bottle of booze and not paying for it. You are taking something the cruise line pays for and stealing it. Same as their bandwith. By your logic, I should be able to walk up to your house, smash a window, go inside and take whatever I felt like. I mean, just because you put a lock on the place doesn't mean I can't use whatever device I want to bypass that lock. After all, owning a hammer or crowbar is legal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chipmaster Posted February 15, 2012 #21 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Few things are truely free in life :D As others have said internet at sea is NOT one of them. Internet is dreadfully slow and I can't imagine why anyone would want to crawl on the WWW while on the ship, but to each his own. Don't mean to sound cheap, but my DH wants to be able to surf the net without paying for the wifi onboard. Personally I think the prices are ridiculous. Is it possible to get free wifi by chance in your cabin or do you have to sign up to get it? Is paying for the wifi worth it? Like I said, I'm not cheap, but I am money conscious. No flaming, please!! Thanks for any and all suggestions. Really, you confusing the 10 digit WEP encryption of the signal with your password/login account and getting free are two totally different things. From what I know there is NO encrpytion of the wifi its just like at starbucks, mcdonalds or other place, the difference is that once you hook in you need some personal information for billing to your cc. You really get paid for consulting on computers and hacking :D you could always bring a wifi decoder, it will decode the 10 digit alpha-numeric code that most cruise lines use as the host signal. i'd equate this to bringing a rum-runner on board. you also need to be a bit computer savvy.dont flame me, for using legal technology, there a 10,000 threads on how to sneak alcohol on board, maybe i should start one on how to sneak wifi on board Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planktin Posted February 15, 2012 #22 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Is the wifi decoder sort of like free to air satellite receivers? That would be interesting... (We had an FTA a loooong time ago and it was wonderful! Can't now because we are surrounded by trees :() If it is, I can see where it would be legal- even if it's a grayish area. Thanks for the info! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davechipp74 Posted February 15, 2012 #23 Share Posted February 15, 2012 i have brought a wifi decoder on 6 different cruises on 2 different cruise lines, and it has worked each time. i would not equate a wifi decoder with a home invasion i have been paid on more then one occasion to 'break into' a secured computer network if my moral compass points a few degrees off of N i have to live with that, not you :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyShiva Posted February 15, 2012 #24 Share Posted February 15, 2012 i would not equate a wifi decoder with a home invasion i have been paid on more then one occasion to 'break into' a secured computer network if my moral compass points a few degrees off of N i have to live with that, not you :D It's interesting you state you've been PAID to break in... that either means Russian mafia-type employment, or you were authorized to TEST someone's network... Being paid to play Johnny Long for a company is a bit different than stealing to get your own connection for your own use. *laughing* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BallFour4 Posted February 15, 2012 #25 Share Posted February 15, 2012 It may be legal to own the device, but using it to decode a password that the provider normally sells sounds like theft of service to me. Because it is. And they know it. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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