Noordam internet

[Shebinz]

Hi All

 

Wondering if anyone has experience with the on board internet service? :confused:

 

Is it easy enough for those of us who are not too computer savvy?

Does it move along quickly, or do you see those costly minutes slipping away while waiting for your sites to appear?

 

Thanks for any info!

 

Sheila

leaving on the 28th!! :)

 

 

[ekerr19]

Hi All

 

Wondering if anyone has experience with the on board internet service? :confused:

 

Is it easy enough for those of us who are not too computer savvy?

Does it move along quickly, or do you see those costly minutes slipping away while waiting for your sites to appear?

 

Thanks for any info!

 

Sheila

leaving on the 28th!! :)

 

 

 

Sheila - It depends. It is not nearly as fast a broadband, but there were times when it was super slow. Usually, I would just log off and wait and try later. The internet cafe could get crowded too - we usually bring a laptop anymore and get the wireless package.

 

Also, (in Europe anyway) we lost connection if we were logged on when the ship was entering or leaving port - I think this had something to due with interference with the communications systems...

 

We always buy the largest package of time - I like the option of being able to send email and access certain things while I am away, especially if I have my own laptop. :)

[Navy_Chief]

Here is a link with information about the system: http://www.mtnsat.com/digitalseas/hal.htm

 

It can be slow to use the system, it is not as fast as cable/dsl. it works through satilite and the uplink/downlink can cut in and out from time to time

[RuthC]

It's slow enough that it's a good idea to bring an emery board and get some filing done while you're waiting for the screens to change. :rolleyes:

As far as being easy to follow---yes, I would say so. Also, there's an Internet Manager available during posted hours; right now it's Rodin aboard. He's very helpful. He will walk you through the sign-up procedure if you need it, and will answer your questions.

[vanrhyn]

Hello:

 

I have a pocket computer (Dell Axim) with a wireless B card.

 

Has anyone used a pocket computer on the interent on the ships? Does it work?

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Rod:confused:

[jtl513]

Hello:

 

I have a pocket computer (Dell Axim) with a wireless B card.

 

Has anyone used a pocket computer on the interent on the ships? Does it work?

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Rod:confused:

I haven't, but it should work. The wireless acccess point uses 802.11B protocol.

[jtl513]

Is it easy enough for those of us who are not too computer savvy?

Does it move along quickly, or do you see those costly minutes slipping away while waiting for your sites to appear?

Yes it's easy to sign up, and yes it is usually maddeningly slow. So slow that I temporarily change my home page to the very simple google.com rather than wait for my usual to load each log-in.

[Seago2]

It is painfully slow and tends to time out, and also, after you type for a very long time and hit return, it will go to a white, death-like screen, OH WAIT, that's the combination of the Noordam and CRUISECRITIC!

 

It is very slow. Very very slow. It would probably cost me three bucks to write this post and another two bucks to post it.

[jtl513]

If you'd like some numbers: on the Veendam in December I got 14.7 Kbps on a slack Sunday morning and 47.something Kbps that evening when there were more people on terminals. Both those timing tests were wireless from my laptop while in the Explorations Cafe.

[jtl513]

bump

[JDRMYS]

I brought my laptop on our recent Noordam cruise but the server was so slow that I used it on sea days only. When we were in (or near) a port, I used my treo to get and send my email. It was much faster than using the ship's server and would have been much cheaper if I had not purchased an expensive HAL package at the beginning of the cruise. I ended up using only very few of the minutes that I had paid for.

 

Another problem is that internet access is available in only a few hot spot locations around the ship. For such a modern ship, this is really surprising to me. On our other recent cruises, there was WiFi or an internet connection in each cabin.