Explorer WiFi is a rip off

[Rogueperson]

4 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Pretty sure all ships in the fleet are limited to the same 4Mbps down for Stream and .5Mbps for Surf. The big diff is that you get a very noticeable improvement in performance with O3B equipped ships due to much lower latency.

 

 When originally launched, we had several reports of at least 25Mbps down on some O3B ships - that didn't last long.

 

I remember seeing 5 or 6 Mbps down earlier, but haven't recently.  Enchantment was only at 2 if i'm lucky back in March, but the lower latency more than made up for it.  On Brilliance, in December, it was at close to 4, but occupancy was only at like 45%.  I think there was only 1100 onboard that sailing.

[Guest TopoChico]

3 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Pretty sure all ships in the fleet are limited to the same 4Mbps down for Stream and .5Mbps for Surf. The big diff is that you get a very noticeable improvement in performance with O3B equipped ships due to much lower latency.

 

 When originally launched, we had several reports of at least 25Mbps down on some O3B ships - that didn't last long.

I have no idea what that even means, hence the disclaimer.  This post isn’t really meant for someone who knows what you wrote up there.
Add mbso3bos.latency5.03b to the list of things a majority of us old folks don’t know, while doing our best to navigate new technology and avoid paying out the wazoo. 

 

2 hours ago, TopoChico said:

Again, this thread is for two types of people, those going on Explorer of the Seas assuming taking the Voom Surf Stream package will work as advertised.  It does not. 
The second group I’m attempting to help are those people like myself who are not

well-versed in cell technology, or frequent cruisers who know the ins and outs of when, where and how to turn on/off which features and what to enable and disable. 
 

Just trying to help.   

 

[Ashland]

I did a B2B on Explorer March 20 & March 27. My iPhone was kept on Airplane mode and WiFi calling on and I was able to text my family with no problem. The only thing that did happen was the internet went out for one day during my cruise and I got an immediate credit on my SeaPass acct for that day. The connectivity was great otherwise and we were certainly able to stream and watch Netflix , HBO Max and Amazon Prime on our laptop. Sorry your experience was not what you expected.

[Guest TopoChico]

1 minute ago, Ashland said:

I did a B2B on Explorer March 20 & March 27. My iPhone was kept on Airplane mode and WiFi calling on and I was able to text my family with no problem. The only thing that did happen was the internet went out for one day during my cruise and I got an immediate credit on my SeaPass acct for that day. The connectivity was great otherwise and we were certainly able to stream and watch Netflix , HBO Max and Amazon Prime on our laptop. Sorry your experience was not what you expected.

We were the next sailing.  I was reading about your experience on board before we left and it was the reason I signed up to comment.  You were right. 

[SG65CB]

2 hours ago, tallgirl97 said:

Whoa, really - no Voom within 9-12 miles of land? 

 

We bought Voom for an upcoming Alaska cruise, which I assume will hug the coast most days. Did we waste that money? I assumed we'd be connected whenever we are on the ship (and recognize that it may be slow/spotty as we get further north).

 

Voom is internet service provided by the ship. It is always on.

 

They were referring to cell phone service which is available on the ship, basically a cell phone tower on the ship. This is turned off when the ship gets close to land. At that point you can use the land-based cellular service. But your Voom wifi internet will always be on, even when the ship is in port. 

 

 

 

 

[Yorkvillain]

Yeah but I heard the food is good on the Explorer. 

[orville99]

59 minutes ago, Rogueperson said:

 

I remember seeing 5 or 6 Mbps down earlier, but haven't recently.  Enchantment was only at 2 if i'm lucky back in March, but the lower latency more than made up for it.  On Brilliance, in December, it was at close to 4, but occupancy was only at like 45%.  I think there was only 1100 onboard that sailing.

It has been awhile since we were on Brilliance, but if I remember correctly the cabins had a Wi-Fi booster mounted on the wall next to the cabin door. We always got better internet in the cabin than we did in the public areas of the ship.

[orville99]

57 minutes ago, TopoChico said:

Add mbso3bos.latency5.03b to the list of things a majority of us old folks don’t know,

Sorry, but at 74 years old (and counting) I have lived in the digital world for more than 30 years, and it is virtually impossible to gain no understanding of how the digital world works unless one chooses to avoid learning.Remember, we “old folks” are the ones that invented the digital world in the first place.

[Blur]

Even the newer ships can have down time for voom.  It's satellite internet so bad weather and issues with the infrastructure as well as not paying the satellite bill will cause interruptions! 

 

I also had a feeling they reduced overall satellite bandwidth to save costs during shutdown.  One sailing on anthem stream was excellent and the next it was barely useable (about the same number of passengers).

[njkruzer]

6 hours ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

Isn't the easy solution to put your phone/tablet in airplane mode, THEN turn wifi on?   This way, if wifi drops out, you're not using data, right? 

It's what I do. Also turn off roaming.  Onboard Jewel for TA, which ends tomorrow.  Wifi has been terrible and not just for passengers but also for services onboard, i.e.next cruise, shops, etc.  Not sure why. 

[alfaeric]

9 minutes ago, njkruzer said:

It's what I do. Also turn off roaming.  Onboard Jewel for TA, which ends tomorrow.  Wifi has been terrible and not just for passengers but also for services onboard, i.e.next cruise, shops, etc.  Not sure why. 

Probably the transition to so many phone based things on ships that were not ready for it.   

[jcl410]

I was on Explorer of the Seas last month. I only had the Voom plan for one day, but I did use the APP on my phone every day.

 

There were certain places/times aboard the ship where the WiFi connection was bad. To me, that meant that there wasn't a WiFi Access Point(AP)  close to me, or it was over saturated with users. If that happened, I'd just try moving to a different location, and the connection would get better.

 

The older ships weren't designed  with WiFi in mind, so adding the APs later on  must have been quite the job. WiFi doesn't go through steel very well,. That makes it even more challenging.

 

 

Aloha,

 

John   

[firefly333]

7 hours ago, TopoChico said:

I made no phone calls. If you read my post, I had an international plan with AT&T but it does not cover you while you are on the ship. The ship Wi-Fi “surf and Stream” was shoddy and did not work 80% of the time. So yes, I can and will post here to warn others. 

I never said you made calls. I was referring to your cell phone plan for international calling which you said the plan kicked in and charged you for data. ... post away. I'm on a ship and tomorrow is turn around day and my wifi on my tablet here on grandeur will kick off. I wouldnt see your warnings. ..I still think the moral of the story is to check you are in airplane mode and your regular phone isnt using data and charging you. You arent the first and wouldnt be the last who didnt know. So it  doesnt hurt to warn others. 

 

Saying you do have a plan of some sort with your provider isnt untrue. My cell phone stays in the safe, turned off. 

[poocher]

4 hours ago, TopoChico said:

I have no idea what that even means, hence the disclaimer.  This post isn’t really meant for someone who knows what you wrote up there.
Add mbso3bos.latency5.03b to the list of things a majority of us old folks don’t know, while doing our best to navigate new technology and avoid paying out the wazoo. 

 

 

Which is why I ASKED here and on the other board not to be named, exactly how to configure my cell phone so as not to incur charges.  I had no clue so I asked people who I knew would have the answer.  CC boards, not just for complaints!

[queenfrostine22]

7 hours ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

Isn't the easy solution to put your phone/tablet in airplane mode, THEN turn wifi on?   This way, if wifi drops out, you're not using data, right? 

I have always done this. Never have known there was another way. I learned something today.

[VegasVic14]

OP: "Even though I had the WiFi package that includes internet surfing on my phone and ipad - and an International package with Att - I still accrued $386 in overages while on the ship."

The even though I had the WiFi package part of your opening statement has absolutely nothing to do with the I still accrued part. They are completely separate things. With or without the package, you still  would have accrued the overages.
 

[volk904]

First of all he is right the Explorer Vroom is slow and sure not like the Vroom WiFi on newer ships which is pretty good.  It was good for surfing and email and that was about it.  That said I am confused over the OP ‘s issue with the  ATT International plan.  I have had it for years and used it on many cruises. When you are in ports under local cell coverage from at area you are charged $10 and have data, text and phone for 24 hours.  This does not include data on the ship when you leave the port.  If you were charged for data while in port with the ATT I would love to hear why the plan did not cover it.  
 

My experience is you need to be very careful when leaving ports to turn your device to airplane mode or turn off the data for cellular service if you want your phone open for incoming calls or texts from home.   

[snowbird1]

My brother said the same thing, stream internet was worthless and no way you could stream anything.  He said you could barely even browse the net .

[Guest TopoChico]

15 hours ago, VegasVic14 said:

OP: "Even though I had the WiFi package that includes internet surfing on my phone and ipad - and an International package with Att - I still accrued $386 in overages while on the ship."

The even though I had the WiFi package part of your opening statement has absolutely nothing to do with the I still accrued part. They are completely separate things. With or without the package, you still  would have accrued the overages.
 

Incorrect. If the wifi package actually worked and didn’t drop constantly, I would have incurred no overage charges. 

[Guest TopoChico]

10 minutes ago, snowbird1 said:

My brother said the same thing, stream internet was worthless and no way you could stream anything.  He said you could barely even browse the net .

I said that and they’re lining up to attack haha I’ve even been told I’m lazy for not having the inclination to do continuing education learning of cell technology bc I don’t know what latency and Mb are 😂

gotta love Cruise critic, where if you actually critique something, which is the intended purpose of this site, the vultures swoop in to make themselves feel better because they succeeded in knocking someone else down for being human. 

 

[Sunshine3601]

Doesn't the paper that is in your cabin for wifi pkg tell you to put phone on airplane mode?

[Guest TopoChico]

8 hours ago, volk904 said:

First of all he is right the Explorer Vroom is slow and sure not like the Vroom WiFi on newer ships which is pretty good.  It was good for surfing and email and that was about it.  That said I am confused over the OP ‘s issue with the  ATT International plan.  I have had it for years and used it on many cruises. When you are in ports under local cell coverage from at area you are charged $10 and have data, text and phone for 24 hours.  This does not include data on the ship when you leave the port.  If you were charged for data while in port with the ATT I would love to hear why the plan did not cover it.  
 

My experience is you need to be very careful when leaving ports to turn your device to airplane mode or turn off the data for cellular service if you want your phone open for incoming calls or texts from home.   

I received texts every day reminding me I have the International plan. I received the texts while arriving in port.
 

I was told there is no coverage while on the sea.  However, the ship was docked and in port when I incurred the overages in St Maarten and Antigua. I was not doing bs, I was looking up beaches to decide which one we would choose for that day.  And the wifi was not working in our cabin for more than a few minutes here and there.  (I’m sure someone will chime in and say I should’ve done my homework before I left home and that also is my fault.)

The agent(s) I spoke to at ATT could not properly explain why I was charged, said there is a lot of vagueness when dealing with Cruise ship charges, and gave me the max credit he could of $130. I’m sure I could have Karen’d my way up the chain for more, but I don’t have any desire to spend hours on the phone with them and just paid the bill.
 

 Our son and his girlfriend are leaving Sunday on a Carnival Cruise out of Baltimore with a wifi package.  Since he is on our cell plan, I told him to make sure roaming is off and airplane mode is on. And if he incurs any charges, he’s paying them. They’re both Engineers, not an old broad like me. And they also didn’t know the ins-and-outs of Cruise ship cell use. He just hasn’t cruised in 7 years like me. 

 

So for those people who came in to give positive feedback and advice, thank you so much.  We appreciate it. 

 

[Guest TopoChico]

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Edited May 13, 2022 by TopoChico
Duplicate

[Guest TopoChico]

24 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Doesn't the paper that is in your cabin for wifi pkg tell you to put phone on airplane mode?

No.  There was no paper in the cabin. If there were, I would have known. 

[nelblu]

20 hours ago, Blur said:

Even the newer ships can have down time for voom.  It's satellite internet so bad weather and issues with the infrastructure as well as not paying the satellite bill will cause interruptions! 

 

I also had a feeling they reduced overall satellite bandwidth to save costs during shutdown.  One sailing on anthem stream was excellent and the next it was barely useable (about the same number of passengers).

Sailed on Anthem Easter time and I signed up for the Surf @$21.99 per day.  The service was so slow if one needed to look up on the internet.  This may have been due to capacity @80%, some 1,200 kids & very windy for the entire cruise.   No problem using the APP or texting.  Was so frustrated & tired of seeing a fluttering circle on my screen, that on the 3rd day, I upgraded to the S&S @$26.99 per day. 

Sticker shock anybody.

 

Ps.  Speaking of age & technology, my son's family joined me on this sail, and they were not getting the paper version of the cruise planner.  However, I was getting it as usual nicely placed on my bed each night.  They asked the cabin attendant for the reason, and they were told that only those Paxs 65+ were fortunate to receive the paper version.  I guess Royal doesn't think much of us when it comes tom technology.😜