iphone Confusion

I'm confused about using my iPhone in Hawaii and the South Pacific. Our carrier is AT&T and I would like to know if we can make calls from Hawaii without incurring extra charges. What's the best way to call home from the South Pacific?

Unfortunately our house sitter does not text or have email so that's out of the question.:rolleyes: Thanks for helping out this confused iPhone newbie.

Hawaii is a US state. Any national calling plan will include Hawaii. Do not call from the ship but you can certainly call or text from any of the Hawaiian islands.

If you're on a South Pacific cruise, that would include ports such as Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc. International calling and text rates would apply.

Definitely check with AT&T about an international plan for the locations and the time frame of your trip. If set up in advance most carriers have special rates that you can get. Calling from the ship is considered international, but, you also will incur a hefty charge from princess for using their signal. I would try to avoid doing that.

Has anyone used Whatsapp or Viber?

I'm confused about using my iPhone in Hawaii and the South Pacific. Our carrier is AT&T and I would like to know if we can make calls from Hawaii without incurring extra charges. What's the best way to call home from the South Pacific?

Unfortunately our house sitter does not text or have email so that's out of the question.:rolleyes: Thanks for helping out this confused iPhone newbie.

Make sure your cell data is turned off.

Duffysmom,

You will be with us on the Crown to the South Pacific. Your problem will be all the sea days. Since we will be out of reach of any shore based cell towers, you will be forced to go thru the ship's satellite connection. I don't know how often you plan to call home or get calls from home. but we have 4 sea days to begin the trip and 8 to end it. And another 6 scattered along the way.

In addition to Hawaii, which is included in most (all?) national plans, we will also have a day in American Samoa. I am not sure if it is included in the plans. Western Samoa and the three French Polynesian ports are not in the US.

In Hawaii you should be just fine. Outside of Hawaii and unless you have an international plan covering the specific areas you are traveling to be prepared to pay. Once you are no longer in Hawaii immediately put your phone on airplane mode and do not take it off. While on airplane mode you can still turn wifi on and off. My suggestion is to buy (if you don't get it for free) internet minutes. iMessages will send on the Internet connection as they use data and not text. If you are calling another iPhone try making a FaceTime Audio call, this uses an Internet connection and not your cellular minutes but doesn't do video so you may have better luck with quality on the slow connection. AT&T also recently started allowing wifi calling, thus if you are on a wifi connection it will use that to place and receive calls. Go to Settings > Phone and turn on wifi calling. This feature may only be available on iOS 9, I'm not certain. I have never tried this on board but if it works as advertised you can use your phone as you normally would to place and receive calls except that it's handled all over wifi.

Make sure you go to Settings > Cellular > and turn Data roaming off. I always leave this off as I never want to use data while roaming. Data is the easiest one to overlook, if you have roaming on, accidentally turn your phone off airplane mode you can quickly burn through a lot of data as the phone reconnects to the roaming network. As for cellular and text messages those you have to police yourself as there is no switch to turn roaming off for those.

Has anyone used Whatsapp or Viber?

We used WhatsApp Messenger in Mexico to text for free in Mexico and to Canada. It worked well! You can even attach photos. It was supposed to be free for the first year, then 99cents/yr but I don't remember being charged. Whoever you are texting, must also have the app so get your friends/family to do it in advance.

Be sure to download it directly from Google.

We used WhatsApp Messenger in Mexico to text for free in Mexico and to Canada. It worked well! You can even attach photos. It was supposed to be free for the first year, then 99cents/yr but I don't remember being charged. Whoever you are texting, must also have the app so get your friends/family to do it in advance.

 

 

 

Be sure to download it directly from Google.

Just remember this needs some kind of data plan. If you don't have an international plan or a SIM card with a data plan from that country your going to pay huge roaming data rates.

In Hawaii you should be just fine. Outside of Hawaii and unless you have an international plan covering the specific areas you are traveling to be prepared to pay. Once you are no longer in Hawaii immediately put your phone on airplane mode and do not take it off. While on airplane mode you can still turn wifi on and off. My suggestion is to buy (if you don't get it for free) internet minutes. iMessages will send on the Internet connection as they use data and not text. If you are calling another iPhone try making a FaceTime Audio call, this uses an Internet connection and not your cellular minutes but doesn't do video so you may have better luck with quality on the slow connection. AT&T also recently started allowing wifi calling, thus if you are on a wifi connection it will use that to place and receive calls. Go to Settings > Phone and turn on wifi calling. This feature may only be available on iOS 9, I'm not certain. I have never tried this on board but if it works as advertised you can use your phone as you normally would to place and receive calls except that it's handled all over wifi.

 

Make sure you go to Settings > Cellular > and turn Data roaming off. I always leave this off as I never want to use data while roaming. Data is the easiest one to overlook, if you have roaming on, accidentally turn your phone off airplane mode you can quickly burn through a lot of data as the phone reconnects to the roaming network. As for cellular and text messages those you have to police yourself as there is no switch to turn roaming off for those.

Note that AT&T has not enabled this in all markets yet.

In Hawaii you should be just fine. Outside of Hawaii and unless you have an international plan covering the specific areas you are traveling to be prepared to pay. Once you are no longer in Hawaii immediately put your phone on airplane mode and do not take it off. While on airplane mode you can still turn wifi on and off. My suggestion is to buy (if you don't get it for free) internet minutes. iMessages will send on the Internet connection as they use data and not text. If you are calling another iPhone try making a FaceTime Audio call, this uses an Internet connection and not your cellular minutes but doesn't do video so you may have better luck with quality on the slow connection. AT&T also recently started allowing wifi calling, thus if you are on a wifi connection it will use that to place and receive calls. Go to Settings > Phone and turn on wifi calling. This feature may only be available on iOS 9, I'm not certain. I have never tried this on board but if it works as advertised you can use your phone as you normally would to place and receive calls except that it's handled all over wifi.

 

Make sure you go to Settings > Cellular > and turn Data roaming off. I always leave this off as I never want to use data while roaming. Data is the easiest one to overlook, if you have roaming on, accidentally turn your phone off airplane mode you can quickly burn through a lot of data as the phone reconnects to the roaming network. As for cellular and text messages those you have to police yourself as there is no switch to turn roaming off for those.

I have IOS 9 and no wifi calling.

None of our phones worked anywhere in Polynesia for calls. iPhone or android. Sprint or Tmobile. No participating plan. Something about a

"Different platform". We just stuck with wifi.

New Zealand and Australia were fine, and Easter Island, but not Tahiti et al.

ATT, regular plan was able to use iPhone with no problem in Tahiti. However, not cheap.

Oops, posted too fast. We use wifi and Viber when travelling to contact the family. Find that's better, budget wise.

We use wi fi, Viber, and face time. I have ATT and iPhone Once I used regular texting in Cabo and my bill was almost $200 :eek:

Patti

It should be noted, that Facetime on wifi can also be an audio call without pic if there is a low bandwidth. We have connected many times while out of the country.:D

We used WhatsApp Messenger in Mexico to text for free in Mexico and to Canada. It worked well! You can even attach photos. It was supposed to be free for the first year, then 99cents/yr but I don't remember being charged. Whoever you are texting, must also have the app so get your friends/family to do it in advance.

 

Be sure to download it directly from Google.

Just remember this needs some kind of data plan. If you don't have an international plan or a SIM card with a data plan from that country your going to pay huge roaming data rates.

I forgot to mention that my phone was on airplane mode and wifi on when we used the app! That made it free to send and receive. Otherwise, we would have had to pay 75cents per text if texting without the app.

Note that AT&T has not enabled this in all markets yet.

"AT&T tested Wi-Fi Calling through the iOS 9 beta and we are prepared to support commercial launch of the service once approved by the FCC,"

Apparently they are waiting on approval to make it available to everyone. I've read users in select markets are able to enable it.

If your house-sitter is staying at your house, it is possible to teach/set up email for her using one of your devices (tablets are easy to use) and your internet connection? Or is their a friend/relative that you can communicate thru?

Just to follow up on this AT&T has activated wifi calling for customers as they received the necessary approval from the FCC.

Has anyone used Whatsapp or Viber?

We have both WhatsApp and Viber but use WA primarily because we like it a bit better than Viber. Since we get internet pkg on the ship, we use WA to communicate with our family and friends via text as well as calling them however we don't leave the wifi on constantly because that can use up all your internet minutes easily. While on land, we just go to say an internet café and use their free wifi. Viber allows you to call any phones (landline or cell) without the Viber app but I believe they charge you 99 cents a call. All wifi based calls to another smartphone with the same app are free with either Viber or WA.

In fact we use WA even at home since we can use wifi to call any smartphones with WA in the world free of charge. We hardly use our landline phone anymore.

I am cruising in two weeks after a nine year hiatus. Let me see if I understand:

1. When we are on ship my cell carrier is disabled, and I am using the ship's cell service?

2. Will my Sprint service still work while cruising out of San Francisco

3. Should I be on airplane mode until I set foot on land again?

4. Too use FaceTime I should be on wifi?

Thanks

1. When we are on ship my cell carrier is disabled, and I am using the ship's cell service?

Once the ship leaves the range of any land based cell towers you will connect to the ships cell tower and be subject to their pricing. Best to turn your phone on airplane mode as soon as the ship begins to depart.

2. Will my Sprint service still work while cruising out of San Francisco

Generally you will still get service as you leave the harbor and cruise out. Depending on course if you stay close to shore you may have service for quite a while. But yes while in the harbor you should still be able to use your sprint service.

3. Should I be on airplane mode until I set foot on land again?

That would be my suggestion. In airplane mode you can still turn on and off the wifi, so you can use the ships wifi or a wifi hotspot in town and not worry about cell service charges.

4. Too use FaceTime I should be on wifi?

This would be advisable even in the US so you don't use up your data plan unless you have unlimited data through your carrier.

Just remember this needs some kind of data plan. If you don't have an international plan or a SIM card with a data plan from that country your going to pay huge roaming data rates.

I have not found ATT's data plans very helpful. When we cruised in April, ATT's plan did not include the ship. When we cruised the South Pacific, my iPhone could not connect in two of the smaller islands in French Polynesia. Texts without a plan were $0.50 without a data plan. Did not make any calls. I've found that I don't really need a data plan if I keep to texting, depending upon where I'm traveling.