Medallion Net, Android & Comcast Email

[Rick&Jeannie]

If you have had issues trying to get your Comcast email on an Android phone since the rollout of Medallion net...perhaps this will help.  If you are having issues with any other type of phone or email service this may not be of any help for you.  I can only speak to what I have done to *finally* get a resolution.  If you are interested in the nuts and bolts of email client and network operation...then the following *may* be of some interest to you; I'm going to be going into some detail that might sound "geeky" to most!

 

If you're still with me...I will assume that you are faced with the same issue...cannot get Comcast (Xfinity) email on your Android phone while on a Princess cruise.  I'm sure you probably visited the Internet Cafe and were told a myriad of reasons as to why it would not work.  In all reality...I don't believe that any personnel on any ship *really* knows why...but I can offer up what worked for myself.

Ever since Medallion Net rolled out (back in 2017) I have NEVER been able to successfully get my Comcast-based email on board.  I have always had to wait until we were in port and switch to cell-based service.  I spent many trips to the Internet Cafe and piddling with my phone myself to no avail.  (I should point out that I am a retired network manager...I know how this stuff is *supposed* to work.) Up until late 2022 I had been using Outlook for Android.  I came from a corporate IT environment and just naturally went the Microsoft route.

 

Well, sometime in mid 2022 I came to realize that Outlook for Android has a severe limitation (at least for me.)  When set up for IMAP email it would only retrieve about 60% of the messages that I keep in IMAP folders.  I tend to keep a separate folder for any travelling that I do with *everything* pertaining to that trip filed in that folder.  I operate under the premise that "you never know when you might need to prove that something was booked or paid for".  It has saved me on more than one occasion...so I was shocked when I hit some arbitrary point where Outlook would not call up any further messages when I was going through some back history.  I say all this to explain why I changed email clients.  I now use BlueMail on my Android.  It does not appear to have this limitation.  (If you don't have tons and tons of email you should have no issue with Outlook...I'm not bad-mouthing Microsoft!)

 

Anyway...Outlook did not give me accurate error messages as to what was actually going wrong with retrieving Comcast email.  It would simply sit there and do nothing, with no indication that *anything* was taking place in the background.

 

On my last cruise (which *thankfully* had implemented Starlink) I was able to "solve" my problem.  I say solve...but I had to cheat a bit.  I finally hit the point where I was simply fed up with the situation and I was going to get to the bottom of it!

 

In the beginning I had *some* luck with using the Comcast web portal for email.  That proved to be so slow (prior to Starlink) that it was just too painful to use...so I had put that method out of my mind.

On my last cruise (Sky Princess) I started trying to use the web portal again since even BlueMail was still not working.  Finally I had a clue:

 

 

After getting the DNS error message I took that to the Internet Cafe, showed it to the "head guy" and received yet another baloney story how it was either Comcast's fault or my phone browser.  Pure hogwash!

 

OK...not getting anywhere with the "official" help channel I decided to take matters into my own hands.

Here's where the "cheating" begins!

 

GEEK ALERT!
As you may or may not know, anytime you connect to a wifi system the default method of getting an IP address is by DHCP.  (Bear with me...if you don't understand these terms it's not a problem...I'm going to clarify what I did.)  Part of the DHCP system is to give your phone/laptop/tablet (whatever you are connecting) an IP address, a gateway IP, subnet mask and DNS entries (2 actually).  

 

We'll first go through the settings for Medallion Net wifi.  Don't worry if your screens don't look *exactly* like mine...my screenshots are from a Samsung Galaxy S22...your screen will probably vary some but the basic info should be there.

 

Here is an example of what you should see by going into the wifi settings.  (Don't freak out if these numbers don't match what you see if you're actually trying this while on board...they will almost certainly vary depending on the ship you are on.

 

 

You should see something like this:

 

 

You should see something like this:

 

Click to change the setting from DHCP to Static:

 

 

Disregard any of the numbers in all of the fields but scroll down to "DNS 2"
Backspace those numbers out and enter "8.8.8.8"

 

 

 

Click "Save" and close the settings screens.

 

What you are doing is telling your device to first look at domain names from the system in DNS 1, but if/when that does not work to try DNS 2, which is operated by Google.  Your device may or may not automatically start using this new setting...play it safe and turn off wifi, wait 5 seconds and then turn it back on.

Once I changed the DNS 2 setting I had no issues with either my mail client or the web email portal.

 

OK...WHY did we need to do this?  I can only surmise based on my own personal networking experience.  I believe Princess has a corrupt DNS database entry for Xfinity/Comcast...and *apparently* it's been that way FOR A LONG TIME!  DNS systems *should* be actively refreshed from master DNS servers on the internet.  Maybe their problem is limited to just one of their DNS servers and I just kept getting handed that same bad server when using DHCP.  I don't know...I don't care.  I was THRILLED to find this workaround so that I could get my email.  I did a transatlantic cruise a couple of years ago; you can imagine having no email for 5 or 6 days straight!

 

NOTE...I have to toss out one potential caveat with this "cheat".  I have found a couple of instances where the Medallion app became "unhappy" with a changed DNS server.  The problem is that it was very inconsistent (imagine that...the app inconsistent!)  When I ran into an issue where the app would seem to time out or just sit there churning I would simply switch back to the DHCP setting and all would be fine.  Once you know where to go and what to do you can easily switch back and forth in about 15 seconds.

You may not feel that it is worth circumventing the "established" settings...how badly do you want your email?  Does Princess have any way of "knowing what you've done"?  ABSOLUTELY NOT.  The "wifi police" are NOT going to come knocking on your door or track you down!

I hope this helps anybody having the same issue.  This *might* help with other circumstances such as different email systems or phones.  I have no idea if this works on an iPhone.  I take NO RESPONSIBILITY if it doesn't work for you...just switch back to DHCP and carry on as you have been doing so.

Happy Cruising!

 

Edited May 29, 2023 by Rick&Jeannie

[Rick&Jeannie]

delete

Edited May 29, 2023 by Rick&Jeannie

[Steelers36]

6 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Well PHOOEY!  The editor would not let me place the images where I wanted them...SORRY!  (Embarrassing!)

Your theory about PCL IT not keeping up with current DNS values could be possible since we all know just how on top of things they are.  Do you suppose there is a way to write them about the specific DNS for Comcast?  Such as find out what it is now and let them know and ask if it matches what they have?  Seems like a lot of folks on Comcast should be having same issue with PCL MedallionNet.

[Rick&Jeannie]

You know...I gave that some serious thought but was truly turned off by the guy at Internet Cafe with his "Oh, we know what we're doing...you must have something wrong on your end" attitude.  I'm sure *somebody* at corporate might listen...but the problem (admittedly) is a bit obscure...I don't know how much traction it would get.  The number of people this (might) affect is small...and as far as I know, I may be the only one!  (I don't see how when just going to the Comcast web portal throws a DNS error...)

[SCX22]

20 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

You know...I gave that some serious thought but was truly turned off by the guy at Internet Cafe with his "Oh, we know what we're doing...you must have something wrong on your end" attitude.  I'm sure *somebody* at corporate might listen...but the problem (admittedly) is a bit obscure...I don't know how much traction it would get.  The number of people this (might) affect is small...and as far as I know, I may be the only one!  (I don't see how when just going to the Comcast web portal throws a DNS error...)

 

Was the Internet Manager's name, Toar?  He had a dismissive attitude when I was on the Sky Princess in April.  Could of cared less about my problem (not related to Comcast e-mail).

 

Thanks for work around.  I use Apple iOS and will try this work around.  The Comcast e-mail login goes in a never ending loop when using MedallionNet as a connection.  Have always had to use my phone on local signal as a hotspot while in port to get my Comcast e-mail to open.

[azbirdmom]

The same thing started happening to me when trying to access my Cox.net email on my iPhone while using the ship's Wifi.  Except that it only started happening on the new ships (or it could be a date when things went haywire, our most recent cruises have all been on new ships).  Since the restart we sailed on the Majestic, Regal and Caribbean Princess with no issues.  Then on the Discovery in July we were no longer able to access the Cox server to get email.  Same thing on the Discovery in October and the Enchanted in December.  Got a variety of excuses from the Internet Managers on the ships and the first one we spoke to promised to report it to shoreside as he did seem to think it was a problem on their end.  The others weren't that helpful.  One said try it on the desktop computer, it might work (it didn't).  If anyone has a solution for an iPhone I would be grateful!

[Rick&Jeannie]

44 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

Was the Internet Manager's name, Toar?  He had a dismissive attitude when I was on the Sky Princess in April.  Could of cared less about my problem (not related to Comcast e-mail).

Yes, it certainly was...

[t&atravel]

I have Comcast (and an iphone) and just use POP instead of IMAP no problems.

[Rick&Jeannie]

One thing I forgot to mention is that my issues carried across 3 different Android phones...

 

I am fully prepared to concede that maybe it's just me...but that doesn't explain getting a DNS failure just browsing to a Comcast web portal. 

 

I'd really like to hear from others that have had similar issues with Comcast e-mail. 

[SCX22]

@Rick&Jeannie

 

I am currently on the Majestic using Starlink (not sure if that has anything to do with it) and Xfinity e-mail allows me to login and open my inbox with no problems.  I don't get stuck of the never ending loop of "connecting to Xfinity."  No workaround required.  Using a MacBook Air on Ventura.

 

I think Princess read your post.

[Rick&Jeannie]

I am currently on the Carnival Panorama and am pleased to report that I am not having to resort to my posted "workaround" that I shared above. This is on a Mexican Riviera coastal cruise (7 days) and the internet is fantastic (so far, anyway...day 1.)so...it's NOT my phone... This just makes me feel even more that Princess has an issue somewhere,  maybe not on all of the ships. Can anybody report from the Sky?