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I have seen a few posts that have mentioned travel routers.  This is not something that I am familiar with.

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/profile/13328-twangster/ seems to be the person that knows a fair amount about them.  Any insight on preferred travel routers and how to set them up would be greatly appreciated.

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I have a TP-Link AC750 TL-WR902AC which I use when I am on a ship. It basically takes the Royal-wifi hotspot and and creates a wireless network with your cabin. 

It is easy to setup, you set a switch on the side of the device to hotspot mode and then connect to router, usually by address entered into a browser. There is a quick setup where you search for the available wifi connections and connect to one. You can also setup the wifi network name you want your devices to connect to.

you enter your voom password and your almost set to go.

the first time you use the web browser it will ask for your voom password and will connect. Your other devices should then seamlessly connect when they are connected to your own network.

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31 minutes ago, F1guynz said:

I have a TP-Link AC750 TL-WR902AC which I use when I am on a ship. It basically takes the Royal-wifi hotspot and and creates a wireless network with your cabin. 

It is easy to setup, you set a switch on the side of the device to hotspot mode and then connect to router, usually by address entered into a browser. There is a quick setup where you search for the available wifi connections and connect to one. You can also setup the wifi network name you want your devices to connect to.

you enter your voom password and your almost set to go.

the first time you use the web browser it will ask for your voom password and will connect. Your other devices should then seamlessly connect when they are connected to your own network.

Does this mean you need only one VOOM log in to connect several devices? That's the point of getting this right? 

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Hi, yes it means you can have multiple devices connected simultaneously. There are some limitations. 1) There can only be one connection to the Royal-wifi so if you want wifi outside your cabin the normal rules will apply. E.g. you can connect your phone but the travel router will disconnect.

As there are just the two of us and we are usually together this is not an issue but for a larger family it maybe better to get voom for more than one device, especially if you want to communicate around the ship via an app.

 

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10 hours ago, F1guynz said:

Hi, yes it means you can have multiple devices connected simultaneously. There are some limitations. 1) There can only be one connection to the Royal-wifi so if you want wifi outside your cabin the normal rules will apply. E.g. you can connect your phone but the travel router will disconnect.

As there are just the two of us and we are usually together this is not an issue but for a larger family it maybe better to get voom for more than one device, especially if you want to communicate around the ship via an app.

 

Thanks for the information, I'll certainly consider it as I just bought the Voom package for about $100. besides the one I'm getting with my suite. Question though, does using the router slow down streaming as I plan to relax in the room watching HBO, Netflix etc. plus my wife will be watching something on her device.

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Using a travel router does not slow down the internet. 

My biggest use case for a travel router is extending the ship wifi to all corners of my cabin.  The ship access points for wifi are in the hallways and cabins are all metal including the door.  It's not unusual to have weak wifi deeper into a cabin such as in bed.  A travel router can be placed closer to the door and it generates it's own strong signal through the cabin so that internet works everywhere including in bed.  

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On 3/17/2019 at 12:01 AM, F1guynz said:

I have a TP-Link AC750 TL-WR902AC which I use when I am on a ship. It basically takes the Royal-wifi hotspot and and creates a wireless network with your cabin. 

It is easy to setup, you set a switch on the side of the device to hotspot mode and then connect to router, usually by address entered into a browser. There is a quick setup where you search for the available wifi connections and connect to one. You can also setup the wifi network name you want your devices to connect to.

you enter your voom password and your almost set to go.

the first time you use the web browser it will ask for your voom password and will connect. Your other devices should then seamlessly connect when they are connected to your own network.

Could someone in the next room use this as well if they were given the password? I am taking a group of individuals with disabilities on a cruise in May and some are not buying the Voom package. 

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1 hour ago, rlwatts said:

Could someone in the next room use this as well if they were given the password? I am taking a group of individuals with disabilities on a cruise in May and some are not buying the Voom package. 

Keep in mind that sharing a purchased Voom plan with someone who didn't pay for Voom is against the terms and conditions much like sharing drinks with a drink package.  

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@twangster

1 hour ago, rlwatts said:

Could someone in the next room use this as well if they were given the password? I am taking a group of individuals with disabilities on a cruise in May and some are not buying the Voom package. 

Being a travel router novice is there password protection to gain access travel router?

I have been looking at purchasing the RAVPower travel router you mentioned in a previous live blog.

What were your thoughts on this router?  Ease of use?  Would you recommend that one or do you have a particular preference.  I am somewhat tech savvie, but by no means an expert

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1 hour ago, jhatle01 said:

@twangster

Being a travel router novice is there password protection to gain access travel router?

I have been looking at purchasing the RAVPower travel router you mentioned in a previous live blog.

What were your thoughts on this router?  Ease of use?  Would you recommend that one or do you have a particular preference.  I am somewhat tech savvie, but by no means an expert

You can set a password to the router itself and for the wifi SSID it generates.

The only disadvantage of the RAVPower that I have found is that it does not include a feature to clone a MAC address.  I've encountered two ships where it wouldn't work absent of this feature.  All other ships have been fine.  

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2 minutes ago, twangster said:

You can set a password to the router itself and for the wifi SSID it generates.

The only disadvantage of the RAVPower that I have found is that it does not include a feature to clone a MAC address.  I've encountered two ships where it wouldn't work absent of this feature.  All other ships have been fine.  

@twangster

I will be on Adventure of the Seas.

Which ships have you had trouble on?

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  • 6 months later...
On 3/17/2019 at 12:01 AM, F1guynz said:

I have a TP-Link AC750 TL-WR902AC which I use when I am on a ship. It basically takes the Royal-wifi hotspot and and creates a wireless network with your cabin. 

It is easy to setup, you set a switch on the side of the device to hotspot mode and then connect to router, usually by address entered into a browser. There is a quick setup where you search for the available wifi connections and connect to one. You can also setup the wifi network name you want your devices to connect to.

you enter your voom password and your almost set to go.

the first time you use the web browser it will ask for your voom password and will connect. Your other devices should then seamlessly connect when they are connected to your own network.

What is the difference between this one that you use and the TP-LINK TL-MR3020 or which one is better? Do you by chance? 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 3/19/2019 at 4:19 AM, twangster said:

You can set a password to the router itself and for the wifi SSID it generates.

The only disadvantage of the RAVPower that I have found is that it does not include a feature to clone a MAC address.  I've encountered two ships where it wouldn't work absent of this feature.  All other ships have been fine.  

Can you tell us the best travel wifi router that includes a feature to clone a MAC address?

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There have been some recent wifi updates on the ships over the past few months.  Many ships are now displaying similar login screens and the new SSID "WiFi-Guest-ShipName".  The updates may have implemented changes to detect and thwart the use of travel routers on board.

I am hesitant to provide any more information not only because they may not work but also because people may have been using them inappropriately to share the internet which is a violation of the terms and conditions.  

I do not want to provide advice that is used to break the rules so I'll be refraining from additional comments.  

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I have the RAVPower filehub and plan on trying it out in a couple of weeks.  I've experimented with it here at home and it seems pretty easy to setup and use so far.  I hadn't heard anything about MAC cloning but I was under the impression that they provided a login and password for each Voom package you buy.  As you can supposedly log one device out and then login another device using the same credentials I'm not sure why they would be checking MAC's against logins.  I have heard they actively block VPN's though.

I'm not a lawyer (and I don't play one on TV) but I didn't see a restriction on using a travel router in the admittedly brief terms and conditions I found.  They certainly specify each package is per device per day and they have a generic note that pricing is per person.  If you wanted to stretch the "per device" part of that to the breaking point you could argue that the travel router constitutes your one device as its the only device actively connecting to the ships wifi.

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1 minute ago, Grenadyr said:

I have the RAVPower filehub and plan on trying it out in a couple of weeks.  I've experimented with it here at home and it seems pretty easy to setup and use so far.  I hadn't heard anything about MAC cloning but I was under the impression that they provided a login and password for each Voom package you buy.  As you can supposedly log one device out and then login another device using the same credentials I'm not sure why they would be checking MAC's against logins.  I have heard they actively block VPN's though.

I'm not a lawyer (and I don't play one on TV) but I didn't see a restriction on using a travel router in the admittedly brief terms and conditions I found.  They certainly specify each package is per device per day and they have a generic note that pricing is per person.  If you wanted to stretch the "per device" part of that to the breaking point you could argue that the travel router constitutes your one device as its the only device actively connecting to the ships wifi.

Thanks!  I'm not even on Royal Caribbean, so VOOM doesn't apply to me.  But my cruise line also does not appear to have terms and conditions prohibiting this.  Frankly, I'm not sure why they would -- you're getting only a single device's pipeline and splitting it.  It's not like you're pulling additional bandwidth.  It's the same thing as if you logged out on one device and logged in with another, except without the hassle (although it introduces other hassles such as mobility from your cabin with wi-fi).  I don't want to do anything nefarious with it, rather I want to use it to get work emails on my phone but still surf the internet on my iPad.  But obviously everyone will have to judge on their own whether they consider it appropriate legally and ethically.

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2 minutes ago, isaywhateveryo said:

Thanks!  I'm not even on Royal Caribbean, so VOOM doesn't apply to me.  But my cruise line also does not appear to have terms and conditions prohibiting this.  Frankly, I'm not sure why they would -- you're getting only a single device's pipeline and splitting it.  It's not like you're pulling additional bandwidth.  It's the same thing as if you logged out on one device and logged in with another, except without the hassle (although it introduces other hassles such as mobility from your cabin with wi-fi).  I don't want to do anything nefarious with it, rather I want to use it to get work emails on my phone but still surf the internet on my iPad.  But obviously everyone will have to judge on their own whether they consider it appropriate legally and ethically.

It is a bit of a gray area to say the least.  For our cruise we got my daughter her own package as she likes to stream music and video when she surfs and would be considered a high bandwidth kind of user.  My wife and I have our own package for checking email and surfing web pages, both fairly low bandwidth activities.  The vast majority of the time we'll be on separately, except when we're winding down at night at which time we're usually on at the same time.  The other concern was my daughter will be roaming on her own so that allows her to be messaged without delay, while my wife and I will be together and can use one device for texts.

Fwiw, its also because I like toys and its something to play with on the cruise.

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9 hours ago, twangster said:

The updates may have implemented changes to detect and thwart the use of travel routers on board

I found this on Indy recently. It didn’t matter too much as we just logged off/on as required.

i am not sure why they go the trouble of blocking it as you would think the percentage of guests using a travel router would be minute

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