Cell Phone as Hot Spot

I've read that the Internet Packages can only be utilized one device at a time.

 

Is it possible for one phone to connect to the ship's internet through this plan, and if the phone has the capability, to be used as a hot spot for other devices to connect?

 

I know our phones can be utilized for this while on land.

 

Please let me know if anyone has tried this and been successful.

 

Also, is there cell service on the Escape?

There is cell service through the ship's satellites, the same way the devices will connect to the internet. If you do this, I hope you have unlimited data on your cell phone account. Speeds will be nowhere near what you're used to on land. There's nothing stopping you from doing something like that other than performance.

I've read that the Internet Packages can only be utilized one device at a time.

 

Is it possible for one phone to connect to the ship's internet through this plan, and if the phone has the capability, to be used as a hot spot for other devices to connect?

 

I know our phones can be utilized for this while on land.

 

Please let me know if anyone has tried this and been successful.

 

Also, is there cell service on the Escape?

 

In theory it should work, however there is so much metal in the ship, that it is only going to work in your cabin, and the bandwidth is shared so nothing is going to work well at all.

I've read that the Internet Packages can only be utilized one device at a time.

 

Is it possible for one phone to connect to the ship's internet through this plan, and if the phone has the capability, to be used as a hot spot for other devices to connect?

 

I know our phones can be utilized for this while on land.

 

Please let me know if anyone has tried this and been successful.

 

Also, is there cell service on the Escape?

There are portable travel routers which are made for the purpose of connecting to wifi in hotels and share that wifi with other devices by creating a new wifi network. They worked great for me in the past and I did use it on the Getaway in the past, however it looks like they may have caught on and figured out how to disrupt them from working as they did not work for me on the Escape.

 

I am on the getaway again this weekend so I will be seeing if they still work there and I'll report back.

 

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I would be very careful and check about those satellite-relayed cellular airtime minutes/MB data used before flipping on the MiFi or hotspot funcitons on the ship, while at sea .... $$$$$

 

I don't know of any US-based carrier plans that include "inexpensive" cellular data coverage at sea, for free & at 3G/4G or better/faster speed ... even as an global/add-on package (maybe with an old, grandfathered "unlimited" anywhere data plan ???)

 

I tethered ours when we docked abroad (Bermuda, Bahamas, etc.) with roaming cellular partner over land signals, as our "Fi" plan is very cheap to do that on our Nexus devices (and, even with a properly configured iPhone)

 

Speed & latency would be the devil, in addition to being blocked on the server end - there's been some reports & claims of successfully tethering via ship's WiFi inTERnet, but not on the basis of cellular data/minutes ... not very useful if it's barely 56k dial-up/turbo Hayes modem speed for modern day use.

WHat you want to do is enable "Bluetooth tethering" so your Android or iphone shares its Wi-Fi internet connection with another device over a Bluetooth link. Google that to learn how to set it up. Your O/S and phone must be new enough - not years old.

I've read that the Internet Packages can only be utilized one device at a time.

 

 

 

Is it possible for one phone to connect to the ship's internet through this plan, and if the phone has the capability, to be used as a hot spot for other devices to connect?

 

 

 

I know our phones can be utilized for this while on land.

 

 

 

Please let me know if anyone has tried this and been successful.

 

 

 

Also, is there cell service on the Escape?

 

 

 

I think what OP is asking if they purchase ship internet, put their phone in airplane mode, and set up hotspot, can they spread the love.

 

The short answer is, nice try, but no. Personal hotspot shares cellular internet only, not Wi-Fi. So you’d have to connected to cellular at sea. Not a feasible proposition.

 

You can test this out at home -

Go on Wi-Fi with airplane (disable cellular) and test the hotspot.

 

 

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You can test this out at home -

Go on Wi-Fi with airplane (disable cellular) and test the hotspot.

Then test using a blue tooth or USB connection to "share the love" - I think PelicanBill is correct.

 

So in other words, you can't use WiFi to both get a connection and share a connection. But, I think you can use WiFi to get a connection and then use Bluetooth and/or USB to share it.

 

However, I suspect that if it does work, performance will be lousy.

When I turn on personal hotspot on my iPhone X, it immediately switches its (incoming) connection from WiFi to LTE, so I am thinking that I agree with SimonaD..

But if you use ship cell signal while at sea to create hotspot, performance aside, are you paying $$$$$/min for ship cell service? Or is it considered "normal" data under various data plans (e.g. AT&T)?

What you describe definitely can work on NCL ships, but it does depend on your phone. I have a Samsung Galaxy S8+ (Verizon), whose Mobile Hotspot feature includes a "Wi-Fi Sharing" setting.

 

If you enable it, you can share a WiFi connection with others by:

 

- turn off mobile data on your phone so it doesn't try to connect to 3G/4G networks

- connect to the WiFi network you want to share

- if you have to log in (as on NCL's network), do so

- turn on the hotspot with Wi-Fi sharing enabled

- set a password to prevent the world from sharing your connection

- other people can then connect to your hotspot

 

As SimonaD says, you should be able to test this out on your home network before sailing. Be sure you have your mobile data turned off. And of course, the NCL Wi-Fi isn't super-fast to begin with, so don't expect things to work exactly like they do at home.

 

I often travel with a Wi-Fi-only table as well as my phone and use Wi-Fi sharing on "free" networks at hotels just so I don't have to log in so many times.

 

Do note that running the hotspot on your phone will burn battery significantly faster than it would otherwise, so plug in when possible.

But if you use ship cell signal while at sea to create hotspot, performance aside, are you paying $$$$$/min for ship cell service? Or is it considered "normal" data under various data plans (e.g. AT&T)?

You can use your phone data on a cruise ship. AT&T charges $6140 per GB to surf on most NCL ships. It is a little cheaper to get the unlimited Wi-Fi plan.

You can use your phone data on a cruise ship. AT&T charges $6140 per GB to surf on most NCL ships. It is a little cheaper to get the unlimited Wi-Fi plan.

Omg

You can use your phone data on a cruise ship. AT&T charges $6140 per GB to surf on most NCL ships. It is a little cheaper to get the unlimited Wi-Fi plan.

 

Does that rate include a nominal 20% gratuity?

 

For what it's worth, Verizon does not offer data with their cruise ship service.