Internet Speeds

[Ep010835]

Has anyone measured the onboard internet speeds on the different RSSC ships while sailing in different parts of the world?

[montour70]

we are on the Mariner right now in the Indian Ocean due in Darwin at 0630 on Friday and we have excellent internet service.

[briar14]

We agree, internet has been surprisingly good!

[Ep010835]

Is anyone able to do a speedtest to determine the actual download and upload speeds?

[CruisetheCs]

33 minutes ago, Ep010835 said:

Is anyone able to do a speedtest to determine the actual download and upload speeds?

 

I checked internet speeds several times during a November cruise in the Mediterranean on the Explorer with Speedtest by Ookla app.  Typically the ping time was long--in the range of 700-900 ms.  The download speed was usually in the range of 3 to 4 mbps though sometimes even slower and sometimes a bit faster.  Not infrequently the speed test app would require several attempts to connect.  

 

The internet was variable over the cruise.  I would characterize it as "sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't"

 

The internet is definitely not the "seamless" experience that Regent says it is.

 

[flossie009]

During 2018 we cruised twice on Explorer and twice on Mariner.

Internet access both times on Mariner was generally bearable; during both cruises on Explorer it was awful.

(In April this year our two cruises took the same itinerary and our comparison between the two ships is available here)

 

We have never noticed any particular difference in on-board internet speed based on geographic location.

 

This previous CC thread discussed on-board internet access in some depth, and included some measurements.

[JMARINER]

I am on the Mariner right now. 1:30 am. Near Darwin Australia.  Connection to Auckland server. Down 0.55 Mbps. Up 0.32 Mbps. 

 

Slow. But connections have be fairly steady.

J

[UUNetBill]

4 hours ago, JMARINER said:

I am on the Mariner right now. 1:30 am. Near Darwin Australia.  Connection to Auckland server. Down 0.55 Mbps. Up 0.32 Mbps. 

 

Slow. But connections have be fairly steady.

J

Ouch.  Slow is right.  Did you need to bring your own AOL setup disk or did they have one on board for you?   

[Ep010835]

4 hours ago, JMARINER said:

Down 0.55 Mbps. Up 0.32 Mbps. 

OMG 😳

That’s awful!!

[JMARINER]

Tested speed again tonight. 2:40 am. Mariner in East Timor sea on route to Komodo. Hard to get good test site like Oolka because  latency is so bad, test sites will "time out".  0.57 down  0.33 up  902 ping latency  Results below. J

 

 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Ugh.  I want to be able to log into my bank and pay bills whilst sailing across the Pacific Ocean!  I'm thinking I would have to buy one of these wifi-secure devices to do that on land.  Plus get a VPN, of course.  Who knows, maybe in two years things will be better!

[rallydave]

20 minutes ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

Ugh.  I want to be able to log into my bank and pay bills whilst sailing across the Pacific Ocean!  I'm thinking I would have to buy one of these wifi-secure devices to do that on land.  Plus get a VPN, of course.  Who knows, maybe in two years things will be better!

Wendy,  just set up your accounts for auto pay and not worry about payments.  We did that for our World Cruise and worked great.  Just had to logon in port to check payments and record in checkbook.   In fact, we have continued auto payments as much easier to not worry about payments and with now taking longer cruises, makes things easy peasy and without worry.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

1 minute ago, rallydave said:

Wendy,  just set up your accounts for auto pay and not worry about payments.  We did that for our World Cruise and worked great.  Just had to logon in port to check payments and record in checkbook.   In fact, we have continued auto payments as much easier to not worry about payments and with now taking longer cruises, makes things easy peasy and without worry.

 

We already do 90% of our bills electronically.  But I like to look at them before I pay them automatically, except for a few fairly small ones.  This prevents nasty surprises--I like to keep on top of the cash flow.  This is especially true of large bills that vary month to month, like credit cards, or bills that only come once a year. 

[Travelcat2]

29 minutes ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

Ugh.  I want to be able to log into my bank and pay bills whilst sailing across the Pacific Ocean!  I'm thinking I would have to buy one of these wifi-secure devices to do that on land.  Plus get a VPN, of course.  Who knows, maybe in two years things will be better!

 

You definitely need to have security on your device while on any cruise ship.  While my personal devices have all types of security on them, I do go down to the computer room to print things and have received a message on the screen in the past year or so that indicate that I am not on a secure network.  

 

Even with security, I would not access my bank account while onboard.  For the reasons that you mentioned, paying in advance is likely the safest way.  My highest monthly credit card bill is for Amazon (almost hate to admit it but I do 90% of my shopping on Amazon).  Still, I know approximately how much I spend each month and would over-estimate a bit and pay in advance.

 

One thing that I always do when I am away is let my credit card companies know.  I give them an itinerary so they will not refuse a payment from various countries.  This has worked out perfectly for the last few years.  I also give an itinerary to our credit union (or a bank if you use a bank) since it is possible that we will be using our ATM card for local money in various ports.  This also has worked without a hitch.

 

You have tons of time to figure this out and by the time you leave, Wi-Fi and security may be different on Regent.

[DaveFr]

On Mariner in East Timor Sea.  Using Ookla Speedtest, tested several times around 6:15 am.  VPN with server in USA.  Download range: 8.51-9.18 Mbbs.  Upload range: 11.0-12.3 Mbbs.  Ping: 917-942 ms.

 

Big improvement over yesterday.

 

Dave

[DaveFr]

Tested again at 8 am.  Download: 8.92 Mbbs, upload: 21.8 Mbbs, ping: 856 ms.

 

Dave

[Ep010835]

Creeping into the acceptable range!

[Travelcat2]

39 minutes ago, Ep010835 said:

Creeping into the acceptable range!

 

The results are pretty much what I expected.  As I mentioned on the other thread, Regent connectivity ranges from poor to good.  Anyone that thinks that Regent's speeds are fine likely does not have good connectivity at home.  

[JMARINER]

On 12/29/2018 at 9:11 AM, DaveFr said:

Tested again at 8 am.  Download: 8.92 Mbbs, upload: 21.8 Mbbs, ping: 856 ms.

 

Dave

Dave, are you using Oolka app on iOS or Android? I am using Android on my phone and cannot even get Ookla to connect due to the bad latency. I went to the Computer guy this AM to check what he was getting and his pings were 900-1,100. He said that the ship was trying to swtich satilites. 

 

Wendy, speed is still fast enough to do online banking. Also, if you have a good anti- virus set up on your device before  you board the ship, no need for VPN. Also VPN will really kill speeds 

 

J

[DaveFr]

1 hour ago, JMARINER said:

Dave, are you using Oolka app on iOS or Android? I am using Android on my phone and cannot even get Ookla to connect due to the bad latency. I went to the Computer guy this AM to check what he was getting and his pings were 900-1,100. He said that the ship was trying to swtich satilites. 

 

Wendy, speed is still fast enough to do online banking. Also, if you have a good anti- virus set up on your device before  you board the ship, no need for VPN. Also VPN will really kill speeds 

 

J

J,

 

I’m using IOS on a iPad.  I’ve gotten the best results using a VPN server in the US.  Other servers tried were not as good as the US server.  I tested with and without the VPN.  The results were similar.

 

Dave

[Wendy The Wanderer]

 

11 hours ago, JMARINER said:

Dave, are you using Oolka app on iOS or Android? I am using Android on my phone and cannot even get Ookla to connect due to the bad latency. I went to the Computer guy this AM to check what he was getting and his pings were 900-1,100. He said that the ship was trying to swtich satilites. 

 

Wendy, speed is still fast enough to do online banking. Also, if you have a good anti- virus set up on your device before  you board the ship, no need for VPN. Also VPN will really kill speeds 

 

J

 

10 hours ago, DaveFr said:

J,

 

I’m using IOS on a iPad.  I’ve gotten the best results using a VPN server in the US.  Other servers tried were not as good as the US server.  I tested with and without the VPN.  The results were similar.

 

Dave

 

Both good data points, thanks.  I do have good anti-virus, in fact mine supplies what they call a "hardened browser" for financial transactions.  But I think I would still use a VPN for this type of thing at sea.  I can't imagine at least checking my accounts, even if most payments were automatic.  

[Focused1]

On the the Explorer now sailing on the Indian Ocean and internet is horrible. Up is .5 mbps and down is 1.0 mbps. It has been in this range since the beginning of the cruise 10 days ago. It is absolutely shameful that Regent can’t provide a better service.  It seems to be the same or worse than when we were on the same ship two years ago.  

 

The on ship internet person is being barraged by passengers complaining about it especially since we have some forced sea days due to bad weather and inability to bring the ship into the scheduled port in Richards Bay. So, lots of folks on the internet but the strength isn’t any better at midnight either. Staff here tell us to complain to Corporate who don’t seem to want to invest in better connectivity.  Again, just shameful especially for those of us who need to check into our offices on occasion. 

[UUNetBill]

2 hours ago, Focused1 said:

Staff here tell us to complain to Corporate who don’t seem to want to invest in better connectivity.  Again, just shameful especially for those of us who need to check into our offices on occasion. 

That's been a major gripe of mine for the last few years, especially after Regent went out on a limb and advertised internet 'at fiber optic speeds' a while back.  Not even close, guys, not even close.  They removed that tagline, now they need to even think about removing any reference to 'high-speed internet' because what you're describing sounds more like dial-up from the 90s.

 

Sad.

[islandhalls]

You know what just tripped me up, one of my financial institutions deciding to do an authentication and wanting to send me a text with a code to input. But since I am at sea (no cellular) I cannot get the code. No way to ask for an email instead. Ugh. I’m working through it by email, but frustrating. 

[Travelcat2]

1 hour ago, islandhalls said:

You know what just tripped me up, one of my financial institutions deciding to do an authentication and wanting to send me a text with a code to input. But since I am at sea (no cellular) I cannot get the code. No way to ask for an email instead. Ugh. I’m working through it by email, but frustrating. 

 

Can you use your cell phone when in port in order to obtain the code?