Speed difference between Voom surf + stream and Voom Surf?

[screenname2004]

We always get the Voom surf + stream but wonder will we miss anything if we just go with the Voom surf package? Do they throttle the speed if I get Voom surf package instead of Voom surf + stream?

[Ocean Boy]

I can give you exact numbers but here is an example. When I was on Allure I had just surf. During the cruise my RCI app crashed and I had to re-down load it. It took 45 minutes. It takes about 15 seconds at home. Don't plan on anything involving video without stream. If you are just doing e-mail you would be fine with surf.

[Biker19]

22 minutes ago, screenname2004 said:

Do they throttle the speed if I get Voom surf package instead of Voom surf + stream?

Yes, about 10x less download speed but for many things you won’t notice much performance difference. 

[clean1owner]

Just got off the Adventure, where my brother had surf only. It was like having dial up. 

[SRF]

Surf is 0.5 mbps.  Stream is 5 mbps.

 

The only place you will really see a difference is in video, either video chat or streaming a video.

 

Many websites still load slowly as the ping (time it takes to send a request from your device to when the requested data gets to your device) is very slow, due to the satellite connection.

 

Some webpages (Amazon is one) use a setup where every little data element has to be requested, so it loads VERY slowly, no matter what the data rate is.

[Ocean Boy]

41 minutes ago, clean1owner said:

Just got off the Adventure, where my brother had surf only. It was like having dial up. 

I was on Adventure a month ago with surf and stream and it was like having dial up. The internet on that ship is just not good or at least it was not good that week.

[hapster85]

Aside from what you are doing (email, surfing the web, watching videos), noticing the difference can vary by a lot of factors at any given moment. Including, but not limited to: ship, time of day, location on ship, location of ship.

[SRF]

Did any of you run Speed Test to check the connection?

 

As I said, even with a fast download speed, if the ping is high, things will be slow.

[hapster85]

Did any of you run Speed Test to check the connection?
 
As I said, even with a fast download speed, if the ping is high, things will be slow.

I recall trying to do so numerous time on Liberty, but it always timed out. Even so, we were usually able to watch videos on YouTube and Facebook, albeit with buffering. Anthem (with O3B service) had pretty respectable test results, which I don't recall off the top of my head, but easily supported video chatting with my daughter without buffering. I don't think I ever tried testing onboard Adventure.

As to ping, yes even with the faster low-orbit satellite connections, response times can feel abysmally slow compared to the near instantaneous responses many of us are accustomed to at home. But unless you're trying to play a game, it's still generally usable.

[elainesj]

I was originally going to get surf but got nervous and chose surf n stream instead mostly because there was a good sale. 

Edited March 5, 2019 by elainesj

[jrljel]

Does every ship in the fleet have zoom?  Going on Mariner later this month and need it for work.  Any problems with it there?

[Clarea]

5 minutes ago, jrljel said:

Does every ship in the fleet have zoom?  Going on Mariner later this month and need it for work.  Any problems with it there?

 

VOOM is the name Royal gives to internet access at sea.  All of their ships have it, some more capable than others.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

7 hours ago, elainesj said:

I was originally going to get surf but got nervous and chose surf n stream instead mostly because there was a good sale. 

Good idea, as it is faster than Surf alone.

[mac_tlc]

On 3/4/2019 at 10:42 AM, SRF said:

Did any of you run Speed Test to check the connection?

 

As I said, even with a fast download speed, if the ping is high, things will be slow.

Here is a Speedtest of “Surf” and “Surf and Stream” onboard the Symphony of the Seas in January. 

 

 

[CRUISEFAN0001]

15 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

Here is a Speedtest of “Surf” and “Surf and Stream” onboard the Symphony of the Seas in January. 

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to share!

 

That helps the original poster and others with the same question.

[sofmall]

We're just off the Ovation of the Seas. We took the Surf package because we didn't want downloads, Youtube, movies etc. We just wanted emails, ability for my husband to keep in touch with his business, a bit of web browsing, and we were given the impression that both Surf and Surf & Stream were superfast. 

 

Not so, the Surf was dreadfully slow. If we tried to open a page with a couple of pictures it took forever; emails were slow to send and receive. It was like the old dial-up, and I think to promote it as "fast" is very misleading. We wouldn't get it again.

[little britain]

I only get Surf and I have always been able to FaceTime without issue on multiple ships. 

[MaritimeR&R]

On 3/3/2019 at 8:19 AM, Ocean Boy said:

I was on Adventure a month ago with surf and stream and it was like having dial up. The internet on that ship is just not good or at least it was not good that week.

I spent Nov. And Feb. On her. There were times when i had 56kbps, times when you could not connect in port if another RC ship was berthed across from her, and other times when she just crashed. The ships internet needs work.

[Biker19]

4 hours ago, sofmall said:

Not so, the Surf was dreadfully slow.

The physics of getting that signal onto a moving ship with the current technology sorta leads to that - ships without O3B are even worse.

[sofmall]

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

The physics of getting that signal onto a moving ship with the current technology sorta leads to that - ships without O3B are even worse.

 

Fair enough, but it was touted as being fast. Otherwise we would have gone for the Surf & Stream.

[Biker19]

16 minutes ago, sofmall said:

Fair enough, but it was touted as being fast. Otherwise we would have gone for the Surf & Stream.

For many things, Stream wouldn't be much better - it still doesn't get around the physics of it. Also "fast" is very subjective and a marketing trap.

[SRF]

8 hours ago, sofmall said:

We're just off the Ovation of the Seas. We took the Surf package because we didn't want downloads, Youtube, movies etc. We just wanted emails, ability for my husband to keep in touch with his business, a bit of web browsing, and we were given the impression that both Surf and Surf & Stream were superfast. 

 

Not so, the Surf was dreadfully slow. If we tried to open a page with a couple of pictures it took forever; emails were slow to send and receive. It was like the old dial-up, and I think to promote it as "fast" is very misleading. We wouldn't get it again.

 

Many times, it is not the connection speed, it is the Ping time.  

 

Each request for another data packet takes 2 tenths of a second.  10 requests is a 2 second delay.