Verizon in Mexico

[wlbox]

We have included service in Mexico on our Verizon plan. But not on ship. Do we iPhone in airplane mode on ship but turn it off on land?  Not sure how things work. Thanks for information 

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

If you have the ship's WiFi you will go to airplane mode and then turn on WiFi and log into the ships WiFi.  It's best to enable WiFi calling at home just to make sure it works.  You should be able to do everything (text, call, surf web, etc) using just the ship's WiFi.  We have done it many times and other than being slow to upload photos attached to text it works fine.  Not sure how Verizon works on land in MX.  We have ATT and it works the same as in the US.  

[Mike45LC]

I keep my phone in airplane mode until I am actually on land.  Then, I turn the airplane mode off and use the phone to check my voice mail messages on my office phones, and otherwise take care of business.  I go back to airplane mode as I board the ship again.

 

I have used the phone off of airplane mode sitting on my balcony in Cabo, and did not get any nasty billing surprises, but I am very leery of this.

 

[Starlight Durban Cruising]

On 12/14/2023 at 4:41 AM, wlbox said:

We have included service in Mexico on our Verizon plan. But not on ship. Do we iPhone in airplane mode on ship but turn it off on land?  Not sure how things work. Thanks for information 

I am on Verizon and have used my US service on land trips and cruises (in the ports!!) in Mexico, so hopefully I can help guide you in a slightly different way.

 

For a land trip to Guadalajara two years ago I turned the phone on as we left GDL airport (and turned airplane mode off). It needed to be on so it could connect to the local cellular service. Verizon immediately sent me a message via the local service to say "Cellular and data is now active for the next 24 hours in MX", and they charged the US$5 day's plan fee to my account. [Before I left the US I had activated the relevant international service plan of $5 per day for MX on my Verizon account which allowed me to use my US call and data plan there]. We made calls locally to the apartment host, and used data occasionally to order Uber service around the city. It worked really well. As soon as I was at the apartment I would put the phone in Airplane mode, and connect on the apartment's free wi-fi. That would avoid my daily service auto-renewing 24 hours later on the Verizon account. During the 7 day period I only had 5 days of $5 charges from Verizon. Those fewer days were only because when leaving the apartment we would order the Uber via the apartment's wifi and then as soon as car was close we would go down to the street. In that way the phone was already in airplane mode so if the prev day's 24 hour cycle had already expired, then it would only "renew" if we needed to catch a car back later in the day from another part of the city; then we would turn airplane mode off, activate the daily plan, and use the cellular or data until we got back to the apartment, thereafter put phone back on airplane mode and turn wifi back on again... As I say it worked well. 

 

Last year's cruise to Puerto Vallarta MX, on the main road outside the port, the phone struggled to connect to the local cellular service for data (Uber) or calls when I turned airplane mode off, so we used a regular taxi to get into downtown instead. Strangely once we were in downtown it connected just fine to the local service, and we were able to use data to order Uber around the downtown (Malecon) area and back to ship.

 

Once back at the ship, it is crucial to put the phone back in airplane mode so it does not auto-connect to the ships service !!! If you turn your phone off, or put it in the safe once back onboard, then make sure to check the next morning when you next need it onboard that it has not done an auto-restart overnight and automatically turned your airplane mode OFF. I've hear of that happening to some ppl !!! 

 

Onboard ship it's Airplane mode ON, and WIFI mode ON - well that's unless you want to connect to cellular service onboard although that will be pricey. Please also remember that if you connect to the ship's wifi and you purchased an "X minutes plan", then you should log-out of their service as soon as done so you can save your minutes.. You don't want to turn on a 300 minute plan, use it for 10 minutes and then the next day find that the other 290 minutes have run out because the ship's clock was live all that time.

 

I don't watch movies online, but did use Skype/Zoom/Teams and work email on the ship last year and it worked perfectly fine.

 

Enjoy the cruise.

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

On 12/17/2023 at 6:05 AM, Starlight Durban Cruising said:

 

Once back at the ship, it is crucial to put the phone back in airplane mode so it does not auto-connect to the ships service !!!

There are plenty of warnings before that happens it's not automatic.  But always a good idea to be in airplane mode and only connect to WiFi while on the ship.  

[Starlight Durban Cruising]

We were on MX cruise again this week and sometimes we had success with local cell and internet service and sometimes not. In Mazatlan specifically (as with PV last year), on this trip we were able to connect to internet for Uber on 2 of the 3 trips that day, but the final one to get from downtown back to cruise ship it was repeatedly not getting an internet connection so we could not order Uber back to the ship. Gave up eventually and just got a Pulmonia for US$8.00 for 3 ppl back to the ship.

[carohs]

On 1/7/2024 at 10:45 PM, Starlight Durban Cruising said:

We were on MX cruise again this week and sometimes we had success with local cell and internet service and sometimes not. In Mazatlan specifically (as with PV last year), on this trip we were able to connect to internet for Uber on 2 of the 3 trips that day, but the final one to get from downtown back to cruise ship it was repeatedly not getting an internet connection so we could not order Uber back to the ship. Gave up eventually and just got a Pulmonia for US$8.00 for 3 ppl back to the ship.

Ya we found Mazatlan was def not on 5g. And my map/gps wasn't quite accurate. $8 seems very reasonable, was there a benefit to Uber and not going for the pulmonías in the first place?

[Starlight Durban Cruising]

3 hours ago, carohs said:

Ya we found Mazatlan was def not on 5g. And my map/gps wasn't quite accurate. $8 seems very reasonable, was there a benefit to Uber and not going for the pulmonías in the first place?

Yeah, $8 was reasonable, considering last year a Pulmonia driver charged us $10 back to the port in Mazatlan. Uber worked out cheaper as it was ~$2 per trip, plus the Verizon day-charge of $5 for MX, and at least it then pulled all my VMs and Texts at the same time when I connected.

[decrepit old man]

Going on a Mexican Riviera cruise from LA. Do ships sail close enough along the Mexican coast to pick up cell signal from time to time? Specifically on the way back from Cabo San Lucas to LA.  I will be using a Mexico eSim so no need to worry about accidentally connecting to the ship's satellite.

Edited January 31 by decrepit old man

[Mike45LC]

Hey, Old Man, I do not think that there is any cell service when the ship is sailing.  I always nag my wife into turning off her cell when the ship sets sail, because I do worry about connecting through the ship's system -- $$$ --  mucho dinero!!

[carohs]

You lose cell service fairly quickly once the ship sails away from land. And they do have to be far out enough to open the shops and casino. If you're far out enough for the casino to be open, you're too far for cell service. 

[Hlitner]

On 1/30/2024 at 6:12 PM, decrepit old man said:

Going on a Mexican Riviera cruise from LA. Do ships sail close enough along the Mexican coast to pick up cell signal from time to time? Specifically on the way back from Cabo San Lucas to LA.  I will be using a Mexico eSim so no need to worry about accidentally connecting to the ship's satellite.

The simple answer is NO!  Ships head out to sea (well beyond the sight of land) where there is no shore-side cell service.  As you near a port (to dock or tender) you should begin to get local cells somewhere inside of 10 miles (the range is best on the top deck).  

 

As far as Mexican cell providers, it is mostly two companies, Telcel and Movistar, both of which have so-so service ranging up to 5G.  Service has really improved in recent years, but is still not as reliable as what we get back in the States.

 

Hank

[moviegal]

Frequent Mexican Riviera cruiser and Verizon customer here. My tip to live by: always keep your phone in airplane mode if your ship is in motion and sailing. You'll get cell service when you're docked / anchored in port, and even as you start to sail away. But it's a good policy to toggle that airplane mode back on as soon as the ship begins to sail away from port if you want to avoid any surprise charges. Verizon service is great in port in Mexico, both for calls and internet.

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

On 1/30/2024 at 4:12 PM, decrepit old man said:

Going on a Mexican Riviera cruise from LA. Do ships sail close enough along the Mexican coast to pick up cell signal from time to time? Specifically on the way back from Cabo San Lucas to LA.  I will be using a Mexico eSim so no need to worry about accidentally connecting to the ship's satellite.

No the ships are to far out.  

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

On 2/2/2024 at 9:31 AM, Hlitner said:

The simple answer is NO!  Ships head out to sea (well beyond the sight of land) where there is no shore-side cell service.  

Agreed to far out for getting cel tower, but not out of sight of land.  We see cruise ships all the time.  Granted, not very close most times.  

[CruiserBruce]

On 1/30/2024 at 4:12 PM, decrepit old man said:

Going on a Mexican Riviera cruise from LA. Do ships sail close enough along the Mexican coast to pick up cell signal from time to time? Specifically on the way back from Cabo San Lucas to LA.  I will be using a Mexico eSim so no need to worry about accidentally connecting to the ship's satellite.

Much of the area between Ensenada and Cabo is uninhibited, so even if you are close (which you aren't), there probably are very few cell towers.

[Starlight Durban Cruising]

On 2/21/2024 at 12:28 PM, CruiserBruce said:

Much of the area between Ensenada and Cabo is uninhibited, so even if you are close (which you aren't), there probably are very few cell towers.

CruiserBruce and the others are right on this point; it looks close but really are far out from the coast, and very little in terms of towns and towers in between the main places like Ensenada and Cabo. Below are some non-zoomed pictures - closest to coast was as we came back up past Cabo, and that is still far out.