Dawn. Wifi packages

[beardsbh]

Hi all. Saw a post about Verizon so thought I'd ask about ATT Headed out on Dawn in June for our honeymoon and need to stay somewhat connected with the kids. Any free wi fi in Bermuda ? Thinking of putting our phones on airplane mode and planning a one time daily on the boat to send/recv messages but wait until Bermuda to check mail etc. - any thoughts?

[dja1031]

There is some sort of wifi that's supposed to work throughout the dockyard for a fee but I never got it to work and heard others had issues too. If you go have a beverage at the Frog and Onion pub they will give you a password to their wifi. Also I used a local van who had free wifi in his van.

[Stace894]

I agree about the dock wi-fi. We purchased it and was really difficult to use. I thought I was signed in but still ended up getting an additional $40 on my bill when I got home for data usage. I thought I was in airplane mode, but must have hit something. Don't plan to try it again,, will just do without for the trip and use the IConcierge app to text while on board. The Dawn is getting it with the Drydock.

[mking8288]

There are no free WiFi in Bermuda within "usable" distance of where ships are docked - even on the waterfront @ downtown Hamilton (too shallow & small for mega ships to get into/out of).

 

Mobile devices are relatively complicated for some users these days - learn how to set/configure your unique gadgets to use/not use roaming/global data, enable airplane mode and turn off/on WiFi only settings, etc. to avoid billing surprises - regardless of "home" carriers.

 

Generally speaking, SMS or texting are relatively inexpensive & almost free, depending on the carriers, and work quite well - to stay in touch with minimal bandwidth. Surely, some of you remember the good old "Telex" days of short & important messages - even before fax machines. To stay in touch with folks, kids, "sitters", "employees & contractors, etc." and others at home - texting is what I recommend - using KISS (short & simple) :D

 

T-Mobile USA has a # of plans that include data roaming (at very slow or 128K rates, faster than dial-up only ... ) and calling from outside the home rates area for as little as 20 cents a minute - which can also be done over WiFi on select devices (i.e. iPhone 5S/6 & 6+ running iOS 7.x or higher and on Nexus 5X or 6P ... and some of the Samsung flagship devices, I think)

We are on Project Fi (by Google - MNVO for Sprint & T-Mobile) and that allow free home calling, at no extra charges in most/nearly all Caribbean ports + 3G data (not faster 4G/LTE or HSPA+) access at $10 per GB of data, yes - $10 USD per GB in 120 countries. *** Last I checked, "Fi" isn't supported or available in Bermuda ... yet, subject to change - or else, it will be sweet for us (so, we will make do with T-Mobile's special on the islands for now)

 

We use Google Voice/Hangouts with our mobile numbers so it's easy, all incoming calls are diverted to voice mail with the "out of office/out of town" greetings - messages are transcribed & emailed for download to be read offline and access (when possible) - ditto, the same setup for mail servers.

 

Typical "N" 2.4 Ghz band WiFI signal has a practical range of 200' to 300' at best in open & clear conditions without interference, without using boosters & repeaters - which the providers aren't going to provide free ... with sometimes 10,000 pax & crew on the piers. Unless your cabin is lined up next to one of the antennas or signals on the pier - the paid daily and/or 3 or 7 day passes are impractical at best. You could bring your network, ipad or tablet and other devices to sit outside on the benches (where available) and catch up on email or surf the net ... while you are on a cruise, as long as the available "channels" are overloaded or crowded, resulting in more slowdown for everyone.

 

Years ago, there was a gift shop inside Clocktower Mall @ the Wharf with wired internet access on their desktop terminal, a 30 minutes session was like $5 at DSL speed - done that & easy. But, it's been out of business - so, the bars & restaurants are the options. Still, none of it convenient if you are on the ship. I believed it's Bermuda Telecom (whatever the local carrier's names ...) downtown has PAID internet access, using their terminals or BYO devices, again - at relative reasonable & cheap rates during business hours. It was a 3 short blocks uphill from where we're docked then.

[TheManitoban]

Airplane mode turns your phone into a brick. No radio whatsoever.

 

To use Wifi, go into settings and turn of Cellular Data. That will enable your phone to be used as JUST a phone (make/receive phone calls and make/receive text messages.

 

Before you leave, call your provider and ask for a Text package. You American's might have it included. As a Canadian, I get texting included across Canada but its 75 cents per text in the US (thats for sent texts, receiving texts are always free). But I add an International text package so I get unlimited texting for one price (I think $45).

 

That's how I communicate on the ship. Texting. Cheap.

 

When I was in Bermuda (This was Sept 2014), I bought the dockyard WiFi and it worked pretty well actually. I found I had to go past the pirate ship to get good WiFi but occasionally it would work if I was on an open deck on the ship facing the dockyard.

 

Many of the ship's crew would be sitting right outside the ship using the WiFi.

 

So if you want to have 24/7 access to the kids at home, just turn off Data and keep the phone "on" to receive texts. When you are in a free wifi area or add a wifi package, your celllular data should still remain OFF, just make sure WiFi is on. If you turn your Cellular data on, even for a minute, it will try to download everything that is waiting and end up costing you a ton. Data is not charged by time, but by usage. if you have a weeks worth of emails, Facebook Notifications, Tweets etc, they will all try and download the second you turn your Cellular Data back on.

 

So dont.

[kbailey1734]

Not sure of the name of the place, but we purchased a cheap coffee from a coffee/ice ceam shop at the dock that included access their wifi network for an hour I believe.

[soxfan2013]

We got 250 free mins of on board wifi w our package. Can we pay the $85 differential and UG to unlimited free wifi?

[BirdTravels]

We got 250 free mins of on board wifi w our package. Can we pay the $85 differential and UG to unlimited free wifi?

 

No. You can use your 250 minutes, then buy a full price unlimited plan.

[soxfan2013]

That's ridiculous.

[mking8288]

Just an update for those of you on the Dawn (and, Breakaway ... that followed/read my Semi Live Update) going to Bermuda - here's a link to one of my summary post about Dockyard's paid WiFi.

 

We didn't use it but I found the signal to be usable on the BA/megaship's Waterfront "outdoors" on deck 8, also my Apps picked up other faint & secured WiFi signals - on the side of the ship docked/facing the Wharf. High up at the buffet (deck 15 for BA) - you can see the signal but it is too weak to connect - deck 7 with the lifeboat, another CC on the same cruise last month had success and reported no issues logging into the. Look for the SSiD of "WiFiZone by TBi"

 

If you are using ship's WiFi - see if you have the hardware support for 5 GHz band instead of just using the more congested 2.4 GHz band to lock that "n" mode signal - find a spot with a good dB signal & connect (overlapping coverage on Ch, 1, 6 and 11)

 

While in Bermuda, we used Digicel's 3G/HSPA and sometimes HSPA+ data network, Fi Network by Google's international roaming partner - it's as if we're in Jamaica. On another backup cellular line, T-Mobile welcomed us to the Caribbean Islands - LOL. Those cellular signals were rock solid and reliable, SeaExpress or the fast ferry have excellent coverage while we're going to/from St. George's - uploading & downloading - and, all over SG & in downtown Hamilton. Details are in that thread too.

 

As for NCL's free WiFi 250 minutes, it turned out to be a real bonus on the Breakaway as it's MB-data based usage and not time-based (by the minutes) so I got over 1,000 minutes for my Choice250 plan with the associated 1,000 MB or 1 GB worth of WiFi data on the ship. We had 2 staterooms and when I managed to exhaust 1 GB of data, it was easy to switch & use the 2nd. cabin's 1 GB of free data, left the ship 7 days later with just 200 MB of unused allowance (used a total of 1.8 GB data - lots of graphics/pix uploaded .. and just 200 MB on the islands using cheap cellular data)

 

NCL is planning to rollout the faster broadband package by next month and hopefully, the Dawn will be on the short list sooner than later - or, at least get the MB data-used plan and leave the minutes-plan.

 

It is pricey because of satellite connectivity while at sea.

 

P.S. While in the Dockyard area, off-duty ship crews were hanging out near the pirate ship along the walkway there, near the "Moongate" - apparently, it's a hidden/secret and/or good spot for them to "connect" ... possibly they are getting the code (mariner's reciprocal courtesy) to access the pirate ship's secured WiFi network, just FYI.

Edited June 14, 2016 by mking8288