Harborside wifi options

[wtrjock]

Thanks everyone. I turned on the ATT international, so that should work. I have an ATT hotspot adapter. Has anyone ever tried to buy a prepaid data card when you get there?

 

[controller1]

Thanks everyone. I turned on the ATT international, so that should work. I have an ATT hotspot adapter. Has anyone ever tried to buy a prepaid data card when you get there?

Unless you do not have enough data on your own AT&T data plan there is no need for a prepaid data card.

 

[emeryjre]

Make sure you confirm with ATT that your hotspot will work with for you in the Bahamas. I received a big shock when I attempted to use my Iphone as a hotspot with my ATT data. Apparently BTC and aLiv, the two big cellular providers in the Bahamas, did not sign some agreement with ATT. Since the agreement was not signed, I could not use my iphone as a hotspot while in the Bahamas.
Of course ATT did not provide this information willingly. I had to waste an hour of vacation time calling them to attempt to sort out the problem. It was only after 50 minutes of wasted time that someone told customer service that I could use my cellular data on my phone, but I could not hotspot my phone to share my data. Not sure if an ATT Hotspot device will have the same issue, but I would certainly check before arriving in the Bahamas.

 

[wtrjock]

I am bringing my hotspot device, but not a usa sim card. I was hoping I could get a pre paid Sim card when I get to the island. Is that possible? $20/day for 10 days is going to add up for AT&T on our 2 phones.

 

[emeryjre]

check www.bealiv.com That is the cellular carrier "aLiv". They offer mifi unlimited for 30 days for $75.00 . Do not have any more details than that. The other carrier is BTC, but not sure of their plans. I know they offer sim cards but not sure of pricing.

I know that both carriers work at Atlantis, since I had my ATT roaming service provided by both

 

[tperleberg]

There is free WiFi in the Harborside lobby. I used it this morning.

 

[stein97]

I know this is old thread but my $0.02.

Family and I have been going to Harborside last 4 years, last trip was this March 14-21 2020. This was the first time my kids were able to use our cell phones for internet. Of course there were no Cruise Ships in port....

Atlantis and Harborside WiFi is like $28 per day, it covers the entire resort.
There are several Free WiFi spots on property. The Royal and Harborside main office are 2 that I know of.
T-mobile says you get 4g but BTC knocks you down to 2g\edge.
Verizon you will need to buy an international plan I believe.

I think I am going to invest in a prepaid SIM card with BTC or aLiv and use a Hotspot device, I read a lot of boaters do this. But I think you need to re-activate the prepaid sim every 6 months or something like that. Otherwise you need to buy a new Sim, when I figure that out I will post about it.

Also note this year we did get free WiFi in Atlantis, its seems their wireless controller was having issues (I'm in "IT"). My daughter found the flaw when the login page would fail to load (I say she "found the flaw", I just think she kept trying to connect to any wifi spot).

We all did the same thing and had WiFi for almost the entire week.

It made my afternoon Covid-19 conference calls more affordable.

 

[wtrjock]

We were there first week in March and ended up using AT&T international plan on both phones. Our bill was $10/day ea for $190 extra. For a 10 day trip that wasnt too bad considering it was much cheaper that the wifi. The signal was really good everywhere. We were even able to stream our Hopper from home. If we go again, I will go the hotspot route through island hotspot. Need to get the order in weeks before. They were all sold out when I tried to order. $75 a month would be much cheaper. They use the same network that AT&T roamed on so I am sure the service would be fine but much cheaper.

The nice thing about the AT&T international plan is that we had full voice and texting ability too, but for a family that will be really expensive.

 

[stein97]

So with T-mobile I assumed we got throttled in Bahamas since we are international. T-mobile support was a joke, they know you are not going to spend hours troubleshooting on vacation.

I think the way to go is pre-paid SIM or rent a hotspot.

hello, Pocket Wifi Bahamas

Stay connected when traveling in Bahamas and the Caribbean. Rent a 4G LTE Pocket Wifi Device for your trip to the bahamas.

www.pocketwifibahamas.com

https://myislandwifi.com/

Key point on myislandwifi website:
"Our portable wifi device uses 4G LTE service. Speeds fluctuate depending on the location, and the amount of traffic on the towers"

With 4 cruise ships in the harbor and I assume local Telco throttles all non Bahamian numbers.

I do more investigation after I finalize next year trip.

 

[rog2867]

its 10 per day per line just fyi not account. The wifi is horrible there. We used my wife's work phone as a hotspot when we were there worked great.

 

[Ken555]

Is the wifi at Harborside any better these days? When I was there years ago it worked well. Considering a trip there so curious...I don't use ATT, so would prefer to just get the wifi (but it needs to actually work).

 

[DanCali]

Is the wifi at Harborside any better these days? When I was there years ago it worked well. Considering a trip there so curious...I don't use ATT, so would prefer to just get the wifi (but it needs to actually work).

I don't know that they made it any better. My experience has been that it really depends on where you are in the building or even the room.

I was there for a few days last fall in the larger 1BR and had decent coverage on the balcony and dining room (good enough for work video meetings), but not in the bedroom.

 

[dioxide45]

I wish I could work internationally remote. I can't take my laptop out of the USA or Canada without approval. A coworker once took his and tried to connect to VPN from Grand Cayman and was locked out. Approval apparently isn't easy and how much you can work is determined by where you are going. A woman at work wants to go to another country for a month to see her aging mother. She can go and take the computer, but she will be limited to only being able to work 10 days and likely for a maximum of 2 hours each day. Likely has to do with tax implications.

 

[Ken555]

I don't know that they made it any better. My experience has been that it really depends on where you are in the building or even the room.

I was there for a few days last fall in the larger 1BR and had decent coverage on the balcony and dining room (good enough for work video meetings), but not in the bedroom.

Thanks

 

[SGould]

Is the wifi at Harborside any better these days? When I was there years ago it worked well. Considering a trip there so curious...I don't use ATT, so would prefer to just get the wifi (but it needs to actually work).

I was there in February and connected fine using the Atlantis Guest Wi-Fi and was able to stream video. My room was near the pool so maybe that is why I lucked out.