I-Phone Rental Experiences?

I would love an i-phone, but really can't justify the monthly expense (at the moment!) :rolleyes: However, there are a lot of good reasons to have an i-phone while traveling. Not to mention, I think they're really cool :cool:.

Does anyone out there have experience with the companies where you can rent an i-phone? Please share all your tips!

Thanks!

I live in the US and will be cruising to Bermuda.

They are cool, but have a lot of downsides. If you're wanting it for internet and email, forget it. What you pay for data downloading is insanely expensive. When I first got my iPhone, I had no idea what it would cost for just checking email, and when I got home, the bill was for over $600---you can buy the iPhone for less than that. I've seen written reports of people coming home and having bills of over $2000. If you just want the phone for calling, you can get cheaper models than the iPhone. If you want it for all the apps and for internet and email, unless you have big pockets, I wouldn't recommend it.

Thanks kitty9. I would want to use it for travel apps, and internet for travel-related stuff. I don't intend to use a phone on vacation unless it's a serious emergency, and for that I already have a cell phone.

I was thinking it would be great to just be able to load apps on it at home, and access the apps while traveling without using any airtime. Is that possible?

Cool, you have broken down and bought into the koolaid from Jobs :D

Does a smartphone make sense, can, but the reality is that it is a convenience. One can really enjoy a vacation sans wifi, 3g, and wireless believe it or not. Nothing would make the wireless companies happer then for you to always want them "cool" stuff so you upgrade every year to the latest iphone.

If what you need is podcasts a 99 dollar shuffle works. If wifi is what you need/want a netbooks is a far better deal.

If you just want to look good, go to china as they got a lot of cheap ipod knocks offs that look cool and are cheap ;)

Seriously I don't believe there are any rentals, you got to buy and fork over a 2 year contract with expensive early termination if you want that cool looking phone. Don't fret, in 2 years

I would love an i-phone, but really can't justify the monthly expense (at the moment!) :rolleyes: However, there are a lot of good reasons to have an i-phone while traveling. Not to mention, I think they're really cool :cool:.

 

Does anyone out there have experience with the companies where you can rent an i-phone? Please share all your tips!

 

Thanks!

 

I live in the US and will be cruising to Bermuda.

I travel with my iPhone and use it a great deal in the US for data and for calls, but I have an employer paid for plan for that. I love the apps for travel.

I am very, very careful when using it outside of the US. I use apps that don't require an internet connection and very little data. Calls mainly related to my job.

I also have an ordinary cellphone for overseas travel and only 2 people have that number. Just for emergency situations.

Cool, you have broken down and bought into the koolaid from Jobs :D

 

Does a smartphone make sense, can, but the reality is that it is a convenience. One can really enjoy a vacation sans wifi, 3g, and wireless believe it or not. Nothing would make the wireless companies happer then for you to always want them "cool" stuff so you upgrade every year to the latest iphone.

 

If what you need is podcasts a 99 dollar shuffle works. If wifi is what you need/want a netbooks is a far better deal.

 

If you just want to look good, go to china as they got a lot of cheap ipod knocks offs that look cool and are cheap ;)

 

Seriously I don't believe there are any rentals, you got to buy and fork over a 2 year contract with expensive early termination if you want that cool looking phone. Don't fret, in 2 years

Alrighty then. :rolleyes:

There *are* rental companies, which is why I am asking people for their advice and experiences with them.

I just did a rental for a trip to DisneyWorld and really enjoyed it. The company advertises unlimited data for a fixed price, but I am not sure how that would work on a cruise ship.

Thanks kitty9. I would want to use it for travel apps, and internet for travel-related stuff. I don't intend to use a phone on vacation unless it's a serious emergency, and for that I already have a cell phone.

 

I was thinking it would be great to just be able to load apps on it at home, and access the apps while traveling without using any airtime. Is that possible?

Some cruise ship systems will not allow the wifi from the iPhone to be used on the ship. Not only that, but you're going to be spending a ton of money using the iPhone for internet access and if you use an app that requires you to be on the internet or wifi. Wifi, data roaming and all that with an iPhone is not free and the charges add up. The first generation iPhones did not have the capability to turn off data roaming, so people on cruises were using the phone for email and internet, and came home to bills as high as $2000. Download charges, even if you have local unlimited data downloading, add up very fast. I know that on one of the cruises where I used my brand new iPhone for email and short internet, I came home to a bill of nearly $700. An iphone is not good for getting your email or for surfing the net---it will cost you huge amounts of money.

wanderlust, using the rented iPhone in the US is totally different than using it out of the US. Charges on a cruise ship, and in foreign countries can be huge.

rental "i-phones", lol

wanderlust' date=' using the rented iPhone in the US is totally different than using it out of the US. Charges on a cruise ship, and in foreign countries can be huge.[/quote']

 

their site shows different pricing for USA vs Europe, and has specific pricing for cruise ships. I just don't understand how they can offer unlimited data for Europe and cruise ships.

They can offer the unlimited access in Europe and on cruise ships because it doesn’t cost them anything but you will also receive charges from the ships internet service provider and the services providers for the hotels and internet cafes in Europe.

Aunty Pat

Barefoot Windjammer - Phantom ‘81

K&D German Rhine Line ‘84

NCL - Norway ’85, Pride of America ’05, Southward ’87, Star ’97 & ‘05, Starward ’92, Sun ’02 & Windward ’93

RCCL - Song of America ‘89

American Hawaiian - Independence ‘98

HAL - Volendam ’99, Noordam ’06, Oosterdam ’07 & ‘09, Statendam ’02 & ‘08, Prinsendam ’03 & ’06, Westerdam ‘09 & Zuiderdam ’04, ’06 & ’07

Carnival - Spirit ‘05

Celebrity – Summit ‘05

Cruise West - Yorktown Clipper ‘06

Princess - Golden Princess ‘07

A & K - East Queen ‘07

Cunard - QM2 ’08

Crystal – Serenity ‘09

They are cool, but have a lot of downsides. If you're wanting it for internet and email, forget it. What you pay for data downloading is insanely expensive. When I first got my iPhone, I had no idea what it would cost for just checking email, and when I got home, the bill was for over $600---you can buy the iPhone for less than that. I've seen written reports of people coming home and having bills of over $2000. If you just want the phone for calling, you can get cheaper models than the iPhone. If you want it for all the apps and for internet and email, unless you have big pockets, I wouldn't recommend it.

If you are getting this kind of bill for overseas use you are doing it wrong. If you get an iPhone, get an international data plan. We use it all time when we see our best friends in Canada and we used it last year in SE Asia and before that in the Med. Before you go, sign up for an international data plan. Each plan will cost you a little more but the basic one is $24.99 for 20 MB in a month. Certainly not enough for unlimited web surfing but certainly enough for e-mail. We never exceeded our limit when checking out e-mail all over Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand.

Of course you can use it anywhere there is WiFi at no charge whatsoever. That's real worth. You can also buy up to 200 MB for $199 which isn't too bad.

When you leave the US, go to your Settings on the iPhone and reset your data. That way you will be able to monitor how much you are using. It's pretty simple. The biggest problem you may have is when you think you are on WiFi but your signal is hijacked by the local 3G phone company. We had that happen to us once in Canada but AT&T helped us beat that one.

Have a great trip. An iPhone is a great traveling companion.

Koob, thanks for the info, but I wasn't the OP, and the original post is over a year old, so I suspect the OP has already done their cruise. I don't own an iPhone anymore, as I found so much redundancy with other things. Now, I just have a basic phone and use the iPad for everything else. Don't need an iPhone and the expensive monthly charges.

If you are getting this kind of bill for overseas use you are doing it wrong. If you get an iPhone, get an international data plan. We use it all time when we see our best friends in Canada and we used it last year in SE Asia and before that in the Med. Before you go, sign up for an international data plan. Each plan will cost you a little more but the basic one is $24.99 for 20 MB in a month. Certainly not enough for unlimited web surfing but certainly enough for e-mail. We never exceeded our limit when checking out e-mail all over Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand.

 

Of course you can use it anywhere there is WiFi at no charge whatsoever. That's real worth. You can also buy up to 200 MB for $199 which isn't too bad.

 

When you leave the US, go to your Settings on the iPhone and reset your data. That way you will be able to monitor how much you are using. It's pretty simple. The biggest problem you may have is when you think you are on WiFi but your signal is hijacked by the local 3G phone company. We had that happen to us once in Canada but AT&T helped us beat that one.

 

Have a great trip. An iPhone is a great traveling companion.

Excellent information. Thank you for posting.

Keith

They are cool, but have a lot of downsides. If you're wanting it for internet and email, forget it. What you pay for data downloading is insanely expensive. When I first got my iPhone, I had no idea what it would cost for just checking email, and when I got home, the bill was for over $600---you can buy the iPhone for less than that. I've seen written reports of people coming home and having bills of over $2000. If you just want the phone for calling, you can get cheaper models than the iPhone. If you want it for all the apps and for internet and email, unless you have big pockets, I wouldn't recommend it.

Ditto. International roaming and international data plans are pricey. I usually find a WiFi hotspot and download any email, make any posts on FB or make a Skype call. No matter where I've been it seems there is always a Starbucks.

If you are in Europe we have found that the WiFi is still free at Starbucks, but you have to buy a gift card to get the WiFi code, then you pay for your coffee with the gift card...

Ditto. International roaming and international data plans are pricey. I usually find a WiFi hotspot and download any email, make any posts on FB or make a Skype call. No matter where I've been it seems there is always a Starbucks.

 

If you are in Europe we have found that the WiFi is still free at Starbucks, but you have to buy a gift card to get the WiFi code, then you pay for your coffee with the gift card...

I have a sprint smart phone (htc). We sailed RCCL in Jan and April....I had better service on the ship at sea than I do in my house! Sprint has an "international plan" which you can get month to month for 6 bucks. What is does is give you 80% off whatever international roaming charges are. Standard texts are 5 cents in and 20 cents out minus the 80%. (Which makes it 1 cent in and 4 cents out)The internation roaming was 2.99 (.59 with the discount)in the ports....RCCL turns off their "cell tower" in port. I had 264 texts and 131 mins on our last sailing and after the discounts my total addtl. charges to my bill was about 60 bucks. Oh ya, I have a sprint hot spot on my phone also so I was internet accessible to my I pad wirelessly to my phone and those charges were also included in the 60 bucks!

I'm the OP, and I did wind up buying an iphone. I love it, and use it all the time. Took it on our cruise last week, and set it to "airplane mode", and turned of roaming, etc. I used the ship's wifi because I had a coupon for it, so it didn't cost me anything extra. If I didn't have the coupon, I wouldn't have used it for wifi. I was able to use non-wifi apps as much as I wanted, and I used it as an alarm clock and ipod.

Before leaving home, I emailed all the "important" cruise information to myself, and retrieved it on my iphone. I had my boarding pass, my travel insurance info, a copy of my passport, and notes about excursions, etc...all right there on my iphone. I also used the "notes" feature to make notes during the cruise. For me, it's like having a filing cabinet in my pocket!

I'm happy with the iphone, because now I only have to carry one device, instead of a phone, and ipod, and a GPS. I know a lot of people think it's a waste and a toy, but it suits my purposes, and I have no regrets. :)

As an Apple user since 1984, welcome to the cult. :D

Now really make yourself thrilled and pick up a Mac the next time you buy a computer. No viruses and so much more elegant. And I live in Redmond, Washington, home of Microsoft. :D

So glad you like the iPhone. Just remember that for only $29 that you can turn on and off before you go and when you get back. It's a great investment when you need a map in Singapore or to grab your e-mails in Barcelona.

Jim