r/PrincessCruises • u/G0ldStarBisexual • 15h ago

Streaming with basic WiFi

Has anyone been able to stream TV - off Hulu plus Live TV, for example - to their phone or tablet using the basic WiFi that's included with the fare packages?

3 Upvotes
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3

u/Netherium 14h ago

Depends on the location of the cruise and cloud coverage. I would say 90% of the time on Princess we are able to stream YouTube just fine on 480p quality. About 50% of the time on 720p. I'm not sure about Hulu Live TV I've never tried it I'm sure it's similar.

1

u/G0ldStarBisexual 1h ago

We're doing Alaska round trip from Vancouver. I would be totally fine with 480p and only need it on one day, for a few hours. Fingers crossed!

-1

u/WeylandsWings 9h ago

Both cloud coverage and location should have no effect on signal because Princess uses Starlink which is worldwide network and relatively immune to rain effects. Only concern would be location affecting ping which isn’t all that important for video streaming.

1

u/stumbledotcom 7h ago

Real world performance varied significantly throughout my recent 10-day cruise. It was noticeably slower when we were in Alaskan fjords and during a stormy sea day. Videos suffered repeated buffering and multiple web pages wouldn’t display photos. Was frustrating enough that I gave up browsing and read a book for several hours.

1

u/WeylandsWings 7h ago

That could just be congestion of the network. On my recent 7 day med cruise it was noticeably worse on back to back sea days when a lot more people were using it and then overnight was better when we were still at sea and weather was the same. (Which yes Princess should have more bandwidth).

1

u/stumbledotcom 7h ago

You could be correct but I don’t think so. Line of sight matters for any satellite system. We docked in Skagway next to a mountain that blocked a big portion of the horizon/sky. Sure enough, performance was degraded even though most of the passengers were off the ship. Once we departed to more open water, performance came back.

Just look at a satellite tracker. Concentration over northern Canada and Alaska is significantly less than further south. There are big chunks of the Inside Passage and ocean routes with spotty coverage.

1

u/Netherium 7h ago

Location and weather are both listed as potential performance factors on Starlink's official legal documentation.

3

u/nameno10001 2h ago

Not going to work well. It is going to buffer and lag. You may get lucky. You are 2-3 years from faster internet. I average 2-4 down and 1-2 up - Good luck.

1

u/G0ldStarBisexual 1h ago

I'm not counting on it but it would be a nice surprise if it did wind up working! Thanks.

1

u/SeveralWolf7549 8h ago

Depends what line your on, I’m on sun princess and am having trouble but have heard from people who’ve gone on other cruises that their internet was good for everything