Wifi and hot spot

[thinfool]

Tell your folks that they only need to deal with this issue on sea days.  Other days, in an Alaska port, they should have access to domestic cell service that will enable their hotspot regardless of wifi onboard status.

[kywildcatfanone]

9 hours ago, antsp said:

Samsung s22 ultra

This is the phone I have.  How do you enable the hotspot, never done that?  And then from another device, you see your phone as the wifi connection and just connect to it as you would home wifi?  What password does it use, do you set one up for the hotspot specifically?

[MissP22]

1 hour ago, jagoffee said:

 As you may know one cannot use an IPhone as a hotspot with Wifi.  It has to be Cellular Data as mentioned in an earlier post.  You are the second person who has mentioned that an Android type phone works with WiFi.   I might just buy used Android phone and use it for that type of function.  
 

Thanks.

Yes, the Android phone works with their Wi-Fi but I've never used it as a hot spot. I assume it would work but never tried it.

Next cruise I'll try to use my android phone with my Roku unit connected to their TV which should work, but haven't tried that either. 

I normally just bring movies loaded on a thumb drive to watch on their TV since their choices are old and it gives me a chance to catch up. 

 

[JamieLogical]

I can't speak to Princess, because I am not sailing with them until later this month, but I can vouch that I was able to use my Android phone (Google Pixel 5) as a hot spot for my laptop when I have been on Celebrity sailings and was limited to "one device".

 

OP: you should make sure that the family in question has the ship's emergency number and not rely on cell service/wifi for the children to reach the parents onboard in the event of a real emergency.

[Roberto256]

1 hour ago, kywildcatfanone said:

This is the phone I have.  How do you enable the hotspot, never done that?  And then from another device, you see your phone as the wifi connection and just connect to it as you would home wifi?  What password does it use, do you set one up for the hotspot specifically?

What sharing a mobile data connection. it can be disabled by you carrier, so you may, or may not have it.

I'm not 100% sure if you carrier has disabled it for mobile data, if it is still available to share a wifi connection.

 

It can be a tile ... swip down, opening a page of tiles:  wifi, mobile data, etc.

Look for 'Mobile Hotspot' ... keep sliding right or left through pages of tiles.

 

Or, open settings, and search for 'Mobile Hotspot'.

 

...sometime called tethering.

 

The first time you enable it, you will have to give it a name, so other folks know which wifi to connect to.

This should be saved, so you don't have to do it again.

 

When you turn it on, folks around you can see and connect to the wifi you have setup.

Good to have a password, so only certain anybodies can connect.   Not anybody, anybody.

 

If all users disconnect from wifi, it should turn off automatically.   So, you will probably have

to turn it on for the next use.

 

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by Roberto256

[jagoffee]

5 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Yes, the Android phone works with their Wi-Fi but I've never used it as a hot spot. I assume it would work but never tried it.

Next cruise I'll try to use my android phone with my Roku unit connected to their TV which should work, but haven't tried that either. 

I normally just bring movies loaded on a thumb drive to watch on their TV since their choices are old and it gives me a chance to catch up. 

 

That would be great if you could try it as a second confirmation.

4 hours ago, Roberto256 said:

What sharing a mobile data connection. it can be disabled by you carrier, so you may, or may not have it.

I'm not 100% sure if you carrier has disabled it for mobile data, if it is still available to share a wifi connection.

 

It can be a tile ... swip down, opening a page of tiles:  wifi, mobile data, etc.

Look for 'Mobile Hotspot' ... keep sliding right or left through pages of tiles.

 

Or, open settings, and search for 'Mobile Hotspot'.

 

...sometime called tethering.

 

The first time you enable it, you will have to give it a name, so other folks know which wifi to connect to.

This should be saved, so you don't have to do it again.

 

When you turn it on, folks around you can see and connect to the wifi you have setup.

Good to have a password, so only certain anybodies can connect.   Not anybody, anybody.

 

If all users disconnect from wifi, it should turn off automatically.   So, you will probably have

to turn it on for the next use.

 

 

Thanks for the explanation.  Do you actually have to have a carrier and cell service to tether WiFi on an Android phone?  

[Guest ldtr]

19 hours ago, sirclean said:

Even e-mail could be essentially useless!  Please find the thread "Internet: Unlimited but Unusable". 

We are just off the Discovery (sailed Thanksgiving week) and it took 4 to 5 minutes to even open Gmail and if you tried to remove more than 5 'black friday ads' at a time, it stalled again! 

I suggest that you find the thread I mentioned for a fleet wide discussion about the failure to provide usable internet service. 

I have not had any problem with e-mail on 6 cruises this year. 

 

Not sure how you have your Gmail configured, but mine (on cell phone) opens just fine even if all communications is cutoff.  So even if it very slow it opens fine.  I can read any e-mail that has been received, generate and send new email, it will then send the messages whenever it can.  Only impact is if I want to go into a folder that is not automatically downloaded, that does then download at the time requested.

[MissP22]

13 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

That would be great if you could try it as a second confirmation.

Thanks for the explanation.  Do you actually have to have a carrier and cell service to tether WiFi on an Android phone?  

I'll let you know mid December. I use T-Mobile.

[brisalta]

On 7/7/2022 at 4:32 AM, CCFC said:

You cannot hot spot from WiFi, you need 4 or 5G to hot spot

 

Totally incorrect. I am actually using  my cell phone as hot spot  in airplane mode with wifi turned on connecting to my AP. I am using my lapto to connect to the hotspot right now.

Perhaps there is something wrong with your mobile phone?

Edited December 1, 2022 by brisalta

[brisalta]

1 hour ago, jagoffee said:

That would be great if you could try it as a second confirmation.

Thanks for the explanation.  Do you actually have to have a carrier and cell service to tether WiFi on an Android phone?  

 

No you do not need carrier service to use wifi  and hotpsot on an Android phone.

[brisalta]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

I'll let you know mid December. I use T-Mobile.

 

T-Mobile USA does not interfere with the behavior of your phone. You can go into airplane mode turn on WiFI and Hotspot and then tether your computer via Hotspot with no problem.

When you configure Hotspot make sure to set a password.

Edited December 1, 2022 by brisalta

[ldubs]

On 7/7/2022 at 5:54 AM, billco said:

I use a travel router connected to my iPhone with an ethernet adapter. TP-Link AC750 Wireless Portable Nano Travel Router(TL-WR902AC) - Support Multiple Modes, WiFi Router/Hotspot/Bridge/Range Extender/Access Point/Client Modes, Dual Band WiFi, 1 USB 2.0 Port

$40.00 on Amazon

WIPA HDMI Adapter, 4 in 1 Digital AV Sync Screen HDMI Connector with 4K HDMI＆RJ45 Ethernet LAN Wired Network ＆ USB Camera Data Sync Adapter＆Power Port for Phone 12/11/X/8/7/Pad/Air/Mini/Pro

$30.00 on Amazon.

 

I understood the part about $40 on Amazon.  Otherwise, I haven't the foggiest.  😀

[jagoffee]

37 minutes ago, brisalta said:

 

No you do not need carrier service to use wifi  and hotpsot on an Android phone.

Thank you.  

[jagoffee]

46 minutes ago, brisalta said:

 

Totally incorrect. I am actually using  my cell phone as hot spot  in airplane mode with wifi turned on connecting to my AP. I am using my lapto to connect to the hotspot right now.

Perhaps there is something wrong with your mobile phone?

It depends on your cell phone.  You cannot use an IPhone personal hotspot with WiFi.    Cellular data only.

[sirclean]

2 hours ago, ldtr said:

I have not had any problem with e-mail on 6 cruises this year. 

 

Not sure how you have your Gmail configured, but mine (on cell phone) opens just fine even if all communications is cutoff.  So even if it very slow it opens fine.  I can read any e-mail that has been received, generate and send new email, it will then send the messages whenever it can.  Only impact is if I want to go into a folder that is not automatically downloaded, that does then download at the time requested.

Please see the thread that is titled, in part "Internet: Unlimited but Unusable"  

My experiences getting online to check mail are not unique. 

However, I am glad that you are having more internet success! 

Next time I am on board, I will have to see if I can use my phone more than my computer to deal with emails, though I usually rely on my computer to deal with email over my relatively tiny phone screen.

[Guest ldtr]

21 minutes ago, sirclean said:

Please see the thread that is titled, in part "Internet: Unlimited but Unusable"  

My experiences getting online to check mail are not unique. 

However, I am glad that you are having more internet success! 

Next time I am on board, I will have to see if I can use my phone more than my computer to deal with emails, though I usually rely on my computer to deal with email over my relatively tiny phone screen.

Never said that the internet was not slow.  Only that one can use e-mail even with slow internet, just as it worked back in the days when internet connections were normally much slower.  Just as one can often use text messages, when they have poor cell service and calls will not work.  The key is to let it do its thing whenever it can connect for sending and receiving, instead of expecting it to be immediately interactive having to send and receive only when someone is there.

 

As such even with slow internet (on one of my cruises the speed was about 30kb) one can still use it for quite a bit.  Sending and receiving e-mail, down loading e-books and other files.  etc. That can then be used off line. The key is to let it work when it can, not just when one wants to use it.

[sirclean]

21 minutes ago, ldtr said:

As such even with slow internet (on one of my cruises the speed was about 30kb) one can still use it for quite a bit.  Sending and receiving e-mail, down loading e-books and other files.  etc. That can then be used off line. The key is to let it work when it can, not just when one wants to use it

I understand your point better.  The issue is that trying to be available to do work often means that you can not wait for the 'unlimited" internet to be available and usable. 

It means for me, anyway, that my freedom to cruise is far more limited than it used to be, or that I would want it to be. It restricts me to cruising when I can more easily be out of contact, or frequently visiting US cities where I can hopefully rely on using my phone as a hotspot. 

But I do understand that these are "first world' problems! and good problems to have as I have options to consider that others may not have!

[damiross]

On 11/30/2022 at 1:52 PM, ldtr said:

Keep in mind that with the speed of Princess Internet  (pretty slow on many ships) making calls via wifi might be problematic.  Might plan on using e-mail.

I've had phone calls over Wi-Fi with my mother who is currently on the Royal.  No problems with the WI-Fi calls.

[ldubs]

40 minutes ago, damiross said:

I've had phone calls over Wi-Fi with my mother who is currently on the Royal.  No problems with the WI-Fi calls.

 

Same experience here.  Well, not calling your Mom, but with using wifi calling on Princess without issues. 

[damiross]

1 hour ago, ldubs said:

 

Same experience here.  Well, not calling your Mom, but with using wifi calling on Princess without issues. 

Edited December 2, 2022 by damiross

[crowbarman]

On 7/7/2022 at 4:32 AM, CCFC said:

You cannot hot spot from WiFi, you need 4 or 5G to hot spot

Samsung phones can share the wifi connection via Hotspot.  Works like a champ and is on by default. 

 

Sorry, Iphone users. 

[brisalta]

7 hours ago, jagoffee said:

It depends on your cell phone.  You cannot use an IPhone personal hotspot with WiFi.    Cellular data only.

 

By definition there is something wrong with your phone if it is an iPhone. The iPhone has too many limitations to be considered a useful device.

[caribill]

6 hours ago, damiross said:

I've had phone calls over Wi-Fi with my mother who is currently on the Royal.  No problems with the WI-Fi calls.

 

If you are on the ship using WIFI calling, can you also receive incoming calls and text messages in that mode or is it just useful for making calls and sending texts?

[Roberto256]

18 hours ago, jagoffee said:

That would be great if you could try it as a second confirmation.

Thanks for the explanation.  Do you actually have to have a carrier and cell service to tether WiFi on an Android phone?  

 

Probably no.

 

Recent, high-end android phones are able to create a wifi hot spot from a wifi signal.

I don't think this is universal across every android phone.

 

Other than in this wierd pay by device situation, most people woulnd't need to create a hot spot from exisiting wifi.

Other users can simply connect to the wifi, with no need to go through your hotspot...

 

 

[crowbarman]

On 7/7/2022 at 4:32 AM, CCFC said:

You cannot hot spot from WiFi, you need 4 or 5G to hot spot

As posted above.. Samsung phones can share the wifi connection via Hotspot.  Works like a champ and is on by default. 

 

The way you can tell is by looking at the status notifications.  You will see your phone connected to wifi and mobile Hotspot simultaneously.   The setting is in the Hotspot configuration menu "Use wifi for Hotspot" or something similar.