How is the wifi usage limit "calculated"/what is the general daily limit?

[numbuh9494]

Hi all! My family and I will be sailing out on the Nieuw Statendam tomorrow. We booked with Have It All, so we have the Surf Package. I know some other lines restrict your usage to a certain amount of time or data. All I could find about HAL is that applications that use too much bandwidth are blocked. I basically use two apps: Twitter and the NYT Crossword app. While I know the site says that most of the popular social media sites are accessible, Twitter does sometimes have livestreams or long videos attached to Tweets that may use up bandwidth like streaming might. I'm not planning to use the wifi a lot, but I do like to keep it handy in case the catsitter needs to contact us or something like that. 

 

This is in the Holland America FAQ: 

"Each package comes with a daily volume of data for a superior experience. Volumes vary by package and subject to change. For a current listing of the daily volume soft caps, see the Internet Plan Selection page."

 

I have not been able to find the Internet Plan Selection page. Is this something only available to see once we're on board?

 

Thanks all! 

[numbuh9494]

Also - does anyone have experience with accessing Spotify over the HAL wifi? It's fairly low-bandwidth. DH and I sometimes like listening to podcasts together before drifting off to sleep and our favorites have new ones come out so they can't be downloaded beforehand.

[IPB4IGO]

According to this thread, there is a 500 MB per day limit on the Premium plan before you are throttled: 

 

[cruiseguy56]

6 hours ago, numbuh9494 said:

Hi all! My family and I will be sailing out on the Nieuw Statendam tomorrow. We booked with Have It All, so we have the Surf Package. I know some other lines restrict your usage to a certain amount of time or data. All I could find about HAL is that applications that use too much bandwidth are blocked. I basically use two apps: Twitter and the NYT Crossword app. While I know the site says that most of the popular social media sites are accessible, Twitter does sometimes have livestreams or long videos attached to Tweets that may use up bandwidth like streaming might. I'm not planning to use the wifi a lot, but I do like to keep it handy in case the catsitter needs to contact us or something like that. 

 

This is in the Holland America FAQ: 

"Each package comes with a daily volume of data for a superior experience. Volumes vary by package and subject to change. For a current listing of the daily volume soft caps, see the Internet Plan Selection page."

 

I have not been able to find the Internet Plan Selection page. Is this something only available to see once we're on board?

 

Thanks all! 

From HAL FAQs - 

Available Packages:

1. Social: Per day package, $14.99. (Access the most popular social websites and applications. May not allow for audio/video calling and streaming.)
2. Surf (most popular): $24.99. (Surf your favorite sites including e-mail, news, sports and more. May not allow for audio/video calling and streaming.)
3. Premium: $29.99 (From e-mail to streaming, receive the highest volume of data. Supports audio/video calling and streaming where coverage allows.)
4. I believe the internet selection page they refer to is the one built-in to the Navigator app. Checked my navigator app and apparently until you are on-board, it doesn't display. One nice thing about the Navigator app, you can chat with other members of your party (to find out where they are on the ship, for instance) over the ship's wi-fi WITHOUT having to pay for the wi-fi usage.

Edited December 17, 2021 by cruiseguy56
more info

[IPB4IGO]

31 minutes ago, cruiseguy56 said:

[snip]

One nice thing about the Navigator app, you can chat with other members of your party (to find out where they are on the ship, for instance) over the ship's wi-fi WITHOUT having to pay for the wi-fi usage.

The big disadvantage of relying on the Navigator app is that it has no notification function, i.e., you can send a message but unless the recipient opens the app and checks for messages it will go unnoticed.

[numbuh9494]

Thanks so much, all! I won't worry too much about it since again, I don't use it too much but I do like to know the limit just in case. 

 

And agreed about the Navigator app - I hate that there's no notifications! 

[POA1]

Turn off the auto play for Twitter and your other apps. The pipe is shared among all users, so it can get congested. I always download my music before I leave home. This avoids any streaming issues. Spotify premium has an offline mode.

[kwb101]

Be careful of the daily limits. Last February, both Social and Surf plans had 300MB limits, a fair amount if you're visiting sites that aren't heavily graphic.

[numbuh9494]

Thanks so much all for your help. I have turned off autoplay on my apps that have the option and have downloaded my podcasts and music. It’ll be my first time using wifi on a ship so it’ll be an interesting experience!

[VMax1700]

8 hours ago, numbuh9494 said:

Thanks so much all for your help. I have turned off autoplay on my apps that have the option and have downloaded my podcasts and music. It’ll be my first time using wifi on a ship so it’ll be an interesting experience!

Don't worry about getting a large bill for going over the daily limit.  It is not like your cell  phone and data usage.  All that happens is the speed slows waaaaay down until midnight then you start a new 24 hour session.