Confused about wifi

[alyssamma]

Hi, haven't sailed Princess before so the wifi options are a little confusing to me. Is there just one class of wifi service? On other lines there is a lower package that just allows texting and surfing and then a higher package that allows streaming.

 

Does Princess have that?

 

Ultimately I want to connect to my Ring doorcam at home. If this possible with the standard wifi that comes with Princess Plus?

 

TIA

[traceytd]

1 minute ago, alyssamma said:

Hi, haven't sailed Princess before so the wifi options are a little confusing to me. Is there just one class of wifi service? On other lines there is a lower package that just allows texting and surfing and then a higher package that allows streaming.

 

Does Princess have that?

 

Ultimately I want to connect to my Ring doorcam at home. If this possible with the standard wifi that comes with Princess Plus?

 

TIA

I do believe there’s only one level of Internet. Unless now that they have Starlink it’s different. Even with the old Internet I always had my Ring doorcam on and never missed a ring lol.

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

One level... get it or not 🙂 

 

I would like to see a lower tier suitable just for email and basic web... i.e. no streaming... but so far they have not granted my wish.

[skynight]

Yes, one level of internet use. One device/person is included in the plus or premier fare. If you are booking the standard fare then you can purchase a single device plan. Believe it is $20/day unlimited. You can purchase a single day. I don't know the cost. 

[Honolulu Blue]

30 minutes ago, skynight said:

Yes, one level of internet use. One device/person is included in the plus or premier fare. If you are booking the standard fare then you can purchase a single device plan. Believe it is $20/day unlimited. You can purchase a single day. I don't know the cost. 

The Internet plan is $14.99/day for a single device (less for those with status).  It's $20/day for a single day if bought onboard.

[Honolulu Blue]

4 hours ago, Snaxmuppet said:

I would like to see a lower tier suitable just for email and basic web... i.e. no streaming... but so far they have not granted my wish.

I disagree with your wish.  Sorry.  I prefer it the way Princess currently does it - just one plan that can do it all (or not, depending on the usual factors...).

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

4 minutes ago, Honolulu Blue said:

I disagree with your wish.  Sorry.  I prefer it the way Princess currently does it - just one plan that can do it all (or not, depending on the usual factors...).

Fair enough if you can afford it. But what about people that don't need streaming? Why should they have to pay for it? Having a lower tier wouldn't affect those on the top tier so I don't understand your objection.

[Steelers36]

10 minutes ago, Honolulu Blue said:

I disagree with your wish.  Sorry.  I prefer it the way Princess currently does it - just one plan that can do it all (or not, depending on the usual factors...).

 

5 minutes ago, Snaxmuppet said:

Fair enough if you can afford it. But what about people that don't need streaming? Why should they have to pay for it? Having a lower tier wouldn't affect those on the top tier so I don't understand your objection.

I have no issue if PCL were to offer a less expensive internet package and throttle streaming and such activity with it.  I would still be using the "full" service they offer and could care less what others might choose to do.  Might even bring in a bit more revenue than they get now.

[Random Cruizer]

If I'm not mistaken, you don't need any package at all if you don't want the internet.  The ship's wifi works on the ship for the app, and you can contact others through app, order food etc.

[Honolulu Blue]

3 minutes ago, Snaxmuppet said:

what about people that don't need streaming? Why should they have to pay for it? Having a lower tier wouldn't affect those on the top tier so I don't understand your objection.

These days, with Starlink and all, I don't think it costs any more to have some people with slower Internet.  In fact, it might cost MORE to throttle those who are willing to pay less for slow speeds.  The techies here will have to set me straight on this.

 

Royal is down to one streaming plan these days.  Celebrity's basic plan is only available for those who have their all inclusive fare.  Carnival has three plans, and recent repricing has cut the price differential for the top two to only about $2 a day.

[Honolulu Blue]

2 minutes ago, Random Cruizer said:

If I'm not mistaken, you don't need any package at all if you don't want the internet.  The ship's wifi works on the ship for the app, and you can contact others through app, order food etc.

Correct.  But the OP needs to connect with their Ring doorcam.  I'm sure they'd need onboard Internet in order to connect to it.

[Random Cruizer]

1 minute ago, Honolulu Blue said:

Correct.  But the OP needs to connect with their Ring doorcam.  I'm sure they'd need onboard Internet in order to connect to it.

 

Gotcha, I thought the discussion was more general, sorry. 🙂 

Edited September 20, 2023 by Random Cruizer

[Potstech]

1 hour ago, Snaxmuppet said:

Fair enough if you can afford it. But what about people that don't need streaming? Why should they have to pay for it? Having a lower tier wouldn't affect those on the top tier so I don't understand your objection.

Does your service at home provide tiers of access for a price or just certain speeds for different prices. Agree with one price for all access and the passenger determines how much or how little to use. Way simpler that way. 

[Potstech]

Starling only provides a set bandwidth of signal for the ship. The corporation then decides how a cruiser can utilize the portion of this bandwidth they pay for. More tiers, more programming needed, more chances for problems.  KISS Pronciple applies.

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

21 minutes ago, Potstech said:

Does your service at home provide tiers of access for a price or just certain speeds for different prices. Agree with one price for all access and the passenger determines how much or how little to use. Way simpler that way. 

Sorry... I didn't understand the question. You seem to pose 2 questions that seemed to be the same.

 

In any case... my home internet provider provides several tiers of access depending on the speed required. As most do I believe... but I am not sure of the relevance of the question... sorry 🙂 

[Ken the cruiser]

6 hours ago, Snaxmuppet said:

One level... get it or not 🙂 

 

I would like to see a lower tier suitable just for email and basic web... i.e. no streaming... but so far they have not granted my wish.

There is another option which my BIL and his DW use when on a cruise. They have AT&T and just pay the $10 (+$5) per day international charge, with a maximum of $150 a month, when docked at a port. 

[alyssamma]

6 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

There is another option which my BIL and his DW use when on a cruise. They have AT&T and just pay the $10 (+$5) per day international charge, with a maximum of $150 a month, when docked at a port. 

If you are docked, T-Mobile has a much better plan. Basically free texting and surfing and $0.20 or $0.25 per minute for calling. However, this doesn't work when at sea.

 

I thought the AT&T did work at sea, which would make it a better option for that...or am I mistaken?

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, alyssamma said:

If you are docked, T-Mobile has a much better plan. Basically free texting and surfing and $0.20 or $0.25 per minute for calling. However, this doesn't work when at sea.

 

I thought the AT&T did work at sea, which would make it a better option for that...or am I mistaken?

I'm not sure any of them work while you're cruising on the high seas. In any case, whichever plan you have, this is just an alternative if you don't want to pay the $15 per day for the unlimited internet package onboard (or $7.50 per day if you're Platinum or higher). For us we just get the Plus package for $60 pp/day and we're happy.

[NavyVeteran]

3 hours ago, skynight said:

Yes, one level of internet use. One device/person is included in the plus or premier fare. If you are booking the standard fare then you can purchase a single device plan. Believe it is $20/day unlimited. You can purchase a single day. I don't know the cost. 

One device per person is included in the Plus fare. However, 4 devices per person is included in the Premier fare.

[Potstech]

3 hours ago, Snaxmuppet said:

Sorry... I didn't understand the question. You seem to pose 2 questions that seemed to be the same.

 

In any case... my home internet provider provides several tiers of access depending on the speed required. As most do I believe... but I am not sure of the relevance of the question... sorry 🙂 

The question is does your home internet provide you with email only service, like you are wishing the cruise line would provide, so you do not have to pay for other services you do not want?

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

2 hours ago, Potstech said:

The question is does your home internet provide you with email only service, like you are wishing the cruise line would provide, so you do not have to pay for other services you do not want?

I wasn't suggesting that the type of service be restricted or blocked... just the speed be throttled. This is how it is done already. Right now you get access to everything but the speed you get is limited. At the moment there is just one speed permitted. I would suggest that there be a tiered level of service with two tiers... slow and fast. Fast is as it is now where the speed would permit streaming. Slow would offer the same services just slower but at a speed where heavy use activity, such as streaming, would not work.

 

This is pretty much as it is now for home internet. It is the speed that is limited... not the service. 

[Ken the cruiser]

21 minutes ago, Snaxmuppet said:

I wasn't suggesting that the type of service be restricted or blocked... just the speed be throttled. This is how it is done already. Right now you get access to everything but the speed you get is limited. At the moment there is just one speed permitted. I would suggest that there be a tiered level of service with two tiers... slow and fast. Fast is as it is now where the speed would permit streaming. Slow would offer the same services just slower but at a speed where heavy use activity, such as streaming, would not work.

 

This is pretty much as it is now for home internet. It is the speed that is limited... not the service. 

They actually throttle the internet speeds over on Celebrity cruises. Their Basic Internet, which comes with their All Included package for around $75 pp/day, is about 1/3 of the speed of their Premium internet package which runs an additional $15 pp/day to upgrade to. With the slower speed I can’t even log onto Cruise Critic without upgrading to the Premium package.
 

Sorry, we’re quite content with Princess’ “premium” internet service for either $15 pp/day or part of their Plus package for $60 pp/day, which also includes the equivalent of Celebrity’s Premium beverage package, which BTW costs an additional $20 pp/day to upgrade from their Classic package included in their All Included package.

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

37 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

They actually throttle the internet speeds over on Celebrity cruises. Their Basic Internet, which comes with their All Included package for around $75 pp/day, is about 1/3 of the speed of their Premium internet package which runs an additional $15 pp/day to upgrade to. With the slower speed I can’t even log onto Cruise Critic without upgrading to the Premium package.
 

Sorry, we’re quite content with Princess’ “premium” internet service for either $15 pp/day or part of their Plus package for $60 pp/day, which also includes the equivalent of Celebrity’s Premium beverage package, which BTW costs an additional $20 pp/day to upgrade from their Classic package included in their All Included package.

Great for you... but many people only need email speeds and might want a cheaper option. 

 

I really don't understand why people don't want other options. OK, you might not want other options yourself because you are happy with the current setup. But what about people that really don't want anything more than email? Why should they have to pay for the fast service if they could get a slower service for less money?

 

This discussion is mute anyway... Princess does it the way they do it so nothing we say here will make a jot of difference. 🙂 

[Ken the cruiser]

14 minutes ago, Snaxmuppet said:

Great for you... but many people only need email speeds and might want a cheaper option. 

 

I really don't understand why people don't want other options. OK, you might not want other options yourself because you are happy with the current setup. But what about people that really don't want anything more than email? Why should they have to pay for the fast service if they could get a slower service for less money?

 

This discussion is mute anyway... Princess does it the way they do it so nothing we say here will make a jot of difference. 🙂 

True. But on the bright side once you make Platinum, it’s only $7.50 pp/day if you were to buy it separately. 😁

[AZjohn]

19 minutes ago, Snaxmuppet said:

 Why should they have to pay for the fast service if they could get a slower service for less money?

I get your point you want cheaper for slower internet.

 

Im have a feeling if Princess did switch to different tier speeds the minimum cost for your slower speed would be what we all are paying now and faster speeds would cost more $.

 

Princess price will never be less than currently IMHO.

 

Cheers