Skype

[molly5673]

How does Skype work with making phone calls? I was hoping to use it on the ship and in the Bahamas

[sail7seas]

You will not be able to Skype on the ship. Most ships make it not possible to use it.

 

 

[welshred]

The broadband speed is too slow onboard to successfully use Skype.

 

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[paul929207]

Last cruise, I saw someone trying to use it. All I Heard was "What did you say?" "Say that again". etc. did not seem there was anything be accomplished except running up their ship internet charge.

[BlueRiband]

On some ships Skype is specifically disabled. The service is bandwidth intensive and it would take only a handful of Skype uses to soak up everything.

 

It’s not like WiFi in an airport or Starbucks. At sea a ship has only a maritime satellite connection. I’ve had a much faster connections while transatlantic than in the Caribbean. I attribute this to a higher concentration of ships there and almost everyone on board one has at least one wireless device.

 

It is advisable to turn OFF data transfer services on your cell phone. The Maritime Communication Platform is expensive and you won’t find this out until the charges appear on your cell phone bill.

[Gordie Howe]

Skype-to-Skype calls via the ship's WiFi (ship to the states) worked fine on my iPhone last week cruising on the Celebrity Millennium.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1513395

 

What ship are you planning on cruising? If you are planning on getting off in the port, just use Skype at the nearest WiFi hot spot.

 

Another VOiP app is Viber, that works well on land-based WiFi.

http://www.viber.com/

[BlueRiband]

Skype-to-Skype calls via the ship's WiFi (ship to the states) worked fine on my iPhone last week cruising on the Celebrity Millennium...

 

I'm happy for you that it worked out, but somebody who doesn't bother to check out the link that you provided might think it will be OK. A Skype connection will vary with 1) whether the ship blocks it or not, 2) the position of the ship, and 3) number of people using broadband at any given time.