TEP or Mifi wireless hotspot?

[janetcbl]

Oh boy, did this get out of hand! Of course you need a cell tower or such; I was referring to the tep only connecting to the tep network which you set when you get the hotspot. It will not connect to any other network, like the ship's wifi. Therefore you do not run the risk of huge costs. It only connects to its own network. (Of course, if you want another network, you just change from the tep to whatever you choose on the settings on your computer, etc.)

[Meanee]

Oh boy, did this get out of hand! Of course you need a cell tower or such; I was referring to the tep only connecting to the tep network which you set when you get the hotspot. It will not connect to any other network, like the ship's wifi. Therefore you do not run the risk of huge costs. It only connects to its own network. (Of course, if you want another network, you just change from the tep to whatever you choose on the settings on your computer, etc.)

 

As long as TEP knows not to roam off to CRUISE SHIP network you should be fine. And I guess since their business model is flat fee, they would probably remove that network from their roaming list. But still, I'd read fine print veeeeery carefully.

[cherylandtk]

The tep device only connects to its' recognized providers; essentially it works the same as putting an international sim card into your smartphone and turning it into a hotspot. But it does not roam so saves you from accidentally connecting to the ship cell tower, for example, but you are limited to the tep network providers. At a price of 9.95 a day, it's expensive wifi in shoreside locations, but if the ship is close enough to the land-based tep providers, it competes with the ship wifi in cost and apparently speed.

 

Janet was successful using it onboard a cruise circumnavigating Newfoundland, so presumably the shore to ship cell signal on the tep system worked fine at whatever distance that was. She will be trying it again in Alaska and Iceland, both of which are shown on the tep coverage map. Potential users would want to check out the coverage map and investigate their own destinations; the Caribbean is not in the coverage map.