VPN recommendations.

[trolleydolly]

Hi. We are doing a transatlantic next month and was wondering whether we would be able to use VPN to access our UK Sky Go subscription, in order to stream a soccer game (extremely important one to our 14 year old son!)

 

Anyone had any experience of using VPN on board or specifically a transatlantic (and which one, not too pricey). Obviously we will have to shell out for VOOM internet.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

 

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[Clarea]

I don't know anything about Sky Go, but I've had success using a VPN based on L2TP/IPSEC. This is standard on Microsoft and Apple, no software to load. On transatlantics too.

[klfrodo]

I use VPN for work.

All I can share is that using my VPN,,, it cuts my speed by half.

If I'm at a hotel using the "free" wifi and it's limited to 3Mbps download speed, I can't use my VPN for video. I can do "data" work, but no video.

[trolleydolly]

Thanks. So does that mask the country you are in do you know. I need sky go to think I'm in the uk as it's only valid to watch in the U.K. VPN apps that you can subscribe and download to iPad do that. Just wanted the best one. Thank you.

 

 

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[Clarea]

I use VPN for work.

All I can share is that using my VPN,,, it cuts my speed by half.

If I'm at a hotel using the "free" wifi and it's limited to 3Mbps download speed, I can't use my VPN for video. I can do "data" work, but no video.

It would make sense that using a VPN cuts your throughput. There 's the encryption/decryption and the extra payload.

[trolleydolly]

I use VPN for work.

All I can share is that using my VPN,,, it cuts my speed by half.

If I'm at a hotel using the "free" wifi and it's limited to 3Mbps download speed, I can't use my VPN for video. I can do "data" work, but no video.

 

 

Ok thanks. Maybe not worth it as I'm sure download speed not great onboard. I have used it before in the states and streamed a match but the internet was quite good.

 

 

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[swoopy2110]

Sky Go is quite bandwidth hungry. I'm not sure the RCI connection will get you a decent signal / stream of the game at all, unless the Ship is using proper VOOM (Quantum Class, Harmony etc.)

 

Don't forget, the ship is not connected to any wires to get the internet and relies on a satellite which may not be available!

 

The ship may be showing the match I suppose ? We saw LFC v Man Utd on Harmony in October which was shown in the Aquatheatre!

[trolleydolly]

Sky Go is quite bandwidth hungry. I'm not sure the RCI connection will get you a decent signal / stream of the game at all, unless the Ship is using proper VOOM (Quantum Class, Harmony etc.)

 

Don't forget, the ship is not connected to any wires to get the internet and relies on a satellite which may not be available!

 

The ship may be showing the match I suppose ? We saw LFC v Man Utd on Harmony in October which was shown in the Aquatheatre!

 

 

We are on the Indy so I'm not sure what the internet is like on there. The first game is day 2 a sea day on route to labadee so,guess not too far away from land!!?? The second game is the second day into the big sea crossing. So not sure of satellite signal on that one!

 

The thing is it's a championship game (Brighton and Hove Albion) fighting for promotion to the premiership. Not sure royal would bother showing championship games. Only premiership. Thanks for your help

 

 

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[swoopy2110]

We are on the Indy so I'm not sure what the internet is like on there. The first game is day 2 a sea day on route to labadee so,guess not too far away from land!!?? The second game is the second day into the big sea crossing. So not sure of satellite signal on that one!

 

The thing is it's a championship game (Brighton and Hove Albion) fighting for promotion to the premiership. Not sure royal would bother showing championship games. Only premiership. Thanks for your help

 

 

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Good point.. I doubt they'd show the Championship to be honest as they tend to only show whats being broadcast on the major channels in the states.

 

Being near land makes no difference to the signal. It's literally how good (or not) the satellite coverage is

[William234]

Most of the commercial content providers detect that you are using a VPN (their IP address ranges are well known) and prevent you from accessing their sites via VPN. While VPNs work great on ships, the content providers may block your access anyway. I can't speak to sky, but I know Netflix works to actively block VPN access and the local cable company blocks access to the internet streaming over VPN connections.

 

We however did watch two Tampa Bay Lightning games on the Oasis of the seas back in May. When we tried to use the Fox Sports Go (or was it the NBC Sports) app on the iPad, it detected that we were out of the country and when we flipped on the VPN, it complained about that. To get around this we watched the games on my MacBookPro via VPN. (I run a personal VPN server in my home off a Raspberry Pi 2 Model B.) Got some strange looks walking from our 12th floor cabin down to the dining room with my laptop on my arm. And then set the laptop up on the table so my wife, son and I could watch the game.

[Cigar King]

I suspect what you want to know is does your VPN client use a split tunnel or not? If it is, only the traffic going through the tunnel would appear to come from the VPN. The rest of your traffic would come from your ISP, which in this case would be RCI in Florida.

[William234]

I suspect what you want to know is does your VPN client use a split tunnel or not? If it is, only the traffic going through the tunnel would appear to come from the VPN. The rest of your traffic would come from your ISP, which in this case would be RCI in Florida.

 

The commercial VPN providers route all traffic through the tunnel. Otherwise it would defeat the purpose of having a commercial VPN.

 

Whats interesting is on my Windows PCs, the corporate Cisco VPN routes all traffic through the tunnel, but on my MacBook, only the traffic to my workplace is routed over the VPN.

 

My VPN at home, I had to explicitly route all traffic over the VPN, but then have some routing issues with certain networks due to overlapping IP space.

[Cigar King]

Cisco supports a split tunnel. Not sure why it would handle the traffic one way on a PC and another way on the Mac. I assume you are using the AnyConnect client on both devices?

[William234]

Cisco supports a split tunnel. Not sure why it would handle the traffic one way on a PC and another way on the Mac. I assume you are using the AnyConnect client on both devices?

 

Yes, AnyConnect on both. Its probably how the corporate IT people set it up.

[Biker19]

VOOM + Indy:ship: + VPN = (n)

[Cigar King]

Yes, AnyConnect on both. Its probably how the corporate IT people set it up.

 

Sure...blame IT...we're used to it. ;-)

[SadmanCruiser]

Hi. We are doing a transatlantic next month and was wondering whether we would be able to use VPN to access our UK Sky Go subscription, in order to stream a soccer game (extremely important one to our 14 year old son!)

 

Anyone had any experience of using VPN on board or specifically a transatlantic (and which one, not too pricey). Obviously we will have to shell out for VOOM internet.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

I used the free version of 'tunnel bear' on the Vision last year. Watched the last grand prix of the season on Virgin TV. It did stall a couple of times but was pretty good overall.

Voom on a Transatlantic may be a problem. It is decent for the first few and last few days but not good for the bit in the middle when you are far from land.

 

Which ship are you on?

 

Pete

[William234]

Sure...blame IT...we're used to it. ;-)

 

Us developers always blame IT.

[trolleydolly]

I used the free version of 'tunnel bear' on the Vision last year. Watched the last grand prix of the season on Virgin TV. It did stall a couple of times but was pretty good overall.

Voom on a Transatlantic may be a problem. It is decent for the first few and last few days but not good for the bit in the middle when you are far from land.

 

Which ship are you on?

 

Pete

 

 

Thanks. We are on the Indy on a TA from FLL. Its day 2 and day 8 when the games are on. May well go for tunnel bear and just hope for the best with no high expectations!! Thanks.

 

 

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[maylie]

I usually use a vpn when I am traveling aboard, esp in countries like China, where the government monitors your movements, and honestly I can't do my online shopping without using VPN, use my personal data and make VOIP calls, etc..

https://www.bvpn.me/en/trysmoketunnelfree/

[newxmascruiser]

Hi

We are from the UK also, on our last cruise my intention was to use VPN to be able to access online betting accounts and Sky Go for grand National - I downloaded one called Betternet, but no joy it just wouldn't connect to the VPN at all over wifi (we were on Navigator and was an at sea day).

The other option suggested to us was an app called UKTVNow, it's a free download, I thought no way. But it worked perfectly we watched the Grand National and numerous football matches, it buffered slightly every now and then but was definitely watchable - give that a try

 

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[maylie]

Here you can find reviews about the most popular vpn services, you can check yourself https://www.vpnfaqs.com/2017/04/top-5-fastest-vpns-2017/, according to me I am using bvpn, I am so satisfied with it.

[ExpatBride]

I'm an American living abroad with my English husband in a third country and we use PureVPN to watch American TV, English football, etc. PureVPN allows you to choose a server by purpose (one is UK sports streaming). I haven't used it onboard a cruise ship, but I use it when I travel and as long as there's a stable internet connection I've never had an issue.

[Clarea]

I'm an American living abroad with my English husband in a third country and we use PureVPN to watch American TV, English football, etc. PureVPN allows you to choose a server by purpose (one is UK sports streaming). I haven't used it onboard a cruise ship, but I use it when I travel and as long as there's a stable internet connection I've never had an issue.

Thanks for the tip, I'd not heard of this one before.