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Use your Android phone to call other people on ship for free


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I had an idea on my last cruise of a way to use the WiFi networking capabilities of modern cell phones to allow calls and text messages between people on a ship. No, this won't give you the ability to make phone calls to people who don't have this app, nor does it give you the ability to call outside the ship's WiFi network. But it should work a lot better than walkie talkies and it's free.

 

I haven't tried this on a ship, but it ought to work. If there are any volunteers willing to try this, please post your results!

 

Before you cruise:

 

 

  1. Open the Google Play store app and search for "Serval Mesh."
  2. Install it and run the setup wizard. If you don't have a rooted phone, don't worry. You should still be able to use the most important feature. Use your actual phone number with area code as the app's phone number.
  3. Repeat the above for your other phones you will bring on the cruise.
  4. Test everything out by connecting the phones to your local WiFi router and try to make a call through mesh.
  5. You can suspend the Serval services when not in use.

On the ship:

 

 

  1. Connect your phone to the ship's WiFi. (You won't be able to go on the Internet unless you pay for it.) Verify that your web browser requests go to the ship's login screen.
  2. Start the Serval services in the app if needed.
  3. Repeat the above for all the phones with the Serval Mesh app.

You should now be able to call and send text messages through the Serval Mesh app to any phone running the app.

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I had an idea on my last cruise of a way to use the WiFi networking capabilities of modern cell phones to allow calls and text messages between people on a ship. No, this won't give you the ability to make phone calls to people who don't have this app, nor does it give you the ability to call outside the ship's WiFi network. But it should work a lot better than walkie talkies and it's free.

 

I haven't tried this on a ship, but it ought to work. If there are any volunteers willing to try this, please post your results!

 

Before you cruise:

 

 

  1. Open the Google Play store app and search for "Serval Mesh."
  2. Install it and run the setup wizard. If you don't have a rooted phone, don't worry. You should still be able to use the most important feature. Use your actual phone number with area code as the app's phone number.
  3. Repeat the above for your other phones you will bring on the cruise.
  4. Test everything out by connecting the phones to your local WiFi router and try to make a call through mesh.
  5. You can suspend the Serval services when not in use.

On the ship:

 

 

  1. Connect your phone to the ship's WiFi. (You won't be able to go on the Internet unless you pay for it.) Verify that your web browser requests go to the ship's login screen.
  2. Start the Serval services in the app if needed.
  3. Repeat the above for all the phones with the Serval Mesh app.

You should now be able to call and send text messages through the Serval Mesh app to any phone running the app.

 

Only all WiFi is charged to your account. You can't just access WiFi without logging in.

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I read about an app available for both iphone and android phones called "Viber" that allows you to text or voice chat, using the internet, from anywhere in the world where there is an internet signal. You use data time, not voice time.

 

Maybe you wouldn't want to use it on the ship and use up expensive minutes, but in port many of the bars and restaurants have free wifi. We plan to use it to keep in touch with our family while in Europe or Asia.

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I don't see how this will work without paying for data. Without logging into the cruise ship's wifi you cannot transmit or receive data.

 

Sent from my SGH-T679 using Tapatalk 2

 

That was my comment earlier on. All WiFi devices have to logged on the system and charged for the time they use.

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You don't need access to the Internet. You're not sending data outside the ship's network. There's no need to buy anything. It will allow any devices connected to their internal WiFi network to "talk" to each other.

 

Ships WiFi doesn't allow any unauthorized devices to be on the system.

I asked the IT Manger and he said you have to log on the system to use WiFi and not just for Internet. This is stop the system from being overloaded .

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You don't need access to the Internet. You're not sending data outside the ship's network. There's no need to buy anything. It will allow any devices connected to their internal WiFi network to "talk" to each other.

But to connect to wifi, don't you have to sign on?

 

I guess we will just wait until you come back and either say it worke or it didn't

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You don't need access to the Internet. You're not sending data outside the ship's network. There's no need to buy anything. It will allow any devices connected to their internal WiFi network to "talk" to each other.

 

But to connect to wifi, don't you have to sign on?

 

I guess we will just wait until you come back and either say it worke or it didn't

 

On the any WiFi network unless it's a wide open system , you have to sign in to get an IP Address . Without and IP address on both devices how is going to work or ID the over device.

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But to connect to wifi, don't you have to sign on?

 

I guess we will just wait until you come back and either say it worke or it didn't

 

I thought of it while on the ship. I didn't have the opportunity to try it. I'm hoping someone else who read this will.

 

On the any WiFi network unless it's a wide open system , you have to sign in to get an IP Address . Without and IP address on both devices how is going to work or ID the over device.

 

Every device that connects successfully to ship's WiFi gets an IP address. All web requests are redirected to the login page. I was able to confirm that two devices on the network can communicate with each other. I was able to ping one phone from a different one. I didn't have to log in to do it. Unless they change the way they're doing things and force you to register your device before you can connect (via MAC address) this will continue to work. You can't log in through an internal web page if you don't get assigned an IP address.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think there might be some misunderstanding as to what this software is.

 

The Serval project is a team that are trying to make a viable software for times of disaster and there are no cell towers or ways to use your cell phones.

 

There is an open source software for WiFi enabled cell phones buy the same company called Serval (like the Cat) Mesh. It doesn't use WiFi. It works on WiFi enabled phones. So it makes your phone like a Walkie Talkie. So if you have it downloaded on two or more of your parties phones, within a certain distance, you should be able to 'see' each other via the WiFi signals of each phone.

 

So in essence you are making a network with your phones. I don't know if any data is used, or leaked, during this process because I only know of it's usage in remote areas.

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The software has multiple modes of operation. It can do a mesh network using the phone's wifi, but that requires root and isn't necessary for communication on a ship. You can use this software in the way I described using an existing wifi connection.

 

This is not a "walkie-talkie" app. You call people just like a phone.

 

I strongly suggest people try this before responding. It's not that hard to use.

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Check with your cruise line to see if they have an app for your cruise yet, NCL introduced iconcierge and it's only like $8 for the entire cruise to call phone to phone on the ship. Supposedly it will be live for all ships by this xmas

 

http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/pressroom/pressRelease.html?storyCode=PR_031212

http://www2.ncl.com/downloads/iconcierge

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I just put this on my phone--how would I test this not on a ship?

 

Connect your phones to any WiFi router and disable the existing phone network, but turn WiFi back on. Click here to learn how in more detail. If you can make a call to the other phone through Serval Mesh, you'll be good to go for your cruise. Just connect to the ship's wifi and you're good to go.

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Connect your phones to any WiFi router and disable the existing phone network, but turn WiFi back on. Click here to learn how in more detail. If you can make a call to the other phone through Serval Mesh, you'll be good to go for your cruise. Just connect to the ship's wifi and you're good to go.

Thanks--both phones must have Serval Mesh installed? My husband has an Iphone--is Serval Mesh available for that? I know it would be easiest to just look up in the app store--but he does not like it when I touch his phone;)

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I don't see how this will work without paying for data. Without logging into the cruise ship's wifi you cannot transmit or receive data.

I'm no expert, but perhaps my conceptual understanding will help some.

 

All routers have two sides. There's the internet (Wan) side, and then there's the local side. You are on the local side. To talk to the router (Or anyone else) you need an IP address, and the routers local DHCP freely gives you a local one. That's the primary purpose of a router, to separate networks, not allowing unnecessary data to cross over. Generally, the router doesn't care about local traffic, it only monitors what crosses over from one network to the other, and you have to be logged on for that to happen!

 

On my home network I have a printer and several computers attached (On the local side). When I print, or talk to other local computers that data doesn't cross over to the (Wan) internet side. Only my internet traffic crosses over to the Wan side.

 

In this case, both phones are on the local side of the router. Both pick up a local IP address from the router, but since they are only talking to one another no data crosses over to the WAN side, and the router doesn't really care about that data and doesn't restrict it. In general cruise ship passengers don't want to talk to one another, the want internet access, so there isn't any big need or push to restrict local traffic.

 

That may be a very simplistic, non techie view, but I hope it helps.

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My wife and I have identical motorola (android) phones. We installed this program. Set our phones with airplane mode 'on' and wifi 'on'.

 

Then we tried to use it to call each other (in our house over our own wifi). It worked fine!!!

 

I called her, she called me...sounded like a regular phone call.

 

We are gonna try it on our next cruise (November).

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