WiFi and Skype

[cass'mom]

I've read all the threads about wireless access now available on the Wonder and hopefully soon on the Magic. Here's my question (from my husband) for those that are familar with Skype...

I know many of you will hate this as you want to get away from technology while on the ship but believe it or not, tech stuff is my husband's way of relaxing!

Would it be possible to purchase the WiFi and use Skype "out" to make phone calls using your laptop? We have elderly family that we need to be in contact with and using the phone at $6.95 a minute or only a cell while in port may not be the best answer. But if we could use Skype at approx. 2.5 cents a minute, it might be a better way to go. The only problem we see with this is the connection speed. Anybody have any thoughts/answers to this one?

 

[DrCavin]

Hey Cass; yes your biggest hurdle will be the connection speed. I don't read too many posts on people praising the speed, but many that say it is slow.

Skype states the following:

The minimum internet requirements to use Skype are a dial-up connection with at least a 33.6Kbps modem. However, to get the best results out of Skype we suggest that you have a broadband internet connection (cable, DSL, etc). GPRS is not supported for voice calls and results using satellite internet connections may vary.

That last line is what will effect you, satellite internet connection is what is used from the ship.

Great idea by the way to use Skype instead of calling ship-to-shore..

 

[Hygiene99]

We Are Going to Be testing this Very thing on the August Repo...

Stay tuned ...



Winotracy and I Have the Skype Program and Several others
on the dis Boards... We use it to Call Tracy at her Home all the time and it is Perfect.. So She is going to try calling us From the Ship..
She already uses her LAPTOP wireless connection to do this ..so should be fun.

We love Skype and did I mention it is FREE...
Peter

 

[cass'mom]

Dr Cavin Thanks for the info. I hope our results vary to the good side!

Hygiene99-- Oh Please Please let me know how it works!! It would be an absolute godsend to be able to use it instead of ship-to-shore. Now if our parents would use a computer we could eliminate the costs totally but we'll take the 2.5 cents!

 

[winotracy]

Yes, we will be trying out Skype and wireless on the repo in less than two weeks!!!! We had someone with dial up try and she could never hear us and we couldn't hear her. I hope the connection is good enough to be able to hear. We won't be using Skype Out, just regular Skype so I don't know how that will work, but imagine it should be the same or better (only one computer in the mix). Also, I don't know how they determine the price, but I think it was from the home base that you register. Otherwise you'll be looking at their international rate. Last I heard about WiFi is that it was still being tested, but would be available for us on the repo (I hope it's still in the testing phase -- a little cheaper that way ). We'll let you know!

Tracy

 

[ivanova]

Tracy,

They are now quoting $105 for 300 minutes for the WiFi access on the Magic during the repo cruise. Doesn't look like it'll be free after all.

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/dcl/en_US/onboard/more/detail?name=WirelessInternetDetailPage

 

[winotracy]

Tracy,

They are now quoting $105 for 300 minutes for the WiFi access on the Magic during the repo cruise. Doesn't look like it'll be free after all.

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/dcl/en_US/onboard/more/detail?name=WirelessInternetDetailPage

I had already planned on that for payment, but can always hope it's still in the testing phase. That is the amount that the CM quoted me when I asked about it so I had the feeling it wound't be free.

 

[tvguy]

Guess I'm odd. I go on a cruise so I can be unreachable.
They can toss all the phones, internet and WiFi overboard.

 

[winotracy]

Guess I'm odd. I go on a cruise so I can be unreachable.
They can toss all the phones, internet and WiFi overboard.

That works for me for a 7 day cruise, but I'll be gone for nearly 3 weeks. Hey, if work is willing to pay for it and it doesn't cut into too much of my time, I'm not complaining.

 

[cass'mom]

Guess I'm odd. I go on a cruise so I can be unreachable.
They can toss all the phones, internet and WiFi overboard.

I wish I could do that too, but my father is elderly and we basically never travel because he needs my help so we are finally taking a vacation after 4 years but I need to be able to keep in contact with him and his caregivers while we are gone. God forbid something happen and I wasn't able to talk to him...


Tracy--Have a super fun trip and please let me know how it worked out for you with the Skype! We will be doing the same with only our computer trying to make the call to a phone. I'll keep my fingers crossed you get a break on the rate as well!!

 

[tvguy]

I wish I could do that too, but my father is elderly and we basically never travel because he needs my help so we are finally taking a vacation after 4 years but I need to be able to keep in contact with him and his caregivers while we are gone. God forbid something happen and I wasn't able to talk to him...


Tracy--Have a super fun trip and please let me know how it worked out for you with the Skype! We will be doing the same with only our computer trying to make the call to a phone. I'll keep my fingers crossed you get a break on the rate as well!!

My 82 year old mom would cut me out of her will if I called her from the ship!!!! Luckily, she is in good health and a frequent cruiser herself. I guess I am greatly influenced by her......her standing orders to us, whether she is on a cruise, or we are on a cruise, "there is nothing that can't wait until I/you get back".
It did create a little conflict for me this year, as she was on an 11 day cruise in May......and May is an odd month for her. Her birthday, mother's day, the anniversary of her father's death, and the anniversary of my dad's death all fall within 3 days of each other. I wanted to call while she was gone just to say hi, but instead handed her a ziplock bag with 11 envelopes in it to pack. They were dated, so her birthday card and mother's day card were in there.....the rest had crazy stuff in them, a picture of the kids one day, a picture of our cat the next, a map of her cruise route my daughter dressed up with Happy Cruise Grandma..........she seemed very pleased by that.

 

[MousseauMob]

Tracy,

They are now quoting $105 for 300 minutes for the WiFi access on the Magic during the repo cruise. Doesn't look like it'll be free after all.

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/dcl/en_US/onboard/more/detail?name=WirelessInternetDetailPage

Oh NUTS! I was really hoping this could be accessed from the staterooms. This would have been great while in the stateroom with a napping child - oh well, its a good thing I also love the low tech option (books).

 

[cass'mom]

My 82 year old mom would cut me out of her will if I called her from the ship!!!! Luckily, she is in good health and a frequent cruiser herself. I guess I am greatly influenced by her......her standing orders to us, whether she is on a cruise, or we are on a cruise, "there is nothing that can't wait until I/you get back".
It did create a little conflict for me this year, as she was on an 11 day cruise in May......and May is an odd month for her. Her birthday, mother's day, the anniversary of her father's death, and the anniversary of my dad's death all fall within 3 days of each other. I wanted to call while she was gone just to say hi, but instead handed her a ziplock bag with 11 envelopes in it to pack. They were dated, so her birthday card and mother's day card were in there.....the rest had crazy stuff in them, a picture of the kids one day, a picture of our cat the next, a map of her cruise route my daughter dressed up with Happy Cruise Grandma..........she seemed very pleased by that.

Oh God bless her! I only wish my 72 yo dad was in such good health that he could cruise or even get around for that matter! I'm an only child and we have no other family nearby not cruising with us, so I have to handle all of my dad's affairs.

 

[tvguy]

Oh God bless her! I only wish my 72 yo dad was in such good health that he could cruise or even get around for that matter! I'm an only child and we have no other family nearby not cruising with us, so I have to handle all of my dad's affairs.

I'm an only child too. Mom has even gone as far to instruct me what to do if she should ever pass away on a cruise. "Leave me on the ship until the end of the cruise, I paid for it!!!"

 

[cass'mom]

Too funny!!

 

[tvguy]

Too funny!!

You ought to see her negotiate to buy something like a car......she can make a penny (and a car salesman) scream. Good thing she keeps cars a long time (27 years for the one she just got rid of )

 

[Jestocost]

My concern wouldn't be with the WiFi portion of the connection, which should be plenty fast for VOIP services. I would be more concerned with what I assume is a satellite connection between the ship and the Internet, which means big time latency issues and, depending on the type of satellite connection, possibly slow uploads. Either one of those could make VOIP difficult or impossible to use.

However, I also assume that the ship-to-Internet connection won't change from what it is today. So, if the current speeds and latency of the connections in the Internet Lounge would support VOIP, I don't see why the WiFi connection wouldn't. The only thing would be if usage was significantly increased and the bandwidth was all eaten up as a result.

 

[Hygiene99]

Skype test on the August Repo...

ok I did not speak with Tracy Thru skype But , Did have a short chat session with her ... thru the skype system... We will try the telephone service a bit later in the day But dont think there will be any problems...
I Hope... She did not have her Headset with her..

Peter

 

[cass'mom]

Cool! Thanks so much for the update and I'm glad to hear the chat session worked well through Skype! Keep us posted on the telephone chat...will Tracy be able to do it without her headset?

 

[winotracy]

Got the headset now, it was in the cabin earlier.

Tracy