Cell phone service

[waylook]

I know this is a touchy topic for most. However, I would only use it in my cabin on a very limited basis.

 

Question: Leaving from Port Liberty, should I expect my SprintPCS service to work at all until we pass FL? I don't need to hear about getting away from it all. I will have to use the expensive phone service from onboard otherwise for a couple of calls to clients.

 

Thanks.

[Luckyroot]

Actually, I think the phone will probably stop working once you get a couple miles out to sea (mine did).

[Len3]

Mine is Verizon and didn't work.

[Leela]

The cell phone will generally only work quite near shore. I've taken my Cingular GSM phone on two Caribbean cruises, and while it worked fine in port (San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Martin, Jamaica, Aruba, Curacao), it would lose the signal not long after setting sail. The one exception to this was on a Pacific Northwest Cruise that stayed in the "Inside Passage" between Vancouver Island and mainland British Colombia. That one had service every time I checked -- but then we could see land on either side of the ship throughout the whole trip, too.

 

Bring the phone so you can at least use it in port. Even with international roaming charges, it's still cheaper than using the ship's phone.

 

Keep in mind that not all US cell phones are GSM, and so they might not work in all non-US ports, even if you have the same carrier as I do.

[canderson]

I know this is a touchy topic for most. However, I would only use it in my cabin on a very limited basis.

 

Question: Leaving from Port Liberty, should I expect my SprintPCS service to work at all until we pass FL? I don't need to hear about getting away from it all. I will have to use the expensive phone service from onboard otherwise for a couple of calls to clients.

 

Thanks.

As it happens, you'll be getting just "away from it all" enough to where you're going to run into problems. These ships don't hug the coastline when headed south, and if you're good much past about 5 miles out, I'd be surprised.

 

Also, beware of being accidently 'hijacked'. They have begun to set up repeaters/translators/whatever on the ships that will move your cell frequency call to their satellite link such that you can use your phone onboard in a seamless manner even when you're not within land cell distance. Don't be fooled into thinking that connection is coming from a shore based system somewhere and be surprised by the ship and roaming charges. I don't recall Celebrity's schedule for this. If you search around, you'll find a thread on this somewhere.

[ECCruise]

As it happens, you'll be getting just "away from it all" enough to where you're going to run into problems. These ships don't hug the coastline when headed south, and if you're good much past about 5 miles out, I'd be surprised.

 

Also, beware of being accidently 'hijacked'. They have begun to set up repeaters/translators/whatever on the ships that will move your cell frequency call to their satellite link such that you can use your phone onboard in a seamless manner even when you're not within land cell distance. Don't be fooled into thinking that connection is coming from a shore based system somewhere and be surprised by the ship and roaming charges. I don't recall Celebrity's schedule for this. If you search around, you'll find a thread on this somewhere.

 

Know for a fact this is the case on Summit, so could be an issue on other ships. We just spent 14 days on Summit and never once lost cell phone service on Cingular...from land based towers when in port but as soon as we sailed it shifted to the ship based service. Never needed to use it, but I think the cost is $1.69/minute + any roaming charges your carrier assesses if you do not use Cingular.

 

A weird aside. For some reason, perhaps cause it was constantly searching for a signal, our batteries wore down in a little more than a day when we were linked to the ships service. Normally, our phones stay charged 3-4 days with some usage and 5-6 days with little or no usage.

[canderson]

Know for a fact this is the case on Summit, so could be an issue on other ships. We just spent 14 days on Summit and never once lost cell phone service on Cingular...

I'm trying to remember, but as I recall, they're currently supporting GSM only. So whether this is an issue will depend upon the phone technology a person has access to on their phone.

 

A weird aside. For some reason, perhaps cause it was constantly searching for a signal, our batteries wore down in a little more than a day when we were linked to the ships service. Normally, our phones stay charged 3-4 days with some usage and 5-6 days with little or no usage.

Maybe not too strange at all. How many bars were you getting in your cabin (where the phone would have spent a good bit of its time while you slept)? There, you'd be pretty seriously wrapped in sheet metal!

 

Seems likely your phone was needing to use a lot more power to "ping" the onboard cell sites than what you're used to when your land based. Power levels are self-adjusting. Go somewhere that you don't have service at all, and unless your phone has a "I give up -- am going away" mode, you'll burn through batteries right quick.

[phtktz3]

We were on Summit last month to Alaska and never lost cell phone service. We did in fact have to use ours while on the ship. During a bad storm back home our huge tree in the front yard fell on my son's car and part of our garage so our catsitter did contact us and thank goodness she did. We returned on a Friday late evening and I was able to make contact from the ship with the use of the cell phone to have the tree removed by the time we returned home, had we not had the use of the cell phone both of our cars would not have been able to move until monday sometime. We did have to usually step out on the balcony to get better reception. The cell phone carrier we use is Sprint.

[ECCruise]

I'm trying to remember, but as I recall, they're currently supporting GSM only. So whether this is an issue will depend upon the phone technology a person has access to on their phone.

 

Maybe not too strange at all. How many bars were you getting in your cabin (where the phone would have spent a good bit of its time while you slept)? There, you'd be pretty seriously wrapped in sheet metal!

 

Seems likely your phone was needing to use a lot more power to "ping" the onboard cell sites than what you're used to when your land based. Power levels are self-adjusting. Go somewhere that you don't have service at all, and unless your phone has a "I give up -- am going away" mode, you'll burn through batteries right quick.

 

Thanks for your feedback. Yes, only GSM is supported by Cingular. As for the strength of the signal, it was universally at maximum when we were at sea. In port, of course, it varied. Not sure where the "tower" is onboard.