Which internet package would be sufficient for texting?

[mickeychicky]

Anyone know which internet package would be good enough to accommodate texting for emergencies only?  Will have kids and elderly parents back home while on a cruise and need a way to be reached in case of an emergency.  Don't care about email or banking.  Premium WI-FI seems like more than I would need.

 

SOCIAL WI-FI   $8.50/day

Access the most popular social websites and applications. Includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Linkedin, Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, SnapChat and the most popular airline sites. Does not include access to most other websites or apps.

 

VALUE WI-FI   $11.05/day

Surf all your favorite sites, including e-mail, news, sports, weather, banking and finance. Note: Does not support Skype calling or music/video streaming (such as Spotify or Netflix).

 

PREMIUM WI-FI  $14.45/day

From e-mail to video calls, our Premium plan promises the fastest possible connection, at speeds up to 3 times faster than our Value Plan. Supports Skype, Zoom and Teams video calling, where coverage allows.

[ray98]

Are you planning to use an app?  Traditional texting works off of the cell service.

[staceyglow]

41 minutes ago, ray98 said:

Are you planning to use an app?  Traditional texting works off of the cell service.

This. You are going to need an app like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp if you want to text on the ship. 

[Cowboys4ever]

If you have an Iphone, imessages worked just fine with the Value Plan last month on the Breeze.  You can only message others with IPhones though. If you have an android or any of the people you want to message have android, I would go with What'sApp, its free and it works great with the Value plan as well. 

[Hoosierpop]

Get the social plan and then have anyone you want to text get WhatsApp. No need to get a higher plan if all you’re going to do is text.

[alyssamma]

4 hours ago, ray98 said:

Are you planning to use an app?  Traditional texting works off of the cell service.

I'm a little confused by this...I text off wifi whenever I'm on a ship.

 

5 hours ago, mickeychicky said:

Anyone know which internet package would be good enough to accommodate texting for emergencies only?

I've never had the social plan, but that should work fine. Like others have said, it depends on how you plan to text. You can text over wifi, you can "text" via an app (like messenger or whatsapp), and I *think* there is a way for iPhones to use the Carnival Hub app to text (Android user so not 100% sure of that)

[mz-s]

SMS is what I think of when I hear "texting" and SMS works over the cellular networks, not WiFi. Even if your carrier offers WiFi calling and texting, these services often will not work over ship WiFi systems so you rely on Cellular at Sea roaming.

 

SMS is very expensive when at sea using Cellular at Sea.

 

It is best to purchase the Social plan and use Facebook messenger etc for "texting" when at sea.

[alyssamma]

7 minutes ago, mz-s said:

SMS is what I think of when I hear "texting" and SMS works over the cellular networks, not WiFi. Even if your carrier offers WiFi calling and texting, these services often will not work over ship WiFi systems so you rely on Cellular at Sea roaming.

 

SMS is very expensive when at sea using Cellular at Sea.

 

It is best to purchase the Social plan and use Facebook messenger etc for "texting" when at sea.

Then you need to broaden your definition of texting 🙂 SMS is how texts originated for sure, but today, texting is much more expansive.

 

There is no need to use FB or anything else for texting. I have an Android and use the default Samsung messaging app to send texts over WiFi when I'm at sea. It's easy and free (other than the cost of the WiFi, of course).

 

While using FB Messenger or WhatApp is *also* fine, it requires the other user to have that too. With your normal messaging app, the other person just needs to have *any* app that can receive texts. To my knowledge, 100% of smartphones have this.

 

If you are unsure how to text over wifi, a single Google search will return a plethora of results showing you how.

 

[mz-s]

2 minutes ago, alyssamma said:

Then you need to broaden your definition of texting 🙂 SMS is how texts originated for sure, but today, texting is much more expansive.

 

There is no need to use FB or anything else for texting. I have an Android and use the default Samsung messaging app to send texts over WiFi when I'm at sea. It's easy and free (other than the cost of the WiFi, of course).

 

While using FB Messenger or WhatApp is *also* fine, it requires the other user to have that too. With your normal messaging app, the other person just needs to have *any* app that can receive texts. To my knowledge, 100% of smartphones have this.

 

If you are unsure how to text over wifi, a single Google search will return a plethora of results showing you how.

 

 

Samsung's messaging app will use RCS to other Android users, but to iPhone users it will fall back to SMS which will lead to roaming charges from Cellular at Sea correct? I am asking because I have never used it.

[alyssamma]

9 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

Samsung's messaging app will use RCS to other Android users, but to iPhone users it will fall back to SMS which will lead to roaming charges from Cellular at Sea correct? I am asking because I have never used it.

No. When I'm on a ship I put my phone in airplane mode so there is no cellular service. I then turn on wifi calling and my text messages will go over wifi. I text to both Android and iPhone users all the time when at sea...zero cost.

 

For an iPhone, it seems the steps are similar...

 

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204065#:~:text=If you turn on Wi,and turn on MMS Messaging.

 

From that link...(bolding added by me)

 

To send a message as iMessage or MMS, you need a cellular data or Wi-Fi connection. To send an SMS message, you need cellular network connection. If you turn on Wi-Fi Calling, you can send SMS messages over Wi-Fi.

[ObstructedView2]

Social Plan & use Facebook Messenger.

 

 

✌

[PelicanBill]

While @alyssamma is correct, the reality is most phone users do not have wifi calling turned on. So SMS Text messaging will not work in that case.

 

If you need to send SMS Text you must enable wifi calling on your phone before you leave on your cruise, and verify it works. You cannot turn it on once you leave your home service area. Sometimes you need help from your carrier to get it working. Test it by going into airplane mode, enabling Wifi and connecting, then see if you can make a phone call and send SMS text message.  

 

If you use Facebook messenger, or you all have Apple products and user imessage, or you use Whatsapp, etc. you can just rely on Wifi and don't need to enable Wifi Calling.

 

Also, be aware:  SMS Texting is notorious for delivery issues, especially when relayed through WiFi calling. If you don't get a reply in an expected timeframe, send it again.

[Hoosierpop]

So, back to the original question, the cheapest way to text back home is get the social package and either FB messenger or WhatsApp. Yes, that requires having messenger or WhatsApp. But downloading that seems cheaper than paying for a higher internet package. We always get the social package and works great for that.

[mz-s]

8 minutes ago, alyssamma said:

No. When I'm on a ship I put my phone in airplane mode so there is no cellular service. I then turn on wifi calling and my text messages will go over wifi. I text to both Android and iPhone users all the time when at sea...zero cost.

 

For an iPhone, it seems the steps are similar...

 

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204065#:~:text=If you turn on Wi,and turn on MMS Messaging.

 

From that link...(bolding added by me)

 

To send a message as iMessage or MMS, you need a cellular data or Wi-Fi connection. To send an SMS message, you need cellular network connection. If you turn on Wi-Fi Calling, you can send SMS messages over Wi-Fi.

 

I see, so you have WiFi calling turned on through your carrier. In the past WiFi calling wouldn't work for me at sea and was unreliable at home so I disabled it.

 

If you don't have WiFi calling turned on, SMS will rack up high roaming fees from Cellular at Sea (or if you are in airplane mode, it won't work at all).

[mz-s]

1 minute ago, Hoosierpop said:

So, back to the original question, the cheapest way to text back home is get the social package and either FB messenger or WhatsApp. Yes, that requires having messenger or WhatsApp. But downloading that seems cheaper than paying for a higher internet package. We always get the social package and works great for that.

 

Yes, and I know a lot of folks don't have facebook or whatsapp etc. But if you have to stay in touch during a cruise then it's not that big of a deal to create a profile just for this purpose. Saves a lot of money versus the alternatives.

[alyssamma]

6 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

I see, so you have WiFi calling turned on through your carrier. In the past WiFi calling wouldn't work for me at sea and was unreliable at home so I disabled it.

 

If you don't have WiFi calling turned on, SMS will rack up high roaming fees from Cellular at Sea (or if you are in airplane mode, it won't work at all).

Exactly.

 

To be clear, you only turn on WiFi calling so texting works...not to actually make wifi calls.

[mickeychicky]

36 minutes ago, alyssamma said:

Then you need to broaden your definition of texting 🙂 SMS is how texts originated for sure, but today, texting is much more expansive.

 

There is no need to use FB or anything else for texting. I have an Android and use the default Samsung messaging app to send texts over WiFi when I'm at sea. It's easy and free (other than the cost of the WiFi, of course).

 

While using FB Messenger or WhatApp is *also* fine, it requires the other user to have that too. With your normal messaging app, the other person just needs to have *any* app that can receive texts. To my knowledge, 100% of smartphones have this.

 

If you are unsure how to text over wifi, a single Google search will return a plethora of results showing you how.

 

This is how we do it on Royal, but with the three different packages on Carnival I was just curious if we needed just the basic or go higher.  Only one of us are going to get it since it's really just for emergency for those left behind. Thank you.

[mickeychicky]

Thank you for all the responses.

[alyssamma]

12 minutes ago, PelicanBill said:

If you need to send SMS Text you must enable wifi calling on your phone before you leave on your cruise, and verify it works.

This may be Android vs iPhone (I'm Android), but I have no problems turning wifi calling on in airplane mode. So no reason to enable it before your cruise.

 

13 minutes ago, PelicanBill said:

Also, be aware:  SMS Texting is notorious for delivery issues, especially when relayed through WiFi calling.

I have never experienced this issue. My wife and kids all do this on cruises and never had problems.

 

14 minutes ago, PelicanBill said:

While @alyssamma is correct, the reality is most phone users do not have wifi calling turned on. So SMS Text messaging will not work in that case.

This is technically true, but it's like saying most users don't have airplane mode turned on. When you go on a cruise, you have to change your phone's "normal" settings.

 

15 minutes ago, PelicanBill said:

If you use Facebook messenger, or you all have Apple products and user imessage, or you use Whatsapp, etc. you can just rely on Wifi and don't need to enable Wifi Calling.

100% true, and what I said above. However, the only problem with this is that it requires the other user to have that app. If some people have WhatsApp and the others have FB messenger, you can't do group texts, for example.

 

Also, if you need to text people for work, it may be more "formal" to use a normal text instead of FB.

 

That being said, it is definitely the easiest if everyone you want to talk to has the same app.

[alyssamma]

16 minutes ago, Hoosierpop said:

So, back to the original question, the cheapest way to text back home is get the social package and either FB messenger or WhatsApp

That's *a* way, not the *cheapest* way. Airplane mode + text over wifi is just as cheap and doesn't require anyone to download any apps.

[ray98]

1 hour ago, PelicanBill said:

Also, be aware:  SMS Texting is notorious for delivery issues, especially when relayed through WiFi calling. If you don't get a reply in an expected timeframe, send it again.

Exactly.  The reason I didn't mention it is because I don't know anyone who it works reliably for.  I am well aware of the wifi calling settings and how to use it in airplane mode.  My wife and I both have Samsung phones with Verizon and it only sporadically works on a ship.  Outgoing messages time out 75% of the time and at least 1/2 the incoming texts just get lost.  I was always getting 'you get that text I sent 2 hours ago' when nothing came through.  It is the same story with another 1/2 dozen couples we know who cruise regularly.  We all use other forms on the ship.

[alyssamma]

8 minutes ago, ray98 said:

Exactly.  The reason I didn't mention it is because I don't know anyone who it works reliably for.  I am well aware of the wifi calling settings and how to use it in airplane mode.  My wife and I both have Samsung phones with Verizon and it only sporadically works on a ship.  Outgoing messages time out 75% of the time and at least 1/2 the incoming texts just get lost.  I was always getting 'you get that text I sent 2 hours ago' when nothing came through.  It is the same story with another 1/2 dozen couples we know who cruise regularly.  We all use other forms on the ship.

I guess YMMV and maybe depends on carrier, ship, and where you are cruising. I've only used it in the Caribbean, but have had zero problems with it (and that goes for my family and the many friends we've sailed with).

 

Again, not doubting your experience, just saying it's the opposite of mine and everyone I know.