Droid Phones can be used on ships and shore

[Leesie6351]

without incurring huge data charges. I learned on these boards that smartphones including Droids could ring up (excuse the pun) huge overage charges by just powering on the phone because the data feature is always on-downloading emails, accessing applications etc. After 2 very long hours on the phone with a manager at T-Mobile, we finally concluded that if you want to take your Droid phone on the cruise (ex. Samsung Galaxy S) to have for calls and texting but not for emailing or internet access, you can do that by turning off the auto sync and background data features. Go to settings, accounts & sync-uncheck the box and then go to background data and uncheck the box. This will disable the downloading of emails and apps and you can safely power on your phone and use for voice and texting. Of course, there are charges for international calls and texts above your normal monthly charges but the charges are tiny compared to the charges for data. For example, on T-mobile, data is $15 per megabyte which will let you access approx 65 small emails or 10 generic web pages compared to $1.29/minute for calls in Amsterdam and no charge for texting (incoming or outgoing) if you have a plan that includes free texting.

 

I hope this helps!!!! I was despairing of using my "phone" as a phone out of fear of running up huge charges because of the data features.

[BonnieVA]

Thanks. I'll have to look into this for cruising & international travel. I have Verizon but a similar phone you mentioned (I have Samsung Fascinate). The Verizon rep told me all I had to do was turn off data reception but that seemed too simple.

[HelloMoo]

If data reception is turned off, the phone won't be able to syncronize data stuff like emails, weather reports ect.

 

Of course, you could turn off syncronizing completely, but it's not supposed to be neccessary.

 

Have used my Droid phone on trips outside the country for a year now, and never had a problem, honestly.

[Leesie6351]

I'm the OP who posted about the droid phones. I was assured outgoing texts would only cost 25 cents and incoming were free. BUT, it currs to me, is there any charge from the ship as there are charges for calling?

 

thanks;)

[mapsmith]

And in most cases if you do a battery pull, it will default back to data roaming.