Wifi and Zoom on Oceania (Riviera)?

[toolworker]

How well does Oceania's wifi work for Zoom, with the paid speed upgrade?

 

We will be on Riviera and are hoping to participate in Zoom meetings on two days, between 12:30 and 6:30 pm. One day is a sea day; the other is docked at Harvest Caye, Belize.

 

Does anyone know if the refurbishment will improve the wifi?

 

We could also use cellular data at Harvest Caye, if it's available. T-Mobile shows 4G service up to the mainland shore, which is a bit less than a mile from where the ship will dock. Has anyone used cellular there?

[RPen63]

Zoom should work if you upgrade to the streaming package.  It’s probably better than dial-up but don’t count on great response times during your sea day or later during port days after your fellow pax return from their excursions.  

[1985rz1]

55 minutes ago, toolworker said:

How well does Oceania's wifi work for Zoom, with the paid speed upgrade?

 

Be aware that the paid upgrade only opens the streaming channels, which are not available on the standard WiFi.  There is no increase in speed or bandwidth.

[toolworker]

1 hour ago, 1985rz1 said:

Be aware that the paid upgrade only opens the streaming channels, which are not available on the standard WiFi.  There is no increase in speed or bandwidth.

Does that mean that standard wifi has a speed limit, and the paid upgrade only raises that limit?

Or are there hotspot channels that the upgrade makes available?

 

But if I understand you, in either case we are competing with everyone else for a slice of the same pie. So if there is capacity available when everyone's at the standard limit, we can exeed that limit, but if there isn't then we slow down the same as everyone else?

[1985rz1]

29 minutes ago, toolworker said:

Does that mean that standard wifi has a speed limit, and the paid upgrade only raises that limit?

Or are there hotspot channels that the upgrade makes available?

 

But if I understand you, in either case we are competing with everyone else for a slice of the same pie. So if there is capacity available when everyone's at the standard limit, we can exeed that limit, but if there isn't then we slow down the same as everyone else?

No, the speed is the same, regardless of the package or total usage.  There are no hotspot channels on-board.  Everyone, regardless of package,  competes for the same bandwidth...for a slice of the same pie.  There is no upper limit to total usage, like you might have on a phone, where your speed is throttled.  Bandwidth is not the same as total number of MB downloaded.  Everyone is in the same boat (literally and figuratively), and shares the total bandwidth available to the ship. So speed of an individual connection depends on how many are competing for the same bandwidth. And the ship's total bandwidth isn't great.

 

There is no advantage to the upgrade except for access to streaming channels.

 

We all hope for WiFi upgrades on all of O's ships, but are not holding our breath.

 

 

Edited November 17, 2022 by 1985rz1

[toolworker]

2 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

No, the speed is the same, regardless of the package or total usage.  There are no hotspot channels on-board.  Everyone, regardless of package,  competes for the same bandwidth...for a slice of the same pie.  There is no upper limit to total usage, like you might have on a phone, where your speed is throttled.  Bandwidth is not the same as total number of MB downloaded.  Everyone is in the same boat (literally and figuratively), and shares the total bandwidth available to the ship. So speed of an individual connection depends on how many are competing for the same bandwidth. And the ship's total bandwidth isn't great.

 

There is no advantage to the upgrade except for access to streaming channels.

 

We all hope for WiFi upgrades on all of O's ships, but are not holding our breath.

 

 

I see. So the system blocks sites like YouTube, Zoom, Skype, etc., and the $10 gets us access to them - but at speeds that make them useless?

I wonder if the latest refurbishment will improve the wifi. (A phone agent told me it wouldn't, but he told me some other stuff that was wrong.) Marina left drydock a few days ago; I posted this question in the Roll Call.

 

We were on Viking ocean last month, and had no trouble on our weekly zoom. Another couple in the zoom did fine this month from a Regent ship.

[FlyerTalker]

Do you need video?  Can you make do with just audio for your sessions?

[toolworker]

Unfortunately, these two events are helping to facilitate workshops. So video is required. 

 

Audio only might be helpful at other times. Does that generally work well?

[tigerfan75]

3 hours ago, toolworker said:

I see. So the system blocks sites like YouTube, Zoom, Skype, etc., and the $10 gets us access to them - but at speeds that make them useless?

I wonder if the latest refurbishment will improve the wifi. (A phone agent told me it wouldn't, but he told me some other stuff that was wrong.) Marina left drydock a few days ago; I posted this question in the Roll Call.

 

We were on Viking ocean last month, and had no trouble on our weekly zoom. Another couple in the zoom did fine this month from a Regent ship.

I am on the Marina now.  She has not been in dry dock, but is scheduled next year.

[pinotlover]

We were on the Sirena last month off the coast of Spain. We had NO internet period for 4 days of that trip. No email or simple surfing. The question is about a video Zoom call? 😂. How Lucky do you feel?

 

If participating in that Zoom is vital, I’d suggest not getting on the ship. 

[PaulMCO]

Audio will work -- did a Teams call on Regent yesterday.  Video did not.

Oceania/Regent use the same contractor with same system and same limited internet.

 

Riviera is in the drydock in Marseilles along with NCL Gem (we passed her on our excursion)

[1985rz1]

10 hours ago, toolworker said:

I see. So the system blocks sites like YouTube, Zoom, Skype, etc., and the $10 gets us access to them - but at speeds that make them useless?
 

That's right.

 

I've never tried it, but at time of low passenger load, it might be marginally acceptable.  Still, it's a roll of the dice.  And the more the folks stream, the more congested it becomes.  

 

Maybe if you are OK with audio only, as FlyerTalker and pinotlover suggest, it might suit your needs.

Edited November 17, 2022 by 1985rz1

[1985rz1]

7 hours ago, tigerfan75 said:

I am on the Marina now.  She has not been in dry dock, but is scheduled next year.

Yes, it's the Riviera that is undergoing refurbishment this year.

[Aloha 1]

If your calls are while you are docked at a port I suggest you use your phone to open a hotspot using cellular. I use Verizon at $10/day and it works far better than O's wifi. Only will work ion you have a decent signal though.

[toolworker]

 

10 hours ago, tigerfan75 said:

I am on the Marina now.  She has not been in dry dock, but is scheduled next year.

Oops - my bad. I read the press release too quickly. 

 

4 hours ago, pinotlover said:

We were on the Sirena last month off the coast of Spain. We had NO internet period for 4 days of that trip. No email or simple surfing. The question is about a video Zoom call? 😂. How Lucky do you feel?

 

If participating in that Zoom is vital, I’d suggest not getting on the ship. 

 

It's not vital; it's just one of the factors to weigh.

 

3 hours ago, PaulMCO said:

Audio will work -- did a Teams call on Regent yesterday.  Video did not.

Oceania/Regent use the same contractor with same system and same limited internet.

 

Riviera is in the drydock in Marseilles along with NCL Gem (we passed her on our excursion)

 

So you're on Splendor? One of the couples in our Zoom group is on there too. We've had good Zooms with them the past couple of weeks - over an hour, with only an occasional video/audio freeze for a second or two.

If it's the same system as Viking, maybe the problem is that twice as many pax are sharing it ...

Did you use Teams from an app or a browser? And did you need to get the upgrade to access it?

 

3 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

Yes, it's the Riviera that is undergoing refurbishment this year.

 

So we'll see if there's any improvement when she comes out next month.

 

24 minutes ago, Aloha 1 said:

If your calls are while you are docked at a port I suggest you use your phone to open a hotspot using cellular. I use Verizon at $10/day and it works far better than O's wifi. Only will work ion you have a decent signal though.

One of the two sessions is at Harvest Caye, Belize. It's an NCL island so no cellular there, but it's a mile off the mainland and T-Mobile's map shows 4G coverage. So it might work.

In port I do use the hotspot. Our T-Mobile plan now includes 5Gb of international 4G/5G per month and free texting. We used to pay $50 for a month of that plus free calling.

Edited November 17, 2022 by toolworker

[PaulMCO]

Team used with APP.  Just remember that Marina and Riviera are bigger ships with 1200 capacity.  Splendor is only 700.

[edgee]

On 11/17/2022 at 2:45 AM, tigerfan75 said:

I am on the Marina now.  She has not been in dry dock, but is scheduled next year.

Unfortunately, Marina's drydock has been postponed to an as yet undetermined dry dock date in 2024. 

[slw207693]

I am currently on Marina with upgraded internet package. I have been on since Nov. 1.     I need to use a VPN for work purposes and the upgrade is the only way it works ( I use Nord VPN).   I make Zoom calls almost daily using the upgrade and they come in clear with no buffering or latency issues.  Only a few days with getting kicked off issues - didn’t last long, just annoying.   I use ATT $10/day  (24 hr period) international plan (don’t have to sign up, it just happens) if you turn on cellular when you are near land or in port.   Sometimes I let the cellular update the email box, then go back using ships wi-fi to respond.   

[eggydreams]

We will be on the Riviera on the Rome to Miami trip next month. We have not done a transatlantic before. Will we have any internet while in the middle of the Atlantic? We don’t need streaming or zoom; just access to websites and doing some work on them.

[tigerfan75]

Just now, eggydreams said:

We will be on the Riviera on the Rome to Miami trip next month. We have not done a transatlantic before. Will we have any internet while in the middle of the Atlantic? We don’t need streaming or zoom; just access to websites and doing some work on them.

In the middle of the Atlantic on Marina now.  Wi-Fi is sloooow, but doable per this post.  Best to choose early or late in the day for better speed.

[1985rz1]

8 hours ago, tigerfan75 said:

In the middle of the Atlantic on Marina now.  Wi-Fi is sloooow, but doable per this post.  Best to choose early or late in the day for better speed.

Just to clarify, the slowness of the connection is most probably due to poor internet speed...not unusual in the middle of the Atlantic where satellites are sparse. The WiFi speed shouldn't vary with the ship's location, as it is fixed by the WiFi routers and their bandwidth and that can vary because of the number of simultaneous users on-board.

[eggydreams]

14 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

Just to clarify, the slowness of the connection is most probably due to poor internet speed...not unusual in the middle of the Atlantic where satellites are sparse. The WiFi speed shouldn't vary with the ship's location, as it is fixed by the WiFi routers and their bandwidth and that can vary because of the number of simultaneous users on-board.

We will be on the Riviera on the Rome to Miami trip next month. We have not done a transatlantic before. Will we have any internet while in the middle of the Atlantic? We don’t need streaming or zoom; just access to websites and doing some work on them.

 

good morning, 1985rz1. I just took a peak at some of your photography. I sent you FB friend request. I can’t recall how to do Messaging in Cruiecritic.

[1985rz1]

1 hour ago, eggydreams said:

We will be on the Riviera on the Rome to Miami trip next month. We have not done a transatlantic before. Will we have any internet while in the middle of the Atlantic? We don’t need streaming or zoom; just access to websites and doing some work on them.

 

good morning, 1985rz1. I just took a peak at some of your photography. I sent you FB friend request. I can’t recall how to do Messaging in Cruiecritic.

I haven't done a TA myself, but I've experienced other places where the internet was flaky.  But from posts by others, it could be spotty, but not totally nonexistent.  You may have to find times of the day (or night) when fewer of your fellow pax are not on line, so the bandwidth is not completely clogged.  I'd guess that when there are a lot of sea days, many folks are on line, overwhelming the bandwidth even if satellites are plenty.

[ChadnKate]

On 11/17/2022 at 2:45 AM, tigerfan75 said:

I am on the Marina now.  She has not been in dry dock, but is scheduled next year.

Question off topic: who is the Marina Cruise Director and also the Oceania Club Ambassador on your cruise?

thanks

[tigerfan75]

On 11/26/2022 at 7:33 PM, ChadnKate said:

Question off topic: who is the Marina Cruise Director and also the Oceania Club Ambassador on your cruise?

thanks

Sorry for the late reply…lazy sea days, you know.

CD is John Clelford

OCA is Alex Norton