Free wifi

[CILCIANRQTS]

Free wifi has absolutely NO value if you can’t use it most hours of the day.

I have never seen Viking wifi service so poor, and I’m tired of Viking giving the stock reply “ We are aware of the problem and we’re working on it.”

Sure doesn’t seem like they’re working very hard!! 😡

[Jim Avery]

5 minutes ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

Free wifi has absolutely NO value if you can’t use it most hours of the day.

I have never seen Viking wifi service so poor, and I’m tired of Viking giving the stock reply “ We are aware of the problem and we’re working on it.”

Sure doesn’t seem like they’re working very hard!! 😡

That's a shame as we thought Viking wi-fi on both WCs was the best we ever had on any ship.  Were able to do banking, mail, book private tours, etc.  Wonder what has happened?  Must have contracted new (cheaper) providers.  

[austinetc]

16 minutes ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

Free wifi has absolutely NO value if you can’t use it most hours of the day.

I have never seen Viking wifi service so poor, and I’m tired of Viking giving the stock reply “ We are aware of the problem and we’re working on it.”

Sure doesn’t seem like they’re working very hard!! 😡

Where is the ship? I've never had problems, but I've never been in the middle of the ocean on VIking.

[LindaS272]

The wi-fi on our recent crossing on the Sea from San Juan to Barcelona was also horrible.

[twodjs]

CILCIANRQTS - Rather than being so quick to blame Viking, why don't you ask why service is so bad. If you are in the middle of the ocean and there are no satellites within range, that is not Viking's fault.

[FetaCheese]

Had excellent WIFI service, Venus, Greek Odyssey, Dec. 2021

[1985rz1]

Don't confuse WiFi service with internet service.  They are not the same, and all the WiFi bandwidth in the world cannot produce a good connection if there are no satellites within range or are poorly placed,  to provide the connection to internet. 

[eylarson]

Octantis bandwidth has been extremely constricted since arrival of travel writers on the Barbados to New York leg.  The Cruise Critic writer has posted at least on video on Facebook.  We all know streaming is a bandwidth hog.  Today, the day before disembarkation and a holiday really slowed things down.  Not sure Viking can do much to alleviate.  

 

[Peregrina651]

The closer you are to the poles, the further you are from the satellites.  Once inside the polar circles, the line of sight to the satellites,which are in geosynchronous orbit over the equator, can be blocked by hills, mountains, icebergs, etc.

 

Last summer, we were in Iceland with Viking and needed to communicate with the ship.  We tried from our cell phone and from a landline and could not get through.  The ship was docked on the northern side of the island, in a snug harbor surrounded by hills and had no access to the satellites that handled the phone service and the internet.  

[The-Inside-Cabin]

We are on the Viking Orion now in Victoria.   Internet is fine once connected.   But I have to open the door to my cabin to get a strong enough connection to the router.    If I shut my door I get disconnected.    Guest services called IT.   We'll see what happens.   Maybe the router near my cabin is out.    
 

But my cabin ,5083,  has the bathroom between the router and my living area.   
 

I am using a doorstop to keep my door open. 

[CCWineLover]

I have another theory.

We experienced no issues at all on all our Viking cruises before COVID. 

However, in our cruises since the reopening, wifi has been abysmal and it is not due to being in the middle of the ocean or far north or south.

My theory is that VIking now allows 2 devices per person or thus 4 per room.  With 800 people that is 1600 devices potentially on-line all the time.  So with COVID, so many people became more comfortable and dependent on staying connected (to family, entertainment, news, and more) that in those 2 years it became a new way of life for many (even though lots of us were already that way).  This newly discovered dependency on always being connected may account for the differences pre and post COVID !  Just a thought, but I'm not a network person.

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

We are on the Viking Orion now in Victoria.   Internet is fine once connected.   But I have to open the door to my cabin to get a strong enough connection to the router.    If I shut my door I get disconnected.    Guest services called IT.   We'll see what happens.   Maybe the router near my cabin is out.    
 

But my cabin ,5083,  has the bathroom between the router and my living area.   
 

I am using a doorstop to keep my door open. 

Timely!   We are going on Jupiter Apr 21 and in cabin 5089.  Will have to see how THEIR router is.  Will remember the doorstop route.  On previous cruise in March we pretty much had to go to look for other routers in the public areas (floor 1 and 7) to get any kind of service.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

25 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Timely!   We are going on Jupiter Apr 21 and in cabin 5089.  Will have to see how THEIR router is.  Will remember the doorstop route.  On previous cruise in March we pretty much had to go to look for other routers in the public areas (floor 1 and 7) to get any kind of service.

There is a router in the laundry rooms with a nice sofa.     For now keeping my door open works ok.      I understand the up's and downs of internet satellites but putting a strong signal into every cabin is within Vikings control.   
 

there are a lot of routers in the hallways.    They may need more or use ones with more power. 
 

here is the best door stop.   Wedge It!  
 

 

 

 

Edited April 18, 2022 by The-Inside-Cabin

[Mich3554]

3 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

I have another theory.

We experienced no issues at all on all our Viking cruises before COVID. 

However, in our cruises since the reopening, wifi has been abysmal and it is not due to being in the middle of the ocean or far north or south.

My theory is that VIking now allows 2 devices per person or thus 4 per room.  With 800 people that is 1600 devices potentially on-line all the time.  So with COVID, so many people became more comfortable and dependent on staying connected (to family, entertainment, news, and more) that in those 2 years it became a new way of life for many (even though lots of us were already that way).  This newly discovered dependency on always being connected may account for the differences pre and post COVID !  Just a thought, but I'm not a network person.

When did Viking allow 2 devices each?  Our last cruise in Dec, I had to disconnect my phone from the Wi-Fi to connect my iPad.  Even then, internet service was pretty sketchy, especially in South America.

We had about 400 on that cruise, so it wasn't even half full.

[Mich3554]

3 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Timely!   We are going on Jupiter Apr 21 and in cabin 5089.  Will have to see how THEIR router is.  Will remember the doorstop route.  On previous cruise in March we pretty much had to go to look for other routers in the public areas (floor 1 and 7) to get any kind of service.

Take care of our cabin for us.  We were in 5089 for our B2B2B last winter.  BTW, the router is about 3 doors down from this cabin on the wall opposite the doors.  Didn't help much.

[SteelCity Cruiser]

We were on the Orion, Ft. Lauderdale to LA and our internet service was fine-in fact I was surprised how good it was.  A few times it was very slow, but the same time of day, every day so I chalked that up to useage during those hours.

[travelbug11]

South America in December, it was perfect 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

2 hours ago, SteelCity Cruiser said:

We were on the Orion, Ft. Lauderdale to LA and our internet service was fine-in fact I was surprised how good it was.  A few times it was very slow, but the same time of day, every day so I chalked that up to useage during those hours.

Did you get a strong connection in your cabin?   That's where the problem is for me - it's fine with my door open or if I go to a public area - shut my door and it disconnects

[CCWineLover]

2 hours ago, SteelCity Cruiser said:

We were on the Orion, Ft. Lauderdale to LA and our internet service was fine-in fact I was surprised how good it was.  A few times it was very slow, but the same time of day, every day so I chalked that up to useage during those hours.

Jill - as we were on the same cruise, interesting the differences.   To me, it was so much better pre-COVID - just like home.  Post COVID it has been horrible in comparison.  But maybe everything is relative.  We'll see what Jupiter is like in a few days.  🙂

 

[CCWineLover]

3 hours ago, Mich3554 said:

Take care of our cabin for us.  We were in 5089 for our B2B2B last winter.  BTW, the router is about 3 doors down from this cabin on the wall opposite the doors.  Didn't help much.

Oh my goodness!  Thanks, Michelle.  We were actually in 5089 for our Rome-Barcelona-San Juan cruise last Nov-Dec on the SEA.  Nice room.  But you were on Jupiter so it literally will be the same room!  How bizarre...

As for devices, on our last cruise Mar/Apr this year, Viking was allowing 2 concurrent devices per person (4 total per stateroom).  I think that might have been the issue.  You didn't have to sign off and on like you did in 2021 and earlier...   Wonder if that's true on all Ocean ships now or is the policy different.  We'll see!

[H2Otstr]

12 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

We are on the Viking Orion now in Victoria.   Internet is fine once connected.   But I have to open the door to my cabin to get a strong enough connection to the router.    If I shut my door I get disconnected.    Guest services called IT.   We'll see what happens.   Maybe the router near my cabin is out.    
 

But my cabin ,5083,  has the bathroom between the router and my living area.   
 

I am using a doorstop to keep my door open. 

We were in room 5083 a few days ago. 😁.  Wifi was spotty  and slow but I could still use it. Enjoy your cruise. 

 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

18 minutes ago, H2Otstr said:

We were in room 5083 a few days ago. 😁.  Wifi was spotty  and slow but I could still use it. Enjoy your cruise. 

 

Cruise is going great - wifi is spotty on iphone with door shut - can't connect with laptop.   Open the door and presto - everything works great - not spotty.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

13 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

Cruise is going great - wifi is spotty on iphone with door shut - can't connect with laptop.   Open the door and presto - everything works great - not spotty.

Viking Orion's IT officer and one other person stopped by my cabin today and I was able to demonstrate that closing my door attenuates the WIFI signal so it is no longer usable.   They validated the issue and are working on solutions.   Not sure what they could do onboard, but I was impressed with their follow-up.     

 

So - if you have a weak Wi-Fi signal in your cabin - try opening the door and then let someone know.    This issue is the Wi-Fi signal strength to connect to Viking Orion (or your ships name)  INTRA-Net - not the INTERNET....

[1985rz1]

I have two apps on my devices that I use frequently when I travel:  WiFiAnalyzer and Speedtest.  These are Android apps, but there should be equivalent Apple apps.  I find them very useful to nail down the source of any connectivity issues.

[longterm]

On 4/17/2022 at 2:42 PM, CILCIANRQTS said:

Free wifi has absolutely NO value if you can’t use it most hours of the day.

I have never seen Viking wifi service so poor, and I’m tired of Viking giving the stock reply “ We are aware of the problem and we’re working on it.”

Sure doesn’t seem like they’re working very hard!! 😡

On our March cruise from Rome->Athens, the Internet speed was consistently awful--so much so that I used my iPhone's hotspot instead when we were docked or close enough to land to have a cell connection.

 

Our room steward on our cruise had just previously worked on an Oceania ship, and had several friends still on one of their ships. He told me that the friends on Oceania were also reporting really bad Internet connectivity, so his theory was that there was perhaps an issue with the satellite(s) that cruise ships are using. According to him, they all use the same satellite provider for cruise ships--don't know if this is true though.

 

There *is* a difference between wifi and Internet connectivity; we had great wifi connections all the time --which just means that users have good connection to the Internet router on the ship (wherever it is), but the bandwidth was awful for this last cruise; in the Caribbean in December, and on our river cruise pre-pandemic, it was decent and functional.

Also, being in the middle of the ocean has no effect on an Internet service that relies on satellites, so it shouldn't matter *where* the ship is when it's using a satellite connection. Having said that, I don't know how well the satellite(s) cover the globe, so there may be areas where connectivity is weak or non-existent, but I can't speak to that.

Having said all of that though, I have an Internet hosting company that I've run for 22 years now, and have to connect to my 30+ servers in Atlanta every morning. I was able to do so for the entire trip--sometimes using on-board wifi (rarely though), and considering I was on a leisure cruise, I found it acceptable.