Starlink

[forgap]

I was reading Regent reviews on CC and came across this quote:

 

“They advertise about having great internet. Reality is that for several month past and until May 2024 they have really bad wifi due to a fight with Starlink.”

 

Does anyone have any information on this?  

 

 

[UUNetBill]

Nope.  I heard they were rolling it out on one of their ships (Mariner?) and I thought I read that it was actually pretty good...but that's been a few months since I read that, so maybe they're bickering now?  Who knows?

 

I just always plan on cussing the internet whenever I have to do any work, and I thank heaven that there's always a nice bottle of amber adult beverage somewhere in my cabin...

[Pcardad]

I am hearing it is very solid...

[Marylebone37]

On Mariner now in the South Pacific and Starlink is working very well. A few areas on the ship where the signal is weaker than others, but otherwise no problems.

[Aloha 1]

Anyone know if Starlink has been rolled out on Splendor?

[jeb_bud]

On Grandeur last month WiFi was a fairly consistent 1-3 Mbps download, same as Mariner in October. I was usually able to make and receive phone calls via ATT WiFi (good news on a cruise?  Not sure.). Compared to the routine 0 - not many Mbps on our last two Explorer and Splendor cruises and marginally better on Voyager I would call Starlink a rousing success. 

[Kwaj girl]

I'm on Mariner now and it sucks.  Unusable.   Tried to book airline tickets today with most people off the ship.  Terrible.  Gave up.  Jeez.....

Even tried on Club.com center computers .... no better  😡

Edited February 8 by Kwaj girl

[CardowMD]

Is Starlink on Navigator yet? If not, does anyone know when it will be installed?

[Pcardad]

1 hour ago, CardowMD said:

Is Starlink on Navigator yet? If not, does anyone know when it will be installed?

It is installed but they are waiting for the current provider contract to expire before turning it on.

[crusin7]

Internet service has been horrible on the Mariner for the last few days.

[mnocket]

On 2/7/2024 at 9:48 PM, Kwaj girl said:

I'm on Mariner now and it sucks.  Unusable.   Tried to book airline tickets today with most people off the ship.  Terrible.  Gave up.  Jeez.....

Even tried on Club.com center computers .... no better  😡

 

13 hours ago, crusin7 said:

Internet service has been horrible on the Mariner for the last few days.

Starlink is dependent on the presence of satellites and in some locations this can be a problem - particularly some ocean locations.  Most of Starlink's satellites are the original Gen 1 satellites.  They are not useable when over the ocean and beyond the reach of ground stations to relay the signal.  Only the new Gen 2 satellites work over the oceans since they can use laser communications to send their signal satellite-to-satellite until a ground station can be reached.  Starlink continues to launch and position new Gen 2 satellites, and until the constellation is complete there will be some remote areas that receive poor/no service.  Still, in most cases it's a huge step forward for ship internet. 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

On 2/9/2024 at 11:43 AM, mnocket said:

 

Starlink is dependent on the presence of satellites and in some locations this can be a problem - particularly some ocean locations.  Most of Starlink's satellites are the original Gen 1 satellites.  They are not useable when over the ocean and beyond the reach of ground stations to relay the signal.  Only the new Gen 2 satellites work over the oceans since they can use laser communications to send their signal satellite-to-satellite until a ground station can be reached.  Starlink continues to launch and position new Gen 2 satellites, and until the constellation is complete there will be some remote areas that receive poor/no service.  Still, in most cases it's a huge step forward for ship internet. 

Wow, I did not know that about Starlink, thanks. Is it not also true that the satellites were originally deployed to favour the northern latitudes? So perhaps near the equator it's a bit dicey?

[captjohn]

Hi guys, for the sake of comparison, we were on a Seaborn cruise round-trip Los Angeles to Hawaii. In the beginning I had 100 MB per second then slow down to about 50 I know it depends on where you are in the world but that's what I got. JD

[mnocket]

22 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

Wow, I did not know that about Starlink, thanks. Is it not also true that the satellites were originally deployed to favour the northern latitudes? So perhaps near the equator it's a bit dicey?

Yes, the original Starlink deployment favored the northern latitudes, but that is no longer the case.

[Aloha 1]

Currently on Splendor and Starlink is NOT installed yet.

[UUNetBill]

On 2/11/2024 at 5:23 PM, captjohn said:

Hi guys, for the sake of comparison, we were on a Seaborn cruise round-trip Los Angeles to Hawaii. In the beginning I had 100 MB per second then slow down to about 50 I know it depends on where you are in the world but that's what I got. JD

If I could get 50 MB/s on a Regent ship anywhere, I'd do a happy dance and pop some champagne.  Starlink can't get here soon enough for me.

 

(Yeah, I know it's a vacation...but we're also still both in the workforce and need to stay in touch.)

[Pcardad]

48 minutes ago, Aloha 1 said:

Currently on Splendor and Starlink is NOT installed yet.

Currently active on Mariner and Grandeur. I believe the other ships have been wired but the service has not yet been turned on pending completion of existing provider contracts (as per sources at Regent and the provider).

[-Lew-]

5 hours ago, Pcardad said:

Currently active on Mariner and Grandeur. I believe the other ships have been wired but the service has not yet been turned on pending completion of existing provider contracts (as per sources at Regent and the provider).

 

Currently on Grandeur and internet has been extremely slow.  See latest Speedtest below...

 

     

[Pcardad]

Just now, -Lew- said:

 

Currently on Grandeur and internet has been extremely slow.  See latest Speedtest below...

 

     

Given that it appears service is capped at 4mbps that isn't so bad....far better than it used to be.

[UUNetBill]

2 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

Given that it appears service is capped at 4mbps that isn't so bad....far better than it used to be.

Remember Regent's ill-fated (and short-lived) campaign about their 'fiber optic speeds in your cabin - just like your home internet!'

 

Not hardly, guys.

[Pcardad]

Just now, UUNetBill said:

Remember Regent's ill-fated (and short-lived) campaign about their 'fiber optic speeds in your cabin - just like your home internet!'

 

Not hardly, guys.

Maybe they meant to say "DSL speeds in your cabin...".

[Whinenowine]

20 hours ago, UUNetBill said:

Remember Regent's ill-fated (and short-lived) campaign about their 'fiber optic speeds in your cabin - just like your home internet!'

 

Not hardly, guys.

😃

 

Not even my home internet is as fast as my home internet is theoretically supposed to be. Never has been in multiple locations using multiple providers...never more than 50-60% of the promised speeds.  Still plenty fast, though...

[jeb_bud]

20 hours ago, -Lew- said:

 

Currently on Grandeur and internet has been extremely slow.  See latest Speedtest below...

 

     

I think it’s a matter of perspective. On Mariner and Grandeur with Starlink we got around 2 Mbps pretty consistently. Compared to the frequent 0 Mbps speeds on Explorer and Splendor I thought that was just fine. 
 

On those older ships I usually had to turn on cellular data and use my phone as a hotspot to do anything on the internet. 

[-Lew-]

2 hours ago, jeb_bud said:

I think it’s a matter of perspective. On Mariner and Grandeur with Starlink we got around 2 Mbps pretty consistently. Compared to the frequent 0 Mbps speeds on Explorer and Splendor I thought that was just fine. 
 

On those older ships I usually had to turn on cellular data and use my phone as a hotspot to do anything on the internet. 

 

Our download speed on Splendor last winter was much better than what we're currently experiencing on Grandeur.  See below.

 

 

Viking Sky with Starlink last fall in the Med was also much better...

 

[Pcardad]

That is the fastest DL speed I have yet seen on Regent....I've seen nothing over 4MBPS with Starlink. Of note is that RCL has DL speeds approaching 60MBPS but coast $20 - $25 a day.