Cost Of Internet Usage...

[twopeas]

i AM ADDICTED TO MY COMPUTER, FOR KEEPING TRACK OF MY FAMILY WITH E-MAIL, AND READING THE NEWS. BUSINESS ETC.

 

DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW THE QM2 PRICES THEIR USAGE. I CAN TAKE MY LAPTOP, OR LEAVE IT HOME, IF IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE. IS THERE A FLAT RATE PACKAGE.

 

IT SEEMS THAT THE CRUISE SHIPS I HAVE TRAVELED ON , CRYSTAL AND HAL, USE IT AS A VERY BIG PROFIT CENTER....

[pb82]

i AM ADDICTED TO MY COMPUTER, FOR KEEPING TRACK OF MY FAMILY WITH E-MAIL, AND READING THE NEWS. BUSINESS ETC.

 

DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW THE QM2 PRICES THEIR USAGE. I CAN TAKE MY LAPTOP, OR LEAVE IT HOME, IF IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE. IS THERE A FLAT RATE PACKAGE.

 

IT SEEMS THAT THE CRUISE SHIPS I HAVE TRAVELED ON , CRYSTAL AND HAL, USE IT AS A VERY BIG PROFIT CENTER....

Here are the 2006 rates:

[twopeas]

At Those Rates, I Will Have To Take A Course In Speed-typing. Or As They Call It Now....keyboarding..

[twopeas]

At Those Rates, I Will Have To Take A Course In Speed-typing. Or As They Call It Now....keyboarding..

[RMVET]

At Those Rates, I Will Have To Take A Course In Speed-typing. Or As They Call It Now....keyboarding..

 

I have been investigating the same thing. From what I gather, if you take your own laptop, you can compose your message offline and then cut and paste your message and then quickly send it. That will save on the cost. I also understand that you can't draft your message on a laptop and then upload it on a Cunard computer because they don't allow uploads from a CD. If I am incorrect, someone please let me know. Thanks.

[D2 in Safety Harbor]

You are all on the right track. We did three weeks in Med on QM2 and every day I sent back a big missile complete with pictures of the day's activities. Here's the drill.

 

I composed the e-mail where ever I chose to do it. My battery was often down so Ihad to find a place where I could use my "Edison" plug. Cabin, Connections and also a plug in Commodore port side in the corner. I had to share it with a Christmas tree plug. Once you are composed and have all the pictures in place and captioned, save them. I use AOL and it has a place where I can save to mail waiting to be sent. AOL is free in case the program you are using does not have this feature. When you are ready, go down to Connections (I went early in the morning), I plugged in to make certain my battery did not die and then logged on and quickly sent my file already group addressed. It took very little time. Then I downloaded all of the mail Ihad waiting and signed off.

 

We are so used to casually cruising about on line we forget how much time passes as we roam. Those minutes are expensive so spend them wisely. The man in charge of Connections on several of our trips was a delightful Englishman named Graham. He was very helpful. You will love QM2. After we go round the world on QV in Jan of 08 we will be back on QM2 for Christmas and New Year's of 08 for trip to Panama.

 

Bring a power strip for the cabin. I had camera, laptop, razor and on the last day prior to leaving the ship, cell phone so I was ready to use it once we landed.

 

Please feel free to contact me should you have further questions.

rusty27371@aol.com

[RMVET]

Hi, Rusty --

 

Thanks for your response. I have read a number of your responses on various threads, and they have always been helpful.

 

What is an "edison" plug? You've got me there. Is that your standard U.S. style plug?

 

Are you going out of NYC on January 13 on the QV. We are headed out that day on the QE2 world cruise. If so, look over and give us a wave as we all set sail that day.

[pnhmrk]

What is an "edison" plug?

 

One with a thread like a continental light bulb:)

[RMVET]

One with a thread like a continental light bulb:)

 

Hi, Malcolm --

 

I'm still in the dark (no pun intended). Am familiar with the U.K. three-pronged plug (big thing with a fuse), but not with a continental light bulb. It's been too long since I was on the Continent. Is that the two-pronged plug with the plugs rounded instead of flat like a U.S. plug?

 

Grace

[pnhmrk]

I'm not sure what kind of light bulbs you have but they must be either bayonet clip or Edison screw (I think!); To me an "Edison plug" is one of these.

 

If you're still not sure then imagine a single pronged plug. That prong is round and about 4cm long and 3 cm in diameter. There is a thick thread running on the outside of the prong that acts as one terminal, the other terminal being at the end of the prong.

 

In Europe such plugs now would be rare - I only know they existed because I've got an adaptor to change a 13A plug into an Edison one:)

[cajim]

An Edison plug is the standard US plue. :Two prong with out ground and three with. Many people are not aware of this term but in theater and TV we use this term.

 

Jim

[RMVET]

An Edison plug is the standard US plue. :Two prong with out ground and three with. Many people are not aware of this term but in theater and TV we use this term.

 

Jim

 

Thank you, Jim and Malcolm, for shedding light on the plug issue. I guess this is the situation where a term is used in different countries to mean two different things.

 

So, what I gather is that there are few Edison (U.S.-type) plug outlets available on the ship? One, perhaps, in each cabin and a few throughout the ship (one close to where they plug in the Christmas tree lights). I wonder if struggling for the use of a plug outlet is going to be as hazardous to your health as trying to use the passenger laundry rooms.

[eddiethekub]

Wireless on QM2 is great. Your laptop probably has it built in, or you can get a wireless adapter for it. Then you can go to any number of locations and connect. Like others have suggested, compose your messages off-line, get on the net and up-load them and download you incoming mail, and get off the net. You can usually accomplish this in maybe a minute or so. Then you can read your mail in a leisurely fashion, compose replies, etc. Mail programs like Outlook Express will hold the replies until the next time you connect.

There are a numbler of wireless "hot spots" including places like the Commodores Club. Sit back, relax, have a cocktail, and take care of your e-mail.....

[D2 in Safety Harbor]

One of the joys of this board is the certainty if you set off a firecracker near the hen house, all the chickens will squawk, rustle their feathers and then settle down again mumbling about whatdidhesay...Edison what...and then it is over.

 

I used the term Edison plug because the person in charge of Connections called it that. If you were to go seeking such an outlet on QM2 that is how the crew would recognize what you were seeking. My laptop battery was draining fast and I was on for three weeks. I did need to know where to go were I to wish to work outside the cabin. There are hot spots in the library also, but no you know whats.

 

You can plug your laptop in in the cabin. Bring a power strip. There is ONE Edison (resist the urge to scream) plug in Connections. It is near the PC resrved for crew use and the one set aside for the visually impaired. I brought an extension so I could sit at the desk nearest to that PC. The other Edison (easy girl) plug is in Commodore. It was in the corner and it was behind the Christmas tree. If I had said it is 25 feet from the bar would that have made it any easier. The bartender said he had one behind the bar but that would hardly work considering his traffic patterns. Now with your luck you will probably be sailing at Easter. I suggest you travel with a small Christmas tree and walk about asking where you can plug it in. In addition to some rude responses, someone might say, "Oh there is an Edison plug over there where we have our Christmas tree in December. You must really like Christmas to travel with a tree." Then you reply, "No it is a roundabout way of getting what I need, like the Chinese farmer in Lamb's essay on roast pig. There go the chickens again.

 

Almost makes a person want to say stew in your own plug.

 

My fingers are in my ears and I am chanting nonsense sounds. Save your energy for recharging your laptop.

[Kindlychap]

Why not charge the laptop in your cabin and work from the battery elsewhere?

 

Seems rather easier than hunting for Christmas trees in summer.

 

Matthew

[twopeas]

I understand everything you are saying about writing your e-mails offline, and getting your e-mails downloaded, but don't know how to do it....Will the crew member in Connections show me how to do it?

 

Thanks for all your lively comments.

[Kindlychap]

I understand everything you are saying about writing your e-mails offline, and getting your e-mails downloaded, but don't know how to do it....Will the crew member in Connections show me how to do it?

 

Thanks for all your lively comments.

 

Do you have a laptop?

 

If so, does it have wireless?

 

If so, it's easy, and yes, I am certain that you will be given help if you need it.

 

If not, then you'll have to rely on their computers. That might not so easy...

 

Matthew

[C&Sun]

i AM ADDICTED TO MY COMPUTER, FOR KEEPING TRACK OF MY FAMILY WITH E-MAIL, AND READING THE NEWS. BUSINESS ETC.

 

DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW THE QM2 PRICES THEIR USAGE. I CAN TAKE MY LAPTOP, OR LEAVE IT HOME, IF IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE. IS THERE A FLAT RATE PACKAGE.

 

IT SEEMS THAT THE CRUISE SHIPS I HAVE TRAVELED ON , CRYSTAL AND HAL, USE IT AS A VERY BIG PROFIT CENTER....

 

I never use the ship's internet, much prefer to do it in port at a coffee shop. Usually a couple of dollars for anywhere from 30 min to an hour. Have always found the people running the internet cafes to be very helpful if you have a problem.

[twopeas]

I have been thinking about internet cafes...

[RMVET]

I never use the ship's internet, much prefer to do it in port at a coffee shop. Usually a couple of dollars for anywhere from 30 min to an hour. Have always found the people running the internet cafes to be very helpful if you have a problem.

 

How comfortable do you feel going to a secure site (bank, etc.) using an Internet cafe?

[D2 in Safety Harbor]

Internet cafes work fine, but I try to send a daily journal complete with pictures of the ship and the ports. It takes time to do that and I prefer to compose that during the afternoon or just before bed. Then I am up early and down in Connections before the crowd and I have it sent off in a couple of minutes.

 

Re: How to do it. In AOL, before I sign on, I click mail and I do my composing then. Save it to waiting to be sent and then sign on and then send it. Same for receiving. Sign on, download mail and sign off.

 

The staff has always been very helpful.

[warringtonian]

We took our own laptop last week which has a wireless card in it but could not log on to the ships network. Their computer guy tried for ages altering settings on the laptop but gave up and blamed on our BT software (we use BT Openworld broadband at home. He said that it was something to do with "tunneling" which means nothing to me. When you open IE it is meant to go to their logon page first but it refused to open it. We ended up using their system. The cheapest way is to use the email built into the interactive TV in the room as you can compose offline and it only costs a flat $1.50 when you send or receive.

[travel-to-go]

We took our own laptop last week which has a wireless card in it but could not log on to the ships network. Their computer guy tried for ages altering settings on the laptop but gave up and blamed on our BT software (we use BT Openworld broadband at home. He said that it was something to do with "tunneling" which means nothing to me. When you open IE it is meant to go to their logon page first but it refused to open it. We ended up using their system. The cheapest way is to use the email built into the interactive TV in the room as you can compose offline and it only costs a flat $1.50 when you send or receive.

 

Tunneling is what you use when accessing a VPN or Virtual Private Network, like a corporate LAN. You create a "secure tunnel" which makes it look like you have a pipeline straight into that LAN, even though you are going over a public internet connection. You might ask BT, for future reference, how to disable their tunneling software temporarily. If you knew what it was called, you might have been able to do that, but I might not want to do that as Cunard personnel and take on the liability if they screwed something up, (or rather the company that does their internet center- I think most of them on most cruise lines work for the same outside company though not sure about Cunard's folks)

 

I would definitely find out from BT before you use it ANYWHERE where you are not connecting directly to them- For instance, just taking down to the local coffee shop and using their wireless network!

 

Still, it's good to have the laptop for offline work, such as downloading pictures off your camera's memory or keeping a journal of your trip. Unless things have change, you are charged to use their computers even off line-, for instance to create a word document, and you are not allowed to connect external anything to it, such as a memory card or even a floppy disk!

 

good you got to do your email all the same!

[champagne lover]

I have read all the above comments but don't want to bring a laptop over from the UK. Guess I will need to use the ship copmputers and pay. Is it always easy to get onto the computers or do you need to wait in line? Probably depend what time of day I suppose.

[warringtonian]

I have read all the above comments but don't want to bring a laptop over from the UK. Guess I will need to use the ship copmputers and pay. Is it always easy to get onto the computers or do you need to wait in line? Probably depend what time of day I suppose.

They have terminals in the library which can get full but I always saw at least one spare in the computer room. Some people seemed to spend ages on them. The only problem with using their computers is that you not only pay for being online but also for just using the computer, I think 50c a minute, but my wife kept telling me off for being mean as when you think of the total cost of the cruise it is only a tiny fraction.