Sharing Internet NCL Bliss

[goodguyforsure]

Final two days on 14 day cruise out of New York. We had the streaming package. I bought a HooToo router. We have been sharing the internet between 2 iPhones and an iPad. Works beautifully. No more switching who can use the service. The HooToo is 50$ at Amazon. Setup was easy, followed directions. A note on streaming : Netflix streams but you will get pauses , maybe 2 per hour of viewing. Downloading from Apple TV app did not work. Note: HooToo is battery powered, lasted 2 days. It also will act as a power source. Very small, thru it in my backpack.

Edited February 14, 2020 by goodguyforsure
Added info

[BeachCruiserLB]

Great to know!  I just purchased one for our upcoming cruise and can't wait to use it!

[golf4me2010]

Do you have the red filehub/router? Trying to find the correct one on Amazon

 

Thx

[hallux]

5 hours ago, goodguyforsure said:

Netflix streams but you will get pauses , maybe 2 per hour of viewing

Are you aware that Netflix allows caching of content for offline viewing?  Amazon Prime Video does as well.  No need for internet at all.

[esm54687]

45 minutes ago, hallux said:

Are you aware that Netflix allows caching of content for offline viewing?  Amazon Prime Video does as well.  No need for internet at all.

Disney+ and Hulu (ad free version)  does as well

[goodguyforsure]

On 2/14/2020 at 2:26 PM, golf4me2010 said:

Do you have the red filehub/router? Trying to find the correct one on Amazon

 

Thx

I think there is just one, red and black.

 

[Snowball]

I wonder if one could share their internet package from one device to another through tethering (allowing the phone with the internet package to be used as a mobile hotspot for the phone without internet). Has anyone tried this onboard?

[hallux]

1 hour ago, Snowball said:

I wonder if one could share their internet package from one device to another through tethering (allowing the phone with the internet package to be used as a mobile hotspot for the phone without internet). Has anyone tried this onboard?

Tethering typically only works for sharing a cellular connection to WiFi.

 

I say "typically" because there are a few devices that do allow WiFi sharing (it's actually called WiFi sharing)...

[parmus]

On 2/14/2020 at 8:07 AM, goodguyforsure said:

Final two days on 14 day cruise out of New York. We had the streaming package. I bought a HooToo router. We have been sharing the internet between 2 iPhones and an iPad. Works beautifully. No more switching who can use the service. The HooToo is 50$ at Amazon. Setup was easy, followed directions. A note on streaming : Netflix streams but you will get pauses , maybe 2 per hour of viewing. Downloading from Apple TV app did not work. Note: HooToo is battery powered, lasted 2 days. It also will act as a power source. Very small, thru it in my backpack.

I’m being dense here, So just to be clear...if you have the internet package, it’s per stateroom, and if you have three devices, only one device can be logged on at a time.  But with the HooToo, everyone can?

[Comi.uy]

Do you know if this will also work with the social media package?

[Comi.uy]

Found this one, that is the same thing but by TPlink which is a great brand and is on sale

 

https://smile.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wireless-Portable-Travel-Router/dp/B00TQEX8BO/ref=sxin_3_osp34-dea1812a_cov

[choover2576]

This is great info, thanks!

 

 My husband is semi-addicted to an online game called Hearthstone.  Would be able to play this on the ship through the unlimited package?  Also, can you stream YouTube Videos?

[hallux]

52 minutes ago, choover2576 said:

Also, can you stream YouTube Videos?

You would need the streaming package for this, but it may still not be a great experience. 

 

I don't know that game but if latency (amount of time it takes to get from one person to the other and back) is an issue it won't be playable.

[kevink1955]

I cannot believe sharing works at all, we just returned on the Bilss Mar 1st and had the premium package.   The internet was so painfully slow that it was almost unusable.  We tried it on 3 different devices as well as multiple locations on the ship.

 

The signal strength was good everywhere but it performed like 4000 user were sharing a dial up modem,  The App worked great and at full speed but the Internet was a big fail for us.

 

 

[hallux]

25 minutes ago, kevink1955 said:

it performed like 4000 user were sharing a dial up modem

Well, you're not far off as 4,000 people were sharing a high-latency satellite uplink...

[davencl]

On the Joy the free internet(I.E. NCL and Cruise Critic) was very slow, like dial up slow.  I had the 250 minute package.  When logged in thru that it was at least DSL speed.

[Warbird]

I have tried this in the past with two different devices, one an Ravpower and a TP-Link.  How do you get past the login ID and password issue.  Login ID being the key for the ship internet.

[Comi.uy]

16 hours ago, davencl said:

On the Joy the free internet(I.E. NCL and Cruise Critic) was very slow, like dial up slow.  I had the 250 minute package.  When logged in thru that it was at least DSL speed.

What free internet?

[Mike_DeA]

41 minutes ago, Comi.uy said:

What free internet?

 

They're referring to the ship's wifi that gets you on the NCL app to check your onboard account, check out activities, text others onboard (if you pay the fee), etc. and also allows you to access cruisecritic.

[brovol]

Does the HooToo just work with Iphones, or will it work as well with android?  I got the streaming package for cruise on the Getaway.  So the HooToo just connects to the ship WiFi, and then serves as a router for our other devices?  iPad and phones?

[mking8288]

1 hour ago, Comi.uy said:

What free internet?

 

It's really being connected to ship's inTRAnet, handled by onboard [Cisco] servers, no access to inTERnet, except NCL & Cruise Critic site. 

 

Or getting "free" minutes as select NCL promotions, like 30 or 60 or 100 and/or 250 minutes.

[Comi.uy]

3 hours ago, Mike_DeA said:

and also allows you to access cruisecritic.

Cool, totally did not know about that. Your learn something everyday here