Pls help me understand using my phone on Solstice

I would love some basic info pls as I am very confused, so please be kind :) I am with vodafone and I want to be able to text home and receive a reply just maybe once or twice on our 2 weeks cruise so I can relax and known that all is ok with cat sitter (cat is unwell)... vodafone say 75c per text on pay as you go roaming- so when onboard can I just can I simply send a normal text and receive his return text and also do I need to enable roaming to send/receive said text? Will I be charged if I turn on roaming to check for his reply? I just don't want to get a huge bill! TIA:confused:

I would love some basic info pls as I am very confused, so please be kind :) I am with vodafone and I want to be able to text home and receive a reply just maybe once or twice on our 2 weeks cruise so I can relax and known that all is ok with cat sitter (cat is unwell)... vodafone say 75c per text on pay as you go roaming- so when onboard can I just can I simply send a normal text and receive his return text and also do I need to enable roaming to send/receive said text? Will I be charged if I turn on roaming to check for his reply? I just don't want to get a huge bill! TIA:confused:

Download Viber and/or whatsapp and use that for texting. Make sure the person you are texting has those appt. with these apps, you can use the ship wifi instead of roaming.

Thank you but ship wi-fi will cost me around $199USD!! That's what I don't want to have to do, just send a couple of texts to/from Australia

As long as you have data roaming turned off you should be able to text at whatever rate they are quoting you. Agree that the ships internet is expensive so texting might be better if you only need to send a few messages. Keep in mind that you could also just log into wifi in port (at lunch or stop at a coffee shop or something) and email for free.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Do what the crew does. When you are in port find somewhere with free wifi. There's usually plenty of places with free wifi then you can log on and send you text or email or whatever. You cannot send a text without some kind of cell service, be that cellular at sea or a wifi package and both of those are expensive. So unless you pay you can't just send a text from the middle of the ocean. But when you are in port you should be able to find free wifi in most restaurants, bars, coffee shops etc. The guest services will often give you a free phone call if it's an emergency. I'm not sure a cat counts but maybe tell them it's you room mate and leave out the cat part. I had a banking emergency and got a couple of free calls on my last cruise.

Make sure you have your data roaming OFF and the safest thing to do is put your phone on airplane mode as soon as you are done using the wifi or even better turn the darn thing off. It's very easy to forget and get stuck with a big cellphone bill. Safest thing is to turn it off when you are not using it.

Thanks for the replies :) I can do the wifi thing and use FB messenger in port, however just to get it clear in my head, if I want to text, I turn on data roaming, connect to cellular at sea, then turn off roaming and back to airplane mode after I send the text, is that correct?

Thanks for the replies :) I can do the wifi thing and use FB messenger in port, however just to get it clear in my head, if I want to text, I turn on data roaming, connect to cellular at sea, then turn off roaming and back to airplane mode after I send the text, is that correct?

You should not need to turn your data roaming on to connect and send a text using cellular at sea. Data is just for the internet, updating your apps etc. If you want to use messenger you need your data on, but for phone calls/texts you don't. All you should need to do is turn off airplane mode, connect to cellular at sea and either send your text or call. Remember to turn airplane mode back on or you will accrue roaming charges. I'm not sure if all cell carriers work with cellular at sea. I know mine does but you might want to check yours.

Don't do NOT turn data on!!! Using the phone at sea is super spendy. Why don't you check in by email once or twice a day. Get a small internet pkg so you know exactly the cost vs a huge cell phone bill.

We have a dog Nanny for my Shih Tzu and she posts on Face book so I can see pictures of Jack and his red ball. So I understand

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

They aren't really selling small internet packages any more.

Best to look for somewhere on shore as advised above.

They aren't really selling small internet packages any more.

 

 

 

Best to look for somewhere on shore as advised above.

I got an $800 cell phone bill when I accidentally left my data on while in Mexico. We had a car breakdown and I needed to look up a phone number. Got busy and a day later discovered. Lesson learned so even a $150 internet package would be small in my mind after I stupidly let data get out of out of hand.

I would never have even remembered except AT&T sent me a text message about excessive Data use. :(

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

All you really need to do is make sure that your data roaming is off on the phone. If you put it into airplane mode, you cannot use it to text or call and would have to remember to turn that on and off everytime. The data roaming is what gives people their outrageous phone bills, so just make sure that is off!

You will not incur any expensive data charges and can still use your phone and text as you normally do. You do not need to "hook up" to any call at sea program or anything else in order to make a call or text from the ship, it will route through the ships "cell tower" just like anywhere else you use your phone and yes, it works in the middle of the ocean.

You get charged by your phone company, not the ship for calls and texts.

As far as I know with Verizon, a phone call would cost me $2.95 per minute and a text cost me 25 cents to send and 50 cents to receive (or visa versa)

You would have to check with your specific company as to what they charge.

The charges would be on my cellphone bill once I was home, not on my onboard account with Celebrity.

If you did purchase an internet plan onboard, you would just connect through the Wi-Fi on the ship and with that you could use facetime to make calls home or Facebook instant messenger or any of the other video apps out there.

In port, like everyone else said, you could look for free Wi-Fi and do what you need to do for nothing.

Good Luck and hope you reach your Kittie sitter and get good news!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thank you so much everyone, its all clear in my head now :) I really appreciate that only one person made fun of me for loving my cat and that everyone else was super helpful xox

Thank you so much everyone, its all clear in my head now :) I really appreciate that only one person made fun of me for loving my cat and that everyone else was super helpful xox

I am owned by five cats and I love them more than I can say. Ignore the rude posters they are in the minority. Enjoy your cruise.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Data roaming and cellular roaming are two different things. You can turn on or leave on ur cellular roaming and make/receive calls and SMS texts ( no group texts or pictures) by connecting to the cellular service of wherever u are. Then you'll just use whatever package rates you purchase from your carrier or pay by the minute/text. Data roaming is the same concept for internet. But it gets confused with texting because iPhone uses iMessage which operates over the internet, not SMS. Hint, if you u have an iPhone turn ur data off and have trouble texting, turn ur 'imessage' off and it should revert to using SMS.

Data roaming is charged at incredibly high rates... Verizon lists $2 a MB; which doesn't sound like much. But if you compare that to your data plan, that's $2,000 per Gigabyte. And can go fast when background data is running or you are downloading emails.

Keep your data roaming off and stuck to wifi for internet. After that up to u if you want your cellular roaming on to make/receive phone calls and texts.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thank you so much everyone, its all clear in my head now :) I really appreciate that only one person made fun of me for loving my cat and that everyone else was super helpful xox

There's an animal lover's thread in the Floataway Lounge with other cat lover's... dogs, too.

Data roaming and cellular roaming are two different things. You can turn on or leave on ur cellular roaming and make/receive calls and SMS texts ( no group texts or pictures) by connecting to the cellular service of wherever u are. Then you'll just use whatever package rates you purchase from your carrier or pay by the minute/text. Data roaming is the same concept for internet. But it gets confused with texting because iPhone uses iMessage which operates over the internet, not SMS. Hint, if you u have an iPhone turn ur data off and have trouble texting, turn ur 'imessage' off and it should revert to using SMS.

 

Data roaming is charged at incredibly high rates... Verizon lists $2 a MB; which doesn't sound like much. But if you compare that to your data plan, that's $2,000 per Gigabyte. And can go fast when background data is running or you are downloading emails.

 

Keep your data roaming off and stuck to wifi for internet. After that up to u if you want your cellular roaming on to make/receive phone calls and texts.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Okay, that confused me. In my iPhone I have 2 separate "switches": one for Voice Roaming and one for Data Roaming. If I turn off Data Roaming and leave voice roaming on, can I still call out and receive calls internationally? And still receive/send texts too?

Also, what about the "International CDMA"? What in the heck does that do? I want to be able to call and text when I'm in Europe but will only check emails and FB when I have free WiFi access.

International cdma has something to do with what network you connect to overseas... i.e. Verizon is a cdma network and at&t is a gsm network. Doesn't really matter

You need to go to your settings and click on cellular data options

Click on roaming

Turn voice on and data off

You will now be able to call/text internationally (there will be additional charges for it so just be aware of what those are) but you won't be using data outside of wifi.

If it seems like it isn't working you can try turning the cdma off or on and see if that makes a difference, but as long as your data roaming is off you shouldn't be connected to any cellular data outside of what's included in your plan.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Sanger727 - Thank you SO much for explaining that so well! I wrote down the info. just in case I have a brain freeze while on vacation. Really, really helpful! Thanks for your patience with an IT idiot! :eek: