Streaming with Voom..Are there any areas on Allure that are better than others?

[lovetotravel06]

Been wanting to stream a few things here and there (in between busy times, having a great cruise).  Streaming is awful. Have even went to Schooner (wanting to  catch a couple sporting events) thinking maybe being closer to a router or something might help. Was marginally better but not great. Just curious if anyone had any ideas/experiences or sweet spots!

 

Thanks much!

[LilBlackDress]

I talked to the Voom people on Liberty a few weeks ago when I was having issues. There are some sites that work better than others, found that out the hard way. 
The best thing I can suggest is ask them if they can reset the routers near your room and/or where you want to stream the media

[Biker19]

9 hours ago, lovetotravel06 said:

Just curious if anyone had any ideas/experiences or sweet spots!

Talk to the Voom person on board. They should help.

[twangster]

Avoid crowded areas.  Avoid rain clouds. 

[it-cruiser]

Hello, will be having my cruise next month and looking to purchase their Voom Internet service. I see they offer $17.99/day. If I'm on an 8-day cruise, would I be charged for 8 days? Even the first and last days are not whole days (embarkation and disembarkation)? Thanks.

[Biker19]

2 minutes ago, it-cruiser said:

If I'm on an 8-day cruise, would I be charged for 8 days?

It's per night, so assuming it's a 7 night sailing (8 days), it's x7. Put it in your cart in the planner - it will show you the total price.

[lovetotravel06]

6 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Talk to the Voom person on board. They should help.

They were no help. Going to see if I can get them to knock off some of the bill. 3 devices of Surf and STREAM isn't exactly cheap. Who to complain to first....Diamond Concierge, Guest Services, or maybe Crown and Anchor? Had a cruise 4 or 5 years ago where Surf would barely work let alone stream and the D Concierge made it right so know it's possible. Not sure who they contacted to clear a reduced rate though.

 

Thanks for all the replies.

 

For what it's worth (unrelated to the net)...Allure is pretty short staffed even at 80% capacity. 

[Biker19]

6 minutes ago, lovetotravel06 said:

Who to complain to first....

If the Voom person can't figure out the issue, then a refund is the only choice and GS should be able to do that.

[mil76]

Was on Navigator last week and worked quite a bit with the Surf and Stream package.  Ran a bunch of speed tests in various places around the ship, and what I found was performance is completely random no matter where you are.  I worked in the Library, our stateroom (Deck 8 starboard just behind the hump) and they let me use the Conference Center for a couple hours in the early morning since no one was using it.  Speed ranged from about 550K to 1.6Mbps no matter where I was or time of day.  Got a couple bursts to about 3.5M, but if I ran the test again it was back in the 550K-1.6M range, so those speeds could have been a mistake.  Speedtest always errored, I think that had something to do with not being able to determine location, but I tried a bunch of other sites and they were consistent.

 

The good news was Zoom worked great, even at the slow speeds.  I was able to use video and present.  Took a little while to connect to the meetings, but once it was connected it worked without drops.  I was amazed considering Zoom says you need 1.5M-3.0M for optimal performance

 

Streaming was a whole different story.  I can never get the Xfinity app to work onboard any ship, but my wife was able to stream an Arizona bball game in Playmakers, but it was highly pixellated .  Other sites are OK (Hulu, Netflix), but the best bet is to download and watch if you don't have to see something live.

 

If they want to be truthful they need to call the packages Surf and Surf+, and take the stream part out.

[soremekun]

This is the best area for the best internet speeds.  I saw this on deck 6 off the top level of the Promenade next to the elevators on Symphony last week.  Probably something similar on Allure.

[Biker19]

16 minutes ago, soremekun said:

This is the best area for the best internet speeds. 

And you could get a usable hardwired connection via that?

[soremekun]

26 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

And you could get a usable hardwired connection via that?

Actually never tried.  I wish I had brought my Cat6 cable with me.  I did have my laptop with me.

Edited March 18, 2022 by soremekun

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, soremekun said:

Actually never tried.  I wish I had brought my Cat6 cable with me.  I did have my laptop with me.

My limited trials yielded no usable port open to passengers.

[soremekun]

Just now, Biker19 said:

My limited trials yielded no usable port open to passengers.

I would love to learn how their network is configured.  The infrastructure appears to be Cisco for hardware.

There must be several network closets per floor with a data center on Deck 0.  For an Oasis class ship, hundreds of access points approaching the 1,000 range.  The switches probably number in the hundreds.

They're also using a setup from NEC for the staff phones.