How's the New Internet Speed?

[s2kreno]

Hello,

 

I'll be on the Celebrity Infinity in November and need Internet access to complete assignments (I'm a finance writer) while on vacation. Have not opted for Internet service on a cruise in years because it was so slow and expensive. I'm wondering how good I can expect the new service to be. Anything those of you who have used it can tell me would be much appreciated. Thank you!

[keesar]

If you have a true high speed internet at home, I expect you will be disappointed. We noted better speeds when in port but nothing like at home. Our slowest was on the first couple of sea days. We were disappointed and frustrated but that is our perception.

[Cruise To Relax]

We were on Constellation in April/May and they had the new Xcelerate internet. We had great internet - streaming movies, email, web searches, and even Wifi cell phone service. I kept my phone on the entire time while on the ship in Italy/Greece areas - not cell but Wifi calling. Was great. I think all the X ships were to get the new system this year. You might check and see.

[loeb]

We were on the Reflections in May to Italy, Greece and Turkey. Speed was great, we face timed with our grandchildren without any problems. I noticed that in each port, there were very few passengers in the terminals trying to use wifi. Not sure if it was because they didn't have free wifi in the terminals or if everyone was using the internet on the ship and didn't need to spend time in the terminal connecting. This was very different from a cruise last year, in every port, passengers and crew were in the terminals connecting to the internet using the free wifi.

[OCA REP]

Hello,

 

I'll be on the Celebrity Infinity in November and need Internet access to complete assignments (I'm a finance writer) while on vacation. Have not opted for Internet service on a cruise in years because it was so slow and expensive. I'm wondering how good I can expect the new service to be. Anything those of you who have used it can tell me would be much appreciated. Thank you!

 

We had great experience using it on a recent Pacific Coastal cruise aboard the Infinity. This was from San Diego to Vancouver, so I am sure the position of the ship probably had something to do with it. It was amazing at how quickly pages loaded... especially if you were used to the previous snail's pace!

[CruisingChick]

We were on Summity May 29 - June 5 and the internet was horrible. Especially in our stateroom. We had better internet in the past before they upgraded. We could barely connect in our stateroom and when we did it was so slow and hung up many times.

 

They need to fix that if they want to charge such high prices for internet packages. I should not have to go out to public areas to access the internet. I'm sure most people want to connect from their cabins.

Edited June 21, 2016 by CruisingChick

[s2kreno]

We were on Summity May 29 - June 5 and the internet was horrible. Especially in our stateroom. We had better internet in the past before they upgraded. We could barely connect in our stateroom and when we did it was so slow and hung up many times.

 

They need to fix that if they want to charge such high prices for internet packages. I should not have to go out to public areas to access the internet. I'm sure most people want to connect from their cabins.

Yikes. Maybe it depends on your room location. Good to know -- I'll be searching for reception first thing when we board I think,

[CruisingChick]

Yikes. Maybe it depends on your room location. Good to know -- I'll be searching for reception first thing when we board I think,

 

Well, it shouldn't matter I want to be connected in my stateroom not when I'm out by the pool, in the theater or in the MDR.

[Redtravel]

Speed is okay. A warning to log off or you will run out of minutes. This has happened to us twice in the past year. We thought that we had logged off using the logoff.com. However, it didn't log off. Next time when I logged on, the message said that all my minutes were used up. Not sure how it happened. When you log off, look for the prompt to connect. If it doesn't ask for a log on password, you are still connected.

[dread_pirate]

I kept my phone on the entire time while on the ship in Italy/Greece areas - not cell but Wifi calling.

Are you talking about Skype? Or some other type of calling? Never tried one of those yet!

[MaryAnn&Don]

We were on Summity May 29 - June 5 and the internet was horrible. Especially in our stateroom. We had better internet in the past before they upgraded. We could barely connect in our stateroom and when we did it was so slow and hung up many times.

 

They need to fix that if they want to charge such high prices for internet packages. I should not have to go out to public areas to access the internet. I'm sure most people want to connect from their cabins.

 

Yikes! I'll be on Summit in September. Thanks for your report. They want $269 for the 14 day cruise. Celebrity is switching to "Xcelerate" which is supposed to be that new broadband that works about like 3G and they do claim to be able to stream video anywhere on the ship. I assume Summit has not yet had that upgrade. I had RCI Voom on Anthem recently and the system could stream YouTube, Facebook, and flash video in the stateroom no problem, anytime. RCI charged $9.99 per day for that streaming service. Summit is offering the internet service for $269 for the 2 week cruise. I plan to limit my use to LTE when in Port and in Canada, use Verizon $2/day Travel Pass service. Much cheaper!

[sheffield]

Currently on the Eclipse with unlimited internet package. Cost worked out at $210 for 14 days on one device. That included a 30% discount for being Elite.You can log off from one device then use another device. We were going to get 2 packages but we are managing with 1 between us with no problem.

Service is quite spotty, at times it is very quick, as good as our high speed at home but unfortunately a lot of the time is poor. Not just slow but can't connect at all. It is quite frustrating to say the least when you have paid for unlimited internet but you can't use it. I haven't tried to FaceTime or watch anything on Netflix but I can't imagine it would be very successful.

[Cruise To Relax]

Are you talking about Skype? Or some other type of calling? Never tried one of those yet!

 

ATT has a service called Wifi calling. Put phone in Airplane mode, turn on Wifi and connect to Internet. If connected to Internet anywhere, at least on my iPhone 6 Plus, you get an indication in the upper left corner (where you normally see you type of cell service - i.e. 3G, LTE, etc) that shows ATT Wifi with the airplane symbol. You can check it before you leave home with any internet. With my mobile share plan, I was able to get calls, make calls, emails, etc. just like cell service. Since I have unlimited calling and messages in the US, I had no charges. It operates exactly like you are calling in the US. With ATT, you need a IPhone 6 or later and the associated iOS. You have to activate it on your phone (settings, phone, Wifi calling on) but that is done on the phone - no call to ATT. This also worked in Rome at our hotel where we had free internet. I would suggest a call to your cell provider or research online. It worked great for us with zero cost when connected to the Internet. But make sure, the ATT Wifi and airplane symbol are showing in the upper left.

[CruisingChick]

Yikes! I'll be on Summit in September. Thanks for your report. They want $269 for the 14 day cruise. Celebrity is switching to "Xcelerate" which is supposed to be that new broadband that works about like 3G and they do claim to be able to stream video anywhere on the ship. I assume Summit has not yet had that upgrade. I had RCI Voom on Anthem recently and the system could stream YouTube, Facebook, and flash video in the stateroom no problem, anytime. RCI charged $9.99 per day for that streaming service. Summit is offering the internet service for $269 for the 2 week cruise. I plan to limit my use to LTE when in Port and in Canada, use Verizon $2/day Travel Pass service. Much cheaper!

 

No, that's the big problem -- they did upgrade to Xcelerate. We had better wi-fi on Summit BEFORE they upgraded. We have sailed her 10 times now. We were very, very disappointed, especially after coming off of Anthem of the Seas in March where their VROOM internet worked great, at least for us it did, in our cabin and it's much cheaper than Celebrity's package.

[CruisingChick]

ATT has a service called Wifi calling. Put phone in Airplane mode, turn on Wifi and connect to Internet. If connected to Internet anywhere, at least on my iPhone 6 Plus, you get an indication in the upper left corner (where you normally see you type of cell service - i.e. 3G, LTE, etc) that shows ATT Wifi with the airplane symbol. You can check it before you leave home with any internet. With my mobile share plan, I was able to get calls, make calls, emails, etc. just like cell service. Since I have unlimited calling and messages in the US, I had no charges. It operates exactly like you are calling in the US. With ATT, you need a IPhone 6 or later and the associated iOS. You have to activate it on your phone (settings, phone, Wifi calling on) but that is done on the phone - no call to ATT. This also worked in Rome at our hotel where we had free internet. I would suggest a call to your cell provider or research online. It worked great for us with zero cost when connected to the Internet. But make sure, the ATT Wifi and airplane symbol are showing in the upper left.

 

Only certain phones on cetain carriers can do this, otherwise you need to use an app like Skype or Hangouts, etc. We have AT&T but have Samsung Galaxy 5 phones and we need to use Hangouts, which is fine, we still can call anyone through wi-fi using that.

[Cruise To Relax]

Only certain phones on cetain carriers can do this, otherwise you need to use an app like Skype or Hangouts, etc. We have AT&T but have Samsung Galaxy 5 phones and we need to use Hangouts, which is fine, we still can call anyone through wi-fi using that.

 

Yes, I forgot to say that. Only certain phones, plans and carriers allow this. I was not sure it would work on the ship, but it did for me.

[krb1000]

We are currently on Eclipse. Intent is great...all day... any time. Twitter,fb ...it's all good :-)

[MaryAnn&Don]

No, that's the big problem -- they did upgrade to Xcelerate. We had better wi-fi on Summit BEFORE they upgraded. We have sailed her 10 times now. We were very, very disappointed, especially after coming off of Anthem of the Seas in March where their VROOM internet worked great, at least for us it did, in our cabin and it's much cheaper than Celebrity's package.

 

While annoying, I suppose needing to go to certain areas of the ship to get service is at least a compromise. Thanks for the news on Xcelerate for Summit. I was wondering about that. So if I can get wifi service, I guess it should be faster. Maybe the balcony will be better???

 

Anyway, if you can answer this- I have conversion Elite and I was notified I get 90 minutes free. But the internet package is $269 for the week. Are there any lower packages, like 200 minutes to add to the 90 free minutes?

 

BTW- I had a Galaxy 5s too and it was not very good wifi receiver as I couldn't get coverage in the whole house, many dead spots. I switched to an iphone 6+ and it is solid coverage all over and even picks up my neighbor's wifi. Not all phones are equal.

[CruisingChick]

While annoying, I suppose needing to go to certain areas of the ship to get service is at least a compromise. Thanks for the news on Xcelerate for Summit. I was wondering about that. So if I can get wifi service, I guess it should be faster. Maybe the balcony will be better???

 

Anyway, if you can answer this- I have conversion Elite and I was notified I get 90 minutes free. But the internet package is $269 for the week. Are there any lower packages, like 200 minutes to add to the 90 free minutes?

 

BTW- I had a Galaxy 5s too and it was not very good wifi receiver as I couldn't get coverage in the whole house, many dead spots. I switched to an iphone 6+ and it is solid coverage all over and even picks up my neighbor's wifi. Not all phones are equal.

 

First off if you are Elite you will get 90 free minutes or 30% off $199 for the week. The $269 price was for 2 weeks.

 

I didn't look at all the packages but I believe you can still purchase by the minute packages.

 

I have not had problems with our Samsung phones and wi-fi connection in the past. Definitley no problems at home, work, around town, etc. We have had the phones for 18 months now. We have been on Summit 3 times with these phones and this time the wi-fi connection in our stateroom was the worst. So go figure.

Edited June 23, 2016 by CruisingChick

[K.T.B.]

We were on Summity May 29 - June 5 and the internet was horrible. Especially in our stateroom. We had better internet in the past before they upgraded. We could barely connect in our stateroom and when we did it was so slow and hung up many times.

 

They need to fix that if they want to charge such high prices for internet packages. I should not have to go out to public areas to access the internet. I'm sure most people want to connect from their cabins.

 

We had the same issues while on Millennium, and it wasn't just in our cabin. It was pretty much wherever we went on the ship.

 

It was excruciatingly slow....

[CruisingChick]

We had the same issues while on Millennium, and it wasn't just in our cabin. It was pretty much wherever we went on the ship.

 

It was excruciatingly slow....

 

Was this after their dry dock when they were upgraded to Xcelerate?

[jaspersmommy]

Hello,

 

I'll be on the Celebrity Infinity in November and need Internet access to complete assignments (I'm a finance writer) while on vacation. Have not opted for Internet service on a cruise in years because it was so slow and expensive. I'm wondering how good I can expect the new service to be. Anything those of you who have used it can tell me would be much appreciated. Thank you!

 

We too had the new Xcelerate internet on our recent Millennium sailing. The internet service was terrible. On the rare occasion that we had a connection in our stateroom, the connection would be lost within seconds. Some of the public areas were better (iLounge and Café Al Bacio), but still not great. At its best, it will not be like at home.

[Chunky2219]

We were on Constellation in April/May and they had the new Xcelerate internet. We had great internet - streaming movies, email, web searches, and even Wifi cell phone service. I kept my phone on the entire time while on the ship in Italy/Greece areas - not cell but Wifi calling. Was great. I think all the X ships were to get the new system this year. You might check and see.

Ditto for us on Silhouette in May. It was rubbish even when moored in port. WiFi reception aboard was so patchy I can only assume that even if they've wacked up a big new dish the infrastructure within the ship wasn't upgraded. Cabin reception was non existant, also some public areas like the buffet so I ended up parked up in Cafe al Bacio to be able to log on.

 

 

.

[K.T.B.]

Was this after their dry dock when they were upgraded to Xcelerate?

 

Yes it was.

 

They should call it Decelerate.... :rolleyes:

[CruisingChick]

 

They should call it Decelerate.... :rolleyes:

 

That's a good one.