Phone usage

[Steelers0854]

I have heard of VPN services and see an option in the settings on my iPhone but that's about all I know about it. I never access a financial institute, but do occasionally shop on my phone so I think it would be good to know more about it. Is that something you can explain in non-technical terms? Is it an annual fee or pay as you use? How does it work in a foreign country?

 

 

I'd be happy to. The basic idea of a VPN is that it creates a secure tunnel from your device to the VPN service provider. So anyone on the wifi network that you are on only sees the encrypted tunnel that they are not able to penetrate and all of your browsing and Internet traffic is encrypted. It then gets decrypted as it leaves the tunnel at the VPN provider.

 

I don't want to recommend any one service provider over another but suffice it to say a little research online from reputable tech websites will point you in the right direction as far as service quality and price go. There are many options which are very user friendly and do all the hard work for you on the setup.

 

Yes most VPN providers charge a service fee although there are free ones out there. The biggest downside is the VPNs generally slow down your web traffic. If you are on the ships wifi and are trying to Skype or FaceTime the slow connection will get slower typically because of the VPN. There are service providers out there that have good track records of minimal degradation regarding speed.

 

That's more of a 10,000 foot overview and I hope up you find it helpful. Remember when your phone is on a wifi connection you generally have a lot of things going on in the background. You may not be entering your email password in directly but your email app may be transmitting it in the background.

 

Edited to add:

 

I just saw the foreign country question. In a foreign country you usually won't have any problems connecting. There are some countries that restrict VPN use, but for the most part it should work anywhere. Any website you visit will think that you and your phone are where the VPNs servers are. Some VPN services allow you to change which server you connect to, but others use the same server and don't allow you to change it.

Edited May 23, 2016 by Steelers0854

[JohnS43]

Some phones and some carriers allow you to make calls over wi-fi instead of over a cellular network. Is the ship's wi-fi able to handle calls made over wi-fi? If it is, you might save money by using this service if you've already purchased (or received) an internet minutes package.

[cruisingram1]

At several points during our cruise, my VZN phone said "VZW wifi " next to the wifi rainbow. I was able to make a wifi call to another cell phone back home. I happened to get that person's voicemail, but I think it would have gone through. But wifi calling was not available all the time. (I had set up wifi calling before our trip. )