WiFi Use Comparison Question

[EngIceDave]

Carnival WiFi has three levels but it isn't really clear how good or how much you can really do on each.

How much can you push them?

 

My questions are, is....

 

The lowest level is basically Twitter and limited facebook?

 

Middle level is I assume enough to read this page and maybe some youtube videos? 

 

The premium level is my question, everyone asks about facetime, but what about Netflix, YouTubeTV or any video streaming at all?

 

How much difference is there between the middle and premium? Can you really tell? Is it worth the money?

 

Yes, I and everyone understands mileage may vary depending on tides, moon phase, ship, deck, cabin location and whether or not it is moose mating season.

[tallnthensome]

I am on the premium wifi right now laying in my bed in my cabin on the Panorama.  I can tell you that with my level of patience that I would not buy a lesser plan than the premium. While suitable, page loading for news,  videos, even cruise critic is still somewhat slow. I have been using it to video call my children with Google Duo. I haven't even bothered trying to stream a movie but it may work for you all things depending of course. Get the premium, spend the extra few dollars. 

[EngIceDave]

I also always wonder where's the "Hottest" wifi hotspots, cabin wise?

 

High cabin? Low Cabin? Mid-Ship? Balcony/inside?

 

All that steel makes it a challenge sometimes

[Jamesatgsu]

The lowest blocks everything except select apps, so really only useful if you are just looking to stay in touch with the outside world. We've only bought it once (back in 2017 on our 1st cruise). You were able to search Google using it, but you couldn't open any of the links.

 

Ever since I've bought the premium wifi because I have to work sometimes onboard. The internet has never been great. Oddly prevents my payroll site from loading on my phone, but not on my desktop, and there are definitely parts of the ships (including our room) that haven't been able to have great connections. Definitely feel like higher floors on the ship we seemed to have better connection, but I've only needed to leave my room on one ship to get a good connection (don't remember which one it was).

[klfrodo]

2 hours ago, tallnthensome said:

I am on the premium wifi right now laying in my bed in my cabin on the Panorama.  I can tell you that with my level of patience that I would not buy a lesser plan than the premium. While suitable, page loading for news,  videos, even cruise critic is still somewhat slow. I have been using it to video call my children with Google Duo. I haven't even bothered trying to stream a movie but it may work for you all things depending of course. Get the premium, spend the extra few dollars. 

 

It would be interesting if you went to www.speedtest.net and reported back what the results were while connected to the ships wifi.

 

For example, I just used my phone and ran the test on my home wifi.

Ping: 13milliseconds

Download: 139 Mbps

Upload: 41.3 Mbps

Edited September 2, 2021 by klfrodo

[Brkintx]

On the Breeze last month, roommate and I each had the Premium plans.

 

He has an iPhone that, like most, routes SMS and MMS texts through iMessage, and could not send nor receive such messages. He had no issues with speed (slower than land / but it's vacation in the middle of the ocean) for a FB Messenger call, etc. He sought assistance and was told iMessage is not supported. Thus, no option for him to stay in touch with the apps he typically uses.

 

I have an Android (read: phone for grown ups**) and had no issues with SMS or MMS while on the premium wifi. I did not try streaming services (and in my opinion, in a limited bandwidth environment, you'd really have to be a choad to clog up the pipe to watch a movie you could have downloaded, while on vacation, etc.**). I had no feeling of slowness for email / little bit of work / MS Teams (chat / document sharing), etc.

 

I don't think I'd try the other levels based on what I experienced. He felt the premium was not worth it as it provided him with everything but his primary means of contact. (Both of us are Verizon customers.)

 

 

**Please read the judgy-sounding comments above with the sarcastic playfulness intended...  iPhone users are not children (even if iOS treats them as if they are). 🤣🤣 **

 

[klfrodo]

30 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

 

It would be interesting if you went to www.speedtest.net and reported back what the results were while connected to the ships wifi.

 

For example, I just used my phone and ran the test on my home wifi.

Ping: 13milliseconds

Download: 139 Mbps

Upload: 41.3 Mbps

Just for giggles, I disconnected from my home wifi and tested with my T-Mobile 5G

Ping: 18ms

Download: 625 Mbps

Upload: 88.2 Mbps

[matt1119]

Just an FYI, Carnival says that even with the premium package, you can't stream music. Now, they might have changed this, but when I was on Horizon in early 2019, you could and I did with little issues.

[sharon&family]

On 9/2/2021 at 11:04 AM, Brkintx said:

On the Breeze last month, roommate and I each had the Premium plans.

 

He has an iPhone that, like most, routes SMS and MMS texts through iMessage, and could not send nor receive such messages. He had no issues with speed (slower than land / but it's vacation in the middle of the ocean) for a FB Messenger call, etc. He sought assistance and was told iMessage is not supported. Thus, no option for him to stay in touch with the apps he typically uses.

 

I have an Android (read: phone for grown ups**) and had no issues with SMS or MMS while on the premium wifi. I did not try streaming services (and in my opinion, in a limited bandwidth environment, you'd really have to be a choad to clog up the pipe to watch a movie you could have downloaded, while on vacation, etc.**). I had no feeling of slowness for email / little bit of work / MS Teams (chat / document sharing), etc.

 

I don't think I'd try the other levels based on what I experienced. He felt the premium was not worth it as it provided him with everything but his primary means of contact. (Both of us are Verizon customers.)

 

 

**Please read the judgy-sounding comments above with the sarcastic playfulness intended...  iPhone users are not children (even if iOS treats them as if they are). 🤣🤣 **

 

Would snapchat have worked for him?  My teenager daughter has an iphone and that is mainly what she uses.

[sharon&family]

Would snapchat work with any of the cheaper packages?

[furf_n_slo]

My boys will need to access their Google classroom to complete some homework on their chromebooks. Is that a capability of the middle package? We have two boys so I'm also assuming we will need two packages,  one for each. 

[klfrodo]

33 minutes ago, furf_n_slo said:

My boys will need to access their Google classroom to complete some homework on their chromebooks. Is that a capability of the middle package? We have two boys so I'm also assuming we will need two packages,  one for each. 

 

 

I just did a quick google search on the bandwidth requirements for Google Classroom and it appears that you would need a minimum of 3.2Mbps for each person. Also saw that latency should be less than 50ms.

I don't know what the current bandwidth is that is available. I can say that in the past, you were doing great if you got more than 3Mbps. Latency may also be an issue. Since the ship public broadband is communicating by satellite relays back to earth and then ground relays to the server, I always found latency from the ship to be well over 50ms. (Latency (or ping) is the time delay from when data is sent from your computer to the time it is received by the other computer and the okay, I received the information back to the original computer)

 

With all this being said, you may find difficulties with even the Premium plan.

[tallnthensome]

1 hour ago, furf_n_slo said:

My boys will need to access their Google classroom to complete some homework on their chromebooks. Is that a capability of the middle package? We have two boys so I'm also assuming we will need two packages,  one for each. 

I wouldn’t plan anything if importance where I need connectivity without just ponying up for the premium WiFi . 

[thepla]

Does anyone know which plan allows wifi calling?

[Brkintx]

4 hours ago, sharon&family said:

Would snapchat have worked for him?  My teenager daughter has an iphone and that is mainly what she uses.

I had no issues with Snapchat on my phone, but I know that many many people still regard it as a sexting app rather than just another messaging app... and he's in that camp, so I don't think he's a user for that reason. 

[Brkintx]

4 hours ago, furf_n_slo said:

My boys will need to access their Google classroom to complete some homework on their chromebooks. Is that a capability of the middle package? We have two boys so I'm also assuming we will need two packages,  one for each. 

 

Also, if the premium will work (not saying it will from a technical standpoint, though another poster addressed that...) do they both need to be connected simultaneously?  If not, the plan allows one device connection at a time, so they could alternate on one plan if the connectivity will work.

[pinto18]

On 9/2/2021 at 8:04 AM, Brkintx said:

He has an iPhone that, like most, routes SMS and MMS texts through iMessage, and could not send nor receive such messages. He had no issues with speed (slower than land / but it's vacation in the middle of the ocean) for a FB Messenger call, etc. He sought assistance and was told iMessage is not supported. Thus, no option for him to stay in touch with the apps he typically uses

Weird...last Feb I was on the Panorama and had the middle plan with an iPhone . iMessages worked fine

[Colorado Beach Bum]

We just got off Mardi Gras and iMessage worked fine in middle plan.  No WIFI calling though. 

[tallnthensome]

2 hours ago, thepla said:

Does anyone know which plan allows wifi calling?

I used Google Duo video/voice calling oh the Panorama with the premium plan last week to speak to our kids. Worked very well ......

[GlobalSurfer]

I just got off of the Carnival Magic this morning and had the Social plan for the cruise.

 

It worked fine for what I wanted...

 

iMessage worked - I was surprised it worked but never had an issue sending texts, pictures and videos.

Twitter worked - Could read tweets and send messages and video's to friends

Outlook worked - Could read and respond to work emails

Normal web browsing worked, slow as I expected

Kik - Did not work at all

 

 

[EngIceDave]

Answering my own question….

 

 

I have premium, it works on about everything, but slowly. It’s like the old 4G days. 
 

I can websurf, mail and even push a little streaming at Lofi…

YouTube works, for example.

 

I don’t video chat

[travelplus]

What if I only bought Premium on Sea Days and used WIFI on Port Days? A good way to save money.

 

 

 

[ChinaShrek]

Some of you might have overlooked an easy solution. Pre-Covid, I found that if I woke up early in the morning  (4am-6am) the internet was lightening fast. I could even watch Netflix. I would do this some mornings. The WIFI slowed down significantly after breakfast.

[Brkintx]

30 minutes ago, travelplus said:

What if I only bought Premium on Sea Days and used WIFI on Port Days? A good way to save money.

 

 

 

When you buy it, you are charged for every (remaining) day of the cruise, or you can pay for a 24 hour period. It was $14.45 / day for premium bought in advance or $20 for 24 hours on my last cruise. So… depending on your itinerary, that might actually not save much…  

I don’t know if the 24 hour cost is the same on every cruise. 

[travelplus]

1 hour ago, Brkintx said:

When you buy it, you are charged for every (remaining) day of the cruise, or you can pay for a 24 hour period. It was $14.45 / day for premium bought in advance or $20 for 24 hours on my last cruise. So… depending on your itinerary, that might actually not save much…  

I don’t know if the 24 hour cost is the same on every cruise. 

I'm on the Panorama 7 day so if I bought 3 sea days would I save money over the full 7 days?