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Unlimited Internet Zuiderdam $99.99 10 day


MrBill64

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I am on the Zuiderdam 10 day Panama Canal cruise 3/29/2013- 4/8/2013 and they have 2 internet packages available. A 39.99 for 24hrs or 99.99 for the entire 10 day cruise. I thought the 99.99 deal is pretty good. And the wifi is pretty good.

 

Bill

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I've never used the Internet service on a ship. Do you have to pay per device or can you sign in multiple devices under one package?

 

 

Douglas...Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

You create a USER-ID and can use any device you want to connect to Internet ... IPAD, Phone, Laptop, their computer and so.. on BUT can only use one device at a time.

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Thanks for letting us know.... all I can say is WOW. I most definitely hope they keep that on the Zuiderdam for for the next 5 weeks and three days :D That would be one heck of a bargain. I am wondering if it is part of the NEW improvements they were to be doing for the Internet. I had heard that it would be happening this Spring ship by ship and that they were going to improve the bandwidth and there was going to be some new features and pricing.

This is one of the links I read about it, I cannot seem to find the one that stated about that with the new towers it would drastic speed everything up and they would be able to reduce costs.I believe they had to go to each ship to install something first. But HAL was going to start this in the Spring of 2013. SO this is great news for those of us that always use the internet.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/cruiselog/2012/11/19/fast-internet-cruise-ships/1713927/

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$100 unlimited wifi? Sweeeeet! How can this be? It seems like everyone would just get it, which would tie up all of the signal... Oh well, who cares, it would be a great price.

 

If everyone is on the internet it should be easier to get a lounger and various other ship venues could be quieter. :)

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Update. I spoke with the internet manager about this new plan and he said this was the first sailing HAL has implemented having only 2 plans and the only ship thus far. I told him this was a great idea and hopefully it will be implemented throughout the fleet soon.

 

There was a mention in the flyer that the internet has been upgraded as well. I can say that the wifi reception along with the speed has been more than adequate. I left my laptop at home and I am using my smartphone for reference. With only 2 plans available it makes it pretty easy to decide which plan to sign up for as well as not worrying about logging off since everything is unlimited.

 

Bill

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Update. I spoke with the internet manager about this new plan and he said this was the first sailing HAL has implemented having only 2 plans and the only ship thus far. I told him this was a great idea and hopefully it will be implemented throughout the fleet soon.

 

There was a mention in the flyer that the internet has been upgraded as well. I can say that the wifi reception along with the speed has been more than adequate. I left my laptop at home and I am using my smartphone for reference. With only 2 plans available it makes it pretty easy to decide which plan to sign up for as well as not worrying about logging off since everything is unlimited.

 

Bill

 

If everyone just left their connnection open, won't that slow down the system due to overloading it? Thats the problem with unlimited plans IMO.

 

DaveOKC

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If everyone just left their connnection open, won't that slow down the system due to overloading it? Thats the problem with unlimited plans IMO.

 

DaveOKC

 

Not significantly.. If connection is open - you are using some data. The same as leaving your phone on data roaming all the time. Just periodic requests for data.

 

I just ran a speed check (yes I am on the Zuiderdam)...

1.75 mps DOWN and 0.8 UP. This certainly rather fast for a shipboard service.

 

Great idea HAL!!!

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Not significantly.. If connection is open - you are using some data. The same as leaving your phone on data roaming all the time. Just periodic requests for data.

 

I just ran a speed check (yes I am on the Zuiderdam)...

1.75 mps DOWN and 0.8 UP. This certainly rather fast for a shipboard service.

 

Great idea HAL!!!

 

Thanks for clarifying Paul. I said this since I noticed that HAL's service is much faster early in the morning when fewer users are online. Perhaps this is due to the users actually using the service rather than just being online?

 

DaveOKC

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Thanks for clarifying Paul. I said this since I noticed that HAL's service is much faster early in the morning when fewer users are online. Perhaps this is due to the users actually using the service rather than just being online?

 

DaveOKC

 

Dave that is absolutely correct - I was told by the piano man on the Prinsendam that the best time to use the internet was very early in the morning or later at night. He also said to check the Fox station - if the signal is clear, internet is working well - if it isn't clear - don't bother using the internet;)

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The key thing you must remember is that what you previously experience with Internet on the ships no longer applies, there were brand new cell towers installed in Caribbean and Bahamas and Alaska and obviously the new equipment has been added now to the Zuiderdam. The ships are no longer accessing the satellite directly. So what you experienced in the past will no longer apply

 

This is a quote from the News article

MTN is building out new shore-to-ship wireless systems in major cruise ports in the Bahamas, Caribbean, Alaska and Europe that will allow the company to greatly increase the amount of data it routes to ships at sea. Cruise ships approaching ports fitted with the new wireless systems will be able to switch from the company's satellite system and get data directly from land at much higher speeds, freeing up satellite bandwith for other vessels.

 

Olivier says MTN already has built out the new wireless systems at seven sites in Alaska and is now beginning to roll them out in the Caribbean and Europe. The company plans to have the systems deployed at 39 locations frequented by cruise ships by the second quarter of 2013, he says.

 

A third prong in the new effort is to outfit cruise ships with more sophisticated systems that will allow the vessels to cache large data files such as Netflix videos that cruisers download from the Internet. Once stored on board, the data could be accessed again and again by cruisers at high speed without having to be re-transmitted over a satellite.

 

In short, when one cruiser downloads a video to a ship, under the new system, "we can save it on board and reuse it again," says Olivier.

 

The ability of the new land-based wireless systems to transmit large amounts of data to ships when they are in or near ports will open up new possibilities in data package pricing for cruisers.

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From what is being reported the Zuiderdam is the first to have the new equipment and accessing of the new towers. Now my question is that I like the new pricing but I am wondering what the pricing will be for longer cruises such as the upcoming 22 or 17 day Zuiderdam as well as what pricing they will charge for the 7 day cruise or will it be either a one day package at $39.99 or the full voyage at a flat rate. Will that flat rate be less for 7 day cruises. I will be on a B2B of a 4 day then a 7 day and last year because I was on the B2B my minutes just automatically carried over into the 2nd segment. I would love to purchase a flat rate of $99.00 for the full 11 days.

 

My question for those on board the Zuiderdam now...was there also still the $3.95 set up fee?

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