Advice on WhatsApp vs Facetime/imessage

[Bluewake]

While on a cruise, I always get the ship wifi plan to use with my laptop for work related things but - once or twice a cruise - I want to check in with family back at home without the inevitable delay of sending an email and waiting to hear back. On some ships I've able to use my iphone to imessage and Facetime with family members who also have iphones when I'm connected to the free shipboard wifi.  However, that only seems to work on some ships, not all.  Even stranger is that, when we were on Adventure of the Seas a few months ago, something came up at home and, for a while, I was easily able to imessage and Facetime with family several times when connected to the ship's free wifi. However, that suddenly stopped working about the fifth day way of the cruise.  I guess the alternative is just to pay for a two device plan so I can use both my laptop and iphone throughout the cruise but I'm still not sure that I'd be able to use imessage and Facetime whenever I want.  A friend suggested that I don't need a two-device plan. All I need to do is to download Whatsapp to my windows laptop and, since that device will be connected to the ship's wifi plan, I'd be able to use it to instantly communicate via texts or calls with family (they have iphones) whenever I needed to do so.  All we have to do is to link the laptop and iphone before we leave home.  Any tech savvy persons on CC who can advise me on the best option?  Is Whatsapp "the way to go"....or not?  Much appreciated!

 

 

 

Edited September 13 by Bluewake

[Airbear232]

2 hours ago, Bluewake said:

While on a cruise, I always get the ship wifi plan to use with my laptop for work related things but - once or twice a cruise - I want to check in with family back at home without the inevitable delay of sending an email and waiting to hear back. On some ships I've able to use my iphone to imessage and Facetime with family members who also have iphones when I'm connected to the free shipboard wifi.  However, that only seems to work on some ships, not all.  Even stranger is that, when we were on Adventure of the Seas a few months ago, something came up at home and, for a while, I was easily able to imessage and Facetime with family several times when connected to the ship's free wifi. However, that suddenly stopped working about the fifth day way of the cruise.  I guess the alternative is just to pay for a two device plan so I can use both my laptop and iphone throughout the cruise but I'm still not sure that I'd be able to use imessage and Facetime whenever I want.  A friend suggested that I don't need a two-device plan. All I need to do is to download Whatsapp to my windows laptop and, since that device will be connected to the ship's wifi plan, I'd be able to use it to instantly communicate via texts or calls with family (they have iphones) whenever I needed to do so.  All we have to do is to link the laptop and iphone before we leave home.  Any tech savvy persons on CC who can advise me on the best option?  Is Whatsapp "the way to go"....or not?  Much appreciated!

 

 

 

Your friend is right, get them to show you, it’s easy. 

[smokeybandit]

Just note that you have to "pair" your phone's whatsapp to the windows app. So do that right before the ship leaves to make sure you are logged into the windows whatsapp with just one device.

Now you might not need both devices online at once to do that, I can't remember. You may want to play around with that before the cruise.

[GTO-Girl]

We have AT&T as our cell phone carrier.  We purchase the ship’s WiFi pkg…..turn on airplane mode…..turn on WiFi calling and then use our phone for calls and text just like we were at home.

 

we have been doing this for about 10yrs.  In fact it was an AT&T rep that told us how to do it…

[RobInMN]

1 hour ago, GTO-Girl said:

We have AT&T as our cell phone carrier.  We purchase the ship’s WiFi pkg…..turn on airplane mode…..turn on WiFi calling and then use our phone for calls and text just like we were at home.

 

we have been doing this for about 10yrs.  In fact it was an AT&T rep that told us how to do it…

In the last few years, we've converted over to using RCS rather than the older SMS texting. However, in our experience, regular SMS texting seems to work much better than RCS on cruise ships (an internationally).  RCS chats will sometimes convert to SMS screwing things up and if they stay as RCS, the delivery can be very delayed (even by days).

We have switched to using WhatsApp exclusively when traveling outside of the country. Both between ourselves as well as with those back home. WhatsApp is also how some friends of ours who are retired and traveling all over the world a month to 3 at a time are keeping in contact with people.

We have had zero issues with WhatsApp no matter where we have travelled. It seems to be the most widespread and stable communications platform.

Also, if you are in Star class, your Genie will want to use WhatsApp to communicate with you. 

[Sunshine3601]

We have used Whatsapp for a couple of years now and works great at sea and on land.

[dbancroft]

We may be old school but we always use Viber it works well for us to call and text and send pics.

[brillohead]

You don't need to get a 2-device plan.... just get a 1-device plan and log off your computer, then log on with your phone to make calls, then log off the phone and log on the computer when you want to work again.

You can use unlimited devices on a 1-device plan, but you can only use ONE AT A TIME.... logging on with a different device bumps off the first device.  

[brillohead]

Also, make sure you enable WiFi calling on your phone while you're at home -- you don't need iMessage or FaceTime or WhatsApp -- just use regular calling and texting just like you do at home.

[lovesthebeach2]

I agree to what @brillohead wrote and wanted to add that I use messenger for talk and video calls to my daughter because she doesn’t have an iPhone. Both the video quality and phone connection is just as good as home, and actually I never use FaceTime at home either.

[brillohead]

4 hours ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

I agree to what @brillohead wrote and wanted to add that I use messenger for talk and video calls to my daughter because she doesn’t have an iPhone. Both the video quality and phone connection is just as good as home, and actually I never use FaceTime at home either.

I have crappy cell signal at my house (but my signal is fine a block from home!)... I use WiFi calling at all times, and never have any trouble with dropped calls, iffy connections, etc.  

I learned about WiFi calling on this message board probably half a dozen years ago, and have been using it ever since.  I never turn it off, and anytime I'm anywhere with a WiFi connection (at work, at my folks' house, at friends' houses, etc.), my phone just automagically routes my calls through whichever connection (cell or WiFi) is the strongest in that location.

[Bluewake]

10 hours ago, brillohead said:

Also, make sure you enable WiFi calling on your phone while you're at home -- you don't need iMessage or FaceTime or WhatsApp -- just use regular calling and texting just like you do at home.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have Verizon and thought I'd be charged significant roaming fees if I make a call even when the ipone is configured for WiFi calling.  Am I incorrect?

[brillohead]

Just now, Bluewake said:

Thanks for the suggestions. I have Verizon and thought I'd be charged significant roaming fees if I make a call even when the ipone is configured for WiFi calling.  Am I incorrect?

I had Verizon when I initially activated WiFi calling years ago -- there is NO roaming charge because you're not actually roaming (using a cell tower outside of your normal network) -- you're just using the internet.  

I have service through Google Fi nowadays, and it works the same way.  

The system doesn't know/care that I'm in the middle of the ocean.... it just knows I'm on the internet and not using a cell tower.

[brillohead]

9 minutes ago, Bluewake said:

Thanks for the suggestions. I have Verizon and thought I'd be charged significant roaming fees if I make a call even when the ipone is configured for WiFi calling.  Am I incorrect?

 

Should have included to make sure you have your cell signal disabled when not in an "included" region (USA, Canada, Mexico).  

I always turn on Airplane Mode and then reactivate WiFi on the ship.  My phone will choose the strongest signal, so if I didn't disable my cell tower access, I could get roaming/data charges.  

 

[lovesthebeach2]

49 minutes ago, brillohead said:

I have crappy cell signal at my house (but my signal is fine a block from home!)... I use WiFi calling at all times, and never have any trouble with dropped calls, iffy connections, etc.  

I learned about WiFi calling on this message board probably half a dozen years ago, and have been using it ever since.  I never turn it off, and anytime I'm anywhere with a WiFi connection (at work, at my folks' house, at friends' houses, etc.), my phone just automagically routes my calls through whichever connection (cell or WiFi) is the strongest in that location.

We have a crappy signal at our house too, so we also keep wifi calling on all the time….but oddly occasionally I can’t get a signal at all , and I have to turn WiFi calling off in order to make a call, I  don’t know why it’s just my phone, hubby’s always works.

[brillohead]

3 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

We have a crappy signal at our house too, so we also keep wifi calling on all the time….but oddly occasionally I can’t get a signal at all , and I have to turn WiFi calling off in order to make a call, I  don’t know why it’s just my phone, hubby’s always works.

 

How often do you restart your phone?  Sometimes my phone will get wonky and I'll realize that I haven't rebooted it in ages and ages... now that I don't have a house phone anymore, I never turn my cell phone off, and sometimes I go for a couple weeks without rebooting it.

Anytime it starts acting funky, I reboot it and that usually fixes whatever problem I was having.

 

[ARandomTraveler]

1 hour ago, brillohead said:

 

Should have included to make sure you have your cell signal disabled when not in an "included" region (USA, Canada, Mexico).  

I always turn on Airplane Mode and then reactivate WiFi on the ship.  My phone will choose the strongest signal, so if I didn't disable my cell tower access, I could get roaming/data charges.  

 

I was just gonna mention this (making sure you're in airplane mode before making the calls, to ensure your phone is using wi-fi and not a cell phone tower).

 

If you have T-Mobile (at least certain t-mobile plans), you can use your phone almost everywhere in the world, not just US, Canada and Mexico. I'm able to use mine all over Europe, as well as Asia. I even made phone calls and used FaceTime in the middle of the South China Sea. No charge (using wifi of course). The LTE signal on land can sometimes be slow, but it's free (on T-Mobile).

Edited September 14 by ARandomTraveler

[lovesthebeach2]

1 hour ago, brillohead said:

 

How often do you restart your phone?  Sometimes my phone will get wonky and I'll realize that I haven't rebooted it in ages and ages... now that I don't have a house phone anymore, I never turn my cell phone off, and sometimes I go for a couple weeks without rebooting it.

Anytime it starts acting funky, I reboot it and that usually fixes whatever problem I was having.

 

I try to do it often, but forget sometimes…….that is until it acts up. But even in doing that I still need to turn off WiFi calling every so often. Not a big deal though. 

[Bluewake]

1. Thanks to everyone for the informative replies. I've learned a lot!   I have to admit that I did not realize I could switch back and forth between devices with the paid WiFi plan. For some reason, I thought that once I had logged in on my laptop, only that device could be used for the WiFi plan for the duration of the cruise. Now that I am aware of that, since I will always have an internet package, sounds like I have three options to reach family at home other than email:  (1) log out of my laptop and then log in on my iphone when I need to use it to text or Facetime home  (2) use the phone link app on my windows PC to text home (3) download Whatsapp to use as a potential backup if the other options are not working.  Much appreciated🙂

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, Bluewake said:

log out of my laptop and then log in on my iphone when I need to use it to text

The texting function on the phone may work without using the Voom package. 

[brillohead]

13 hours ago, Bluewake said:

(3) download Whatsapp to use as a potential backup if the other options are not working.

 

Just be aware that everyone you want to contact would also need to be signed up with Whatsapp ahead of time.  It doesn't work as a stand-alone texting/calling option, only within the program itself.

[Bluewake]

7 hours ago, brillohead said:

 

Just be aware that everyone you want to contact would also need to be signed up with Whatsapp ahead of time.  It doesn't work as a stand-alone texting/calling option, only within the program itself.

 Thanks for the reminder.  Will do!