Starlink Equipped Ships

[surfjock27]

I think that I remember seeing back in September, Indy was one of the first RRCL ships to get Starlink, but based on this thread, I am second guessing myself now.

Can anyone confirm that Indy has Starlink? 

[Mikew0805]

20 minutes ago, surfjock27 said:

I think that I remember seeing back in September, Indy was one of the first RRCL ships to get Starlink, but based on this thread, I am second guessing myself now.

Can anyone confirm that Indy has Starlink? 

Yes, Indy has Starlink. She has had it installed for a while.

Edited December 15, 2022 by Mikew0805

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, Daghis said:

However, the speed and reliability, even at the moment, wouldn't suggest it.

The giveaway that it's Starlink (besides the obvious downlink provider) is the ping - that 109 ms would not have been possible with the former O3B service. Don't expect any higher speeds than what you are seeing - those are the pre-Starlink norms and I expect them to continue forward. As for reliability, not sure we have any hard evidence Starlink is any better/worse than previous provider. Many of the "reliability" issues you may experience are caused by the onboard network (and Wi-Fi access points) which Starlink can't fix.

[Daghis]

7 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Many of the "reliability" issues you may experience are caused by the onboard network (and Wi-Fi access points) which Starlink can't fix.

I did see that my public IP address was switching rapidly. That appears to be causing frequent periods of interrupted connections that interfere with certain web services requiring reloading the page or restarting the app.

[orville99]

Off the coast of the Dominican Republic - sea day, so everyone with internet access should be hitting the system:

 

 

[dada2199cc]

These speeds are incredible.  I would happily pay $60+ a day for a higher bandwidth allowance -- could do 70% of my income at sea at that point.

 

I assume that there are multiple satellite dish uplinks to Starlink per ship, so it's not 6,000 passengers all hogging the same stream but split up among multiple?

[TheHomelessCruiser]

1 hour ago, Daghis said:

I did see that my public IP address was switching rapidly. That appears to be causing frequent periods of interrupted connections that interfere with certain web services requiring reloading the page or restarting the app.

 

That is currently how Starlink works.  Everyone on land uses a gateway that is regional to their fixed location.  For mobile users you transition from one regional gateway to the next as you are moving.   For a ship that likely means changing gateways every few hours depending on what is available.    

 

2 minutes ago, dada2199cc said:

These speeds are incredible.  I would happily pay $60+ a day for a higher bandwidth allowance -- could do 70% of my income at sea at that point.

 

I assume that there are multiple satellite dish uplinks to Starlink per ship, so it's not 6,000 passengers all hogging the same stream but split up among multiple?

 

The old satellite providers had high usage fees per GB so Royal implemented per user caps.  Starlink doesn't charge per GB (yet) so it seems Royal is testing different approaches on different ships.  As some ships have moved to Starlink some ships retained the per user caps (ex. Indy, Anthem), some ships doubled them (ex. Symphony) and some ships eliminated them (ex. Jewel, Freedom).    No one knows where they'll land. 

 

My guess is they will sell upgrades to higher throughputs.  The 4x2 old Surf and Stream may become "Voom Standard" or something and then they can introduce new $45 or $60 per day plans that are unlimited.   "Voom Ultra" or something like that.  Just a guess.  

 

At any rate right now Jewel blows away all Oasis and Quantum class ships.  Who ever thought we'd see that happen?

 

No one knows what they'll do long term.  

[orville99]

44 minutes ago, TheHomelessCruiser said:

That is currently how Starlink works.  Everyone on land uses a gateway that is regional to their fixed location.  For mobile users you transition from one regional gateway to the next as you are moving.   For a ship that likely means changing gateways every few hours depending on what is available.    

I have seen them change multiple times in the middle of a speed test.

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, dada2199cc said:

I assume that there are multiple satellite dish uplinks to Starlink per ship, so it's not 6,000 passengers all hogging the same stream but split up among multiple?

That varies by ship, from a low of two on Vision class to maybe 10 or more on O class.

[orville99]

56 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

That varies by ship, from a low of two on Vision class to maybe 10 or more on O class.

Counted four (that I could see) mounted on the roof of the VCL on Jewel. Could be more that I couldn’t see.

[Ret MP]

I'm no IT or Internet Geek/professional of any kind and far from it.  I also don't find fault with people that do business/work while on a cruise, for many people the world doesn't stop turning while on vacation.  I also admit that I don't have any/many of the answers to the issue I'm going to bring up.

 

I think $45.00 - $60.00 a day is totally ridiculous.  I do expect that I will pay more for my Internet while on vacation, especially on a ship out in the middle of the ocean.  That's a given.  However, my home Internet coast about $2.65 a day, that's cable (not Comcast) and I pay for up to 200mbps, on average I get 156.  Again, I understand that I will pay more while on a cruise, it's a whole different animal.  So, I'm thinking that for those of us that (and I'm basing this on the premise that some are saying that with the new Starlink system, there may only be one option and that's the whole enchilada) only use the Internet while on a cruise only use it to check bank accounts, send pictures and short videos home to friends, and family, kids playing a few games (I try not to give my grandkids enough time to play games on their devices and when they get back to the cabin, they're too tired to spend too much time on them), watch an occasional Youtube video of an upcoming excursion, and a few other things. 

 

Those that use the ships Internet for business, like bloggers that upload their video(s) for hours at a time, have hours of Zoom meeting, and et al, if they need the faster speeds, they should have a special rate.  I don't think the non-working/business folks should be subsidizing their business expenses.  The problem is, how do you separate the working/business folks from those that just use a lot of Internet/bandwidth for entertainment or regular personal household business.  Like I said, I don't have the answers just the concerns AND I don't have a problem with business, especially the self employed people having to work while on vacation, a working vacation.  I was one of those, fortunately, most of that time was before the Internet a Cell Phones were mandatory!

[Biker19]

18 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

The problem is, how do you separate the working/business folks from those that just use a lot of Internet/bandwidth for entertainment or regular personal household business. 

RCI is sorta trying to do that by having two tiers of service (Surf, Stream) though the Surf option seems to be harder to get.

[Mallow]

My wife and I both have jobs that can work from anywhere and our last transatlantic we worked on the sea days.  This was NCL and the internet wasn't that great and it was difficult to take live meetings due to bandwidth/latency.  We do this to be able to take more/longer vacations and extend our travels.  I think RCL should offer a digital nomad level for people that would like to work during a cruise that is slightly more than the normal VOOM + Stream that would guarantee a minimum bandwidth per device and nothing blocked such as VPN, Zoom, Teams, Slack and various other work related apps/websites.  We would gladly pay $30-$40 / day / device for this type of service.

[exm]

9 hours ago, Daghis said:

 

I'm onboard Anthem of the Seas currently. You may find this Terminal output interesting as it seems to suggest that we are using Starlink. However, the speed and reliability, even at the moment, wouldn't suggest it.

 

 

marc@Marcs-Mac ~ % host 129.222.80.119

119.80.222.129.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer customer.atlagax1.pop.starlinkisp.net.

marc@Marcs-Mac ~ % host 98.97.175.1

1.175.97.98.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer customer.atlagax1.pop.starlinkisp.net.

 

 

As an IT person myself, kudos for this update! It seems to me Starlink is definitely being installed on Anthem.

[Ret MP]

8 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

RCI is sorta trying to do that by having two tiers of service (Surf, Stream) though the Surf option seems to be harder to get.

I hope they keep tiers.  But, like I said, I believe in here some folks said that eventually with Star Link, the tiers will go away.  I hope not.  

[TheHomelessCruiser]

If they make it too cheap many will get it and many will suffer.  Try inviting 4,000 people to your house and have everyone share your home internet connection.  

 

By setting the price right it controls the number of users which allows the limited throughput over satellite to work better.  

[N2DFIRE]

On Symphony and the internet is the worst on any ship.  We’ve been on, always getting dropped from wifi 

[Tatka]

2 hours ago, Mallow said:

My wife and I both have jobs that can work from anywhere and our last transatlantic we worked on the sea days.  This was NCL and the internet wasn't that great and it was difficult to take live meetings due to bandwidth/latency.  We do this to be able to take more/longer vacations and extend our travels.  I think RCL should offer a digital nomad level for people that would like to work during a cruise that is slightly more than the normal VOOM + Stream that would guarantee a minimum bandwidth per device and nothing blocked such as VPN, Zoom, Teams, Slack and various other work related apps/websites.  We would gladly pay $30-$40 / day / device for this type of service.

 

I know have enough time for my 5 cruises a year, but I used to work every year for 1-5 days total during cruises. Most of the time it was on Anthem and internet was ALWAYS perfect. Both surf and surf & stream. Not sure what happened during the last 2 years... Quality is down even though prices are up.

[TheHomelessCruiser]

1 hour ago, N2DFIRE said:

On Symphony and the internet is the worst on any ship.  We’ve been on, always getting dropped from wifi 

 

That doesn't sound like a Starlink issue if your WiFi connection is dropping.  If your remain connected but can't reach the internet, that's a Starlink issue.

 

32 minutes ago, Tatka said:

 

I know have enough time for my 5 cruises a year, but I used to work every year for 1-5 days total during cruises. Most of the time it was on Anthem and internet was ALWAYS perfect. Both surf and surf & stream. Not sure what happened during the last 2 years... Quality is down even though prices are up.

 

Oversubscribed.  During the shutdown they reduced bandwidth commitment to save money with only 100 crew on board.  After restart they didn't return bandwidth commitment to pre-shutdown levels.  

[soremekun]

I would love to see the server rooms, MDF, IDFs of a cruise ship.

[orville99]

Off the coast of the Abaco’s on our way to Coco Cay:

 

 

[orville99]

Docked at Coco Cay next to the Symphony of the Seas. Love to know what her Internet speed is, but here is ours:

 

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, orville99 said:

Love to know what her Internet speed is

Probably something like this:

[cello56]

18 hours ago, Ret MP said:

  I don't think the non-working/business folks should be subsidizing their business expenses.  The problem is, how do you separate the working/business folks from those that just use a lot of Internet/bandwidth for entertainment or regular personal household business. 

So you want RCI to charge for internet based on what people plan to DO with this internet? You think my family should pay more because my husband gets up at 5AM and works for three or four hours each day? Well I think that people who are streaming NetFlix should be charged more. Neither of those scenarios make sense! You buy a product and how you chose to use it is up to you as long as you are following the rules. 

[Tree_skier]

On 12/15/2022 at 7:00 AM, A&L_Ont said:

Does anyone know if Harmony has been upgraded yet?  We sail in late December and I'm wondering about it's status. 

This is a crowd sourced document.

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kZ1gCFtt1eiX1OWw9q-8tnEU5uQCWIjBwQt-w3t040s/edit#gid=1881900306

 

It appears that Harmony still has O3B.  I'm sure it is changing fast though.  Hopefully you get lucky.