Texting on board?

[exlondoner]

1 minute ago, Tattycoram said:

I'm assuming neither you nor your wife is 16!

 

 

If they were, they would be on QA…Cunard hope.

[buchanan101]

22 hours ago, Tattycoram said:

Thank you, all!  I'm thinking one plan for me should be sufficient.

 

I do keep shocking my children with stories of how in the olden days my parents arranged to meet up with their wandering children at ski places or in cities:  Meet at the large pine tree at the base lodge at 4:05; be at the corner of Boylston and Clarendon by 5:30 and look for the car as I drive around the block depending on traffic; if you get lost, go back to the big flower arrangement in the lobby at the information desk.  I'm sure all of us over the age of 30--and I'm much older than 30!-- have similar tales to tell.

When you wanted picking up it was "ring home from a public phone and let it ring three times" for a pick up at pre-arranged location

 

[buchanan101]

13 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Unless you know something that I don't,  I'm just a Grey Haired  Silicon Valley Teckno Nerd Haker.  

 

I don't believe you can setup a HotSpot using Wifi.   For some reason Apple only allows HotSpot using Cellular.    I've also tried on a Android and worked the same way.   You can however setup a hotspot over Wifi on a PC and both connect to it but won't help outside the room.

 

Give it a try -  Put your phone in Airplane mode -  Connect to WiFi  -  you will find Hotspot is Grayed Out and Off.  

This is my understanding - my iphone can only set up a hotspot when it is on cellular.  

 

Hadn't thought about the laptop - OH is taking her laptop and I've only bought one internet package (as we were fine sharing on QM2 even in pre-Starlink days), but this may work well for us on her laptop.

[D&N]

1 hour ago, exlondoner said:

If they were, they would be on QA…Cunard hope.

QE2

[Kordy]

1 hour ago, buchanan101 said:

This is my understanding - my iphone can only set up a hotspot when it is on cellular.  

 

Hadn't thought about the laptop - OH is taking her laptop and I've only bought one internet package (as we were fine sharing on QM2 even in pre-Starlink days), but this may work well for us on her laptop.

 

Yes. You can share a wifi connection from a laptop - it can create a Hotspot for other devices out of a single internet package from Cunard.

 

However this is a lot less convenient than sharing out of a phone, which many Androids can do but iPhone can not ;-(

[david63]

I have seen mention elsewhere that in some cases using one device as a hotspot does not always work with Starlink

[Pushpit]

6 minutes ago, david63 said:

I have seen mention elsewhere that in some cases using one device as a hotspot does not always work with Starlink

Yes, Starlink does not use 2.4 Ghz, which is the usual band for sharing.

[Jim_Iain]

12 hours ago, vieux_carre said:

Cellular carriers differ with what they will and will not allow.  Additionally, there is the variable of if you have an eSIM or a physical SIM.

 

With the above caveats noted, I was able to do the following on my iPhone 14 Pro with an eSIM:

I didn’t put my phone in Airplane Mode.  Go into Settings, then Cellular.  Under my carrier name, I was able to toggle the first option “Turn on this line” to the off position.  This effectively disabled the cellular portion of my phone.  I was still able to then set up a hotspot and share my existing WiFi connection.

 

This may or may not work for you - I suspect that I have this ability since I am using an eSIM that can be switched off in software.  If your iPhone service is based on a physical SIM, try removing the SIM and see if you can set up a hotspot.  With the eSIM turned off or your physical SIM removed, you won’t incur any marine roaming charges.

 

I do realize that this scenario does not address the original question of being able to message shipwide, but does answer the recent point of setting up a WiFi hotspot from an iPhone to share the ship’s internet package with persons within range of your hotspot.

 

Thank... I definitely learned something new.    Just tried on my iPhone Pro Max with an eSim and as you said you can setup a hotpot over WiFi.     I have traditionally just setup one on my PC so we can connect multiple devices while in the room.  

 

Agree it would be useless for the OP as if they are sitting within BlueTooth range they could just talk to each other via voice.

[Kordy]

1 minute ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Thank... I definitely learned something new.    Just tried on my iPhone Pro Max with an eSim and as you said you can setup a hotpot over WiFi.     I have traditionally just setup one on my PC so we can connect multiple devices while in the room.  

 

Agree it would be useless for the OP as if they are sitting within BlueTooth range they could just talk to each other via voice.

 

It may appear that it does, but I don't think this actually works!  When I tried it on my iPhone 15 (also have an eSIM), it seems to let you "connect" to Wi-Fi, but there is no actual Internet connection being shared.

 

Can you actually confirm that the client phone is receiving Internet and can really browse the Internet?

 

Everything I know about Apple and iOS makes me think that the ONLY way to share an Internet connection is from a Cellular connection ONLY (via iOS Personal Hotspot feature), rather than share or offload an existing WIFI connection to other devices.   I am not aware of any workaround to make WIFI->WIFI sharing being supported on iOS.   It works on Android flagships!

[david63]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

they could just talk to each other via voice.

Do people still use that outdated form of communication?😂

[rakkor]

6 hours ago, Tattycoram said:

I'm assuming neither you nor your wife is 16!

 

I love that my daughter is planning to seek out quiet places to read or talk to people who might give her crochet advice (I'm a knitter) or go to a watercolor class without me!

 

On my last TA the knitters met up in the Corinthia Lounge at 14:00, and seemed a jolly bunch

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, david63 said:

Do people still use that outdated form of communication?😂

When I see my grand kids in action I swear they are texting each other while sitting next to them.

[Jim_Iain]

5 hours ago, Kordy said:

 

It may appear that it does, but I don't think this actually works!  When I tried it on my iPhone 15 (also have an eSIM), it seems to let you "connect" to Wi-Fi, but there is no actual Internet connection being shared.

 

Can you actually confirm that the client phone is receiving Internet and can really browse the Internet?

 

Everything I know about Apple and iOS makes me think that the ONLY way to share an Internet connection is from a Cellular connection ONLY (via iOS Personal Hotspot feature), rather than share or offload an existing WIFI connection to other devices.   I am not aware of any workaround to make WIFI->WIFI sharing being supported on iOS.   It works on Android flagships!

 

You are 100% correct.   I had not tried connecting and testing.    I just did and as you experienced I can connect to my hotspot but there is no connectivity.    I also tried pinging my router and Google and get a failure.  

[*Miss G*]

You mentioned that you both have iPhones, so no internet is required to text each other.  Just place your phones on airplane mode and connect to the ship’s intranet.  iMessage will work.  For free.

 

[Kordy]

10 minutes ago, *Miss G* said:

You mentioned that you both have iPhones, so no internet is required to text each other.  Just place your phones on airplane mode and connect to the ship’s intranet.  iMessage will work.  For free.

 

 

Really?  iMessage is free, without an Internet package being bought ?

Wow, thanks @*Miss G*, if this is true then this is AMAZING news!

 

Can someone else confirm?

Edited June 18 by Kordy

[*Miss G*]

18 minutes ago, Kordy said:

 

Really?  iMessage is free, without an Internet package being bought ?

 

Yes.  IMessage SMS texts only (blue bubble).  No pics, etc.  Make sure you turn on WiFi calling and iMessages, and have your phone in airplane mode.  This only works from iPhone to iPhone.  (Or iPad.)  It does not work if one of the parties has an android.

 

Edited June 18 by *Miss G*

[Kordy]

Just now, *Miss G* said:

 

Yes.  IMessage SMS texts only (blue bubble).  No pics, etc.  Make sure you turn on WiFi calling and have your phone in airplane mode.  This only works from iPhone to iPhone.  (Or iPad.)  It does not work if one of the parties has an android.

 

This sounds too good to be true... that it works without an Internet package being bought - I would love to hear more people confirm it.  Thank you !

[Tattycoram]

39 minutes ago, *Miss G* said:

You mentioned that you both have iPhones, so no internet is required to text each other.  Just place your phones on airplane mode and connect to the ship’s intranet.  iMessage will work.  For free.

 

WOW!!!!!

[*Miss G*]

1 hour ago, *Miss G* said:

 

Yes.  IMessage SMS texts only (blue bubble).  No pics, etc.  Make sure you turn on WiFi calling and iMessages, and have your phone in airplane mode.  This only works from iPhone to iPhone.  (Or iPad.)  It does not work if one of the parties has an android.

 

 

Ugh.  NOT SMS!  That’s the green bubble.  iMessage is the blue bubble.

 

But now that I’ve posted, I am second-guessing myself that it works on a Cunard ship.  They may not have those ports open.  The only way to know is to give it a try.  Can you report back?

[Dranuc2016]

Cunard has a simplistic website that is "always?" available through wifi, even if you don't buy internet access.  You have to log in to it.  I would like to have the ability to send direct messages to others in your party, that can see those messages when they log in to that simplistic website.

Then even without both people in the party having internet access, you could send a message

e.g.

"I am in the Queen's Room"

etc.

[exlondoner]

This all seems immensely difficult and tedious compared with simply arranging a time and place to meet. Surely that is simplest. And it is not like looking for someone in central London. Even QM2 is not really that big, although I do see it is possible to miss each other and walk round and round in circles.

Edited June 18 by exlondoner

[david63]

59 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

simply arranging a time and place to meet. Surely that is simplest.

Yes it probably is for many of us although when my wife tries that she is nowhere to be found because she cannot find the meeting place.

 

The other point is that the OP is talking about her daughter and as we all know youngsters these days cannot operate without their phones and they always manage to "forget" what they should be doing, where they should be doing it and at what time they should be doing it!

[exlondoner]

4 minutes ago, david63 said:

Yes it probably is for many of us although when my wife tries that she is nowhere to be found because she cannot find the meeting place.

 

The other point is that the OP is talking about her daughter and as we all know youngsters these days cannot operate without their phones and they always manage to "forget" what they should be doing, where they should be doing it and at what time they should be doing it!

Over many years of teaching, your second paragraph has not generally been my experience.

[Tattycoram]

2 hours ago, exlondoner said:

Over many years of teaching, your second paragraph has not generally been my experience.

I teach too.  I'm currently at a school that requires students to sign in their phones during the school day; they are great, alert students, but a new wrinkle arose when we were just on a phone-free field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan.  Only one student had anything as old-fashioned as a watch!  

 

[exlondoner]

10 hours ago, Tattycoram said:

I teach too.  I'm currently at a school that requires students to sign in their phones during the school day; they are great, alert students, but a new wrinkle arose when we were just on a phone-free field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan.  Only one student had anything as old-fashioned as a watch!  

 

Bless. And can they tell the time on a traditional clock with hands?