Cellphone Service in the Med

[travelplus]

We switched our phones to TMobile which offers no international roaming and we can use our current Data Plan abroad with no additional costs. We have Nokia pentaband phones(which covers all GSM Bands+WCDMA).

 

I was wondering if we will be able to pick up the cell signals while sailing in the Mediterranean or will we be diverted to "Celluar at Sea" like on Royal Caribbean? We are only charged 20 cents per minute to call back to the states or can send free texts or use the internet for e-mail and basic browsing.

 

On Royal Caribbean when the ship has left port you are forced to "Roam" on the ship's network but are charged your local bill.

 

We went with TMobile for their European coverage without having to swap the SIM out.

 

Your advice is most appreciated.

[Underwatr]

If you can't see land you'll be connected to Cellular at Sea. If you're close you should be able to use terrestrial towers. Exactly where the switchover occurs isn't a precise matter, but IME if you can see land you should also be on the appropriate national network.

[outlawuk]

Once you have the ships signal, your phone will probably keep it until the signal is lost, then the phone searches once more and connects to the strongest signal, or the network with the highest priority in the network list within the phone. I appreciate this might not sound much help to you if you are not 'into' mobile phone technology, but one suggestion is that if you can see land, go on deck then turn the phone off, then on again and with luck it will 'drop' the ships signal and register with the land-based (cheaper) signal.

If that doesn't work, you can always go into the phones network menu (it differs between phone makes/models) and do a 'manual network search' (or whatever your phone calls it. You will then after maybe 30 secs see a list of networks with the strongest signals towards the top and weakest signal lower down the list. Just select the network you want and your phone will then register with that network. It should remain on that network until the signal is lost, at which point it searches again. Sorry if this sounds confusing. It comes easy to me but is hard to explain. One trap however is that your home network might always be TOP of the list even if you are in a different country! That's because the phone (well, the SIM card actually) is programmed to always give priority to your home network, IF it is available. So in actual fact, the second network on the list is likely the strongest. Finally, when roaming abroad I always set my phone to only use 2G mode and not at all use 3G. There's a menu option for this in the 'network settings'. This generally makes the phone far more reliable in acquiring a phone signal, though you will of course loose your 3G data. Frankly, abroad, I find a non-smart phone with an antenna on the top far more reliable. I fear however I might have just managed to confuse almost everyone!

[Chunky2219]

Even if you can see land, you might not be in range of a cell tower so could get hit with some eye watering satellite charges if unwary.

 

In my own, obviously incomplete experience, the ship's satellite mobile link seems to be switched down when in port, but come back up almost as soon as the ship leaves the berth.

 

I'd strongly recommend selecting networks manually in each and every country you stop at. Better to have no signal than be racking up expensive satellite uplink time inadvertently.

 

.

[pepperrn]

How about ONLY turning the 'phone on when on shore, and sending/receiving an occasional chatty email when at sea?

That would keep you in-touch with family and friends back home without expensive and unexpected 'phone bills :)

 

Bon Voyage!

[Camgirl]

In our experience we find that the phone will tend to prefer any land based cells that are available over the ships service. This can cause a problem if you are near Africa (eg in parts of the med) as the phone will use their cells and it can be far more expensive than using the ship or a European cell.

We find that we can be woken in the night by the 'welcome' messages as the phone migrates from one countries network to another!

[brigittetom]

How about ONLY turning the 'phone on when on shore, and sending/receiving an occasional chatty email when at sea?

That would keep you in-touch with family and friends back home without expensive and unexpected 'phone bills :)

 

Bon Voyage!

 

I go one step further......call me in case of an emergency. Here are the numbers and my itinerary. :)

[pepperrn]

I go one step further......call me in case of an emergency. Here are the numbers and my itinerary.

I turn my 'phone off just before lifeboat drill...

And turn it back on after the last breakfast, when waiting to disembark :D .

 

If people want to contact me, they can wait till I return, or email me and I'll email them in reply... "Having a lovely time, glad you're not here, pepper" ;) .

 

(The thought of sitting next to someone in the Chart Room who's shouting into their 'phone "I'm on a ship..." :eek: )

 

:) :) :)

 

Thanks brigittetom

Edited September 23, 2014 by pepperrn

[travelplus]

Thank you so much for the info about the cellphone. Actually I'm well-versed when it comes to cellphones. I actually know more about GSM than most members of my family.

 

We have unlocked our Nokia Phones and just switched to TMobile from MetroPCS. TMobile offers us for $40 unlimited Text,Calling, Internet(4G at 2.5 GB) then they throttle it down to 2G EDGE Speeds. We also have free WiFi Calling as well as International coverage without roaming fees. For 20 cents a minute we can call anywhere from abroad. Internet and Texting are free so to bypass the 20 cents from the USA we could text the person and have them call.

 

Also WiFi Calling works overseas too.

 

TMobile has the best coverage and our phones have all the GSM Bands one could possibly ever needs+GPRS HSPA+ etc.

 

I know about manually selecting the network and we can use partners such as Orange Mobile. There is no overage cost for us to use the phones abroad plus free incoming calls.

 

We had Verizon before and they were a pain. Metro did not have International coverage. Sprint is CDMA and ATT is just ok but Tmobile had the best plan available 4 lines for $100.

 

I use WiFi for streaming but we can get unlimited use of Pandora IHeart Radio and other services that don't count towards our data.

 

Plus TMobile is sending us a free Cell Booster minus shipping charges due to poor reception in our home.

 

But the selling point for me was being able to turn on the phone in the Frankfurt Airport knowing people can reach me on my same number without switching out the SIM as well as Free Texting and Internet coverage. All I need is to be able to send and receive emails and search for the local restaurant and use the GPS.

 

Nokia has offline maps and you just download the maps you need but now with the TMobile Coverage we can use our GPS Map online.

[travelplus]

I turn my 'phone off just before lifeboat drill...

And turn it back on after the last breakfast, when waiting to disembark :D .

 

If people want to contact me, they can wait till I return, or email me and I'll email them in reply... "Having a lovely time, glad you're not here, pepper" ;) .

 

(The thought of sitting next to someone in the Chart Room who's shouting into their 'phone "I'm on a ship..." :eek: )

 

:) :) :)

 

Thanks brigittetom

 

I'm very courteous when it comes to using my phone. Primarily I'll just use it to text and switch off any ringers or sounds . If I want to talk I'l just go up on deck and call. But for the most part the phone will be used in port for directions.

[pepperrn]

I'm very courteous when it comes to using my phone.

Hi travelplus :)

 

I'm sure you are, and I wouldn't suggest otherwise, sadly you are part of a decreasing considerate minority, from my experience when in restaurants or travelling.

But for the most part the phone will be used in port for directions.

Excellent idea, very practical! :)

(My only word of caution would be to be discrete when using it out and about on shore visits, almost daily I read about 'phones being snatched, even when people have them to their ear, let alone when held out looking at maps/directions :eek:) .

 

Have the very best of times, enjoy your cruise, Bon Voyage! :)

Edited September 24, 2014 by pepperrn

[outlawuk]

Well I like my communications, amateur radio is my hobby. At the risk of sounding like an advert, which I promise I am not, there are a couple of communications products you might not know of. If you don't want to talk to anyone, but want the ability to let them see where you are on a map, plus let specific people know you are OK, or if not OK to call for distress via a distress calling centre you could consider a SPOT satellite tracker (look for 'SPOT Gen3'). I had the original SPOT model for 2 years and it was great. Be aware though that it uses the Globalstar satellite system which is not actually totally global! Bear in mind that for all satellite-based systems you have to be able to see the sky. It's not too expensive either. There is a coverage map on their site. But I now use the much better, but more expensive (always the way!!) 'DeLorme InReach' (search for it) which uses the Iridium satellite system which is absolutely, positively, 100% global, so long as you are outdoors or can see the sky. It's like SPOT except that you can also receive text massages and send them back straight from the device, so it's really like doing SMS/texting from a mobile phone. It also does the distress alerting thing just like SPOT. Because there are 66 satellites moving over the planet all the time there is always one above you and even if your sky view is a little blocked, a satellite will eventually come into view and the inReach then sends the messages or track-points in the outbox queue. In fact it's so effective at this that it even managed to successfully send out a tracking trail through an aircraft window over a thousand mile flight and do two-way text messaging. Maybe it's an expensive toy, but then again it might save my life some day and frankly having also used satellite phones in the past (Globalstar [not at all global] worse than hopeless, Iridium [global] great but $$$ and Inmarsat IsatPhone [almost global] quite ok) for most peoples communications needs when on an ocean the inReach ticks all my boxes. At least you can say 'I'll phone you 8am tomorrow morning when I'm in port'. Sadly I'd be the one screaming into the phone in the Chart Room! Except I can't and besides I'm too polite, because an Inmarsat IsatPhone only works with a direct view of the satellite (Inmarsat uses geostationary sats so they are fixed position above equator, like sat TV, so if you can see the sat you can make/receive calls, so you could use an open window).

I hope this wasn't too tedious, we go on holidays to get away from work etc. But I hope this is a brief potted description of the current sat comms options.

I'm new here and wondered if I should change this message subject title. If any moderator wishes to, please alter it or re-file this message as appropriate.

If anyone sees a guy using sat phone or tracker out on deck during the first leg of the QM2 world cruise next Jan it'll be me so do come and say hello.

[travelplus]

Well I like my communications, amateur radio is my hobby. At the risk of sounding like an advert, which I promise I am not, there are a couple of communications products you might not know of. If you don't want to talk to anyone, but want the ability to let them see where you are on a map, plus let specific people know you are OK, or if not OK to call for distress via a distress calling centre you could consider a SPOT satellite tracker (look for 'SPOT Gen3'). I had the original SPOT model for 2 years and it was great. Be aware though that it uses the Globalstar satellite system which is not actually totally global! Bear in mind that for all satellite-based systems you have to be able to see the sky. It's not too expensive either. There is a coverage map on their site. But I now use the much better, but more expensive (always the way!!) 'DeLorme InReach' (search for it) which uses the Iridium satellite system which is absolutely, positively, 100% global, so long as you are outdoors or can see the sky. It's like SPOT except that you can also receive text massages and send them back straight from the device, so it's really like doing SMS/texting from a mobile phone. It also does the distress alerting thing just like SPOT. Because there are 66 satellites moving over the planet all the time there is always one above you and even if your sky view is a little blocked, a satellite will eventually come into view and the inReach then sends the messages or track-points in the outbox queue. In fact it's so effective at this that it even managed to successfully send out a tracking trail through an aircraft window over a thousand mile flight and do two-way text messaging. Maybe it's an expensive toy, but then again it might save my life some day and frankly having also used satellite phones in the past (Globalstar [not at all global] worse than hopeless, Iridium [global] great but $$$ and Inmarsat IsatPhone [almost global] quite ok) for most peoples communications needs when on an ocean the inReach ticks all my boxes. At least you can say 'I'll phone you 8am tomorrow morning when I'm in port'. Sadly I'd be the one screaming into the phone in the Chart Room! Except I can't and besides I'm too polite, because an Inmarsat IsatPhone only works with a direct view of the satellite (Inmarsat uses geostationary sats so they are fixed position above equator, like sat TV, so if you can see the sat you can make/receive calls, so you could use an open window).

I hope this wasn't too tedious, we go on holidays to get away from work etc. But I hope this is a brief potted description of the current sat comms options.

I'm new here and wondered if I should change this message subject title. If any moderator wishes to, please alter it or re-file this message as appropriate.

If anyone sees a guy using sat phone or tracker out on deck during the first leg of the QM2 world cruise next Jan it'll be me so do come and say hello.

 

I actually know about the SPOT 3 Generation and Globalstar Satellite Phones. One of my friends who is a ham radio operator took me out into the field and we tested out the SPOT. For my needs its beyond what I need unless I do decide to go to far off lands.

 

I'm happy with my cellphone and will rethink getting a SPOT system if my needs change.

 

Thanks for the lengthy post.