Help with Iphone/Wifi on Solstice Class Pls

[true45]

Sailing on Equinox to Carib in 2 weeks. Buying Iphone this week. I know, late to the party :)

 

I see great live posts & pics from CCers. Wondering if you are paying Celebrity for their wifi minutes -- seems like it wouldn't even be practical since I've heard it is slow.

 

I called Celebrity today and they say yes, you can make calls on Iphone with an international calling plan but not internet unless I pay for their hookup or go to a free wifi place in port. Is that the way it works?

 

Thanks.

Linda

[BaumD]

Wifi and cellphone calls are two totally different animals. If you want to use the Internet on board using wifi, you must get service thru celebrity, either buy a plan or pay by the minute. Phone calls on board will be billed to you by your cell carrier at about $2.49 per minute.

[true45]

BaumD, Thanks, I guess I will buy some minutes through Celebrity and check with AT&T about onboard cell calls. I didn't realize I was going to pay Celebrity with my own device. Got it.

[kitty9]

Linda, as a new iPhone person, I must warn you of the insane charges you can get using that phone that you won't be prepared for. Unless you put that phone in airplane mode and turn off data roaming, you will incur some huge charges as your phone will constantly be scanning for emails and things like that. I didn't know this when I purchased my first iPhone and came home to over $600 in charges and I never made a call. It was all for data download time. There have been reports here that some have come home to phone bills of $2000 and more because they didn't turn off the Data Roaming. If you don't do that, every time you power up your phone it will scan for emails and other data to download on your phone, at a per minute and maybe a per byte charge.

 

So, be very careful with those smartphones as they can really hit you in the wallet unless you're careful

[Fblack]

A lot of people just set their phone to Airplane Mode when on the ship. It turns off data. My sister in law had a huge bill a few years ago with a Blackberry and she did not understand beforehand either that the ships cells service is very expensive. And as for paying for Internet minutes and using the wifi, it's another way to burn through cash. The Internet on the ship is very slow and you can easily burn through some of their plans. And I found out once that our aft cabin had almost no wifi service

[Lsimon]

There is no need to turn your iPhone to airplane mode to avoid surprise charges for data usage. And you should know that if you turn airplane mode on that you will not be able to use your phone for phone calls or text messages.

 

Frankly the only people that need to take that step are the ones who are unwilling or unable to understand their phone settings and service.

 

I use our iPhone all the time for international usage during cruises. I use it for phone calls and text messages on the ship and on land (but see note on problems on the Silhouette below). I have never had a bill higher than what I anticipated. I sometimes even use it for cellular data although I know that I must subscribe to an international data plan and monitor my usage if I do this and that the international data plan does not work when at sea.

 

A lot of the horror stories about huge billing come from very old stories from many years ago. They relate to cellular data services out of the country, also referred to as "data roaming". Years ago the default setting for data roaming was on. As a result those taking their phone out of the country got huge data roaming charges. These days the default is off and an informed traveler will either learn about data roaming options or just leave it off AND will check to make sure it is turned off.

 

On an iPhone the off setting will look something like this (note the red arrow):

 

With data roaming off you will be able to make phone calls and to send and receive text messages - although the rates will be higher normal. As another poster indicated the ATT rate is $2.49/minute for phone calls at sea. The international land rates are lower and vary by location - they are listed on ATT's web site. The rates for most international text messages are $0.50 per outgoing message. In the past incoming messages have been free for those with an unlimited message plan at home but I heard this might be changing to $0.20 per incoming message.

 

Note that there is currently an issue between service on some Celebrity ships and phones with ATT service, particularly iPhones. See this tread for more information: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1752678

[Lsimon]

Your only option for getting internet data service at sea for emails, internet browsing, or using iPhone apps that require an internet connection is to use Celebrity's wi fi system.

 

In order to use this you have to sign up for it on the computers on the ship and set up a wifi account. You should also have the staff in the ship's internet cafe show you how to sign on and log off on your iPhone after you have done this. The ship's service costs $0.75/min for an internet connection with discounts for blocks of minutes prepaid in advance. Any per-minute wifi charges are automatically charged to your onboard ship account.

 

Also the service on board is extremely slow and frustrating. It is at its slowest mid day and early evening when other guests are using the system and there is a lot of internet traffic on board. It is fastest in the middle of the night and at times when fewer people are using it such as early morning or late evening. Sometimes you will not be able to connect at all. All of this is because you are on a moving ship using a shared satellite connection.

[rakes5]

In December, we traveled on Royal while we had some relatives in the hospital, so we wanted to stay connected. Therefore, as Larry stated above we left our phones on, with Data Roaming off.

 

We are from the US, our carrier is AT&T, and we have iPhones. All of our incoming text messages were free, but we did get charged one minute / $2.49 for incoming calls even if we didn't answer. Luckily, most of our friends knew we were out of the country, so we only had a dozen calls we didn't answer. We left our phone on, even at night, just in case we received a call we wanted to know about, so they would at least show in recent calls. We didn't think we would be paying for unanswered calls, but the $25 was worth being able to stay in contact.

 

If you get a lot of calls that you might not be answering, then be careful about leaving your phone on all of the time, as you may be getting charged for calls, even if you are not answering.

 

One last FYI. We received an offer from SKYPE for one free month of unlimited calling (a $2.99 value). We thought this would be a good way to call landlines from the islands. The only problem was finding a quiet spot to call. In the Bahamas, we tried the nearby McDonald's. The WiFi was free, but in addition to the customer noise, they also had TVs that were pretty loud. We were able to still get the signal just outside the door, but there was some traffic noise, the signal wasn't as strong, and we were disconnected a few times. In St. Maartin, there is a bar right inside the port. We were able to connect, but I have a iPhone 4, and sometimes only one side of the connection was working (they could hear me, but I couldn't hear them, or visa versa). My DW has a 4S, and she had better success. I guess the new 5, might be even better. The 5 also has some noise canceling that might help. I had never used skype to call landlines before. I downloaded the app and tried it from home before we left, just to get the hang of it. It wasn't too hard to figure out how to use. If you don't think you'll make a lot of calls, you can setup a pre-pay account for only 2.3 cents per minute.

[true45]

Thanks everyone.

 

I think I ALMOST understand.

 

LSimon, I read through problems on Silhouette and other Cel ships. I am telling everyone I can that they may not be able to use emails and even phone to contact us -- but DH is in music bus & never knows who will be trying to reach him. Oh well :)

 

Do I have this correct?

If we just want to use phone for cell calls, we leave data roaming off.

If we want to check emails on ship, buy minutes from Celebrity for wifi.

In port in case we find cafe with free wifi, just connect to it.

 

? - Do we turn data roaming on for the times we try to connect to wifi on ship and in port?

 

LSimon, I printed the diagram and your posts -- really appreciate your help.

Linda

[Lsimon]

...We are from the US, our carrier is AT&T, and we have iPhones. All of our incoming text messages were free, but we did get charged one minute / $2.49 for incoming calls even if we didn't answer. ...

 

This is a very good point. It does not effect us much as we don't get a lot of calls on our cell phones and most of those that do call on our cell phones knew were were out of town and not to call us unless it was an emergency.

 

There is another issue with iPhones - if someone calls and leaves a voice message you can not listen to it via the normal system on the iPhone. The iPhone's built in message system (I think it is called Visual Voicemail) requires data to receive a voicemail message and as discussed above data is an expensive thing when you are out of the area and you may not be able to retrieve your voice mails. For that reason we change our voicemail message on our iphones before we leave advising people not to leave voice messages on our iPhone phone line but to send a text message or email if they need to contact us.

[true45]

rakes5, thanks for info about what happens when leaving phones on.

 

It's so funny that in these posts the wives usually have the later models of iphone. Hopefully one of us will be able to connect (we are getting one 4 & one 5) but at least we realize that there can be connection issues -- will try not to let it bother us. In years past, we didn't take computers on cruises or try to use internet -- but for business reasons, difficult to be out of touch. Businesses expect quick answers & DH lost a gig recently because he didn't answer within an hour. Just ordered phones yest & hope son-in-law can explain most things but he doesn't have any travel experience. Thanks,

 

Linda

[rakes5]

If we just want to use phone for cell calls, we leave data roaming off.

Just leave data roaming off all the time.

 

If we want to check emails on ship, buy minutes from Celebrity for wifi.

Yes. If you are a past passenger, you may receive some free or discounted minutes

In port in case we find cafe with free wifi, just connect to it.

Yes. We asked our waiters each night before each port. They knew where the free wifi was available.

 

? - Do we turn data roaming on for the times we try to connect to wifi on ship and in port?

No. Leave data roaming off at all times, unless you want to use data. I was a little paranoid, so I turned airplane mode on, then connected to wifi, but I don't believe that is really necessary. As Larry stated, make sure you find out how to logout of the ships wifi, so you don't keep using minutes.

[Lsimon]

...LSimon, I read through problems on Silhouette and other Cel ships. I am telling everyone I can that they may not be able to use emails and even phone to contact us...

 

...? - Do we turn data roaming on for the times we try to connect to wifi on ship and in port?...

 

Even if there are cellular connection problems like we experienced on the Silhouette you should still be able to get emails by using the ship's system. The problems with the Silhouette's cellular system are completely unrelated to the availability of wi-fi. But do find an efficient way of doing this as the wi-fi service is very slow. You can also use the ship's computer cafe for email at the same cost as using wi-fi on your phone to access the internet while at sea but it too is subject to the slow and intermittent internet service while at sea.

 

DO NOT TURN DATA ROAMING ON!!! You do not need to change this setting to use wi-fi. Wi-fi is completely unrelated to cellular data and the data roaming function only relates to cellular data.

 

Cellular data = internet data services provided and billed through your cell phone account with your wireless provider - in your case AT&T.

 

Wi-FI = wireless computer network signal provided by some local service such as your Celebrity ship or a local port terminal, internet cafe, coffee bar or restaurant. This is either provided at a fee charged by these businesses (and not through your cell phone account) which is the case on the cruise ship, or for free such as McDonald's or a coffee shop might provide.

 

The only time you should ever turn data roaming on is if you have purchased an international data plan from AT&T (or your home cellular provider if other than AT&T). And even in that case you should not leave the data roaming on but should switch it on and off as needed and monitor your data usage to make sure you do not exceed the amount of data provided under the discounted international data plan. International data roaming is extremely expensive if you are not covered by an international data plan when you are using it.

[true45]

rakes5 & LSimon,

Such good information. Thanks for the help. Happy sailing to you.

 

Linda

[Fblack]

Lsimon is correct. Plus, I gave up trying to use wifi on the ship and just went to their computer center. Connections were still very slow and some times nearly non existent. The very worst was the day before the ship returns to port. Everyone flocks to the ships computer room and tries to log on to an airline web site to either double check a flight or print a boarding pass. I saw a few people spent nearly an hour (and then they gave up) just trying to get some flight info. The poor cruise line tech was flooded with complaints and demands for refunds. And don't even think about using Skype or some other VOIP service via the ships system.

[Lsimon]

... Connections were still very slow and some times nearly non existent. The very worst was the day before the ship returns to port....

 

My advice is to not even try to use the onboard internet on sea days from mid morning to early evening, or port days for an hour before and after leaving port. It is almost always just a worthless exercise in frustration at these times.

 

Think of it this way - the ship has one connection to the internet via satellite for all guests to share. When there are 300 guests trying to log on whatever bandwidth there is gets divided between 300 people. When there are 5 people on (like very late at night or very early in the morning) it gets divided between 5. At some point there are so many people trying to get on that the system is completely bogged down and doesn't work at all. Add to that the fact that on a moving ship the satellite connection is sometimes less than optimal, or nonexistent, to begin with due to the ships movement, location and atmospheric conditions.