VOOM! Internet - is it worth the cost?

[Clarea]

We are on her just now and in Gijon. It's still fast on my iPad and no problem with loading pictures to here or Facebook.

I bought the full weeks worth but not the streaming one, I can connect one device only at a time. But if I wanted to use my phone instead, so long as I log out on the iPad from the wifi I can log back in on my phone.

Curious if you have tried Facetime on the "surf only" package.

[buchananglasgow]

Sorry I don't ever use FaceTime even at home.

[mac_tlc]

I really want to know what the D discount is with VOOM. For our August Freedom cruise, I ----- unfortunately ----- will need to be available every day for work, so 30% off is intriguing. However, we will have five D cruisers along, so we usually piggyback the D discount and get almost the entire week for nothing.

 

mac_tlc

[Clarea]

I really want to know what the D discount is with VOOM. For our August Freedom cruise, I ----- unfortunately ----- will need to be available every day for work, so 30% off is intriguing. However, we will have five D cruisers along, so we usually piggyback the D discount and get almost the entire week for nothing.

 

mac_tlc

You cannot combine D discounts on a single package anymore. However, with five D cruisers, you could get 5 free days for one device. You would all have to share the same login and there could only be one device logged in at a time.

[spynotebook]

It would cost my wife and I $125 to each get the package for 1 device for 5 days, but I can get 2 devices on one of our names for $111. As long as we share a login, this would work fine for us, correct? We can both use our iPads?

[Clarea]

It would cost my wife and I $125 to each get the package for 1 device for 5 days, but I can get 2 devices on one of our names for $111. As long as we share a login, this would work fine for us, correct? We can both use our iPads?

Correct, you can use any number of different devices, as long as only two are logged in at the same time.

[mo&fran]

When on Ovation last week we tried out the 'SURF' package - speeds on this are awful, it's barely fast enough to load up pictures on facebook. It just about suffices I suppose but do not expect to be doing anything that is even remotely demanding in terms of internet bandwidth. The speed is quite severely capped on this one, reminding me of the old dial-up speeds from years gone by.

 

The 'SURF + STREAM' package is the one you really want for internet speeds more like broadband you get at home. This can easily allow streaming of video.

 

Looking at the differences in prices I don't think I'd ever go for the lower SURF package anymore, it's just too painful an experience compared to the faster service.

 

On another thread, it was reported that the Voom connection degrades above 45 degrees latitude. The UK is above 50 degrees, so the performance will not be as good anyway.

[Biker19]

Sorry I don't ever use FaceTime even at home.

 

Would you happen to have a way to test the download speed? It would be really interesting to see for many of us to see what SURF package speed is. And if do it, what the location of the ship is at that time. Thanks.

[SRV FAN]

All of the comments here are from folks who were on ships with real Voom - it could very well be that your sailing on Liberty (I'm assuming that's what you are asking about) will still have that "sorry" WiFi from the past - as of now it does not have the speedy Voom. However, you do get 50% off with the current promo (current price is $20/day one device, but $9.99/day with Voom promo).

 

 

No, it will be on Liberty in June. It was offered for my sailing at 30% off. I bought it. $117 for two devices. Now.... Should it NOT be available... Then I will want my money refunded... I will watch the Liberty threads to see how it works... [emoji41]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Edited April 24, 2016 by SRV FAN

[buchananglasgow]

This is the test I just done on our way to Bilboa tonight.

[Clarea]

This is the test I just done on our way to Bilboa tonight.

Which package do you have?

[buchananglasgow]

One device for the whole weeks cruise @$72.

[buchananglasgow]

Still unlimited but only for web use and emails, no "surfing".

[aussievc]

If I purchase a 1 device package can I share the login with my group? Knowing that only 1 person can be logged in at a time.

 

There's 6 in our group so another question would be, If the 4 device package was purchased does that mean any 4 devices at any given time can be logged on at the same time?

[lkuitwaard]

I just sailed on the Ovation last week and I purchased the Surf package and was able to FaceTime. There were also discounts for all Crown and Anchor tiers.

[Clarea]

Still unlimited but only for web use and emails, no "surfing".

What is the difference between "web use" and "surfing"?

[riclop]

Seeing that VOOM! Internet will be available on my upcoming cruise in Sept.... and the offer of 30% off interests me....

 

But knowing the past RCI Internet has been sorry, to say the least.... I am wondering if VOOM! Internet is worth the cost....

 

I'd use it to text &/or email my spouse on board (so we can find each other), also others sailing with us might get it too...so we could all keep in touch... plus I'd like to be able to keep in touch with the family back home (I have an elderly mom).

 

 

Those of you that have used it.... what are your thoughts?

 

THANKS in advance.

Yes , it's the fastest at sea.

[Pipule]

We sailed on Freedom of the Seas (Apr 3rd) and paid for the VOOM service (Where they claim you "can stream your favorite shows".). What a waste of money. The internet service speed was comparable to the slow service I experienced aboard Carnival and Norwegian.

 

Royal Caribbean claims to have the fastest internet service at sea. What a joke! Good thing I did not need the service for anything important. It was more my curiosity as a satellite communications professional than anything else. My suggestion.... Do not waste your money unless you absolutely need to go online while cruising.....

[Biker19]

You missed real Voom by a couple of weeks - it should be on for the current sailing. For real Voom, I'd pay $10/day.

[wilmingtech]

I think there is a lot of misunderstanding here in what VOOM actually is and how the technology works.

 

In 2012 Royal Caribbean signed a contract with Harris CapRock to install network communication devices on all its ships. Which components and devices were installed on which ships is not clear but according to CapRocks press release the contract was to install communication equipment on 33 different ships.

 

CapRock has a solution called "CapRock One" that is different from other solutions as it is capable of using Terrestrial and Satellite technologies and switching between these technologies by using what they call an ICD or "intelligent communications director". This device can survey the different networks and make a decision as to which network to connect to based on a wide variety of factors not limited to bandwidth and cost.

 

From the CapRock website - "Harris CapRock One’s ICD is a geographically-aware smartbox that recognizes the location of the multi-band antenna and carries a database of the network footprints available everywhere on Earth. Additionally, the ICD is aware of the operator’s traffic. The system uses this embedded network intelligence to make performance-based decisions, routing traffic from specific applications over the transport medium best suited for the task depending on speed, latency, location and cost."

 

To keep on track with this thread, I'll assume that "CapRock One" is only installed on the newest ships. Im also assuming that VOOM as outlined in this thread refers to the "CapRock One" capabilities. We really have no idea what the heck "VOOM" really is other than you are supposed to get speeds faster than dial up (.24mb) on a ship. (We are assuming that all guests are capped at a certain speed, I can only assume based on what I've seen in speedtest uploads that this is probably <5 megs for stream and <1mb on surf.)

 

Example 1 -

You are in port - Embarkation day - headed out of Port Canaveral and down the coast. Most likely you are using terrestrial communications on the ship which would be the fastest form of communication.

To keep it simple, think of this as a private cellular connection. Harris owns its own TDMA network which it has 100% control of, here is a map showing the presence of that network -

CapRock could be using a line of site communication with its own network to provide ships 3 miles off shore with dedicated bandwidth. In this case you should be able to get 2-3 megs of download if you were on stream and <1mb if you were on surf.

 

Example 2 -

Its a Sea Day on a Trans Pacific cruise (You lucky dog) and you pull out your phone to check the email on the wifi, it looks like you have just a little bit less than <2mb of bandwidth so you decide to stream some netflix to your phone to catch up with House of Cards while sitting by the pool but then after about 15 minutes you see its really starting to get choppy and stops working. You can connect to internet but its slow as molasses. In this case the ship has probably sailed out of range of the O3B satellite (as the O3B satellites sit pretty low to the earth compared to geostationary satellites) and the ship needs to reconnect to the next satellite and possibly request service (Service from O3B is beamed from the satellite to a certain coverage area and of course you have to pay for this beam from the satellite) in the meantime the ICD connected to a geostationary Satellite on the C band.

 

Example 3 -

You are on your way through the Caribbean and at 10pm last night you noticed that the network was pretty darn good for surf only. Almost 1mb of download speed! But now its 8am and you can't get barely get dial up speeds of internet. Well... its Monday morning and your on Oasis of the seas with 5000 other passnegers and 1000 crew and half of them decided to check their email right now.

 

So as you can see. There are lots of things that can cause good or bad internet. Too many things we can't see to guess as to what the problem is.

 

Two other points to take into consideration -

1. We don't know the performance of the CapRock equipment. The stats you often see are optimal for connections but not ideal. Its supposed to be 1.6gbs download speed on OB3. But that is total for a single satellite. How many ships are connected to that satellite? How many terrestrial locations are using the bandwidth in that satellite? These are things we wont know. But I doubt any ship is getting more than 400-500mb of service at any one time.

 

2. How much bandwidth for 5000ppl? Lets say we have 500mb of service to a ship and half of the people signed up for internet. Of those 2500 we are going to guess that 1/5th are using the internet at any one time and lets throw in 50 crew members to make it real. So 550 people using the internet. Of those 550 people only half of them need to use the network at the exact same time and of those 275 people on 25 are streaming.

25 people @ 2mbs or 50mb/s

250 people @ 1mbs or 250mb/s

So that is almost 300mbs of service we need to keep 275 people happy. In addition to this there is bandwidth needed for network communications, telephony, ship communications.

So you can see that with only 5% of the people on board accessing the internet the bandwidth is almost used up.

 

So if you do post your Speedtest here - Let us know your location, time of day, what ship, is it full or empty. Giving us as much data as we can get to see what work and when. Its really hard to know how good a network is when you just logged in once and got a slow connection and gave up and say it sucks. Thats just not helpful at all.

 

Last - If you cannot connect to the network at all (as someone above stated) that has nothing to do with the ships bandwidth. That is an internal failure of network devices on the ship. Primarily the authentication server or device.

 

Thats my 2 cents. Its only getting better. To get an email at all on a ship these days is miles above where we were 5 years ago.

 

-Sean

[Biker19]

To keep on track with this thread, I'll assume that "CapRock One" is only installed on the newest ships. Im also assuming that VOOM as outlined in this thread refers to the "CapRock One" capabilities. We really have no idea what the heck "VOOM" really is other than you are supposed to get speeds faster than dial up (.24mb) on a ship. (We are assuming that all guests are capped at a certain speed, I can only assume based on what I've seen in speedtest uploads that this is probably <5 megs for stream and <1mb on surf.)

I think we have had reports of CapRock showing up in non O3B ships. We have had reports of up to almost 25 MBs from a ship like Ovation (Stream) and up to about 5 MBs on Surf. Freedom OTOH, which does have O3B, doesn't have speeds like that.

 

As your white paper points out, there are so many variables and there's so much complexity the end user doesn't really care about - they only want their web surfing to work at an acceptable level.

Edited October 18, 2016 by Biker19

[Midwestern Cruiser]

My cabin mate and I are thinking about sharing the 2-device package on Freedom of the Seas in December...but here's our question: Is the 2-device deal allowed for more than one person. The pre-purchase copy kind of reads like one person can have a phone & iPad or a phone & laptop, etc., but not that two people can each have one device.

Does anyone know for sure?

Thanks!

[Biker19]

My cabin mate and I are thinking about sharing the 2-device package on Freedom of the Seas in December...but here's our question: Is the 2-device deal allowed for more than one person. The pre-purchase copy kind of reads like one person can have a phone & iPad or a phone & laptop, etc., but not that two people can each have one device.

Does anyone know for sure?

Thanks!

 

None of the packages have any kind of device/person limits. All packages have login limits. If you buy a two device package, ANY two devices (doesn't matter who they belong to) can be logged on at the same time. The same is true for a one device package.

[Midwestern Cruiser]

None of the packages have any kind of device/person limits. All packages have login limits. If you buy a two device package, ANY two devices (doesn't matter who they belong to) can be logged on at the same time. The same is true for a one device package.

 

Thanks much for the info and quick reply!

[travlDR]

Just double checking--- to use VOOM with your smart phone---- you put it on Airplane mode, and then turn on WiFi and the WiFi calls option... then --?? its possible to text and call your travel mate on the ship AND call home, or wherever--- for NO extra charges from your cell phone company?????

THANKS!