Texting while on cruise ???

[Buddy604]

Sadly, like the OP, there are many of us who can't "escape completely" - at least not if we want to keep earning a living.

 

I've been thinking about getting one of those two-way satellite devices - in my case, the Delorme SE. It works stand alone, or paired with your phone or tablet, can send and receive messages, track your travel, and be used to send SOS messages. The plans aren't too bad - I'm thinking I'd do the annual $24.95 standby plan and then activated the unlimited plan every month that I'm off cruising.

 

Probably not really all that cost effective when you bottom line it, but it's snaring me with the technological cool factor. Hehe.

[martincath]

If I were to use my phone at sea to send a text at .50, is there a limit to how long the text can be? Or could I write a page long text and have it count as one .50 text? ;)

There's a limit on S(hort) M(essage) S(ystem) of 70-160 characters - hence the name! Almost certainly it will be 160 for you, and your phone should warn you if you reach the max but may allow a single larger message to be split into chunks (costing 50cents each...) so check if the phone does warn you or not by typing something longer now while you're at home with cheap/free SMS!

 

The restriction is to do with the way the system works not your phone provider and varies based on how data-intensive the characters sent are - for most default phones using a 7-bit English alphabet you get 160 characters; if you installed & use 16-bit Kanji or Arabic alphabets you can only get 70 in each message as each character is 'bigger'. There's an in-between 8-bit set used by Greek & Cyrillic alphabets if memory serves that gets 140 characters per message.

 

Interesting factoid - Twitter started life as a group SMS concept. Originally it was supposed to be 160 characters per tweet too, but they decided to reserve 20 of them for your 'handle' to be part of the actual message.

[rdsqrl]

If you have to be available for work, then do whatever's easiest and make them pay for whatever bill you accrue. It's their insistence you be connected, so it should be on their dime.

[NukeIT]

Even if you choose not to answer your phone there is a good chance your voice mail will pick up the call after a certain number of rings and consider the call "completed" right?

 

 

Voicemail is recorded and stored by your provider not on your phone.

 

 

 

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[NukeIT]

If I were to use my phone at sea to send a text at .50, is there a limit to how long the text can be? Or could I write a page long text and have it count as one .50 text? ;)

 

 

Typically 160 characters (includes spaces, periods, etc)

 

There is an option to turn character count on as well so you will know how long the text is.

 

 

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[voyagerfl]

We left data roaming turned on ... On one of our phones before I caught it and our ATT Bill was quite high without ever using the phone ....so beware

[Thrak]

Thanks I will have to check into this !!!!

 

You can use a computer to send a text. Send it to phone#@vtext.com

 

If you are texting to 555-66-7777 then send the text to 555667777@vtext.com.

 

You can't send really long text messages this way though. They will be truncated on the receiving phone. You can, of course, send the message in multiple parts. This way you are only using computer time rather than phone data.

 

This was for Verizon. You can also text to any cell provider. Just google for the proper format.

Edited July 17, 2014 by Thrak

[PescadoAmarillo]

We left data roaming turned on ... On one of our phones before I caught it and our ATT Bill was quite high without ever using the phone ....so beware

 

I'm sorry this happened to you. I helped a few people with iPhones/iPads last winter and I was shocked (and saddened) how many did not put their devices in Airplane Mode and were using MCP for data roaming. For one lady, we discovered it on Day 9 of the cruise. Yikes! Still; I feel equally sorry for people who are so afraid of this happening that they turn off their phones and put them in their safes. There are reasons for doing that, of course; but to do so out of fear is just a waste of technology.

Edited July 17, 2014 by PescadoAmarillo

[hijinks]

Princess has a 1-800 emergency number that people can call to reach you on the ship. That is what I give my employer. The fact that it costs $16 or so a minute really keeps the number of calls down. In fact they have never decided it was important enough to call! :cool:

[Wehwalt]

I recommend T-mobile. The international plan is good, though it could be improved.

 

Right now we are in port (on the Ocean Princess) and there is a wifi signal, though it is hard to get anything with all the crew around me on Deck 5, 10 minutes before departure, downloading torrents! And here come more!

[billco]

I recommend T-mobile. The international plan is good, though it could be improved.

 

Right now we are in port (on the Ocean Princess) and there is a wifi signal, though it is hard to get anything with all the crew around me on Deck 5, 10 minutes before departure, downloading torrents! And here come more!

I have T-mobile and am looking forward to trying the new international plan this Fall on our transatlantic cruise from Southampton. Here is a link to a persons' experience.

 

Exploring Asia with T-Mobile's free global roaming

http://www.engadget.com/2014/07/16/t-mobile-free-roaming/?a_dgi=aolshare_facebook

[psujmatt]

Last summer I had data roaming turned off on my AT&T iPhone and got charged $6 for data usage in Ireland...while I was in Italy. They refunded it after I called to complain, but just be aware that things can go wrong somehow!

 

 

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[pablo222]

You can use a computer to send a text. Send it to phone#@vtext.com

 

If you are texting to 555-66-7777 then send the text to 555667777@vtext.com.

 

The problem with doing so is the the receipient usually can not

reply. And, they may not realize this, and reply anyway.

[Thrak]

The problem with doing so is the the receipient usually can not

reply. And, they may not realize this, and reply anyway.

Are you sure about this? I'm "almost" certain I have received replies from two of my kids as well as from my wife when I have sent text messages from my computer. The only down side I am aware of is that the reply went to my email account rather than to my phone.

 

Granted, this is a downside, but I'm 99.9% certain that I did receive the reply.

Edited July 18, 2014 by Thrak

[RocketMan275]

Thanks Pam.... What is the global messaging? I have verizon as my cell phone carrier.

 

The most important thing to do is call Verizon. Verizon answered all the questions you've asked and even sent me a PDF which went through all the steps in detail.

 

Cruise Critic is a great source of information but you shouldn't rely upon hearsay when you can call Verizon and get the facts.

[Jojiboy]

[quote name='Thrak']Are you sure about this? I'm "almost" certain I have received replies from two of my kids as well as from my wife when I have sent text messages from my computer. The only down side I am aware of is that the reply went to my email account rather than to my phone.

Granted, this is a downside, but I'm 99.9% certain that I did receive the reply.[/QUOTE]


I agree with this too. I use this method once in awhile to fire off a quick text message to one of my sons. When they text back I receive it as an email.


Sent from my iPad using Forums app Edited July 18, 2014 by Jojiboy