iphone help

[tinkerbell_82]

Here's my advice- do not trust AT&T. When I was coming home from Afghanistan I called and had my phone turned on for the trip. I didn't use it until I got to Kuwait (data wouldn't even work in Afghanistan so there was no point). I was in Kuwait less than 24 hours, and my bill was over $700. Mind you I had them add the international package, international texts and data. The phone was turned off most of the time and I made one 4 minute phone call.

[big_duck]

Regardless of what the various links provided say about costs if you have data roaming turned off (default) and, if you are really paranoid, cellular data turned off (must be set) you can't send or receive data so you will not be charged.

 

You will be charged Cellular at Sea rates, plus whatever up charges your carrier charges* for phone calls and texts.

 

 

 

* I know Telus and, I think, Bell wants $7.00 a minute for Cellular-at-sea calls :eek:

[jandjtexas]

Another Iphone question. I have the 4s. How do I use it to browse the internet while on the ship after buying the ships internet plan? What settings and steps do I need to take? I just want to use it to check emails and browse around, no calls but maybe a text or two to check in at home. Thanks.

[gh1088]

Does anyone know if the same applies to BlackBerry (I know, I'm in the dark ages!) or Android phones? It seems that I was told that you cannot turn off the data completely on Blackberry.

[Patneeds2cruise]

Do I have this right? I am with AT&T and I want to use my iphone 5 as a camera only so I need to turn off data roaming and cellular data. Do I also need to put in airplane mode?

Thanks.

[b_cruise]

Just got off the phone with Bell for all you Canucks lol, asked for rep who 100 percent knew cruise charges etc. This is for Europe.

 

Adding $80 plan for Europe which is unlimited incoming Tex, 200 outgoing, 50 min airtime, some data ( very little)

 

1. $7 minute extra

2. Turn data off and you will not be charged for any data regardless of airplane mode

3. If you do not answer the phone, you will not be charged therefore even if someone leaves voicemail, u will not be charged unless u retrieve it.

4. If you get incoming Tex, you will be charged at 75 cents per Tex

 

So he said keep phone off while on ship and just use when in ports then the plan add on will be what u pay for.

 

Thank god for this forum because when I first called bell they did not mention the cruise pricing and I would of had a huge bill!!

[big_duck]

Do I have this right? I am with AT&T and I want to use my iphone 5 as a camera only so I need to turn off data roaming and cellular data. Do I also need to put in airplane mode?

Thanks.

 

If you don't want to receive calls or texts, then yes you can put it in Airplane Mode.

 

The OP specifically wanted to continue to use the iPhone as a phone.

[TravelingDiva1]

Do I have this right? I am with AT&T and I want to use my iphone 5 as a camera only so I need to turn off data roaming and cellular data. Do I also need to put in airplane mode?

Thanks.

 

Yes, you have it right. Airplane Mode turns off cellular and data with just one step, so I'd go for the simplicity. ;)

[TravelingDiva1]

Another Iphone question. I have the 4s. How do I use it to browse the internet while on the ship after buying the ships internet plan? What settings and steps do I need to take? I just want to use it to check emails and browse around, no calls but maybe a text or two to check in at home. Thanks.

 

Airplane Mode still allows you to use WIFI, but will not allow texts. Just make sure your Cellular Data is off in your settings. I suggest keeping it in Airplane Mode until you want to text.

[big_duck]

Another Iphone question. I have the 4s. How do I use it to browse the internet while on the ship after buying the ships internet plan? What settings and steps do I need to take? I just want to use it to check emails and browse around, no calls but maybe a text or two to check in at home. Thanks.

 

Open Safari (with WiFi enabled) and you will be redirected to the ships sign-up/login page ... follow the prompts from there. There is a $3.95 signup fee and on most ships a .75 a minute usage charge (discount plans are available).

[big_duck]

Does anyone know if the same applies to BlackBerry (I know, I'm in the dark ages!) or Android phones? It seems that I was told that you cannot turn off the data completely on Blackberry.

 

Blackberry does have a disable data roaming setting (not default). It is buried under many layers of menus though.

 

Android has it as well.

[TravelingDiva1]

Does anyone know if the same applies to BlackBerry (I know, I'm in the dark ages!) or Android phones? It seems that I was told that you cannot turn off the data completely on Blackberry.

 

I don't know about Blackberry, gave those up long ago! I have a Galaxy III and there is an option to turn off data usage and roaming in the settings. Androids have so many different types of phone so you have to be more specific.

 

 

Edit: Big Duck and are answering the same questions! LOL

[mephistoles]

I have a Verizon Iphone 5 and we supposedly have an international calling plan. Last year, I had an Android and just put it in airplane mode. I'm guessing that I'll just do the same with the Iphone...or perhaps just turn it off completely. I have heard that it is safe to make calls once the ship is docked and/or once you're completely off the ship. Is this true?

[maddea20]

Do I have this right? I am with AT&T and I want to use my iphone 5 as a camera only so I need to turn off data roaming and cellular data. Do I also need to put in airplane mode?

Thanks.

 

Basically on my iPhone 5 and actually any iPhone out there I make sure to turn off everything. But all you need to do is put your phone in Airplane mode and that will defn shut off your Cellular network and Phone section. Also if you have emails being pushed to your phone, you should turn off your Push notifications as well as put your Fetch notification to manual. I didn't do this yrs ago and had to pay $50 extra on my bill all because my emails were being pushed to my phone even when I had Airplane mode on.

 

The screenshots I attached show you where to go in Settings on the iPhone and also show you what Airplane mode turns off.

[TravelingDiva1]

I have a Verizon Iphone 5 and we supposedly have an international calling plan. Last year, I had an Android and just put it in airplane mode. I'm guessing that I'll just do the same with the Iphone...or perhaps just turn it off completely. I have heard that it is safe to make calls once the ship is docked and/or once you're completely off the ship. Is this true?

 

Yes, once the ship is docked and/or you're off, your international plan will be used.

[Mr305]

Airplane Mode still allows you to use WIFI, but will not allow texts. Just make sure your Cellular Data is off in your settings. I suggest keeping it in Airplane Mode until you want to text.

 

 

 

Once you enable "Airplane Mode" anything related to Cellular is off. With "Airplane Mode" on, you can still use WiFi or Bluetooth. As for text messages, yes, regular text messages won't work. However, if you have access to the ship's Internet, you can use iMessage. iMessage uses data, basically, WiFi network will suffice. So a person that's running an iPhone with IOS 6 can communicate with another person running an iPhone with the same version of IOS via iMessage (Apple's version of texting). The only thing you are charged for is the Internet access, no texting fees apply. Additionally, with iMessage, you can also send pictures and videos and know when the other person has received/read the message.

 

 

To the original poster, do you want to leave your phone on to monitor who called and left a message? However, you don't plant to check the messages or call back because it costs too much? If so, I would use the other recommendation mentioned a couple of replies earlier. Give the person/persons the ship info and have them call you there if it is an emergency. If not an emergency, they can wait till you get back from vacation. No sense in spending all that money and worrying, just to see who did or did not call you. It's called a vacation for a reason.

[TravelingDiva1]

By default, Cellular Data Roaming is off which blocks International Data Roaming. If you want to check this on your iPhone, go to Settings, General, Cellular, Data Roaming. That is and should remain OFF if you want to prevent Data Roaming when traveling international.

 

Ok, yes in the default settings, but your original terminology/wording made it seem as though it was just automatically blocked. Cannot assume that everyone has left these settings in their default positions.

[Mr305]

Basically on my iPhone 5 and actually any iPhone out there I make sure to turn off everything. But all you need to do is put your phone in Airplane mode and that will defn shut off your Cellular network and Phone section. Also if you have emails being pushed to your phone, you should turn off your Push notifications as well as put your Fetch notification to manual. I didn't do this yrs ago and had to pay $50 extra on my bill all because my emails were being pushed to my phone even when I had Airplane mode on.

 

The screenshots I attached show you where to go in Settings on the iPhone and also show you what Airplane mode turns off.

 

 

 

Once you have enabled "Airplane Mode", nothing will work. You can try to check email and it will fail. If you were charged it is because at one point, you probably enabled the Cellular portion of the phone and it checked. No need to do both, just enable "Airplane Mode". I've done this multiple times, never been charged one cent and the phone has been on the whole trip.

[Patneeds2cruise]

Basically on my iPhone 5 and actually any iPhone out there I make sure to turn off everything. But all you need to do is put your phone in Airplane mode and that will defn shut off your Cellular network and Phone section. Also if you have emails being pushed to your phone, you should turn off your Push notifications as well as put your Fetch notification to manual. I didn't do this yrs ago and had to pay $50 extra on my bill all because my emails were being pushed to my phone even when I had Airplane mode on.

 

The screenshots I attached show you where to go in Settings on the iPhone and also show you what Airplane mode turns off.

 

Thanks so much everyone! This is a great help.:)

[Skim0733]

Is it possible to leave an iPhone 5 on during a cruise (in case of emergencies at home) and not be charged huge fees (roaming)? At&T was no help in answering this question. It was the guys second day at work. He said turning off data roaming should work. We would like to keep the phone on just in case but have no plans on using it.

 

OP : We have used our iPhones in our past 6 Carnival cruises in the past two years as mainly TEXTING devices.

 

We keep our iPhone ON all the time; we do not use AT&T Data roaming & keep it turned OFF since it is expensive. We use WiFi in Ports and Carnival WiFi to download emails. We also subscribe to an AT&T text plan called "Global Messaging 50", which costs $10/month -- you can turn it ON & OFF at pre-selected dates when you call them.

 

All Incoming texts/photos/.. are free and so the 50 Text/Photo/Video package is the number of outgoing messages.

 

There is one MAIN step that needs to be done, to prevent excess charges : Settings -> Phone -> Call Forwarding -> ON -- to your home number

 

If you do NOT unconditionally forward your phone, before you leave your home country, AT&T will charge you for 2 minutes of roaming charges($5 ??), everytime a call is made to your iPhone, even if you do not pick up the phone and you let it go to voicemail.

 

We let even our kids(17-22) keep their iPhones ON, during our family cruise and they stayed under the 50 message limit and "learnt" the art of writing Long text messages to their friends and it was easy to communicate with them in the Ship also.

 

You can also get a 200 Text plan for $30 and a 600 message plan for $60.

 

In summary there is no cheap way of using any Phone on a Ship; but instead of shutting your iPhone down during the cruise, you can at least use an AT&T iPhone as a texting device for just $10 !! Also all the calls made to your iPhone will be recorded by your home answering machine to be retrieved later.

[cruises42]

Thanks for all the replies. I went to the AT&T store today and they told me to turn off data roaming and it wouldn't hurt to turn off cellular data. I am not expecting any calls but would feel more comfortable leaving it turned on just in case of an emergency.

[cruises42]

Does anyone know how to call back to the US from the southern Caribbean? They didn't know at the AT&T store.

[big_duck]

Does anyone know how to call back to the US from the southern Caribbean? They didn't know at the AT&T store.

 

It depends on where you are calling from.

 

Your best bet is to google "calling the US from wherever" before you leave and note it somewhere.

 

Example for Aruba 00 + 1 + area code + number

[TravelingDiva1]

Thanks for all the replies. I went to the AT&T store today and they told me to turn off data roaming and it wouldn't hurt to turn off cellular data. I am not expecting any calls but would feel more comfortable leaving it turned on just in case of an emergency.

 

Definitely turn off Cellular Data as well. This controls emails, browsing, and push notifications. It will not affect your ability to receive calls.

[Skim0733]

Does anyone know how to call back to the US from the southern Caribbean? They didn't know at the AT&T store.

 

All you need to call US from anywhere in the world on GSM carrier like AT&T is to place +1 in front of the number. Example. +14085557777

 

In fact you can edit your contact phone numbers and add +1 if you want also.