Anthem WIFI questions

[cruze daddy]

Anthem WIFI question.  Just found out the we get a complimentary WIFI account for our cruise starting on Sunday.  Has the internet on Anthem been upgraded to the new system yet?  How fast is it?  If we put it on my wife’s phone, can we set up a hotspot so that I can use it as well?

 

thanks in advance!!!!

 

[Ashland]

19 minutes ago, cruze daddy said:

Anthem WIFI question.  Just found out the we get a complimentary WIFI account for our cruise starting on Sunday.  Has the internet on Anthem been upgraded to the new system yet?  How fast is it?  If we put it on my wife’s phone, can we set up a hotspot so that I can use it as well?

 

thanks in advance!!!!

 

If you're in a GS or above you both get it.

[cruze daddy]

We are in an accessible balcony

[firefly333]

5 minutes ago, cruze daddy said:

We are in an accessible balcony

I would get it in writing as I've never heard of a balcony getting free wifi. Good to know though. 

 

@Ourusualbeachis this a perk for accessible?

Edited March 2, 2023 by firefly333

[VernRDH]

We were on the 2/6 sailing. Wifi was quick and signal was strong. Had absolutely no issues using it anywhere we were- balcony cabin on deck 13, Solarium, Royal Esplanade. I did see folks at the VOOM desk, but personally we had no issues. We switched between phones and tablets with no trouble.

I don't know about the hotspot, we always get one device each. 

[Ourusualbeach]

39 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I would get it in writing as I've never heard of a balcony getting free wifi. Good to know though. 

 

@Ourusualbeachis this a perk for accessible?

No rooms come with internet other than Star or Sky class suites.  I could be a promo a TA offered.

[gmerick]

Some C&A levels get complimentary days of Voom.  Can't do a hotspot, because traditional hotspots relay WiFi to Cell network.  Could do a WAP connected to a Wireless Router, but that technology is way beyond most home user levels, and then it would only work within range of the WAP.  Defeats the entire purpose.  Just sign in and sign out of the Voom account, and share each free day between the two of you, knowing only one can be logged in.

[firefly333]

1 hour ago, gmerick said:

Some C&A levels get complimentary days of Voom.  Can't do a hotspot, because traditional hotspots relay WiFi to Cell network.  Could do a WAP connected to a Wireless Router, but that technology is way beyond most home user levels, and then it would only work within range of the WAP.  Defeats the entire purpose.  Just sign in and sign out of the Voom account, and share each free day between the two of you, knowing only one can be logged in.

Yes diamond gets 1 day, diamond plus 2 days and pinnacle gets it the whole cruise. The way it was worded like he found out  ...if he was a pinnacle he wouldnt have discovered as he put it his cabin comes with wifi. 

[Merion_Mom]

6 hours ago, cruze daddy said:

Anthem WIFI question.  Just found out the we get a complimentary WIFI account for our cruise starting on Sunday.  Has the internet on Anthem been upgraded to the new system yet?  How fast is it?  If we put it on my wife’s phone, can we set up a hotspot so that I can use it as well?

 

thanks in advance!!!!

 

 

1. Starlink is installed on the Anthem.  From what I understand, the existing hardware does not match/keep up with the new technology.  I think that it's the routers/accesspoints/repeaters/whateverthedarnthingsarecalled.  Some cabins and locations have a good, constant connection. Others find that their connection is frequently dropped.  It's much too hit or miss for me, since it should simply work better.

 

2. I just got off the Enchantment, and am now on the Anthem, and the connectivity was better on Enchantment.

 

3. I am currently using my laptop as a hotspot and have my laptop and phone both connected.  No problems with doing that.

 

I, too, am curious how you are getting "complimentary wifi".  

[edrussell]

Anthem has starlink (I have a screenshot from our Feb 12 sailing showing starlink) and I can confirm it is more than sufficient to work from.  Sadly I do have to work often while cruising and I had ZERO issues using it.  

 

 

[Biker19]

13 hours ago, cruze daddy said:

If we put it on my wife’s phone, can we set up a hotspot so that I can use it as well?

Try setting up hotspotting a wifi connection (not cell connection) at home first - few phones can do that.

[immjs20]

We sailed Anthem on February 12.  We were in a junior suite deck 10.  I think it was 10238.  We could not maintain a signal.  We went to the Voom desk and they said they would look into it.  Not sure if that was ever done.  I went to the area next to Voom desk to work from the ship.  Whatever I paid for it was worthless.

[RCivicman2]

We were on the Feb 4 sailing and the internet was primarily great.  I did have one or 2 times where it wasn't working great in the theater area.  I cycled the wifi of and back on and it was fine then.

[Merion_Mom]

Just got off the Anthem.  Many people demanded and got refunds for their VOOM packages - that's how bad it was.

[Sunshine3601]

Does anybody know when starlink was installed on Anthem.

We were onboard in December and had no internet issues.   We board again in 3 weeks, hoping it will be okay.

Edited March 7, 2023 by Sunshine3601

[JsMom2]

It was terrible last week. Connectivity was constantly dropping.   Internet desk just told me to keep toggling wifi off and on.  It was impossible to stream shows and wifi calls dropped every 10 minutes or so. MUCH improved this week.  Was able to stream a show on Hulu, and didn’t get kicked off during regular use.  Had some issues with wifi calling but difference with last sailing is night and day!  And yes we have Starlink. 

[JsMom2]

22 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

Just got off the Anthem.  Many people demanded and got refunds for their VOOM packages - that's how bad it was.

Yep I asked for a refund for the 1st day.  After that I figured I knew what I was getting.  I only paid $13.99 per day on sale, and they refunded me $20 for the day!

[Sunshine3601]

46 minutes ago, JsMom2 said:

It was terrible last week. Connectivity was constantly dropping.   Internet desk just told me to keep toggling wifi off and on.  It was impossible to stream shows and wifi calls dropped every 10 minutes or so. MUCH improved this week.  Was able to stream a show on Hulu, and didn’t get kicked off during regular use.  Had some issues with wifi calling but difference with last sailing is night and day!  And yes we have Starlink. 

Do you think weather had anything to do with last week being crappy wifi vs this week?

[LunarGirl25]

I was on Anthem for the 2/19 cruise and VOOM was the worst I've ever experienced. Could not maintain signal for any extended period of time. Had to re-log in every few minutes if it could even find the signal!

[Biker19]

16 hours ago, LunarGirl25 said:

Could not maintain signal for any extended period of time. Had to re-log in every few minutes if it could even find the signal!

I assume this was in a cabin - that can happen (is normal) depending on cabin location.

[LunarGirl25]

On 3/9/2023 at 7:39 AM, Biker19 said:

I assume this was in a cabin - that can happen (is normal) depending on cabin location.

Even out on deck it was pretty bad!! We were on deck 10 aft. It made a 24h GI quarantine pretty boring!

[Biker19]

10 minutes ago, LunarGirl25 said:

We were on deck 10 aft.

The trick in those cases is to open the cabin door just slightly (the wifi access point is usually in the hallway) - assuming you don't mind that, it can make a big diff in wifi reception.

Edited March 11, 2023 by Biker19

[JsMom2]

On 3/7/2023 at 7:06 PM, Sunshine3601 said:

Do you think weather had anything to do with last week being crappy wifi vs this week?

That's what I was hoping on night 1, but went to the internet desk the next day, (long, long line there by the way), Freddy told me that the weather wasn't the issue, and I could expect the same problems all week.  He was right, it never got any better.  I had to constantly turn the wifi off and on to reconnect.  However, on turnaround day on March 5th, they reset the system, and it was much, much better the next week.  Even on the last 2 days when we had crappy weather, the connectivity held up.

[ahahn078]

Interesting, because I was on the March 5th cruise, and after the 3rd day, the internet started to get crappy. Couldn't video chat or voice call anybody. Everyone was having problems too. On the last day, everyone including myself complained and got a 40% refund because of this.