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Warning - Text Messaging on iPhone!!

cello56

By cello56,
in Ask a Cruise Question

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cello56

cello56

Posted
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Just a quick warning to others regarding text messaging while on board. I know that many people lock their phones up when they board - that is great for them, but I personally needed to check in with my husband who was at home once or twice each day.

 

I have an iphone with AT&T as my service provider. I knew that I would be charged $0.50 per outgoing text message while using the ships Cellular At Sea connection, and that incoming texts would be charged at my normal data plan rate (free for me).

 

I kept my phone in airplane mode at all times except when I wanted to send or check for texts. I had turned off the notification feature to all my aps so that they would not automatically download anything. I made sure not to check for mail or visit the internet while checking for texts.

 

I made one mistake!!

I FORGOT TO TURN OFF iMESSAGING!!!

 

About half way through the cruise I finally figured this out. Those few text messages that went through as imessages rather then text messages ended up costing me $24.

 

So use my experience as a cautionary tale - if you plan on using your iphone to text message while on the cruise - MAKE SURE YOU TURN iMESSAGE OFF!!

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Lukkie

Lukkie

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Just make sure you have roaming turned off and you won't be connected to the internet (3G) if you are not on your home network.

 

Settings -> General -> Network and slide the Roaming slider to off.

 

iMessages will be send as SMS because there is not data connection.

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Garn

Garn

Posted
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I am still in learning mode and appreciate the information...does all iphones have imessageing or is it an app? I dont use it and dont see it in settings...

 

To save you texting charges, Apple automatically sends texts to other iPhone users as data rather than a text. It's generally transparent to the user (although I believe the colors are different in the message window).

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eldolko

eldolko

Posted
Posted (edited)
I am still in learning mode and appreciate the information...does all iphones have imessageing or is it an app? I dont use it and dont see it in settings...

 

It's built in to all iPhones running iOS 5 or later.

 

The phone automatically detects if the receiver has an iPhone or not and chooses the message type after that. If possible the phone will send an iMessage. If not possible the phone will send a regular SMS.

 

If iMessage is available the send button will be blue. If not, the send button will be green and the message will be sent as an SMS.

Edited by eldolko
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Clarea

Clarea

Posted
Posted
I am still in learning mode and appreciate the information...does all iphones have imessageing or is it an app? I dont use it and dont see it in settings...

I forget when iMessage was added, might have been IOS 5.

 

Very easy to avoid the changes, with one simple setting: turn cellular data off. No need to go through all the apps and turn off push, notificaions, etc.

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eldolko

eldolko

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Please note that iPhones running the latest version of iOS has two settings concerning data traffic.

 

The first setting is mobile data that has a switch for on and off.

If this is turned off the phone won't send or receive data at all. Not even in your own carriers net.

 

The second setting is data roaming that also has a switch for on and off.

If data roaming is off your phone will send and receive data in your own carriers net where you probably have a data traffic plan.

Your phone will NOT send or receive data when you are connected to another carriers net.

 

The default setting for the phone is to have data roaming off.

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Ned11

Ned11

Posted
Posted (edited)
Please note that iPhones running the latest version of iOS has two settings concerning data traffic.

 

The first setting is mobile data that has a switch for on and off.

If this is turned off the phone won't send or receive data at all. Not even in your own carriers net.

 

The second setting is data roaming that also has a switch for on and off.

If data roaming is off your phone will send and receive data in your own carriers net where you probably have a data traffic plan.

Your phone will NOT send or receive data when you are connected to another carriers net.

 

The default setting for the phone is to have data roaming off.

 

So if I want to send a picture message, which one do I have to turn back on without it wanting to update apps, etc..?

Edited by Ned11
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Clarea

Clarea

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Posted
So if I want to send a picture message, which one do I have to turn back on without it wanting to update apps, etc..?

If you want to send a picture message, you must have mobile data on. However, this will allow all the apps to access data too, so if you don't want your apps to be consuming data, you will have to modify the settings for each app to disable data.

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garycarla

garycarla

Posted
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The real issue here, as mentioned my others is that you had DATA ROAMING turned on.

 

The OP is lucky that is was only $24. Something else could have gotten through and really run up the bill.

 

We always have our phones with us and on. We are okay with a few phone calls at $2.49 a piece. We always turn data roaming off though.

 

Sending a picture? You are looking for trouble.

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trev71

trev71

Posted
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Nice, I turn my phone off before I board the ship and i check my email twice while on board to tell family we are alive and well. Thats it .. I always worry if i leave my phone on even in ap mode ill still get dingded for something

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niksmom630 "Live from...." Rare

niksmom630

Posted
Posted
It's built in to all iPhones running iOS 5 or later.

 

The phone automatically detects if the receiver has an iPhone or not and chooses the message type after that. If possible the phone will send an iMessage. If not possible the phone will send a regular SMS.

 

If iMessage is available the send button will be blue. If not, the send button will be green and the message will be sent as an SMS.

 

Wow, thank you for this! I am a new iphone owner, and I just happened to look at my messages and noticed that indeed some are blue (imessage) and some are green (SMS) in various conversations! So as long as one shuts off data roaming the imessage should send as SMS?

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JanineM

JanineM

Posted
Posted
It's built in to all iPhones running iOS 5 or later.

 

The phone automatically detects if the receiver has an iPhone or not and chooses the message type after that. If possible the phone will send an iMessage. If not possible the phone will send a regular SMS.

 

If iMessage is available the send button will be blue. If not, the send button will be green and the message will be sent as an SMS.

 

Great tips! Thanks for posting!!

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dread_pirate

dread_pirate

Posted
Posted
Please note that iPhones running the latest version of iOS has two settings concerning data traffic.

 

The first setting is mobile data that has a switch for on and off.

If this is turned off the phone won't send or receive data at all. Not even in your own carriers net.

 

The second setting is data roaming that also has a switch for on and off.

If data roaming is off your phone will send and receive data in your own carriers net where you probably have a data traffic plan.

Your phone will NOT send or receive data when you are connected to another carriers net.

 

The default setting for the phone is to have data roaming off.

OK, I'm still confused. To make it as simple as possible:

 

If I want to send SMS messages, I turn Data Roaming off and leave Mobile Data on? And then I won't get any data/download charges?

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momto2inkc

momto2inkc

Posted
Posted
Please note that iPhones running the latest version of iOS has two settings concerning data traffic.

 

The first setting is mobile data that has a switch for on and off.

If this is turned off the phone won't send or receive data at all. Not even in your own carriers net.

 

The second setting is data roaming that also has a switch for on and off.

If data roaming is off your phone will send and receive data in your own carriers net where you probably have a data traffic plan.

Your phone will NOT send or receive data when you are connected to another carriers net.

 

The default setting for the phone is to have data roaming off.

 

Okay, so what do I need to have my data roaming set at? It's currently set 'off'. All I want to be able to do is send/receive texts.

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