Oosterdam - wifi good? Need quick answer!!!

[sprockie]

 I have a last minute cruise on hold for January 18th on the Oosterdam.  Can anyone comment on the quality/speed of the wifi on the Oosterdam?  I need a good connection and a constant connection would be ideal.  Anyone's input is appreciated.  Thanks in advance.  

[CruiserBruce]

Not sure what exactly you need it for, but a "constant connection" on a moving ship is a challenge. Speed will vary. Fact of life on a cruise ship.

[TAD2005]

Unfortunately on cruise ships, there is a single "pipe" up to the satellite and down to land based internet.   You are sharing that "pipe" with all of the other passengers and possibly hotel and marine operations.  And you know who will get priority in a crunch.   There is just so much available bandwidth on that satellite.  Higher usage can affect everyone's bandwidth.  That's why HAL does not guarantee any particular download or upload speed.  It's all "Best Effort".   Also, because you are using satellite based internet, the latency (ping rate) will be in the hundreds of milliseconds.   Laws of physics, it takes time to travel up to a geostationary or LEO satellite and back down again to an earth terminal.  That latency affects on-line gaming and VOIP.  

Edited December 21, 2018 by TAD2005

[sprockie]

Okay, understood.  Ship services told me the entire HAL fleet now has 3 choices of internet (social, premium etc) and can be purchased as unlimited for the duration of the cruise.  I am hoping to be able to use wifi calling with the Hangouts app.  

[sun~]

Sucked. Very expensive as well.

[KrissyCruises]

We were on Oosterdam for 2 weeks this Nov/Dec. Bought the highest priced package and had constant connection, no issues and better speed than I expected. (though I didn’t do a Speedtest).Streaming wasn’t great but I don’t know if it was the connection or the source. DH used connection for work without complaints. 

[sprockie]

7 hours ago, KrissyCruises said:

We were on Oosterdam for 2 weeks this Nov/Dec. Bought the highest priced package and had constant connection, no issues and better speed than I expected. (though I didn’t do a Speedtest).Streaming wasn’t great but I don’t know if it was the connection or the source. DH used connection for work without complaints. 

Thanks.  Good to hear.  So maybe it's the premium package I should go for.  

[aa7yy]

I just spent a month on the Oo and noticed that you connected to routers of different types/speeds. So check your room, don't like it try somewhere else.  I think I found that just outside the Dive In was real good.

[cruiserchuck]

We are on the Eurodam right now.  We purchased top package.  Speed was good on port days, but was so slow it was basically worthless on last two sea days.

[dgriffel]

We are going on the Oosterdam on Saturday for a 7 day western Caribbean Cruise, How much are the different WIFI packages please.

Thanks  

[POA1]

On the Zuiderdam right now. I'm pleased with the speed and we're heading into the last two sea days back to Fort Lauderdale, so we'll see. 

 

There are some dead spots in the wifi coverage, but overall it's very good. The dead spots are in the corner of certain bars and parts of the MDR. 

[POA1]

I should add that traditional speed tests crap out because of satellite latency. 

[richwmn]

[dgriffel]

Thank you both very much for the quick response!!

Silly question can you share the data package?

[dgriffel]

Which data package do you recommend?

Thank you

[richwmn]

1 hour ago, dgriffel said:

Which data package do you recommend?

Thank you

I have had friends that the medium package was fine for, I usually buy the premium because I sometimes have to work from the ship and want to be sure I am able to do so.

1 hour ago, dgriffel said:

Thank you both very much for the quick response!!

Silly question can you share the data package?

As long as only 1 device is connected to the ship's WiFi at any time. POA1 has mentioned using a hotspot router but I have not had a need to try that. I did, however, use my phone tethered to my laptop and was able to get VoIP messages while surfing on my laptop.

[sprockie]

Excellent information.  Thank you Richwmn.   I assume they will allow you to upgrade to a higher package if one isn't cutting it for your needs.  Do all plans allow you to be connected all the time or do the lower ones require you to sign in and out?

[cruiserchuck]

14 minutes ago, sprockie said:

Excellent information.  Thank you Richwmn.   I assume they will allow you to upgrade to a higher package if one isn't cutting it for your needs.  Do all plans allow you to be connected all the time or do the lower ones require you to sign in and out?

 

All plans have daily data limits, so we always signed out when not using wifi.  You can upgrade to a higher package at any time.

[dgriffel]

Thank you everyone for your responses,  It is very helpful and will be able to plan for our cruise.

Thanks again!!