Cruise lines are faced more and more with the importance of increased bandwidth for their passengers and crew, and with so much data available on the internet, sometimes it gets hectic and pricey.

This is where network traffic management companies like RebelRoam come into play, to help optimize bandwidth data and improve the overall internet usage experiences on cruises around the world.

“These days over 80% of traffic comes from video streaming and social media sites,” RebelRoam chief executive officer and co-founder, Tarvo Topolev, said in an interview with Cruise Industry News.

RebelRoam focuses on optimizing streaming services and social media video content, while at the same time blocking background activities from smartphones, in order to free up needed capacity for passengers and crew.

Through its RebelRocket traffic management tool, RebelRoam is able to decrease the volume of traffic by 20-50%, depending on Wi-Fi policies already in place. It also helps customers with the deployment of services, as they only need to redirect their DNS requests to the company’s servers.

“30% less traffic is a very common outcome,” Topolev mentioned. “This means that you can serve almost twice as many passengers with the same bandwidth which allows you to delay the purchase of additional capacity.”

At the same time, cruise lines can easily access a wealth of data via RebelRoam’s client portal, which displays all relevant performance information. KPIs such as top domains requested, top domains blocked, and top blocked categories provide network administrators with an instant view of user activity. The portal also allows administrators to easily modify filter policies to tailor the service to their users’ browsing habits.

To produce optimal results, network traffic management suppliers have to continuously monitor traffic sources, as new platforms emerge. “We constantly watch for the next TikTok and develop methods to optimize it when it first appears on our radar. Since the service is cloud-based, updates are implemented quickly to all customers without any changes at the individual ship level,” Topolev said.

Speed and superior connectivity aren’t the be-all and end-all to making long-lasting improvements to the quality of experience for passengers and crew, Topolev further explained.

“Faster connections quickly get congested by video streaming services that push HD quality content to even the smallest screens and by smartphones that generate more and more traffic that users don’t care about – things like cellphone updates, data backups, telemetry reports, and on and on. The key is to actively manage and optimize the traffic moving across the link.”