Tip - Leave your phone in Airplane Mode

[CanadianBurger]

Just thought I'd mention this as I saw a lot of people last weekend who didn't do this...

 

As soon as you're out of range of a US port, put your phone in airplane mode, then turn wi-fi back on to access the ship's wi-fi.

 

If you don't, your phone will switch to the maritime cell service of the ship. Even if you don't make a call, you may have an app running in the background that tries fetching data, for which your carrier will charge you an arm and a leg. I learned this the hard way last month when I was charged twenty-some-odd dollars on my cell bill for a few hundred kilobytes of data.

 

If you need to leave your phone on cellular service for the possibility of receiving a call in an emergency, turn off roaming data, so you won't have any surprises a month after coming home.

 

Steve.

Edited January 28, 2016 by CanadianBurger

[jennybenny]

Just thought I'd mention this as I saw a lot of people last weekend who didn't do this...

 

As soon as you're out of range of a US port, put your phone in airplane mode, then turn wi-fi back on to access the ship's wi-fi.

 

If you don't, your phone will switch to the maritime cell service of the ship. Even if you don't make a call, you may have an app running in the background that tries fetching data, for which your carrier will change you an arm and a leg. I learned this the hard way last month when I was charged twenty-some-odd dollars on my cell bill for a few hundred kilobytes of data.

 

If you need to leave your phone on cellular service for the possibility of receiving a call in an emergency, turn off roaming data, so you won't have any surprises a month after coming home.

 

Steve.

 

Great advice! I always turn my phone to airplane mode as soon as I'm on a cruise. I don' t want any crazy charges, and I also flip through what cellular data is on, in case I do use ship's wifi for the internet. Mostly everything gets turned off but it's kept me from nasty fee's. I love getting away from it all

[Nezmo]

iPhones (I know not everyone has an iPhone) have data roaming off as default but it is wise to check anyway. And of course it's only relevant if you don't turn airplane mode on as per one of your suggestions.

 

Please note the following information for AT&T customers for voicemail:

 

Q. How am I charged for voicemail calls while roaming internationally?

 

A. Voicemail calls are charged as follows:

 

When your device is on:

 

Calls that you do not answer that are routed to the AT&T voicemail system will be charged as an international roaming incoming call to your device.

 

In addition, the foreign carrier's routing of that call to the AT&T voicemail system may generate an outgoing call charge from your device's location to the U.S.

 

These charges apply even if the caller disconnects from the voicemail system without leaving a message.

 

If your device is turned off or in flight mode and the wireless network is off:

 

When someone tries to call you, the call will go directly to your personal voicemail greeting.

 

Since the network does not try to deliver the call to you in a foreign country, there are no international roaming charges.

 

When receiving Visual Voicemail messages on your smartphone or Apple® iPhone®:

 

Visual Voicemail messages received when roaming outside of the U.S. will be charged at international roaming data rates, either at the international pay-per-use data rate or against your smartphone or iPhone international data package.

Edited January 28, 2016 by Nezmo

[Pushka]

All you need to do is turn off data services.

[Keith1010]

Good advice.

Keith

[triple7tahoe]

All you need to do is turn off data services.

Or turn off the roaming. I learned the hard way as well.

[2CatsInFlorida]

Thanks for the suggestion.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Great reminder. Thanks

[jacketwatch]

Or turn off the roaming. I learned the hard way as well.

Me too. No data roaming for me but Verizon sends an alert if your data numbers are running up in case you forgot.

 

I also wait until I am in port and find a free wi-fi to connect, then check email, etc.

[mattie00]

Me too. No data roaming for me but Verizon sends an alert if your data numbers are running up in case you forgot.

 

I also wait until I am in port and find a free wi-fi to connect, then check email, etc.

 

I do the same thing. Turn on in free Wi-Fi connect zone to check email and never use the telephone. Easier than carrying tablet or some similar device while in port. My android also has a great camera which means we only carry one camera with us. Lightens the load while touring. :D The other method that some people do if you have an unlocked phone is to purchase a SIM card for the locale you are travelling through. We are considering doing this while we are in Australia if we can find one service provider that is available in the entire country as we will be on a circumnavigation cruise.

[redtogo]

All you need to do is turn off data services.

 

The new upgrades to iPhones have a feature that you may want to disable. Don't get me wrong, it is good to turn off data, but this "new mousetrap" (feature) is called wifi assist. It will turn on your data in low reception areas even if you have manually turned it off. You need to turn off the wifi assist feature to insure that you aren't connected to data usage.

Edited January 28, 2016 by redtogo

[Colo Cruiser]

Either airplane mode.........

or just turn off cell data/data roaming.

Thats what we do so we can still make/receive calls/text.

We have never been charged for an incoming call that we did not answer.

 

We do this on all cruises.

[Colo Cruiser]

iPhones (I know not everyone has an iPhone) have data roaming off as default but it is wise to check anyway. And of course it's only relevant if you don't turn airplane mode on as per one of your suggestions.

 

Please note the following information for AT&T customers for voicemail:

 

Q. How am I charged for voicemail calls while roaming internationally?

 

A. Voicemail calls are charged as follows:

 

When your device is on:

 

Calls that you do not answer that are routed to the AT&T voicemail system will be charged as an international roaming incoming call to your device.

 

In addition, the foreign carrier's routing of that call to the AT&T voicemail system may generate an outgoing call charge from your device's location to the U.S.

 

These charges apply even if the caller disconnects from the voicemail system without leaving a message.

 

If your device is turned off or in flight mode and the wireless network is off:

 

When someone tries to call you, the call will go directly to your personal voicemail greeting.

 

Since the network does not try to deliver the call to you in a foreign country, there are no international roaming charges.

 

When receiving Visual Voicemail messages on your smartphone or Apple® iPhone®:

 

Visual Voicemail messages received when roaming outside of the U.S. will be charged at international roaming data rates, either at the international pay-per-use data rate or against your smartphone or iPhone international data package.

 

If cell data/data roaming is off this does not apply.

We have AT&T/Iphone and have had many messages left.

They (voicemail/messages) cannot be accessed until cell data and data roaming is turned back on.

We have done this for the last 4 years and have no issues.

[Colo Cruiser]

Great advice! I always turn my phone to airplane mode as soon as I'm on a cruise. I don' t want any crazy charges, and I also flip through what cellular data is on, in case I do use ship's wifi for the internet. Mostly everything gets turned off but it's kept me from nasty fee's. I love getting away from it all

 

So you don't have to manually go through and turn individual things off just turn cell data off. ;)

[redtogo]

"Wi-Fi Assist will tell your iPhone to switch over to a cellular connection when it deems Wi-Fi connectivity to be poor. It's a seamless and effective way to drop a weak-to-the-point-of-being-useless Wi-Fi signal."

[Nezmo]

If cell data/data roaming is off this does not apply.

We have AT&T/Iphone and have had many messages left.

They (voicemail/messages) cannot be accessed until cell data and data roaming is turned back on.

We have done this for the last 4 years and have no issues.

Correct. That's what the copy/paste from AT&T above states although it does not do it in a very clear way. Edited January 28, 2016 by Nezmo

[XBGuy]

I've found it effective to turn my phone off when I'm on a cruise. :eek:

[Thrak]

I've found it effective to turn my phone off when I'm on a cruise. :eek:

 

We have normally turned them off and put them in the safe but, with the advent of being able to check daily activities, message each other, and check our folio, we now leave them on but only have WiFi enabled.

[cruis247g]

I'm always the one to remind DH and our children to turn off their data. Ironically, guess who forgot for part of vacation last year? Yes, that would be me!

 

Thanks for the reminder:).

[damiross]

"Wi-Fi Assist will tell your iPhone to switch over to a cellular connection when it deems Wi-Fi connectivity to be poor. It's a seamless and effective way to drop a weak-to-the-point-of-being-useless Wi-Fi signal."

And just another way of Apple (and other companies) think they are helping you when in reality they aren't. My preference if for anything that may cost money be defaulted to the off position.

[Woobstr112G]

Just thought I'd mention this as I saw a lot of people last weekend who didn't do this...

 

As soon as you're out of range of a US port, put your phone in airplane mode, then turn wi-fi back on to access the ship's wi-fi.

 

If you don't, your phone will switch to the maritime cell service of the ship. Even if you don't make a call, you may have an app running in the background that tries fetching data, for which your carrier will charge you an arm and a leg. I learned this the hard way last month when I was charged twenty-some-odd dollars on my cell bill for a few hundred kilobytes of data.

 

If you need to leave your phone on cellular service for the possibility of receiving a call in an emergency, turn off roaming data, so you won't have any surprises a month after coming home.

 

Steve.

 

Sound advice sir......:):):)

 

Bob

[Pushka]

And just another way of Apple (and other companies) think they are helping you when in reality they aren't. My preference if for anything that may cost money be defaulted to the off position.

 

Agree. Getting annoyed with companies who assume we are idiots and they know best! Why this would be set as default and rather hidden is just plain annoying and unnecessary!

[redtogo]

Agree. Getting annoyed with companies who assume we are idiots and they know best! Why this would be set as default and rather hidden is just plain annoying and unnecessary!

 

The default setting for WiFi Assist is "on". It is a new feature with the update that I received in November or December. It was still in place with the 9.2.1 which I received this week.

 

Even if I turn my data off, WiFi Assist can turn data back on if WiFi Assist is in the on position. People reported huge data overages because they weren't aware of the new feature.

[easyboy]

Never thought of these. Thanks!

[SakeDad]

Living in Puerto Vallarta part time we have had no need to get a SIM card or international phone. We have Wifi Calling through Sprint. However not all carriers, or even phones, have this so you need to check. I can use my Android anywhere that I get wifi and as I have unlimited calling, text, data I never pay a fee for it. But I do have to make sure roaming is set to Home Only. As everywhere in PV has wifi it's quite easy to use for all data and texting or calling to the US with no charges! :D We used WhatsApp at first but the wifi calling has worked out much better for us.