VOOM in Alaska

[tallgirl97]

Going on an extended family cruise to Alaska this summer as a group of newbies, and several of us have purchased VOOM so the teens can stay connected with friends back home. It's just come to my attention on another thread that ships need to turn off their wifi signals within several miles of shore. Perhaps naively, I was thinking we'd have a wifi signal whenever onboard the ship (recognizing service can be spotty and slows down the further north you go).

 

If you've had VOOM in Alaska, what has coverage been like? Will we not have it in port at all, or during periods of scenic cruising? In case it matters, our ports are Juneau, Haines and Sitka, with visits to Tracy Arm and Endicott Arm.

[Ryalie1]

Voom has been fine on the current Ovation Alaska cruise both in port and at sea, with the exception of a few hours on the Endicott Arm/Juneau day - they said they had satellite problems and someone was trying to fix this so the impression I got was that this was not an expected outage based on location, but a technical issue so theoretically shouldn't be a problem for any subsequent cruises. 

 

I found Surf pretty challenging, but the Surf and Stream speed is good. 

 

Not sure what this switching off in port thing is - it's been fine for us. 

[Dhouse900]

I believe they switch off the very expensive on ship cellular phone network, not the actual Wi-Fi. Which is why you put your phone in airplane mode then turn Wi-Fi only back on. 

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, tallgirl97 said:

Going on an extended family cruise to Alaska this summer as a group of newbies, and several of us have purchased VOOM so the teens can stay connected with friends back home. It's just come to my attention on another thread that ships need to turn off their wifi signals within several miles of shore. Perhaps naively, I was thinking we'd have a wifi signal whenever onboard the ship (recognizing service can be spotty and slows down the further north you go).

 

They don't turn off the WiFi. They turn off the ships cell tower in port or close to shore. You don't want the ship cell anyway either  in port or at sea. Your devices should be in Airplane Mode with WiFi on when at sea.

 

You can take it out of airplane mode in ports and use your cell plan but don't forget to put it back in airplane mode before the ship sails

Edited May 12, 2022 by Charles4515

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, tallgirl97 said:

so the teens can stay connected with friends back home.

This may be hard to make them understand, but you could take a chance and have them use cell data in the US ports.

 

14 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

You don't want the ship cell anyway either  in port or at sea

While that is true most of the time, on an Alaskan sailing you are covered in most ports by your US plan - the trick is remembering to turn on airplane mode again when you get back on the ship.

Edited May 12, 2022 by Biker19

[sergeant655]

On Radiance at the moment and having a hard time with the voom . As the ship goes north. It seems to slow down.  This is with surf and stream.  It tends to work better in port

[Charles4515]

2 minutes ago, sergeant655 said:

On Radiance at the moment and having a hard time with the voom . As the ship goes north. It seems to slow down.  This is with surf and stream.  It tends to work better in port

 

The older satelites are stationary so their signal gets worse the farther north the ship goes. The lower orbit satelites move orbit but their orbits are optimised for populated mid latitudes. There can also be ground relays so that might be why it might seem better in port. 

[PTC DAWG]

Tell the kids they will survive without constant communications with “friends”.  

[steveru621]

Onboard WiFi won't be available during your Tracy Arm excursion because of the high rock walls blocking the satellite signal.

 

Your cell phones will work in the US ports because you are in the USA, and probably when you are in sight of land.  The first thing you need to do is TURN OFF ROAMING.  If you see a Cellular at Sea notification put your phones in Airplane Mode.

 

As others have said it's the ships Cellular at Sea tower that is turned off close to land.

 

Enjoy

Edited May 12, 2022 by steveru621

[PTC DAWG]

20 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

This may be hard to make them understand, but you could take a chance and have them use cell data in the US ports.

 

Good luck with that. 

[Charles4515]

10 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Good luck with that. 

Yes. Before covid we used to do a group Caribbean cruise every year. It was hardest for the younger and hardest for the older members to understand putting the phones into airplane mode and out of airplane mode. It was not only understanding, it was remembering.  So I just made sure they were in Airplane mode with WiFi on. 

Edited May 12, 2022 by Charles4515

[tallgirl97]

20 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Tell the kids they will survive without constant communications with “friends”.  

 

We tried that on our last trip and unfortunately, it contributed to a severe flare-up in my child's anxiety. I consider this to be a good compromise to optimize the chances of having an enjoyable trip with their grandparents.

 

Thanks to everyone who weighed in - I'm glad to hear I misinterpreted what I read and that VOOM should work, more or less, for most parts of our trip.

 

We're Canadian so if we want to use our own data in Alaskan ports, unfortunately that would mean stacking another international data plan on top of what we already carry. Since we're paying for VOOM, I'd rather just let them rely on it until we're back to Vancouver.

 

No problem with setting our devices to airplane mode and turning on wifi - we've done that on several trips in the past and thus far (knock on wood) haven't had any slip-ups resulting in extra roaming charges.