View Full Version : iphone and blackberries
beamteam
June 2nd, 2009, 08:31 AM
Has anyone used their iphone or Blackberries to send and receive emails in Alaska or the Caribbean? If so was it something that worked well? We have Verizon and the phone reception in differnet countries is spotty at best. Thanks
ladychar
June 2nd, 2009, 10:18 AM
Alaska is a state in the USA. My Blackberry worked fine there. I made sure I turned it off while on the ship to avoid the ship charges but turned it on as soon as I was off the ship in port and got my e-mail and made my calls.
Had no trouble using the Blackberry on the land portion of my visit.
Boytjie
June 2nd, 2009, 11:59 AM
I have used my Palm (first Treo, now Centro) to send and recieve emails on cruises in Alaska, Mexico and the Caribbean (first T-Mobile, now AT&T)
TampaMike
June 2nd, 2009, 12:25 PM
In the ports there is reasonably good cell access.
But as mentioned before, be sure your PDA/Smartphone is turned off onboard. The ships transponders will allow your phone to recieve data (email) if set to update automatically and that fee is expensive.
Before they added that service onboard the ships, I would leave my cell phone on to see email alerts. It was surprising to get a phone call in my cabin while sailing the coast and picking up the local cell areas (both US and CA). Now, the ship's system will cause your phone to passively access the signal and bill you, so you cannot 'scan' for shoreside signals when sailing onboard.
wxtrix
June 2nd, 2009, 01:11 PM
we used our iphones successfully in St. Thomas, but we didn't turn them on anywhere else because we didn't want to pay the roaming charges.
beamteam
June 2nd, 2009, 01:12 PM
Thanks, this has been so much help in making some choices. We need a new cell so are tring to decide between the iphone and the blackberry. WE travel and cruise quite a bit and do need to keep in touch with home.
Boytjie
June 2nd, 2009, 01:58 PM
Thanks, this has been so much help in making some choices. We need a new cell so are tring to decide between the iphone and the blackberry. WE travel and cruise quite a bit and do need to keep in touch with home.
For access on cruises etc. I don't think the type of phone matters as much as the phone carrier service.