Xcellerate....the fastest internet at sea?

[upwarduk]

We were on the Equinox July 23-30,2016 and were very happy with the new internet. Used it in many areas of the ship and our cabin at various times of day or night. No problems whatsoever.

 

This leads me to conclude it depends where the ship is!

[hcat]

If you are Elite you have the choice of 90 minutes or a 25% discount off unlimited.

 

Thank you....

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Daily update -- Docked in Ketchikan today, and the trend/slide continues. Two weeks ago (so I'm told) Verizon Wireless rolled out 4G here, so I definitely switched my cellphone back to Mobile Data !

 

This, however, is from my laptop connected to the onboard wifi:

 

 

Tom

[Gordoncruickshank]

Are you sure? That would be really poor speeds for home. What I get at home is 30 times faster.

 

 

 

 

I am afraid it is the best we can get just now. Been promised that fibre will be available later this year. In the meantime I can get 40mps+ on 4g which is good but it not as stable as broadband.

[MicCanberra]

As with anything, the companies always state the maximum speeds and not the usual speeds due to an individuals location, amount of traffic at the time and the connection.

 

That said, I found no problems with anything I was using the internet for when on the Connie unlike before the Xcellarate internet package. :D

[Livin on the Edge]

Can u ur phone as a hot spot to use multiple devises?

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Well, this is the best performance yet. Perhaps it's because many people are off the ship (as we don't leave for nearly 5 more hours) so I simply have more of the bandwidth for myself!

 

 

 

 

Tom

[MicCanberra]

I would think you are correct, normally get a better service when there are less users.:D

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Checking in a little earlier today !

 

 

 

Tom

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Here's the results for both yesterday and today. I tried several times yesterday to load up the images (onto SmugMug) for posting on here, but found that the level of internet performance yesterday was obviously below some threshold where many sites would properly function. It was starting to frustrate me, so I gave up - since this is a vacation after all ! :)

 

Yesterday (day at sea):

 

 

Today (at sea currently, heading to Victoria):

 

 

In summary -- I feel that the VOOM! internet I experienced on the Allure in May was FAR superior to what Celebrity has to offer. I say that after seeing results from other people (sailing Celebrity) using their offerings at lower latitudes, on ships which also (purportedly) have the faster internet option.

 

Basically, Celebrity went CHEAP when compared to Royal Caribbean - either with their hardware and/or the amount of bandwidth they've chosen to purchase for their guests.

 

Tom

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

For reference, here's a screenshot from a speedtest on the Allure... and I don't think latitude can't explain away this kind of difference! Not only that, think of how many more guests were sapping away at the bandwidth on the Allure over the Solstice - not only due to the shear number of guests, but I'd imagine the demographics of the Allure crowd likely meant that their usage of the internet was higher.

 

 

Tom

[Wine-O]

I just purchased Voom for an upcoming RCCL cruise. It appears they have two speeds, and both priced differently. One speed "surf" and the other speed "surf and stream." The difference in price was $9 or $12 per day. I just purchased just the Surf.

 

Celebrity is offering a special for cruises on Equinox to the Caribbean - all 4 perks which include unlimited internet. I can't imagine what the speed will be with everyone on board logging on board and staying connected at the same time. :eek:

 

We were on Constellation TA when they just rolled out Xcellerate. The special price for the 13-day TA for Elite+ was $129. It was amazingly fast -- I could stream, facetime and stay connected without any problem.

 

On Summit to Bermuda, I had the unlimited (had lots of OBC), and I kept getting booted off. We were in a stateroom on Deck 11. On the other hand, if I brought my laptop down to al Bacio, I had no problems connecting, but who wants to walk your laptop all over the ship. With my iPhone I had no problems staying connected.

[Charles4515]

Here's the results for both yesterday and today. I tried several times yesterday to load up the images (onto SmugMug) for posting on here, but found that the level of internet performance yesterday was obviously below some threshold where many sites would properly function. It was starting to frustrate me, so I gave up - since this is a vacation after all ! :)

 

 

 

Yesterday (day at sea):

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today (at sea currently, heading to Victoria):

 

 

 

 

 

 

In summary -- I feel that the VOOM! internet I experienced on the Allure in May was FAR superior to what Celebrity has to offer. I say that after seeing results from other people (sailing Celebrity) using their offerings at lower latitudes, on ships which also (purportedly) have the faster internet option.

 

 

 

Basically, Celebrity went CHEAP when compared to Royal Caribbean - either with their hardware and/or the amount of bandwidth they've chosen to purchase for their guests.

 

 

 

Tom

 

 

 

It is sad that they went cheap. Particularly since we know that the faster service was possible and that Royal Caribbean charges less for the faster service they installed on Royal Caribbean ships than is charged for the slower service on Celebrity. This is treating customers badly. It is short sighted in my opinion.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Charles4515]

For reference, here's a screenshot from a speedtest on the Allure... and I don't think latitude can't explain away this kind of difference! Not only that, think of how many more guests were sapping away at the bandwidth on the Allure over the Solstice - not only due to the shear number of guests, but I'd imagine the demographics of the Allure crowd likely meant that their usage of the internet was higher.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tom

 

 

 

Great you did the speed tests. I knew it felt a lot faster on Allure but your screenshots confirm that they installed a lessor service on Celebrity.

Edited August 18, 2016 by Charles4515

[chamima]

Great you did the speed tests. I knew it felt a lot faster on Allure but your screenshots confirm that they installed a lessor service on Celebrity.

 

 

I don't understand the management at Celebrity. It is supposed to be Royal Caribbean's slightly upscale version of RCCL and yet this is just one of many decisions lately to "cheap out" on things. :(