Calling home...

[JandD Mom]

Hi everyone, I have another question for anyone who might know...

 

I read on a similar thread on another board that if your phone is on, and someone calls you but the call is unanswered, you get charged while on the ship. Most of the people who claimed this was the case seemed to have Cingular/At&T. I have Verizon.

 

I called Verizon today and the rep put me on hold and called their technical department that handles this. She got back on and told me that for Verizon, if people call me and I do not answer the phone there is no charge. (Of course, if I call voicemail, I will be charged for that). The lady assured me that she was making notes to my account about my concern and that advice, so in the event I do get charged for unanswered calls, there will be a record.

 

Does anyone have any insight into this?

[cherylandtk]

Correct, and if there is any confusion about which cell phone network you're on, you should be able to simply look at the main screen for your phone. It will say MCP if you're on the "ship's" network.

 

You can send PIX messages too, and if anyone knows how AT&T charges for text and other messages when you're on an international network, please post as I would like to know that too.

 

Roaming:

Calls Placed/Received

While in Princess Cruise Line AT&T Standard International Roaming $2.49AT&T World Traveler $2.49AT&T Canada $2.49AT&T Mexico $2.49Data Usage:All GPRS pay per use rates are $.0195/KB Text, Picture and

Video Messages:Send Text Message$0.50 per message sentSend Picture and Video Messages$1.30 per message sentReceive Text, Picture and Video MessagesHome pay-per-use or package rates apply to all text, picture or video messages received when roaming internationally. Please visit www.att.com for details.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Roaming:

Calls Placed/Received

While in Princess Cruise Line AT&T Standard International Roaming $2.49AT&T World Traveler $2.49AT&T Canada $2.49AT&T Mexico $2.49Data Usage:All GPRS pay per use rates are $.0195/KB Text, Picture and

Video Messages:Send Text Message$0.50 per message sentSend Picture and Video Messages$1.30 per message sentReceive Text, Picture and Video MessagesHome pay-per-use or package rates apply to all text, picture or video messages received when roaming internationally. Please visit www.att.com for details.

Thanks, you saved me a call to 611 today. We're traveling internationally in a couple of weeks, and plan to use the messaging feature. We're already part of a package for messages received.

[soos1]

with AT&T you can actually add an international texting package for $10 a month and you get 100 texts. any overage is billed at .25 cents each.

 

Once you are in port, international roaming is .99 cents per minute, in Mexico at least.

[barbdea]

mrcamp: we are going on the Crown in May - would you be kind enough to let us know if you were able to use your cell when you go? Or if you have any additional info as to when the Crown will have this capability? Thanks in advance!

[EricJ]

I forgot to add..

 

The Verizon rep also told me it's best to update the roaming codes for every new place. For instance, when the ship is out to sea, update the codes. Then when we call at the first port, update again.

 

On Verizon, to update the roaming codes you dial *228 on your cel phone and follow the prompts. I am not sure what it is with other carriers.

 

Does anyone have any info on this process and if it's really necessary?

I don't think that's good advice. You should only call *228 when you're in a Verizon home area. It connects to the Vz network and downloads Vz roaming agreements and preferences into the handset. I would at least verify the instructions you received with another rep (or two).

[JandD Mom]

I don't think that's good advice. You should only call *228 when you're in a Verizon home area. It connects to the Vz network and downloads Vz roaming agreements and preferences into the handset. I would at least verify the instructions you received with another rep (or two).

 

 

Actually, 2 separate reps told me to do the same thing. They said that's how it loads the codes for the local towers. I thought it sounded odd to me too!

[EricJ]

OK, then the smart money is on the two employees who are supposed to know, as opposed to the one anonymous goofball (me) who just thinks he knows. I hope they are right and you don't end up making a $2.99 call to a wrong number.

[caribill]

If you are on a ship with wireless tower, what happens if you want to use your cell phone on the ship in a port such as Fort Lauderdale?

 

Does it use the expensive ship connection or the normal land provider you have subscribed to?

[JandD Mom]

OK, then the smart money is on the two employees who are supposed to know, as opposed to the one anonymous goofball (me) who just thinks he knows. I hope they are right and you don't end up making a $2.99 call to a wrong number.

 

 

Actually, most of the time, the anonymous goofball is more reliable than the Verizon reps! :D

[PescadoAmarillo]

Does it use the expensive ship connection or the normal land provider you have subscribed to?

The ship's service is generally turned off a certain distance off shore. In port, it would not be on. The only question I have is that when we have cruised on certain eastern/southern Caribbean itineraries, we have, on occasion, gotten service from some unknown island's cell tower. In that case, I suspect that we might also have service from the ship, and I really don't know which our phones would pick up, but if your service provider will say MCP when you turn the phone, that's the ship's service.

[mrcamp]

That's correct. Even though the ship's towere is on, in some cases, you will still be able to get signal from the port even up to 2 hrs. after leaving port of before getting to port. A GSM phone always shows whatever network you are on, on the display. On my last cruise my phones were aalways just going back/forth between ship and port network when we are close to the port. However, as already mentioned, once at port, the ship's signal should not show up.

 

The ship's service is generally turned off a certain distance off shore. In port, it would not be on. The only question I have is that when we have cruised on certain eastern/southern Caribbean itineraries, we have, on occasion, gotten service from some unknown island's cell tower. In that case, I suspect that we might also have service from the ship, and I really don't know which our phones would pick up, but if your service provider will say MCP when you turn the phone, that's the ship's service.

[mrcamp]

According to this schedule, crown is sometime on Q1. Of course, nothing is guaranteed.

http://mcp.com/protu_coverage.php

 

mrcamp: we are going on the Crown in May - would you be kind enough to let us know if you were able to use your cell when you go? Or if you have any additional info as to when the Crown will have this capability? Thanks in advance!

[barbdea]

According to this schedule, crown is sometime on Q1. Of course, nothing is guaranteed.

 

http://mcp.com/protu_coverage.php

 

Thanks, hopefully we'll have it in May!

[soos1]

so at this point the Golden is the only Princess ship that has their own tower? I guess its good to have it for emergency purposes, which, at $2.50 a minute is about all I could use it for!

 

Sue

[mrcamp]

Actually the Grand has always had it. However, it was provided by another company "cellular at sea". So, who knows if they will be switching it over to this new company.

 

so at this point the Golden is the only Princess ship that has their own tower? I guess its good to have it for emergency purposes, which, at $2.50 a minute is about all I could use it for!

 

Sue