XCOM global MiFi (internet at sea)

[jbiz]

anyone use an XCOM Global MiFi onboard while at sea (on cellular at sea)?

 

i know my AT&T blackberry works while at sea (cellular at sea), and normally XCOM MiFi's have an AT&T sim with roaming enabled as well, so in theory it should work just fine..

 

curious if anyone has tried it?

 

I asked them (XCOM), and they have no idea.

[CapeCodCruiser]

Data is very, very slow & non existent a lot of the time. I was just on a cruise with my global droid and a global data package - most of the time there was no data connection.

[Wolfbay]

I am also interested if anyone has used an XM com global MIFI onboard a cruise ship for internet?

[jbiz]

I am also interested if anyone has used an XM com global MIFI onboard a cruise ship for internet?

 

I tried. It didn't work at all

[kcherrix123]

We were curious too. Any experience on the Jewel in the Caribbean? Hubs has Driod Global and I have iPhone with Global activated and we have international data plans. Anyone one know about this?

[jbiz]

We were curious too. Any experience on the Jewel in the Caribbean? Hubs has Driod Global and I have iPhone with Global activated and we have international data plans. Anyone one know about this?

 

well as for the xcom, i was on the 9 day NYC to NYC Gem to the caribbean and it didnt work ever. ended up just buying internet time on board and using wifi (i think it was $100 for every 250 or 280 minutes with any given onboard promos)

[jdvmd]

Doesn't work at all.

[azappraiser]

I'm turning my phone off at the pier... I'll be on VACATION!

[kcherrix123]

I'd like to be able to stream Pandora on my iPad and if I don't keep up with work email and put out little fires when they pop-up, I'll have to go through 1000's of emails and firestorms when I get back. Plus we have a quad brother and a sick dog and want to be notified if there are any emergencies.

[mking8288]

Whether you are using ship's internet or your advanced devices or smartphones, etc. - it is relayed via the satellite towers owned & runned by MTN installed on the NCL fleet, it has very, very, very high latency and narrow bandwidth - that is designed to support voice & texting, it does NOT have support nor allow streaming or high-speed (as in "slow" DSL) links nor is VPN assured without sudden interruptions or signal cutoffs, etc.

 

You have no access to tech support and if you manage to call your own IT help desk back home, it will cost you $$$ to stay connected - it is a cruise and switch to vacation mode. Keep calls to a mininum and use SMS (50 cents to send, 5 cents to receive - for most US-based carriers) for emergencies.

 

I switched our HTC phones to global mode, already unlocked and used a prepaid travel Sim to avoid unplanned data charges - calls were forwarded so it's incoming pre-"filtered" or some diverted to Google voice. Email accounts were either on "vacation-mode" and/or "out-of-office" status and if I could, I will "process" them when I have access to free Wi-Fi if there is "free" time available & a working connection.

 

Depending on the ports - Starbuck is often a good place to stop in to catch up & download to the iPad (or Nexus 7) for later reading, or spend $5 or $10 for some paid WiFi time, far cheaper than NCL's charges.

 

These traveling hotspots are cute and nice, but on a cruiseship - it IS a nice paperweight.

[kcherrix123]

We can manage with the ships internet. One or two days they offer discounted plans... this isn't our first NCL cruise, LOL. Just looking to see if there was a better alternative... there doesn't seem to be, oh well. Not worth all the fuss. I have no need for "tech support" or "help desks", I build computers and networks for the DoD but thank you for the information. :D