Wifi question

[mimmo1974]

Hi Everyone,

I am sailing on the Gem on November 13th and considering taking the wifi for the entire time in hopes of being able to stay connected to certain people back home. I am all for going off anyone's radar when I am on vacation but we have a baby joining the family possible during the time I'll be cruising and would like to be kept in the loop on that one.

I know in the NCL information it says streaming and things like skype wouldn't work well because of the speed on the ship.

I have an iphone and ipad...does anyone know if I can to the usual..imessaging? receive pictures? facetime? Even download books to my kindle app?

 

Just trying to decide if it's worth spending the money.

 

Thanks!!

[fshagan]

My experience has been that is it extremely slow. If you are old enough to remember 2400 baud modems, you get the feeling you have been transported back in time to that era. In truth I think it's faster than that, but it takes quite a while for something like an image to download.

 

The only consolation is that it is very expensive too :)

 

I haven't bought internet on board for quite a while because of it. I'd rather poke a pencil in my ear. But when I did I found I could read email OK. At times it was like watching someone typing out the email letter by letter, but still it was usable for email.

 

What I do now is find a place with free wifi or even an internet cafe that charges a dollar for 30 minutes or so in port.

[Demonyte]

It is ok for regular messaging, surfing, emailing, etc. Facetime/Skype/etc might not work as nicely but it's impossible to tell in advance.

 

The unlimited internet packages ($24.95 to $19.95 per day depending on the cruise length) are quite reasonable priced when taking the connection type (satellite link) in to account.

[Frick_&_Frack]

I was on the Gem last week and used the unlimited WiFi. I had no issues (none detectable) on e-mails and YIM (and Facebook). I did share pictures via both and, again, virtually no trouble. Could have been the hours when I was using it; however, it was decent.

[roger001]

You can text while on the ship for .05c each text received, .50c each sent. That is SMS text only...no pictures, etc. You can use you cell phone to call while at sea for $2.50 a minute. At port stops, there are occasional locations that have free wifi. We've never purchased the ship's wifi. And then...we do try to really limit any contact with the "real world" while cruising.

[Demonyte]

You can text while on the ship for .05c each text received, .50c each sent.

 

Wow! That's cheaper than we get at home! :D :D ;)

 

(You meant to say dollars instead of cents.)

[roger001]

Wow! That's cheaper than we get at home! :D :D ;)

 

(You meant to say dollars instead of cents.)

 

Yea...five cents and fifty cents. Or...a nickle and a half dollar.

[xlxo]

If anyone gets a chance on those unlimited packages... run speedtest.net and let us know the results.

 

I got 24Mbps download on DCL Wonder last summer.

[BirdTravels]

Hi Everyone,

I am sailing on the Gem on November 13th and considering taking the wifi for the entire time in hopes of being able to stay connected to certain people back home. I am all for going off anyone's radar when I am on vacation but we have a baby joining the family possible during the time I'll be cruising and would like to be kept in the loop on that one.

I know in the NCL information it says streaming and things like skype wouldn't work well because of the speed on the ship.

I have an iphone and ipad...does anyone know if I can to the usual..imessaging? receive pictures? facetime? Even download books to my kindle app?

 

Just trying to decide if it's worth spending the money.

 

Thanks!!

 

We usually get the unlimited wifi and share it. Works fine for email and iMessage. And emailing small photos. Probably NOT good for downloading big books. Internet surfing slow, but usable.

 

Speed test is not valid. You have to remember that you are using a satellite. Every message has to travel 23,000 miles up and 23,000 miles back. There is multiple seconds of latency for each message traveling at the speed of light.

 

Make sure to turn off data roaming and even cellular data. If you leave it on, you'll get hundreds of dollars in data charges.

[mimmo1974]

Thanks for the input...I am going to do the wifi package. I don't need to do anything fancy so it sounds like it will be sufficient for what I am wanting.

I will just make sure I have my ipad loaded up with books so that won't be a problem.

We have more sea days then I have done before and being completely out of touch with certain people just makes me uneasy.

[jb456]

If you get wifi or if at ports theres free wifi download textme app. Basically a complete working cell plan but free over wifi.

 

You get local number in your area or nearest possible. Example my real cell phone area code Is same area code for textme.

 

Other person your contacting does NOT need the app.

 

Free text and picture text.

Free incoming call.

Free caller id.

Free voicemail.

 

Only outgoing calls require credits which you can earn credits free in the app by downloading and opening other apps then you can delete what you downloaded after credit is applied. Very easy takes 5 min to earn 2 hours worth of calling usa/ canada.

 

If you did not want a complete working app like that you could just download magicjack app to call us/ca free.

Edited September 17, 2015 by jb456

[xlxo]

Speed test is not valid. You have to remember that you are using a satellite. Every message has to travel 23,000 miles up and 23,000 miles back. There is multiple seconds of latency for each message traveling at the speed of light.

To clarify... are you saying the results would be too high or too low? I just remember on the Wonder there was no speed complaints and I measured at 24Mbps.

[zqvol]

Hi Everyone,

I am sailing on the Gem on November 13th and considering taking the wifi for the entire time in hopes of being able to stay connected to certain people back home. I am all for going off anyone's radar when I am on vacation but we have a baby joining the family possible during the time I'll be cruising and would like to be kept in the loop on that one.

I know in the NCL information it says streaming and things like skype wouldn't work well because of the speed on the ship.

I have an iphone and ipad...does anyone know if I can to the usual..imessaging? receive pictures? facetime? Even download books to my kindle app?

 

Just trying to decide if it's worth spending the money.

 

Thanks!!

 

 

You will have no problem with iMessage, or receiving pictures, or getting books for your Kindle app. Facetime is pretty much another version of Skype, and it won't work well, but will work especially very late at night or very early in the morning.

 

OP, be cautious of what you read in this thread. There is a lot of information that is well meaning but is simply incorrect.

 

You will be just fine using the wifi. Just make sure that you have data roaming turned of on your device (it should probably be off all the time anyway). Have a great cruise!

Edited September 18, 2015 by zqvol

[mimmo1974]

You will have no problem with iMessage, or receiving pictures, or getting books for your Kindle app. Facetime is pretty much another version of Skype, and it won't work well, but will work especially very late at night or very early in the morning.

 

OP, be cautious of what you read in this thread. There is a lot of information that is well meaning but is simply incorrect.

 

You will be just fine using the wifi. Just make sure that you have data roaming turned of on your device (it should probably be off all the time anyway). Have a great cruise!

 

 

 

Thank you so much!!