Connectivity on Regent

[Gilly]

6 hours ago, maryogreen said:

very clever of you to figure out my connection with Herb. 🙂

 

@maryogreen  well, he did share his wife's name 😉    Yes, it would be fun to find ourselves on the same ship at the same time, wouldn't it?  I'll look forward to reading your blog as always and think that you are wise to delay posting photos and stories until you have a reliable connection again.  Trying to keep a live blog going in such circumstances is extraordinarily frustrating.

 

Enjoy the remainder of your time on board.  Are you heading straight home or continuing your adventure?

[ClefsDor]

Is it possible to pay extra to be able to log in more than one device per room and if so how much does it cost?  TIA

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Sigh, this seems like a never ending battle.

 

On our WC a year or so from now, all I want is to be able to log into my banks and credit card companies maybe once a week, or less, to check my balances and pay any bills.  

 

I've experienced slow internet lots of times on Regent in the past, but it's never been consistently slow enough to prevent me from doing the above, or from making a post on Facebook, say, or sending email.  I'm guessing that all the photos being uploaded these days is the real problem, and the fact that most web pages are full of popup ads with videos.

[xrvlcruiser]

Wendy,

I check my bank and credit cards almost daily on WC and have not had  problems - occasionally there are days when the internet is down but it has never been a long-term issue.

Peggy

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Just now, xrvlcruiser said:

Wendy,

I check my bank and credit cards almost daily on WC and have not had  problems - occasionally there are days when the internet is down but it has never been a long-term issue.

Peggy

 

Thanks Peggy, great to be reassured.  To those people who say, "oh, just pre-pay everything", I say, I'm too paranoid to do that completely for four months, ha ha.

[travelwell]

We also will want to check bills weekly at least. Although most of our bills are automatic not all are. We also need to keep in touch with elderly parents by email. It is the lone stretch in the Pacific I especially would like to email. We plan on a “ Dear family and friends” type blog with photos and post some on cruise critic. 

[Gilly]

We've been cruising with Regent for some years, during which time I have always maintained a personal blog at www.elegantsufficiency.org , updated daily when we are travelling.  I could count on one hand the number of days when it has been totally impossible to post - yes, some days have been more challenging than others and there have been a few when it has sorely tested my patience.  But, honestly speaking, those days when I have given up have been few and far between.   Yes, there have been places where there was simply no internet at all - off the coast of Japan a few years ago, for example.    I don't give up easily, for sure, but daily blogging (with photos edited for file size management etc) is perfectly possible.

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, Gilly said:

 I don't give up easily, for sure, but daily blogging (with photos edited for file size management etc) is perfectly possible.

 

THANK YOU.

 

If everyone was as considerate as you, perhaps some of the connectivity issues would be mitigated.  Let's just say I have seen folks trying to send dozens and dozens of photos and videos, none of which have been compressed into a more manageable form.  And quite coincidentally, those folks are the ones that complain the most that they can't use "The Internet".

[Gilly]

@FlyerTalker in "the old days" of dial up we learned to manage such things, didn't we?  But now, when with my camera set to "medium" the resultant image is 5mB and trying to do anything with a few of those is a pain in the neck, especially with restricted bandwidth.  IMHO there is not enough discussion about how to manage these things - yes it's not exactly the most exciting subject, but a few simple steps using any one of several free apps makes all the difference.  I believe we've talked before about the need to disable automatic uploading of photos to the cloud when on board -  I wonder how many do, though?

[flossie009]

On 11/13/2019 at 12:06 AM, ClefsDor said:

Is it possible to pay extra to be able to log in more than one device per room and if so how much does it cost?  TIA

From the Regent website:

“FREE Unlimited WiFi provides guests with general web browsing, access to emails and app to app messaging (chat) while blocking bandwidth intensive applications like video and audio streaming. One login is provided per suite, which may be used on one device at a time. As part of our loyalty program’s benefits, Seven Seas Society members who have reached Gold-level and higher, and guests sailing in Concierge Suites and higher will receive four logins for up to four devices, that may be used concurrently”

[Nothing about being able to pay for using extra devices]

 

Also from the website:

“FREE Unlimited WiFi is included in your cruise fare and you may access the internet throughout the entirety of each ship, allowing you to connect from the privacy of your suite to the comfort of your lounge chair on the Pool Deck for as long as you like.

By January 2020, we will be nearly doubling internet bandwidth across our fleet. Significantly increasing bandwidth compared to 2018 will make free internet surfing more enjoyable for Regent guests as the internet will be faster and even more reliable on all devices”

 

mmmmmm ............ not long till January 2020, but on the basis of our recent Voyager cruise the promised increase in bandwidth has not yet occurred ................. or maybe it is just a case of “Double nothing is still nothing” 😉

[Marylebone37]

We just disembarked from the Voyager today (thanks so much flossie for your fantastic commentary... I don’t know how you did it given the HORRENDOUS internet connectivity on board!!).  As I wrote in my mid-cruise and final surveys, I will NEVER sail on Regent again until they make the proper IT infrastructure investments to provide adequate internet service.  I felt like I was cruising in 2000 or thereabouts, it was that bad for most of the cruise.  Really caused me a lot of angst due to  not being able to keep reliably in touch (I’m talking basic, text-only messaging) with family back home.  The internet service and on board “manager” is contracted out to a third party and Regent is obviously doing it all on the cheap!

[UUNetBill]

5 minutes ago, stines said:

We just disembarked from the Voyager today (thanks so much flossie for your fantastic commentary... I don’t know how you did it given the HORRENDOUS internet connectivity on board!!).  As I wrote in my mid-cruise and final surveys, I will NEVER sail on Regent again until they make the proper IT infrastructure investments to provide adequate internet service.  I felt like I was cruising in 2000 or thereabouts, it was that bad for most of the cruise.  Really caused me a lot of angst due to  not being able to keep reliably in touch (I’m talking basic, text-only messaging) with family back home.  The internet service and on board “manager” is contracted out to a third party and Regent is obviously doing it all on the cheap!

As some of you may know, I’m a pretty vocal critic of the (lack of) reliable, usable internet service on most all Regent ships...but having said that, I’ve never once been unable to at least check mail or send basic messages.  It’s been agonizingly slow, but rarely completely unusable, at least for more than an hour or so.

 

What I have noticed on several cruises now is that people THINK they’re logged on when  in reality they’ve gotten logged out and don’t know it.  I’ve had several people tell me they hadn’t been able to get online for a day or more and when I asked them to clear their browser and log back in, their connectivity was restored.  They thought just because they saw a WiFi icon on their device they were good to go...and they weren’t.  Being connected to an access point is NOT the same as being logged into your account, and I’ve had several people tell me that once they knew to re-log in they had no issues (other than the inherent slow speed is the system).

 

While some of the IT people in the computer room are good, some are, well, maybe a bit less so.

 

But yeah, increased bandwidth by January would be great.  And even better if it’s in place on Explorer by the 8th when we sail again.   😁

[Marylebone37]

I am an IT professional, so I knew to log out and log back in when having extended periods of difficulty.  The bandwidth and repeater infrastructure (probably amongst other things) is/was appalling - circa 2000-2005 cruising.  I booked a Concierge level suite to enjoy 4 login connections if so desired. Ha! Ha! Ha! What a joke that marketing is!  

Edited November 16, 2019 by stines
Typo

[1982CruzStart]

Just in the BA lounge at T3 (ugh) and though there were slow times and the inability to connect on occasion I don't think it was that horrible.  Annoying but as you read and saw flossie009 and I both managed to write pretty frequently as well as posted quite a few pictures. Of course my need to be connected all the time is probably not as great as some others. 

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, UUNetBill said:

They thought just because they saw a WiFi icon on their device they were good to go...and they weren’t.  Being connected to an access point is NOT the same as being logged into your account,

 

Sometimes, I wish that folks had to pass a test and get a drivers license for the "Information Superhighway"  (to bring back a very old term).

 

Or at least to learn some kind of basic understanding beyond "well, I just click on....."

 

Sigh....never happen.

[liptastic]

1 hour ago, 1982CruzStart said:

Just in the BA lounge at T3 (ugh) and though there were slow times and the inability to connect on occasion I don't think it was that horrible.  Annoying but as you read and saw flossie009 and I both managed to write pretty frequently as well as posted quite a few pictures. Of course my need to be connected all the time is probably not as great as some others. 

Kathy if you have time leave the BA lounge and walk a few yards and go into the Cathay Pacific lounge or Quantas lounge your ticket will allow you into both lounges. Much nicer than the BA lounge for sure, we always use those ones.   Jean.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

51 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Sometimes, I wish that folks had to pass a test and get a drivers license for the "Information Superhighway"  (to bring back a very old term).

 

Or at least to learn some kind of basic understanding beyond "well, I just click on....."

 

Sigh....never happen.

 

No, it won't.  But even we retired IT professionals (moi) find it tough to keep up.  

 

Used to be that you could just simply turn off images in your browser, or at least videos.  With all the popup ad clutter on most web pages (especially mobile ones), that's tough.  We've discussed this before, but my android phone still doesn't respect shutting off video autoplay.

 

In any case, I'll have to turn off cloud syncing (except for email).

 

As for photos, what's the best resolution to post?  Looking at my camera app, I don't see an easy way of sharing a photo using a lower res--I'll have to investigate this in a year's time--normally I don't bother since the default is fine when my bandwidth is high.  I see that my Photoshop Express app has this option, but it means going in and editing any pic I want to upload.

 

Is it still true that you have to log out of the Regent servers whenever you're not using them?  Or can I just turn wifi off and turn it back on when I want to surf?  I always found that a pain.

[Kwaj girl]

We are on Explorer now....very slow internet compared to our experience on Navigator 2 weeks ago.  We have also lost all external TV service though closed circuit has worked most of the time.  Bridge cam doesn't work so if you want to hear announcements you have to open your suite door.  No music, movie, tv show channels. CD just announced cedar that miami is in the process of reloading software so corruption may have been an issue

[Gilly]

3 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

I see that my Photoshop Express app has this option, but it means going in and editing any pic I want to upload.

@Wendy The Wanderer I use the free Snapseed app on my Android tablet to edit those photos I want to use in my blog. It's quick and surprisingly feature-rich with many of the options I use regularly on my desktop PS program.  I just did a sample edit and having set up my preferences, a single click reduced a  photo of almost 4Mb to 473kb.   

[xrvlcruiser]

Sandy,

It sounds as if it has to do with all the things which went on in dry dock.

Peggy

[ClefsDor]

We'll be on Splendor in Dec 2020 and the "all inclusive wifi" of one device per suite is going to take some getting used to and from Flossie's post it doesn't sound like we can even pay for more devices. If the internet is as woeful as it appears to be at the moment this could be a deal breaker for us and Regent, but crossing fingers that by then things will have improved.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

28 minutes ago, Gilly said:

@Wendy The Wanderer I use the free Snapseed app on my Android tablet to edit those photos I want to use in my blog. It's quick and surprisingly feature-rich with many of the options I use regularly on my desktop PS program.  I just did a sample edit and having set up my preferences, a single click reduced a  photo of almost 4Mb to 473kb.   

 

Thanks for the suggestion.  On my desktop I use Paintshop Pro, but I find increasingly I just take a pic on my phone and upload it to Facebook or similar.  But my point was I don't want to edit these often, so I have to switch apps and make it an extra step. 

[1982CruzStart]

On 11/16/2019 at 8:56 AM, liptastic said:

Kathy if you have time leave the BA lounge and walk a few yards and go into the Cathay Pacific lounge or Quantas lounge your ticket will allow you into both lounges. Much nicer than the BA lounge for sure, we always use those ones.   Jean.

Thanks Jean. Wish i had seen your post in time. The  BA lounge was quiet and comfortable so all worked out okay. 

[judi666]

On 11/16/2019 at 6:55 PM, Kwaj girl said:

We are on Explorer now....very slow internet compared to our experience on Navigator 2 weeks ago.  We have also lost all external TV service though closed circuit has worked most of the time.  Bridge cam doesn't work so if you want to hear announcements you have to open your suite door.  No music, movie, tv show channels. CD just announced cedar that miami is in the process of reloading software so corruption may have been an issue

I am also on your cruise. Internet connectivity has gone from bad to terrible.  It is like something from the 90’s.  Where is the “luxury”

in not being able to connect with family and friends about urgent matters or posts. Perhaps they could have spent some of the millions on the atrocious art ( which looks to be bought by the sq ft in some warehouse) on having a modern communication system.  Every other cruise line, even tiny Windstar has been better.  It’s a shame as lovely ship. We have had luck with our Skyroam hot spot while docked. I’m expecting we will just disappear for days off the net while crossing the Atlantic. Will not be booking again until some improvement is made.

[bizinsider]

In our onboard survey at our Suez cruise's completion, I specifically said that this poor Internet could be a deal-breaker for future Regent cruises. I ran into somebody on this cruise who had been on a similar itinerary a few months earlier on a new RCC ship. He said the Internet on that ship was almost better than on land...for what it's worth.