Has anyone had success using *Pinger*?

[Kenlorz]

We leave on Sunday on the Allure and I'm leaving my four teenage boys behind with an aunt. I would like to contact them throughout the week. We plan to get the unlimited one-device internet service through the Allure which I would tie to my Samsung Galaxy S smart phone. I would like to use my PINGER App through my phone to be able to text back and forth with my kids whenever they need. I will put my phone on airplane and then turn the WIFI back on to do this. Has anyone had success using PINGER for texting while on board?

[mehimand5ofthem]

Curious if pinger worked? Hubby and I are going to the bahamas later this week and have installed pinger on eh kids iphones/ipods and hope it works! I purchased the global data through verizon but the text/voice rates are too high.

[JasonV1]

You can't have WiFi on with airplane mode; you need to turn off the cel radio rather than turn on airplane mode.

 

There are a number of different SMS apps for Android (Pinger may be one, I'm not familiar with it) that should work just fine over WIFI (rather than cel). I haven't used them but I know that they exist; just search Google Play and test them before you leave.

 

Google Voice (free) allows you to send SMS messages for free, but you have to use the web interface on your phone.

 

Lots of options, just make sure your cel connection is off.

[Artemis]

^ Actually, to prevent confusion--you must be talking Android?--on any iOS device, you can use WiFi while in Airplane Mode. See, e.g., http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1355 That's exactly how we handled text messaging on Allure with the unlimited WiFi pkg--we put our iPhones in Airplane Mode to block cellular voice and data, but then enabled WiFi to use iMessaging (with other iPhone users).

 

To the OP: I hope you get feedback on Pinger! We use WhatsApp--they're the same concept, you should be fine. I don't know anything about Android or the Samsung Galaxy S, but like I said above, the WiFi in Airplane Mode worked great for us using iOS. I logged onto our wireless account post-cruise to make sure, and whew!, no international data usage. :) Have a fab Allure cruise. We just got off the 8/25 voyage. It was terrific!

[sunnysavannah]

^ Actually, to prevent confusion--you must be talking Android?--on any iOS device, you can use WiFi while in Airplane Mode. See, e.g., http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1355 That's exactly how we handled text messaging on Allure with the unlimited WiFi pkg--we put our iPhones in Airplane Mode to block cellular voice and data, but then enabled WiFi to use iMessaging (with other iPhone users).

 

To the OP: I hope you get feedback on Pinger! We use WhatsApp--they're the same concept, you should be fine. I don't know anything about Android or the Samsung Galaxy S, but like I said above, the WiFi in Airplane Mode worked great for us using iOS. I logged onto our wireless account post-cruise to make sure, and whew!, no international data usage. :) Have a fab Allure cruise. We just got off the 8/25 voyage. It was terrific!

 

Were you able to FaceTime?

[reney313]

Curious if pinger worked? Hubby and I are going to the bahamas later this week and have installed pinger on eh kids iphones/ipods and hope it works! I purchased the global data through verizon but the text/voice rates are too high.

 

If you are in airplane mode and using wifi on your iPhones, you should be able to use imessage through texts. If it goes to send as a text (green) then it won't go through.. If it's blue it will go through as imessage (no data). This is only if both the sender and receiver have an iphone.

[Gil T. Azell]

You can't have WiFi on with airplane mode; you need to turn off the cel radio rather than turn on airplane mode.

 

There are a number of different SMS apps for Android (Pinger may be one, I'm not familiar with it) that should work just fine over WIFI (rather than cel). I haven't used them but I know that they exist; just search Google Play and test them before you leave.

 

Google Voice (free) allows you to send SMS messages for free, but you have to use the web interface on your phone.

 

Lots of options, just make sure your cel connection is off.

 

^ Actually, to prevent confusion--you must be talking Android?--on any iOS device, you can use WiFi while in Airplane Mode. See, e.g., http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1355 That's exactly how we handled text messaging on Allure with the unlimited WiFi pkg--we put our iPhones in Airplane Mode to block cellular voice and data, but then enabled WiFi to use iMessaging (with other iPhone users).

 

To the OP: I hope you get feedback on Pinger! We use WhatsApp--they're the same concept, you should be fine. I don't know anything about Android or the Samsung Galaxy S, but like I said above, the WiFi in Airplane Mode worked great for us using iOS. I logged onto our wireless account post-cruise to make sure, and whew!, no international data usage. :) Have a fab Allure cruise. We just got off the 8/25 voyage. It was terrific!

 

I'm not sure why the poster above said that you cannot use wifi on airplane mode as you most certainly can. I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 and I can use my wifi. When you first switch to flight mode wifi turns off however you can turn it back on and phone will stay in flight mode and you can use wifi.

[Artemis]

sunnysavannah, didn't try FaceTime, but it should work depending on how robust the connection is at the time. We Skyped a couple of times from the laptop--worked well once, had a slow/unreliable connection the other time.

[elleluv]

FWIW.... I sail with friends that use Facetime quite a bit and they haven't ever been able to get a Facetime connection on any RCCL ship we've sailed...

 

I use Skype, and that hasn't worked for me on RCCL ships either...

[mein18]

Curious if pinger worked? Hubby and I are going to the bahamas later this week and have installed pinger on eh kids iphones/ipods and hope it works! I purchased the global data through verizon but the text/voice rates are too high.

 

What type of global plans does Verizon offer now? The last time we sailed they only had 25mb which can be used up in full in just a few minutes

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forums mobile app

[WWbytheSEA]

Artemis , when u did this, what if any wifi plan did you have to purchase?? How much.. I'm not very techie but I got my family's iPhone to work just how you described.

 

^ Actually, to prevent confusion--you must be talking Android?--on any iOS device, you can use WiFi while in Airplane Mode. See, e.g., http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1355 That's exactly how we handled text messaging on Allure with the unlimited WiFi pkg--we put our iPhones in Airplane Mode to block cellular voice and data, but then enabled WiFi to use iMessaging (with other iPhone users).

[Artemis]

WWbytheSea, here's a thread with current Allure Internet pricing:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1910184&highlight=allure+internet

[WWbytheSEA]

Thanks much Artemis:)

[ehfl]

You can't have WiFi on with airplane mode; you need to turn off the cel radio rather than turn on airplane mode.

 

There are a number of different SMS apps for Android (Pinger may be one, I'm not familiar with it) that should work just fine over WIFI (rather than cel). I haven't used them but I know that they exist; just search Google Play and test them before you leave.

 

Google Voice (free) allows you to send SMS messages for free, but you have to use the web interface on your phone.

 

Lots of options, just make sure your cel connection is off.

 

Actually, with Android devices, you can turn on WiFi in Airplane mode.

[Llmtax2000]

Just to add to the mix -- my DD (a tech savvy 12-YO) uses one of her game apps to text her friends over wifi on her iphone. A lot of games nowadays have a "chat" feature; she uses "Running With Friends." All of her friends also have this game on their phone (or ipad, or laptop) so they can chat away without using imessage or data.

 

These apps do make it more challenging to read all of her texts after she goes to bed every night, though!

[sunnysavannah]

sunnysavannah, didn't try FaceTime, but it should work depending on how robust the connection is at the time. We Skyped a couple of times from the laptop--worked well once, had a slow/unreliable connection the other time.

 

That's what I was thinking. I think the kids will love to FaceTime the grandparents.

 

 

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