Quantum of the Seas Internet Speeds??

[TriniWayne]

So as we are all aware, Quantum of the Seas is supposed to have groundbreaking internet bandwidth for a cruise ship. I am aware that people that have been on board said it wasn't working but according to Royal Caribbean they finally launched the satellite or whatever they needed to do to turn on this speedy connection on November 12th.

 

I am looking to book this cruise for November 23rd(rooms are still available) but I need assurances that everything is working correctly as I have to host a 4hr video conference for work one of the first days on board. Has anyone been on the ship within the past 3 days or is on board right now that can confirm the internet is working as they promised? I've called Royal and of course you get "yes sir" but I can't book the cruise until they can confirm I can book a conference room and that department is closed on the weekends of course.

I am also a Diamond Member:-)

[Biker19]

It makes no diff what anyone (including RCI itself) tells you today, tomorrow or any day until you board - you won't know until you try it. All of the speed in the world did not fix the issue I had - my Blackberry simply would not get a proper Internet connection. Again, it doesn't matter what anyone tells you here - you won't know till you get aboard - and even then, even if it works, you could get cut off in the middle of your session. Just be prepared for that possibility and be elated if it does work.

Edited November 15, 2014 by Biker19

[TriniWayne]

It makes no diff what anyone (including RCI itself) tells you today, tomorrow or any day until you board - you won't know until you try it. All of the speed in the world did not fix the issue I had - my Blackberry simply would not get a proper Internet connection. Again, it doesn't matter what anyone tells you here - you won't know till you get aboard - and even then, even if it works, you could get cut off in the middle of your session. Just be prepared for that possibility and be elated if it does work.

 

When were you onboard?

[Charles4515]

So as we are all aware, Quantum of the Seas is supposed to have groundbreaking internet bandwidth for a cruise ship. I am aware that people that have been on board said it wasn't working but according to Royal Caribbean they finally launched the satellite or whatever they needed to do to turn on this speedy connection on November 12th.

 

I am looking to book this cruise for November 23rd(rooms are still available) but I need assurances that everything is working correctly as I have to host a 4hr video conference for work one of the first days on board. Has anyone been on the ship within the past 3 days or is on board right now that can confirm the internet is working as they promised? I've called Royal and of course you get "yes sir" but I can't book the cruise until they can confirm I can book a conference room and that department is closed on the weekends of course.

I am also a Diamond Member:-)

 

I advise you not to count on being able to host a four hour video conference. Speedy connection does not guarantee bandwidth needed to hold a video conference and they might even have a throttle on amount of bandwidth. If you have to do the video conference don't book the cruise.

[eroller]

Had a nice chat with the RCI Miami IT guys onboard QUANTUM. They explained that normal bandwidth for most cruise ships around the world is 20 MB's. On the QUANTUM crossing we were averaging 80 MB's which is still better but not great. I had no problem uploading lots of photos to FB but I would not dream of watching a movie, a youtube video, or video conferencing. When the O3b network is up and running as it should be (and I honestly don't know if that has happened or not), QUANTUM should have 500 MB's of bandwidth, more than most cruise ships in the world combined. That should enable video conferencing, watching videos, etc. in theory. In practice I don't know, but at this point I would not go into thinking it's a sure thing.

Edited November 16, 2014 by eroller

[DEIx15x8]

Don't count on it. The satellite could be working and she could have great bandwidth, but that doesn't mean that it won't have issues. Things are still new and many of the reports are that the Internet problems on the ship are rooted in the ships networking as much as the satellite. Supposedly things are smooth in many of the primary public areas such as the Esplanade and SeaPlex but non existent or simply not functional in passenger cabins. They were supposed to be reworking the network with additional wireless routers during the 2 days of downtime after her arrival but some of the issues (the I have a connection but no Internet ones to be specific) have been reported since then so it's still not perfect (sounds like they may have installed some routers and not properly configured them on the network).

[Biker19]

When were you onboard?

On the maiden TA. As others have said, if the video conference is a must, I wouldn't book.

[little britain]

Testing internet speeds...this was when the O3B was running.

[TriniWayne]

Testing internet speeds...this was when the O3B was running.

 

If that is when the O3B is functioning post 11/12 that is def not promising or as advertised by Royal Caribbean.

[elleluv]

We were on the 12 Nov to 14 Nov pre-inaugural and found the internet to be a big disappointment. It worked great for downloading email, but we couldn't get a good enough signal to have a clear conversation on the MagicJack or Facetime.

 

The internet was free on that sailing and there were a ton of media onboard, so I'm sure it was getting more use than it would on a normal voyage, but based on all the hype I really would have thought it would have worked better than it did... I'm hoping that they'll be able to get it working better over time, but as of two days ago it really wasn't working as advertised.

[Biker19]

We were on the 12 Nov to 14 Nov pre-inaugural and found the internet to be a big disappointment. It worked great for downloading email, but we couldn't get a good enough signal to have a clear conversation on the MagicJack or Facetime.

This reminds me of the other promise that was made with the O3B Internet -much better (lower) latency. You don't need much BW for most apps, but live video or audio will really suffer with poor latency - that really can't be avoided with satellite technology - you can't really get around the laws of physics.

[elleluv]

This reminds me of the other promise that was made with the O3B Internet -much better (lower) latency. You don't need much BW for most apps, but live video or audio will really suffer with poor latency - that really can't be avoided with satellite technology - you can't really get around the laws of physics.

 

 

Funny thing is that we used both MagicJack and FaceTime on Breakaway in June with great success... there weren't any dropped calls and the reception was very clear... so I know that a good enough signal can be had onboard a ship even without the new satellite technology... it just didn't work worth a darn on Quantum.

[TriniWayne]

Solution found, postpone conference to another date, sip pina coladas on 11/23 sailing. DONE

[Charles4515]

Solution found, postpone conference to another date, sip pina coladas on 11/23 sailing. DONE

 

That is an excellent solution! No stress about the conference and you can use that four hours enjoying your cruise.

Edited November 17, 2014 by Charles4515

[John Kamal]

I'm currently on the Quantum Wi-Fi and have been using it for he past 2 days. I can confirm that it is very good. I haven't had one problem. Even FaceTime, Skype and YouTube work great.

 

 

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