Internet is horrible

[Pcardad]

38 minutes ago, mnocket said:

 How much Starlink bandwidth has the ship bought?  

 

Bingo!

Current (non-Starlink) onboard speed in bandwidth limited, not hardware limited. Hope they bought more from Starlink. I understand there is a budget crisis but if they want to attract younger clients, this is required.

[irishwitchy]

It is required for everybody these days!  

[Scout16]

Remember that with all internet it depends upon satellites, if you are away from it all (such as the North Pacific or around Easter Island) or where the signal is blocked (as in the fiords or in some ports) the coverage will be poor.  

[wcsdkqh]

As has been posted previously, merely using starlink does not guarantee anything. Deployment of the low earth satellites in the past couple years has been focused on providing service to the highest density population areas of the globe, ie over land. Starlink is years away from full deployment of the thousands of additional satellites to provide service over the entire globe. Bottom line, it matters where a ship is located, and whether enough starlink satellites have been deployed to provide the much publicized high speed service in that specific area.

[cwn]

2 hours ago, wcsdkqh said:

As has been posted previously, merely using starlink does not guarantee anything. Deployment of the low earth satellites in the past couple years has been focused on providing service to the highest density population areas of the globe, ie over land. Starlink is years away from full deployment of the thousands of additional satellites to provide service over the entire globe. Bottom line, it matters where a ship is located, and whether enough starlink satellites have been deployed to provide the much publicized high speed service in that specific area.

You said the facts much better than I did in another internet regard. Location location location and of course the bandwidth available to you.

We have traveled all over the world on Regent and other ships. I have posted daily blogs here and on blog spot on all the trips. DH ran his business from the ships months at a time. Sure some places had a bad/ no connection, big deal, I waited a day to post and if it was important DH made contact the old fashion way, by the ships phone. We used the ships phone to check on family before internet all the time. We had to pay for it then. Now Regent gives you some free time. So we still use the phone .

My bet is people will still complain with the new system😂
 

[Pcardad]

Maersk is getting 220kb/s on their ships. Less ships = less users in a given area = less satellites needed. Of course location is a factor but even under the current system, the ship has MULTIPLE satellite connections that are extremely fast. The computer IT has one, the internal ship IT person has one, Navigation has one, etc. If RCC can figure it out and commercial shipping companies can figure it out, I am sure NCLH can handle it. It's simply a question of $$$.

Edited October 28, 2023 by Pcardad

[cwn]

13 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

……If RCC can figure it out and commercial shipping companies can figure it out, I am sure NCLH can handle it. It's simply a question of $$$.

Everything boils down to money!

[Pcardad]

1 minute ago, cwn said:

Everything boils down to money!

It does. If Regent is going to say they are the only 6 star line then they need to do better than 2 star internet. This is almost 2024....dump the silly egg and get some bandwidth.

[mnocket]

3 hours ago, wcsdkqh said:

As has been posted previously, merely using starlink does not guarantee anything. Deployment of the low earth satellites in the past couple years has been focused on providing service to the highest density population areas of the globe, ie over land. Starlink is years away from full deployment of the thousands of additional satellites to provide service over the entire globe. Bottom line, it matters where a ship is located, and whether enough starlink satellites have been deployed to provide the much publicized high speed service in that specific area.

Yes and no.  Starlink satellites are low earth orbit not geosynchronous.  That means the same satellites that cross over land continue on to cross over the oceans as well. Unlike geosynchronous, there are not more satellites positioned over land than over the oceans. 

 

That said, only the newer Starlink satellites that have laser communications are effective over the oceans.  That's because when over the oceans, the satellites must bounce the signal, via laser, from satellite to satellite until a ground station can be reached. Because not all of the planned laser-capable satellites have been launched, there can be short periods when no appropriate satellite is overhead and there will be a blackout until the next satellite comes into view.  There are already enough satellites available that these blackouts are not a major problem unless one is in the polar regions.

[cwn]

11 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

……. This is almost 2024....dump the silly egg and get some bandwidth.

You are so right! I want excellent service and food, fancy expensive decor is wasted money. 

[sailfar]

We all have our rankings of needs.  High quality internet, a comfortable bed and top quality cuisine.   Hopefully Regent and Oceania our two frequented cruise lines are researching the things people want.  We are frequent cruisers on both lines and the internet continues to be the weakest element.  Hope they finally get it right and use their resources wisely.  I don't care about the art in the hallways, the decor in the rooms and on the ship, but I do care about what is important to me!