StarLink on Riveria, long rant

[Vallesan]

4 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Yes and the OP was wondering why.   If you can't add anything constructive possibly you should just move on instead of being condescending.  

Didn’t think I was being ‘condescending’. If it read like that then I  apologise. Sorry!

[Tranquility Base]

2 hours ago, ak1004 said:

How about someone like me who posts pictures for their 90 years parents? They don't have smartphone to talk via WhatsApp, but they have ipads, and this is the only way for me to let them know that we are fine.

 

Just in case this may be useful for your circumstance.

On board, my wife uses skype to call her elderly mother's land line.

Calls cost just a few cents.

[ak1004]

36 minutes ago, Tranquility Base said:

Just in case this may be useful for your circumstance.

On board, my wife uses skype to call her elderly mother's land line.

Calls cost just a few cents.

 

Thank you. But don't those calls still require internet?

[Critically Cruising]

4 hours ago, ak1004 said:

How about someone like me who posts pictures for their 90 years parents? They don't have smartphone to talk via WhatsApp, but they have ipads, and this is the only way for me to let them know that we are fine.

 

An email saying

 

"We are fine - having a great time.  Will send you pictures when we get home"

 

would seem to get across the exact same message without hogging bandwidth.

[Tranquility Base]

2 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

Thank you. But don't those calls still require internet?

Yes if you're doing skype to skype for no charge video / voice calls.

Both persons require internet and the app.

 

However, we load a few $ onto our skype account (eg $20) and use the internet onboard to then use our skype.

You can then call landlines & mobiles worldwide, and if I recall a normal length call usually costs about 30c....a bit more if calling a mobile.

Edited February 4 by Tranquility Base

[ak1004]

1 hour ago, Critically Cruising said:

 

An email saying

 

"We are fine - having a great time.  Will send you pictures when we get home"

 

would seem to get across the exact same message without hogging bandwidth.

 

They don't have email.

 

In any case, if you don't understand why people in 2023 expect decent internet while on a cruise ship, there is not much to discuss.

 

Pretty amazing how people jump to judge other people without knowing them and their circumstances. 

[Snaefell3]

7 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

Well, we were getting over 5Mbps on Princess in 2018, so the technology is there, even before StarLink. And Princess has 3 times more passengers compared to Riviera, not to mention SS. And I'm pretty sure Princess guests post pictures too.. It's all matter of cost, but it looks like the more expensive the cruise line is, the worse the internet is..

 

It's the price of satellite relay, not the price of the cruise line. Rather than pricing cruise-by-cruise, ships simply buy less bandwidth when it's more expensive.

 

Before StarLink's polar-orbit satellites, cheap bandwidth was only available within about ±40º of latitude. In other words, good internet-at-sea in the Caribbean and not in the Med.

 

For example, Regal Princess needed to switch from a cheap satellite to an expensive one midway on a TA and we went from video-streaming speed to dialup speed.  😞

 

 

[ak1004]

22 minutes ago, Snaefell3 said:

It's the price of satellite relay, not the price of the cruise line. Rather than pricing cruise-by-cruise, ships simply buy less bandwidth when it's more expensive.

 

Before StarLink's polar-orbit satellites, cheap bandwidth was only available within about ±40º of latitude. In other words, good internet-at-sea in the Caribbean and not in the Med.

 

For example, Regal Princess needed to switch from a cheap satellite to an expensive one midway on a TA and we went from video-streaming speed to dialup speed.  😞

 

 

Our Princess. Raise was in the Baltic.

[Snaefell3]

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

Our Princess. Raise was in the Baltic.

The satellite relay is shared among all pax.  Were timezones having you calling when the rest of the ship was asleep / dining / etc?

 

Were you in port, where the ship might have plugged into a shoreside ISP instead of going via satellite.

 

 Least likely, Princess spent enough on expensive bandwidth.

[ORV]

On 2/4/2024 at 12:26 PM, Critically Cruising said:

 

Oh so true.  Do the grandkids REALLY want to see them?  Think back to your youth, and the interminable slide shows you sat through of someone else's vacation.  Or the 8mm movies.

 

 

Folks just accept technology without understanding all that goes into making it happen.  I used to say that there needed to be a "drivers test" before anyone could use the "information superhighway"  (as it was often referred)

Now you’re really dating yourself. 

On 2/4/2024 at 1:14 PM, Jim_Iain said:

 

Would be interesting to run tests at the same location and compare results.   Not knowing how you ran your test,   I suspect that if the tests are being run from your rooms it may be due to the distance of the room to the Access Points (router extensions).  

 

Also if testing use the same speed test programs.   I find different programs show different results.

 

Oddly enough there seems to be a router right above my head in a stateroom in the only Oceania ship that hasn’t been updated. Really doesn’t help improve the internet that much. I’m on my phone data right now in port. Works much better. 

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, ORV said:

Now you’re really dating yourself. 

Oddly enough there seems to be a router right above my head in a stateroom in the only Oceania ship that hasn’t been updated. Really doesn’t help improve the internet that much. I’m on my phone data right now in port. Works much better. 

 

Interesting.    I didn't realize the complete fleet had not yet been upgraded to StarLink.