Texting/Wifi Question from Luddite

[Arrowinc]

I know that this has probably been asked and answered many times before, but will ask again with apologies in advance.

 

My wife and I are boarding Rotterdam this Sunday, 2/18, for a one-week Southern Caribbean cruise, which will include stops at Aruba and Curacao.  Our package includes ship's WiFi.  Our cell service is provided by ATT, with some sort of weird arrangement including Bellsouth and Yahoo that is utterly confusing to this old man.  My attempts to access ATT are greeted by the, "you have tried to log on too many times with the incorrect password message."  Upon obtaining a new password from ATT, it is necessary to then deal with Bellsouth and Yahoo, which do not communicate well with anybody.   

 

Anyway  -- since we have ship's WiFi, can it be used for texting as well without additional charge?  I am aware that the Wifi is turned off within a certain distance from ports.  Does anybody know just how we will be charged for texting in port?  We really don't need cellphone (i.e. voice service), unless it's an emergency, in which event we we will bite the bullet and pay for it.  

 

Thanks (and apologies) in advance.

[Seasick Sailor]

46 minutes ago, Arrowinc said:

I know that this has probably been asked and answered many times before, but will ask again with apologies in advance.

 

My wife and I are boarding Rotterdam this Sunday, 2/18, for a one-week Southern Caribbean cruise, which will include stops at Aruba and Curacao.  Our package includes ship's WiFi.  Our cell service is provided by ATT, with some sort of weird arrangement including Bellsouth and Yahoo that is utterly confusing to this old man.  My attempts to access ATT are greeted by the, "you have tried to log on too many times with the incorrect password message."  Upon obtaining a new password from ATT, it is necessary to then deal with Bellsouth and Yahoo, which do not communicate well with anybody.   

 

Anyway  -- since we have ship's WiFi, can it be used for texting as well without additional charge?  I am aware that the Wifi is turned off within a certain distance from ports.  Does anybody know just how we will be charged for texting in port?  We really don't need cellphone (i.e. voice service), unless it's an emergency, in which event we we will bite the bullet and pay for it.  

 

Thanks (and apologies) in advance.

 

I was onboard Rotterdam for 5 weeks (home on Jan 16) I used both texting and emails on my Samsung notebook as well as using my cellphone. I was able to access the ships wifi 24/7. Many of the ports have free wifi. 

[CruiserBruce]

The Wifi is not turned off close to port, the ship's cellular antenna is. You can access the internet via wifi while docked. At the dock, you will be able to access local cell phone antennas, which may incur international charges for calls, texts or data, depending on your plan. To avoid these charges, leave international roaming off...a standard default setting, and leave your phone in airplane mode.

[dawei]

I see that ATT, like my own cellphone carrier T-Mobile, also offers free texting from a large number of international locations including most of the Caribbean.

Suggest you Google something like "AT&T offer free international texting?" Then you can verify that your cell plan is one of those for which ATT offers free intl. texting.

To prepare for a cruise, I look up each country on the T-Mobile cruising webpages and make a list of countries where free texting is offered and take it with me.

When we dock at one of those ports, I turn off Airplane mode on my phone and get a welcome text from TMO indicating that I have free texting from that county.

Meanwhile, WIFI on the ship or in a port is for internet browsing and/or e-mailing, not for texting.

Does this help any?

 

David

[dawei]

Another thought is that because your package includes ship's WIFI (if you mean a WIFI package), that means you can access the internet while at sea to send/receive e-mails, browse the internet and, if your included package is HAL's top level, also conduct video chats with folks back home.

[Torquer]

2 hours ago, Arrowinc said:

Anyway  -- since we have ship's WiFi, can it be used for texting as well without additional charge?  I am aware that the Wifi is turned off within a certain distance from ports.  Does anybody know just how we will be charged for texting in port?  We really don't need cellphone (i.e. voice service), unless it's an emergency, in which event we we will bite the bullet and pay for it. 

The answer is, maybe.  Texting will always work over a cellular connection which you will not have on the cruise.  For texting over wifi it becomes more complex.  Some smaller carriers, for example Republic Wireless, support both voice and text over wifi seamlessly.  AT&T itself does not, but you mention Bellsouth and Yahoo, so I really don't know about that.  I understand that iPhones may have this capability, but I am an Android user and my phone does not have it.

 

The best thing would probably be to do a test.  Turn off the cell radio on your phone, but leave your wifi on.  Then try to send a text and have someone text you back and see if it works.  If it works over wifi at home, it will work anywhere in the world.

[Mary229]

For texts between you and your wife while onboard you can use the HAL Navigator app.   My cell phone operates normally, at no additional cost, in the Caribbean.  Of course you can find a dead zone anywhere but in the cities you should have no problem.  Check with AT&T about their international usage costs.  

[The-Inside-Cabin]

There are two main types of text messages and its important to know the difference.

 

SMS and Wifi based texing  (Imessage or WhatsApp or similar WiFi or cell data based text)

 

More here

https://www.xfinity.com/hub/mobile/difference-between-imessages-and-sms-messages

 

SMS Text  (Short Message Service)  .   While on the ship, you will be able to access the Cellular at Sea network.    SMS messages are usually GREEN when you see them as opposed to BLUE for a IMessage

 

ATT charges 50 cents to send a SMS text from the ship and $1.30 to send a SMS  text with a picture over this network from the ship.

 

IMessage is Apples wifi texting service.  If you are using an Android, three good choices for WiFi texting are WhatsApp,  Facebook Messenger, Google Messages, Signal or Airmesage.  You can also use these services on a Iphone.

 

Since you have a ship's wifi plan - you will be able to send Imessages, Whats app or similar using your Wifi plan at no additional charge.   

 

Many messaging apps have an option to send a Imessage via SMS if a WiFi connection is not available.   In your settings you will see an option "send as SMS"  this will send the text as an SMS automatically if wifi is not available.  

 

If the message goes off via SMS at sea - you pay the 50 cents with ATT.  If you use WiFi - no extra  charge.

 

The simplest way to avoid the 50 cent charge at sea and still use wifi - is to turn on Airplane mode - this turns off EVERYTHING - Then select only Wifi  - this will leave your cell connection off but let you use WiFi - 

 

While inport - and you are using the local cell service, you charge will depend on the specifics of you cell plan.    Check your cell plan - look for international texting.  

 

Edited February 17, 2022 by The-Inside-Cabin

[POA1]

If your phone supports WiFi calling and text, then you can definitely text over the ship's WiFi. You have to turn on WiFi calling beforehand.

 

As always, test from home first. Put your phone into airplane mode. (This turns all the radios off.) Next, turn on WiFi and connect to the internet. (Cellular radio is off but 802.11 radio is on.)

 

Now try texting. Then try calling.

[dawei]

Brian--Assuming a phone does support WIFI calling/txting, does this mean that you have access to no charge texting onboard even without an internet pkg with HAL?

[dawei]

Come to think about it, I'm sure the answer to my question is no, since connecting to the internet requires having an internet pkg with HAL in addition to connecting with the ship's wireless network.

[CruiserBruce]

56 minutes ago, dawei said:

Come to think about it, I'm sure the answer to my question is no, since connecting to the internet requires having an internet pkg with HAL in addition to connecting with the ship's wireless network.

You answered your own question correctly. 

[IPB4IGO]

6 hours ago, Torquer said:

The best thing would probably be to do a test.  Turn off the cell radio on your phone, but leave your wifi on.  Then try to send a text and have someone text you back and see if it works.  If it works over wifi at home, it will work anywhere in the world.

We have AT&T cellular service. At home, I can put our Android phone in airplane mode and make phone calls using Wi-Fi Calling and send and receive text messages as well. When we were on the Zuiderdam last month, neither texting nor Wi-Fi calling worked. We had the premium Internet plan. Others on the ship reported the same issue.

 

[IPB4IGO]

4 hours ago, POA1 said:

If your phone supports WiFi calling and text, then you can definitely text over the ship's WiFi. You have to turn on WiFi calling beforehand.

 

As always, test from home first. Put your phone into airplane mode. (This turns all the radios off.) Next, turn on WiFi and connect to the internet. (Cellular radio is off but 802.11 radio is on.)

 

Now try texting. Then try calling.

It didn't work when we were on the Zuiderdam last month, using the premium Internet plan. It works fine at home.

A little Googling suggests that the ship may have been blocking UDP ports 500, 4500,  or TCP 143 ports, but that's just speculation.

[dawei]

Dave,  thanks for posting your onboard experience (and that of others) trying unsuccessfully to use WIFI calling/texting. Good to know.

 

David 

[quilty964]

We got the internet "middle" internet package.  We have consumer cellular.  Used Facebook's "Messenger" for our messaging.  I think you can also use it to make phone calls.  

[POA1]

16 hours ago, IPB4IGO said:

It didn't work when we were on the Zuiderdam last month, using the premium Internet plan. It works fine at home.

A little Googling suggests that the ship may have been blocking UDP ports 500, 4500,  or TCP 143 ports, but that's just speculation.

You're probably right. I didn't think of that.

 

I travel with my own two-sided router and port swap common blocked ports. I was able to make phone calls and send/recv texts. I could not recv phone calls though and call quality was tinny sounding.

 

I forget that everyone's not a geek. Thanks for the correction!

[Arrowinc]

I wonder if it’s too late to ask my 12 year old grandson to join us to supply IT skills?!

 

Seriously, this has been a great help. Thanks very much for the advice.  

[br111]

Was just on Eurodam a few weeks ago with an ATT iPhone. Not sure if you have an iPhone or not, but I can confirm texting over the ship's WiFI works great if you're texting with another iPhone since Apple uses the internet (rather than cell service) to send texts between iPhones. Not sure it would have worked if I had tried texting a non-iPhone.

 

[IPB4IGO]

On 2/18/2022 at 9:16 AM, POA1 said:

I travel with my own two-sided router and port swap common blocked ports. I was able to make phone calls and send/recv texts. I could not recv phone calls though and call quality was tinny sounding.

Now, that's a good idea. I'll try it on our next cruise.

 

Another reason to spend cruise time doing "important computer stuff", as I tell my wife. And an excuse to dig out my travel routers from our RV days or, better yet, to buy a new one!

[The-Inside-Cabin]

On 2/17/2022 at 5:05 PM, IPB4IGO said:

It didn't work when we were on the Zuiderdam last month, using the premium Internet plan. It works fine at home.

A little Googling suggests that the ship may have been blocking UDP ports 500, 4500,  or TCP 143 ports, but that's just speculation.

 

On 2/18/2022 at 9:16 AM, POA1 said:

You're probably right. I didn't think of that.

 

I travel with my own two-sided router and port swap common blocked ports. I was able to make phone calls and send/recv texts. I could not recv phone calls though and call quality was tinny sounding.

 

I forget that everyone's not a geek. Thanks for the correction!

Would using WhatsApp to make a WhatsApp voice call be a work around to this port blocking?  Or are these the ports used for any VOIP call regardless or application?  (Not sure I said that right, but I think you will understand what I am getting at)

[POA1]

1 hour ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

 

Would using WhatsApp to make a WhatsApp voice call be a work around to this port blocking?  Or are these the ports used for any VOIP call regardless or application?  (Not sure I said that right, but I think you will understand what I am getting at)

Your solution makes perfect sense, but I think you'd need a port sneak.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

On 2/18/2022 at 9:16 AM, POA1 said:

You're probably right. I didn't think of that.

 

I travel with my own two-sided router and port swap common blocked ports. I was able to make phone calls and send/recv texts. I could not recv phone calls though and call quality was tinny sounding.

 

I forget that everyone's not a geek. Thanks for the correction!

How do you do that?  Is Port Forwarding another name for port swap?  I have the TP-link N300.   

[The-Inside-Cabin]

On 2/17/2022 at 5:05 PM, IPB4IGO said:

It didn't work when we were on the Zuiderdam last month, using the premium Internet plan. It works fine at home.

A little Googling suggests that the ship may have been blocking UDP ports 500, 4500,  or TCP 143 ports, but that's just speculation.

I just successfully completed a wifi call on the Zuiderdam doing nothing special.  We are halfway between the mainland and Hawaii.    I have the premium internet package FWIW

[IPB4IGO]

21 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

I just successfully completed a wifi call on the Zuiderdam doing nothing special.  We are halfway between the mainland and Hawaii.    I have the premium internet package FWIW

Do you have an Android or an Apple phone?

 

When I was on the Zuiderdam, Apple users reported successfully making Wi-Fi calls while we Android users could not.