WIFI plan and Ring security cameras

[Tabatha1988]

I’m having issues with family and my cruise is the first week of December, and I’m getting stressed. I’m wondering if anyone here had purchased the Value or Premium plan and it worked with the Ring security cameras

[boomhower]

Also include what ship you are going on as it can vary greatly depending on the ship.  Some of the newer ships are much much better than the older ones.  I'm heading back out on the Elation on 11/16 and can let you know if the premium works on that one with Ring as I have several throughout my home. 

[Tabatha1988]

I’m going on the Miracle

[Purvis1231]

In a reading of the FAQ the wifi does not support streaming and calling services.

[Seagirl123]

I had the middle tier WiFi plan on the Splendor in March and I would get the Ring alerts but wouldn’t always be able to load the video to watch it back. Super early in the morning when no one else was using it was pretty much the only time to actually watch a video that was saved in the history. 

[coevan]

1 hour ago, Purvis1231 said:

In a reading of the FAQ the wifi does not support streaming and calling services.

 

 

old news, that was written before the newer ships had enough Mb to stream, previously the answer was no. Also wi-fi only carries a signal which could be 1Mb or 10Mb or 60Mb.

[lobster1313]

3 hours ago, Tabatha1988 said:

I’m going on the Miracle

I had the premium wifi on the Miracle this summer and found that the internet could handle high bandwidth programs and apps without issues.  We don't have Ring but other streaming video and FB Messenger video calling worked well on the Miracle. 

Edited October 31, 2019 by regoodwinjr
Added more info

[Organized Chaos]

3 hours ago, Purvis1231 said:

In a reading of the FAQ the wifi does not support streaming and calling services.

 

That's their official policy as a way to cover their rears since they can't guarantee all streaming content will work flawlessly. If they said they supported all streaming, or most of it at least, and people had trouble doing it, they'd hold Carnival accountable. So it's easier for Carnival to say it's not supported, even though it does, in fact, work in some cases. Even on the three ships that currently have the best wifi service (Vista, Horizon, Sunrise ... and soon to be Panorama) they don't officially support streaming. Except Netflix on those three ships, that they do officially support. But even though other streaming services aren't supported, they often do work quite well.

 

It doesn't take much to stream. You can do it with pretty low internet speeds. A good example is the Sling streaming TV service. They recommend 3 Mb/s for streaming on mobile devices and 5 Mb/s on TV's and computers. Granted, that's with only one, or maybe a few, devices streaming at the same time, but it does work just fine with such low speeds. But even for multiple devices, they only recommend 25 Mb/s. That's not a lot compared to many internet services these days. Obviously on a cruise ship we're talking about A LOT of devices, hence the reason we often see better wifi service at different times of day/night, when there are less devices connected. Those newest ships also have far more access points than the older ones, so multiple devices aren't always overcrowding a single access point.

[Whoop98]

It depends on the ship.  I get the premium internet for all our cruises (work pays for it and I work maybe 30 minutes a day).  But I can use it for personal the rest of the time if needed.  I have been able to Facetime on the Magic, Breeze and Vista (Ring app worked great).  Freedom was the worst internet I have ever had, I could not even check email at 2 am!  So the ship really matters along with the plan.  Not sure if the Miracle's internet has been updated or not.

[HillBilly Bob]

On 10/30/2019 at 6:54 PM, Tabatha1988 said:

 Value or Premium plan and it worked with the Ring security cameras

Just wondering what and how you could use that information in the middle of the ocean.....LOL

[Shaded Lady]

I have Ring, and on my Vista cruise this past June, we purchased the Premium wifi package. As others have said, I got the alerts, but any time I tried to view the recordings, it just sat and spun- would never show me the video.  I'm not saying that's typical of everyone's experience with the high end wifi that Carnival offers, it was just mine.

 

We had a dogsitter watching the critters and we got an alert every time she came & went... along with the daily pictures she sent it was very nice to know that our animals were being very well cared-for...

[Organized Chaos]

On 11/1/2019 at 9:46 AM, HillBilly Bob said:

Just wondering what and how you could use that information in the middle of the ocean.....LOL

 

Contact family or friends who could then relay the message to police. Or for something that important, just spend the $1.99/min. for the ship-to-shore call from the cabin phone. The sooner the police are made aware, the better.

[Tapi]

When we sailed on the Fantasy in February, I’d get the alerts but the Ring videos wouldn’t load. 

[Tapi]

On 11/1/2019 at 10:46 AM, HillBilly Bob said:

Just wondering what and how you could use that information in the middle of the ocean.....LOL

One little gimmick that I learned recently is that, if for some reason your kids our house guests can’t call you from your house because you don’t have a phone line and/or they don’t have a cellphone handy, they can just ring your doorbell and then you can video chat with them using the Ring device. I already showed my kids how to do it in case of emergencies. 
 

There may not be much that you can physically do while you’re at sea, but having access to Ring and similar devices adds an additional layer of security. If there’s an emergency and you’re notified via Ring, you can then contact a friend, neighbor or the authorities immediately who can do something about it, rather than waiting valuable hours or days. 

Edited November 4, 2019 by Tapi

[coevan]

On 11/1/2019 at 8:46 AM, HillBilly Bob said:

Just wondering what and how you could use that information in the middle of the ocean.....LOL

 

 

Wi-fi calling works very well.

[Gold Mine Gal]

I think I would give password, etc. information to trusted friend and let them handle any issues while you are away.  

[xitappers2bx]

On 10/30/2019 at 6:54 PM, Tabatha1988 said:

I’m having issues with family and my cruise is the first week of December, and I’m getting stressed. I’m wondering if anyone here had purchased the Value or Premium plan and it worked with the Ring security cameras

 

Can you just upgrade your Ring service to the monitoring one for the month? It's like $10?  No clue how much the sensors are but if you are having problems, I imagine you already have them and can easily set up with the cameras and then set the parameters for there to be professional intervention. 

[bptex]

It's not really about the speed as much as it is the ping time. Under ideal conditions at sea you might be seeing 600+ milliseconds, you are communicating through a satellite link after all. You can certainly get alerts but it'll probably timeout before you get connected to the camera for a live feed. Assuming you have a monitoring package though you shouldn't have a problem reviewing videos but don't expect to be able to talk to someone at your door in real time.