internet and companies

[Unregistered]

I am wondering what kind of internet packets do big companies have?
Speeds, gb amount, cost, what you can do with it etc.Just an average estimation

Internet is kind of a big thing for me and working on an internetless ship for 6 months wasnt fun at all...

Does the internet on ships that belong to big companies work well?or is it meh with an incredibly low amount of data at a huge cost?

And lastly, do you know which companies have better internet pacls and which dont? Im looking for company names and thats why i put ihis thread on this section

[Clanky]

Won't post the name for the same reason that you posted anonymously, but the company I work for has free internet access, with Youtube, Skype and a few other high bandwidth sites blocked, speed is pretty rubbnish and sometimes it doesn't work at all, but it is OK and way better than the mailing list I used to get before joining a ship when i first came to sea.

When you are applying for jobs, ask about internet availability, it won't be seen as an unreasonable question. When i applied for this job I made it clear that internet access was a deal breaker for me and they guaranteed that i would only go on ships which had internet (not all the ships had it when i first joined, they do now)

[Polaris]

My company have internet on a lot of our ships, we have pages blocked such as youtube and sometimes it's not possible to use it because of your location relative to satellites or the course you're on.

[Steve]

Internet is kind of a big thing for me and working on an internetless ship for 6 months wasnt fun at all...

Exactly which services do you require access to?

[Lewis]

On ship now internet is pretty good. Only problem is because of where the antenna is positioned we get no signal on headings between NE and E. Other than that you can't look at you tube, porn or play poker. It's a bit slower than broadband at home but faster than the days when I was a teenager and we had dial up.

[Unregistered]

Exactly which services do you require access to?

Mostly skype calls, internet forums and chatsb and also steam(game/chat/community program)
Also possibly make online purchases with prepaid cards of course.
And if it can sustain a skype call i might also try some online program game but not for heavy activities; if the skype call works it should be enough.

[EH75]

Would think most companies will block access to steam considering its online gaming applications and the amount of bandwidth this would take up. Just googled steam there actually and discovered it's 10 years old in a couple of weeks. I remember using it when it first came out. This means I'm getting old, right?

[Bulman]

internet and companies

I'm afraid it's unlikely you will be able to do any online gaming on board. Unless its preloaded and using steam offline! I found it very easy to keep on top of boards, buying stuff while on board and off by using ships Internet (cost) as well as orange had a ok travel bundle and seems like a lot more companies are bringing out good travel bundles too!


If you're really into gaming this isn't the career for you although you won't miss it while away and it isn't hard to catch up, didn't miss any big game releases in my sea phase and back intime for some good ones.

[Steve]

Unless its preloaded and using steam offline!

Offline Mode is a PITA. Unreliable and still demands to be connected at least every couple of weeks, which is no use on voyages longer than that.

One option for the OP to consider is looking for work in a particular coastal trade where he can get regular mobile Internet access.

[Lewis]

Skype works fine for text. Can get a voice or video call after I come off watch at 0400 (I think because nobody else is using it).

[pignutpilot]

Internet on board ships is such a life saver, keeps you feeling connected to home, only down side is that it takes away from the community spirit on board vessels as people spend a lot more time in their cabins.

The best thing to use for communicating if you have wifi installed is the app Viber, you can use it for voice and text messages totally for free and you can still do voice calls even if the internet is running quite slowly. Whatsapp is another alternative app, but the problem with that is you can't do voice calls, you can only send voice messages.

It is a really good thing if Youtube and Vimeo and all those sites are blocks, because they take up huge amounts of bandwidth slowing it down for the rest of the crew, Skype is another bad one for hogging bandwidth as video calling takes up a lot of data, so if many crew members are Skype calling at the same time then it tends to grind to a halt.

[bobofinga]

Whatsapp is brilliant with WiFi , that and facebook and your sorted.

[chris]

Ive heard its free unlimited internet with a certain british tanker co but it probably doesnt extend to video calls

[Lewis]

If your talking about Northern Marine your right. Can even get video calls if it's the middle of then night and nobody else is using the internet. :P

[Unregistered]

internet

I work for a large oil company, we have free internet on board. Its perfect for Facebook. General internet browsing and of you time it right (when everybody is in bed) you can manage a Skype call.
During 'peak times' it takes a while to load and you may have to hit refresh when it fails.

But agreeing with everyone else that has replied it's better than nothing. And if it is gaming that means more to you than you job at sea... Why did you come to sea?