Cost of internet service on board

[mjtx]

We were on the Dream last month and signed up for the 250 minutes. We took our laptop and used it most of the time, but a few times we didn't have our laptop with us and wanted to access the Internet and we were able to do it from the Internet Cafe. We just logged on with the same information that we used to logon on our laptop.

[heelfan94]

We were on the Dream last month and signed up for the 250 minutes. We took our laptop and used it most of the time, but a few times we didn't have our laptop with us and wanted to access the Internet and we were able to do it from the Internet Cafe. We just logged on with the same information that we used to logon on our laptop.

Thanks for the info! I'm assuming I can use the desktop to print my boarding passes on Friday. :)

[pens66]

Hi,

 

Does anyone know if the bandwidth will support internet calling? I have Vonage and they have a USB phone that will work with a high speed connection. If the bandwidth is high enough, I would be able to call the States this way. Has anyone tried this?

 

-Steve

[Sparkylok6]

Does anyone know if the wireless works on the Balconies on the Dawn? I am bringing my laptop and like to sit outside and relax while I check in. I am on Deck 11 - not far from the elevators.

[Barb Nahoumi]

I bought the 100 min. for $40.00 on the pride of Aloha. The satalite connection was soooo slow booting up, that it ate up much of my time. I asked for and got some time back.

 

When we were in port in Hawaii, I used the cell phone to call home.

 

Barb

[kimdave68]

Hi,

 

Does anyone know if the bandwidth will support internet calling? I have Vonage and they have a USB phone that will work with a high speed connection. If the bandwidth is high enough, I would be able to call the States this way. Has anyone tried this?

 

-Steve

 

Running a VOIP QOS service test here: http://myspeed.visualware.com/voip/

 

indicates there is packeteering in place. Since a very finite amount of bandwidth is available for EVERYONE to use this makes perfect sense so a single guest pc cannot become a bandwidth hog and make things miserable for everyone else.

 

It's very possible to share the connection with others if you're familiar with networking protocols and ip masquerading (nix) or ICS (win).

 

The average bandwidth available is 125 kbps. Latency is approx 650 ms. :eek: Best times to surf are early in the AM. (like right now as a matter of fact. ;) )

[TDSeest]

Steve posted:

 

Hi,

 

Does anyone know if the bandwidth will support internet calling? I have Vonage and they have a USB phone that will work with a high speed connection. If the bandwidth is high enough, I would be able to call the States this way. Has anyone tried this?

 

-Steve



Steve,



A friend of mine and I go on 3 or 4 cruises a year to do computer work, and get away from our phones.



However, we've had to place calls home and have done extensive testing in this area.



The last time we tested Vonage was on the NCL Sun, and we could not get it to work correctly. They were blocking a port somewhere.



However, I have successfully used DialPad from http://www.dialpad.com/ on the Sun and Dawn. It seems to handle the bandwidth issues the best, although my friend seems to be able to use Skype without any issues as well.



Also, you can use Video Camera's with MSN Messenger and do Video Conferencing if necessary.



Usually, if I'm traveling without my family, I'll do a video conference with them once or twice a week from the ship, and my younger sons get a kick out of it.



So, you can do it for 40 cents a minute.



However, everyone is correct. You are ALWAYS better off going on land and finding an internet cafe. Name a port and someone here will know where one is. In most cases, you can find one in port that is free or close to free.



Regarding Printing, you are allways at the mercy of the Internet Cafe Manager. They are contract employees from Digital Seas, and I have had both great experiences are really bad ones. They are not higly compensated and have a tendancy to know less than most techies. However, in some cases, you'll be able to print boarding passes on the ship.



My friend and I have done extensive whining to Digital Seas directly, and through the Internet Cafe Managers regarding the pricing, and don't expect it too change anytime soon. I expect that eventually, you'll see the price drop, but they seem to be happy providing crappy service at a great price.



My friend is crusing Hawaii next month, and is going to report to me how his Sprint EVDO service works between the islands. We have hope. If it works, we'll probably do the majority of our cruising out there.



Keep in mind, our main purpose in going on a cruise is to work on our computer programs, so our needs are much different than a typical cruiser.



Have fun Sailing.



Tom

[TDSeest]

Does anyone know if the wireless works on the Balconies on the Dawn? I am bringing my laptop and like to sit outside and relax while I check in. I am on Deck 11 - not far from the elevators.

 

I've sailed the Dawn three times, and it all really depends on your room. On 11, you may be fine.

 

The other thing to try is to block your room door open. Sometimes, I've gotten wireless in the rooms, sometimes I haven't.

 

Best of luck.

 

The Dawn is a great ship.

 

Tom

[garycarla]

Your wireless might work from the balcony, but keep in mind if you have a weak wireless signal, that is connected to a slow satelitte signal, you are WELL CONNECTED to your bank account.

 

At $.40 per minute or more, leisurely PC usage is not an option. In fact, I usually suggest doing a WIRE connection if your cabin has it.

[NormanW]

 

Forget wireless outside of the public areas. There was very intermittent access in the spinnaker today. Working well near the java cafe now.

[carlg]

I’m taking my laptop on the Dawn next week….Not being a computer person, I’m a little confused!

First, to get into my computer I have to log in with my own per. login name and password....now that just gets my Windows and stuff going..

Now what happens…another window automatically opens up from the minutes I bought from NCL???...This is where I’m confused…where and how does one login with the minutes I bought..

Also, will I be able to use my AOL account for my email…

By the time I login to my computer, the ships whatever and AOL I’ll probably use up all my min. right there…lol

Anyway, just not sure of the process works any help would be appreciated..

Thanks

[carlg]

Oh, I forgot....About how long of a cable should I bring for the laptop in the room.....gonna also try wireless too

[pens66]

I wasn't really asking for myself about the need to call home. My 15 year old daughter is taking a friend and I just wanted to be able to keep her in touch with her parents as much as possible. Thanks for the other options. I may look into Skype also.

 

-Steve

[MrLee]

Oh, I forgot....About how long of a cable should I bring for the laptop in the room.....gonna also try wireless too

 

A couple thousand miles should be enough, depending on the itinerary. ;)

[kimdave68]

There are RJ45 sockets in the cabins however they are not connected to anything. :( A patch cable will not be of use UNLESS you plan to connect it to another PC that has WIFI and you want to share the connection from that PC so more than one user can surf at a time. This will not use your minutes any faster but does require some network knowledge and the folks onboard will not be able to help you configuring this. ;)

 

You should be able to connect to the network SSID 'mtndsi' in all public areas of the ship. It's an open system (no encryption) so once your PC is connected and has an IP in the 10.x.x.x range (from the ship's DHCP server with a domain suffix of ncldawn) you will be able to logon by opening a web browser. When it tries to go to a web page you be automatically directed to an internal page for initial setup. Use your lastname+cabin number and your birthdate. For example Donna Smith born on December 20, 1962 staying in the Garden Villa would enter dsmith14500 as the user name and 121262 as the initial password. Plans will be displayed at a successful logon as well as the initial $3.95 activation charge you must agree to. You will set a desired password but your logon is always first initial,lastname,cabin number as above.

 

Whenever you log on the timer starts and your PC's IP is allowed to pass traffic through the default gateway. Once your account is successfully validated you may minimize the browser window (never close it!) and then you may use your favorite web browser (I use MSIE for the logon for best compat but switch to firefox as I block all internet ads for best performance, etc.) or software. If you use AOL you can launch the program at this time. A profile configured to use TCP/IP (if you have cable/dsl etc. at home/office) will work by launching AOL and signing on.

 

Programs such as MSN messenger, Yahoo, AIM, Trillian, etc. will also work. If you need access to your PC at the office either via VPN or GoToMyPC it should also work.

 

Have fun and be safe. Remember you can still get viruses and spyware through the usual ways as you can with any connection. Also beware that if your PC is very sluggish due to spyware/malware that you will use more time which will become obvious when you're paying up to $0.75 per minute!:eek:

 

Finally, the best way to use time efficiently as to get in the habit of opening that window and logging OFF once a site is downloaded so you can read it. Or making a longer post (like this one :D) It makes no sense to let that timer run while you type. Long posts with images and links can even be completed offline in your favorite word processor, then copied and pasted into the new post window once you logon. This is highly recommended on messageboards such as this one in case the server stops responding and you lose your text. (and time!):mad:

 

Lord only knows how many times that happens here.

[carlg]

There are RJ45 sockets in the cabins however they are not connected to anything. :( A patch cable will not be of use UNLESS you plan to connect it to another PC that has WIFI and you want to share the connection from that PC so more than one user can surf at a time. This will not use your minutes any faster but does require some network knowledge and the folks onboard will not be able to help you configuring this. ;)

 

You should be able to connect to the network SSID 'mtndsi' in all public areas of the ship. It's an open system (no encryption) so once your PC is connected and has an IP in the 10.x.x.x range (from the ship's DHCP server with a domain suffix of ncldawn) you will be able to logon by opening a web browser. When it tries to go to a web page you be automatically directed to an internal page for initial setup. Use your lastname+cabin number and your birthdate. For example Donna Smith born on December 20, 1962 staying in the Garden Villa would enter dsmith14500 as the user name and 121262 as the initial password. Plans will be displayed at a successful logon as well as the initial $3.95 activation charge you must agree to. You will set a desired password but your logon is always first initial,lastname,cabin number as above.

 

Whenever you log on the timer starts and your PC's IP is allowed to pass traffic through the default gateway. Once your account is successfully validated you may minimize the browser window (never close it!) and then you may use your favorite web browser (I use MSIE for the logon for best compat but switch to firefox as I block all internet ads for best performance, etc.) or software. If you use AOL you can launch the program at this time. A profile configured to use TCP/IP (if you have cable/dsl etc. at home/office) will work by launching AOL and signing on.

 

Programs such as MSN messenger, Yahoo, AIM, Trillian, etc. will also work. If you need access to your PC at the office either via VPN or GoToMyPC it should also work.

 

Have fun and be safe. Remember you can still get viruses and spyware through the usual ways as you can with any connection. Also beware that if your PC is very sluggish due to spyware/malware that you will use more time which will become obvious when you're paying up to $0.75 per minute!:eek:

 

Finally, the best way to use time efficiently as to get in the habit of opening that window and logging OFF once a site is downloaded so you can read it. Or making a longer post (like this one :D) It makes no sense to let that timer run while you type. Long posts with images and links can even be completed offline in your favorite word processor, then copied and pasted into the new post window once you logon. This is highly recommended on messageboards such as this one in case the server stops responding and you lose your text. (and time!):mad:

 

Lord only knows how many times that happens here.

 

Thanks for all the info.....So it would seem that I CAN'T hookup my laptop in my room...correct?

And if that's the case I might as well as just use there's at the internet cafe...right??....and I will be able to get AOL on there's...

[kimdave68]

Thanks for all the info.....So it would seem that I CAN'T hookup my laptop in my room...correct?

And if that's the case I might as well as just use there's at the internet cafe...right??....and I will be able to get AOL on there's...

 

Yes no wired connection possible in the stateroom at this time. :mad:

Please note: This applies to Dawn only, I don't know about the newer ships!

If you're in a cabin on deck 8 near Salsa's it may work. I may try a thorough kismet scan through the area and see. That would be neat. :eek: Jamaica is on our next cruise and we'll definitely be staying onboard so instead of playing shuffleboard I'll be walking around with an antenna. :rolleyes::D

 

Not sure about the public pc's. I always use my own. You can use AOL webmail on any pc, however.