Is there a way to use a secure wifi connection while on board?

[luv2ndhalf]

We will be traveling for an extended period of time, and I was curious if there is a way to find/use a secure wifi connection if needed while on board.  Not necessarily going the VPN route....More so if we needed to log into our bank or credit card websites-We will be on the Silhouette. 

[jwlane]

What leads you to think it's not secure?

[wrk2cruise]

I personally would not connect to a bank on any public Wifi without using a VPN.  Celebrity does all it can to block VPN's on their ships.

[odyssyus]

Travel router and VPN software.  Worked just fine this past week on Reflection, or just use a vpn on your phone when navigating your bank.

[Wineaux007]

You can't log on to their system unless you disable your VPN.  After connecting,  reconnect your VPN.

[DaKahuna]

3 hours ago, luv2ndhalf said:

We will be traveling for an extended period of time, and I was curious if there is a way to find/use a secure wifi connection if needed while on board.  Not necessarily going the VPN route....More so if we needed to log into our bank or credit card websites-We will be on the Silhouette. 

 

 The connection between your computer and the wireless access point on the ship is encrypted.  Not that I would trust it for private information.  It would take a reasonably skilled hacker to intercept your information, but not impossible. 

 

 You best bet is a travel router and a VPN as @odyssyus said   That would be the most secure way. 

 

[wrk2cruise]

Apex appeared to be blocking ports used by some of the proprietary VPN protocols.  I had to change to OpenVPN TCP protocol (port 443)  to get it to work on Apex.   Didn't have problems on Summit, Equinox, Constellation or Infinity in the last couple of years.

[luv2ndhalf]

1 hour ago, odyssyus said:

Travel router and VPN software.  Worked just fine this past week on Reflection, or just use a vpn on your phone when navigating your bank.

I am technologically challenged 😬…… is there a vpn that you recommend?

[horseymike]

That makes two of us.

[d9704011]

12 hours ago, luv2ndhalf said:

We will be traveling for an extended period of time, and I was curious if there is a way to find/use a secure wifi connection if needed while on board.  Not necessarily going the VPN route....More so if we needed to log into our bank or credit card websites-We will be on the Silhouette. 

I need 2FA to log in go a bank or credit card account when away from home.  That introduces a whole other problem, especially while on a ship, receiving text message access codes.

[canderson]

1 hour ago, d9704011 said:

I need 2FA to log in go a bank or credit card account when away from home.  That introduces a whole other problem, especially while on a ship, receiving text message access codes.

Have had reasonably good results using WiFi calling mode while aboard.  That allows for inbound texts in addition to inbound calls.  At one time this appeared to require premium WiFi according to some.  I was never sure as we always had premium.

[1Virgo]

13 hours ago, jwlane said:

What leads you to think it's not secure?

on the Eclipse last week, when logged in using their network, my iphone indicated “not secure”.   I m sure others will say any public wifi not safe. 

[odyssyus]

Go with one of the big brands...NordVPN, expressVPN etc... Have it downloaded, installed and tested before you go.

 

Great for watching Youtube tv, or my local Plex when sailing out in the ocean..or even in hotels anywhere in the world with decent internet.

[canderson]

For the newbies to Nord on a phone, here's the setup for Android mentioned above ... not really intuitive:

 

Profile / scroll down / Settings / VPN protocol / Open VPN (TCP)

 

[DaKahuna]

13 hours ago, luv2ndhalf said:

I am technologically challenged 😬…… is there a vpn that you recommend?

 

 I use Private Internet Access for my VPN.  

 

 I believe some use Nord VPN or Surfshark. 

 

[DaKahuna]

4 hours ago, d9704011 said:

I need 2FA to log in go a bank or credit card account when away from home.  That introduces a whole other problem, especially while on a ship, receiving text message access codes.

 

 I don't have any problems doing this as I receive those text messages on the phone that I am using to access my bank account. 

 

 We get one account each being in the Retreat.  I use my WiFi account for my iPhone and then use my DW's WiFi account on my Travel Router. This gives me full use of my iPhone throughout the ship and gives my DW and I access on both our iPads when in the room.  I also find my travel router gives us better coverage on the balcony than we get with the ship's WiFi. 

 

Edited August 3 by DaKahuna

[PTC DAWG]

Possibly set up payments etc in advance from home before cruising…how did people manage back in the day? 

Edited August 3 by PTC DAWG

[Jim_Iain]

Technically when you log onto banks you get a HTTPS connection... Look at your URL.

 

HTTPS is the protocol used to securely send data from a web browser to a website.

 

When I want additional security I use a  VPN.  

[billc23]

As long as you are on a website with SSL and the certificate is valid, then very little information that leaves your browser and that could potentially be sniffed by a third party on the same network or even the network owner is available to be read. It is safe even if the local network is not encrypted. It is as safe as a private network as both "call" the same host network and it's all end to end encrypted via the banks network services. So any exposure to the information would happen on home networks as much as public networks. Don't download a new certificate and be sure you see the lock symbol. 2FA will work on the ships WiFi - at least with an iPhone - but you will need 2 internet logins if you are using a device in addition to your phone. 

 

Ship WiFi - if the WiFi requires a “password” to connect, then the WiFi connection itself is also encrypted. If you can connect to the WiFi to use their app without an account that requires a password then it may not have encryption. If it pops up a login page after you’ve connected to the WiFi, then you are posing into a “captive portal”  that is not related to the WiFi connection itself, only to bill for internet access. 

 

So many ideas about public WiFi are antiquated and from the days when HTTPS wasn’t a guarantee. Doesn’t help that all the VPN companies blatantly lie about the dangers of public WiFi to sell their product.

VPNs have their uses, such as having it appear to Netflix that you are in your home country,  but it’s not to protect your data. SSL does that just fine.

 

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/01/why-public-wi-fi-lot-safer-you-think

 

I recommend that you call your financial institution to verify the above. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

Two words....Sat phone!

[DaKahuna]

3 hours ago, billc23 said:

So many ideas about public WiFi are antiquated and from the days when HTTPS wasn’t a guarantee

 

 There is still no guarantee.  If you take the proper precautions you can have a reasonable degree of assurance. 

 

 I'll not bore you with technical details but if interested you can read for yourself. 

 

https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/262793/is-https-insecure-against-mitm-attacks-and-is-there-a-solution

[Trevor Fountain]

Omg, vpn tcp https ssl url 2fa. I'm lost, and to top it all if you are on the Apex (which I'll be on in 24 days time), it'll only work in port 443. Is that in Norway by any chance?

[wrk2cruise]

Don't let me scare you about Apex.  If you use NordVPN and use the instructions in post #14 you for changing the protocol you should be fine.  That's what I did.

[billc23]

22 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

I personally would not connect to a bank on any public Wifi without using a VPN.  Celebrity does all it can to block VPN's on their ships.

The purpose of VPN is to hide from the public Wi-Fi network owner of what you are doing. HTTPS/TLS are for encryption and security. 

[billc23]

8 hours ago, 1Virgo said:

on the Eclipse last week, when logged in using their network, my iphone indicated “not secure”.   I m sure others will say any public wifi not safe. 

It is not secure... but once you establish a HTTPS/TLS connection then that connection is secure.