Internet Speeds on Jewel to Alaska?

[OV8]

Anyone have personal experience re: the net speed on the Seattle to Alaska Jewel recently?

 

Just wondering what package I should be buying & not waste money on slow connections.

 

TIA!

[mking8288]

The new SpeedNet has been rolled out yet, scheduled fleetwide for July 2016.

 

Up until now & most recently, all NCL ships except for the Breakaway offer the minutes plan and/or unlimited for the duration of the cruise (minus 1 day if purchased on day 2) - and, disembarkation / smaller plan on the last Sea Day or two.

 

When the ship is close to/docked at the ports, you do have access to land-based cellular towers - typically free roaming via home carriers, at no extra costs depending on your plans, plus, of course - WiFi signals if you are within 100 to 150 meters/300 ft. of the hotspots (i.e. Boingo worldwide)

 

Ship's internet cafe has free terminals, my recommendation is once onboard - use it to check the connection speed - it's always free to connect to NCL dot com and that will give you some indications of how good/bad it is, at that moment. Otherwise, do the same on your tablet or smartphone, etc. and connect to NCL dot com - before buying one of the plan.

 

The advantage to pre-purchasing is to save the "activation fees" - not worth it.

 

What plan - that depends on how you plan to use it. Fast or slow or just average - have yet to see anyone saying it's fast or above slow on the Pearl lately ... with all those folks having the free WiFi offers from NCL, not using it or given up - I dunno.

 

As a preview to what's likely ahead, if your device(s) support 5 GHz band instead of the popular (and, crowded) 2.4 GHz band - make sure it's current & updated, i.e. IPV6 enabled, etc.

 

via Nexus 5X, Google Fi / WiFi network on Tapatalk, VPN secured

[OV8]

The new SpeedNet has been rolled out yet, scheduled fleetwide for July 2016.

 

Up until now & most recently, all NCL ships except for the Breakaway offer the minutes plan and/or unlimited for the duration of the cruise (minus 1 day if purchased on day 2) - and, disembarkation / smaller plan on the last Sea Day or two.

 

When the ship is close to/docked at the ports, you do have access to land-based cellular towers - typically free roaming via home carriers, at no extra costs depending on your plans, plus, of course - WiFi signals if you are within 100 to 150 meters/300 ft. of the hotspots (i.e. Boingo worldwide)

 

Ship's internet cafe has free terminals, my recommendation is once onboard - use it to check the connection speed - it's always free to connect to NCL dot com and that will give you some indications of how good/bad it is, at that moment. Otherwise, do the same on your tablet or smartphone, etc. and connect to NCL dot com - before buying one of the plan.

 

The advantage to pre-purchasing is to save the "activation fees" - not worth it.

 

What plan - that depends on how you plan to use it. Fast or slow or just average - have yet to see anyone saying it's fast or above slow on the Pearl lately ... with all those folks having the free WiFi offers from NCL, not using it or given up - I dunno.

 

As a preview to what's likely ahead, if your device(s) support 5 GHz band instead of the popular (and, crowded) 2.4 GHz band - make sure it's current & updated, i.e. IPV6 enabled, etc.

 

via Nexus 5X, Google Fi / WiFi network on Tapatalk, VPN secured

 

Ahhh - sounds like us Android users may have an advantage with settings but not necessarily speeds.

 

Thank you for the tip about checking things out on board before purchasing anything.

 

Yeah, I'd rather not blow my on-board credit on 56K speeds.

Time to download some books, magazines & movies on my Nexus tab.

[mking8288]

Well, Android MM 6.0.1 is definitely great, for sure :D - LOL. DH's iPad Mini - 4G LTE (Sprint/T-Mo/Fi Network) & our backup iPhone 5S (all unlocked) worked just fine.

 

Download & have the free iConcierge App on your device(s) before leaving, most of the features are free to use. Offline maps for navigation & directions if DIY in ports are useful to do, in case your cellular data is slow (depending on your carrier - Sprint is the worst, still)

 

This info is from the Breakaway - just for comparison. (also, see post #150 & #151 - plus scattered screenshots of various data/WiFi/cellular connections while at sea & in Bermuda) ... loved Google Fi Network, just learned int'l roaming at 135 countries are now 10X to 20X faster than old "3G" speed - woohoo !!

 

Enjoy Alaska - the scenery is just awesome & good luck on hunting down that faster speed, you could be the first to report as a pioneer user for SpeedNet. ;)

[Kamloops50]

Anyone have personal experience re: the net speed on the Seattle to Alaska Jewel recently?

 

Just wondering what package I should be buying & not waste money on slow connections.

 

TIA!

 

You'll find that some ports won't have internet. In Skagway Internet and on board TV won't work properly . Also when going from port to port you will have spots where internet won't work. In most ports there are cafe's with free WiFi . Purchase a coffee or beer and get a password.

Ask a crew member where there is free internet . Most know where this free service.

[Laszlo]

You'll find that some ports won't have internet. In Skagway Internet and on board TV won't work properly . Also when going from port to port you will have spots where internet won't work. In most ports there are cafe's with free WiFi . Purchase a coffee or beer and get a password.

Ask a crew member where there is free internet . Most know where this free service.

 

Not to hijack the thread, my wife and I are doing Alaska on the Jewel in September. From what I read our AT&T phones should be fine in every port.....Correct?

[OV8]

You'll find that some ports won't have internet. In Skagway Internet and on board TV won't work properly . Also when going from port to port you will have spots where internet won't work. In most ports there are cafe's with free WiFi . Purchase a coffee or beer and get a password.

Ask a crew member where there is free internet . Most know where this free service.

 

Like the hustle k50! Thanks for the tips!

[OV8]

Well, Android MM 6.0.1 is definitely great, for sure :D - LOL. DH's iPad Mini - 4G LTE (Sprint/T-Mo/Fi Network) & our backup iPhone 5S (all unlocked) worked just fine.

 

Download & have the free iConcierge App on your device(s) before leaving, most of the features are free to use. Offline maps for navigation & directions if DIY in ports are useful to do, in case your cellular data is slow (depending on your carrier - Sprint is the worst, still)

 

This info is from the Breakaway - just for comparison. (also, see post #150 & #151 - plus scattered screenshots of various data/WiFi/cellular connections while at sea & in Bermuda) ... loved Google Fi Network, just learned int'l roaming at 135 countries are now 10X to 20X faster than old "3G" speed - woohoo !!

 

Enjoy Alaska - the scenery is just awesome & good luck on hunting down that faster speed, you could be the first to report as a pioneer user for SpeedNet. ;)

 

Yeah I couldn't give up my all everything plan with TMO domestically vs. Project Fi.

The speeds on TMO are fast for us & there are pockets that I wonder if Fi could bridge.

Edited July 15, 2016 by OV8

[mking8288]

Yeah I couldn't give up my all everything plan with TMO domestically vs. Project Fi. The speeds on TMO are fast for us & there are pockets that I wonder if Fi could bridge.

Hardware selections and planning are the key to success - we travel international, not just do cruises - "invested" in unlocked CDMA (Sprint)/ GSM (T-Mobile) devices plus the Nexus 6 and Nexus 5X, etc. so we get pretty decent coverage with 3 carriers.

 

Our trick is Fi's data only Sim card on the iPhone 5S, it function as a tablet and for VoIP calls (Google Voice/Skype) - once you experienced faster speed on Fi, it's hard to go slow on T-Mo (yeah, burning typically 3 to 4GB of LTE data each mo on "Mo" ... that would cost $$ on "Fi") - it's all compromises.

 

DW's Fi line charges come to about $35 total each month, taxes & fees - can't beat that traveling or at home, and, thanks to Boingo ... filling the gaps.

 

Not to hijack the thread, my wife and I are doing Alaska on the Jewel in September. From what I read our AT&T phones should be fine in every port.....Correct?

AT&T should be just fine in the ports, definitely for voice calling. I don't remember if data was with the partner carrier or not - all of the carriers have boosted their land cell towers in the last few years, the basic email checks & Waze/maps should be no problem.

 

Of course, their "own" coverage maps always "got you covered" ...

Edited July 15, 2016 by mking8288

[BirdTravels]

Not to hijack the thread, my wife and I are doing Alaska on the Jewel in September. From what I read our AT&T phones should be fine in every port.....Correct?

 

Fine in all ports except Victoria (which would incur international roaming charges). That's in port,,, if you catch a helicopter to the top of a glacier, you may not get a cell signal.