US Cellular Phone Use

[klampetts]

Hoping someone can help clear this up for me. My family had the unlimited texting plan with US Cellular. This includes international texting. However, US Cellular cannot seem to answer my question as to whether or not we will be able to text each other while on the ship and while at excursions to Belize, Isle Roatan, Grand Cayman and Cozumel, Has anyone used their unlimited texting privileges while on vacation, and did you get charged?

[firefly333]

If it shows "cellular at sea" then you know its off carnival's access and you probably will be charged accordingly.

 

sorry, I dont have a answer ... keep trying with your carrier.

[salty dingo]

While on the ship, you will be charged 50 cents for each text message sent and received, by Cellular at Sea. I can't imagine it would be included in any sort of unlimited plan, since it has to use satellite communications.

 

While in port, you won't be using the ship's services, so your international texting plan should cover you.

[Soonerbaby]

Here is what US Cellular told me. I even have it in an email somewhere. :) IF you are able to utilize your text and data services at sea, then they are charged according to your plan. So, if you have unlimited on land, you would have unlimited at sea. However, It was our experience that no data or texting could be utilized at sea. Cozumel was the only place we could use our phones. You will need to look at the website to see what the charges are for services, but there is a one time charge per day for using your phone in Mexico, then $1 or $2 per minute.

[Brighton Line]

Sprint told me the same thing but while on the ship not in port I was charged $0.50 for outgoing text and $0.05 for incoming. This charge was not by Sprint but Cellular At Sea.. Also this was NCL not Carnival.

[type one mom]

I called Verizon today b/c I have a smart phone (droid) and was wondering the same about texting vs. voice calls, rates, etc.

Verizon said I need to turn off my data -- advised the way to do that is keep the phone powered down (seriously--anyone know another way to turn off data search & access on a Droid?). They also said outgoing texts are .50 and incoming texts are .05 . . . the same Sprint told you. They were looking at a website for Carnival Fantasy while telling me this.

I was also told, however, that any voice calls (including missed calls to voicemail) would be charged something like $2.49 each/per minute. I obviously want to BLOCK any voicemails. Verizon suggested having that option removed from my plan the week of my cruise.

This is all confusing! I'm not extremely comfortable with "what my droid can do" yet (still a little new to me). I hope a lot of helpful feedback comes in to this thread. :)

[salty dingo]

any voice calls (including missed calls to voicemail) would be charged something like $2.49 each/per minute. I obviously want to BLOCK any voicemails. Verizon suggested having that option removed from my plan the week of my cruise.

Changing plan options for a cruise sounds like a HUGE hassle.

 

Just keep it simple. Put the phone in "airplane mode" when you are on the ship. It's pretty silly to text someone at 50 cents per... when you can wait until port to do it for free.

[megmno]

If you have a smart phone you should be especially careful to either turn off your data or keep the phone turned off while on the ship. Smart phones often have apps which get data sent to them automatically (pushed) and you might run up a huge data bill without knowing it.

Verizon charges $20/mB for data on Cellular at Sea.

 

I checked my last bill, and I use 800 mB a month on my unlimited data plan. So in a week I could run up around $4000 in charges if I used the phone on the ship the same way I do at home.

[type one mom]

Thank you . . . the fact that Smart phones do automatically search/collect/receive data is what concerned me about avoiding a huge bill. I would have to have the phone on to use the camera. Otherwise, I plan to use the phone for the primary purpose of checking on my two diabetic children DAILY . . . their medical needs cannot wait until port days. Otherwise, I wouldn't worry about leaving the phone off all the time. It does seem like a hassle to eliminate voicemail from my plan, but I'm trying to choose the best means to check on my kids (esp. my son whose sugar runs on the low side) daily without it costing more than it should.

[Brighton Line]

I would also like to point out that people on my last cruise complained there cell phone kept changing times. It seemed if you cell phone is set to get time from the network and the ship changed satellite people's phone time were set to whatever that satellite was set to. It was such an issue the CD even talked about it in an intro to one of the night shows.

Just thought I'd point that out.

[ErikNYC]

Thank you . . . the fact that Smart phones do automatically search/collect/receive data is what concerned me about avoiding a huge bill. I would have to have the phone on to use the camera. Otherwise, I plan to use the phone for the primary purpose of checking on my two diabetic children DAILY . . . their medical needs cannot wait until port days. Otherwise, I wouldn't worry about leaving the phone off all the time. It does seem like a hassle to eliminate voicemail from my plan, but I'm trying to choose the best means to check on my kids (esp. my son whose sugar runs on the low side) daily without it costing more than it should.

 

You can easily put the phone in "airplane mode" that will turn off all connections during your trip and allow you to use the camera functions etc., or you can go to the phone settings options, the "wireless & networks", and disable data and more in the "mobile networks" category.

 

Everything you need is in settings area, then "wireless & networks category".