iconcierge app and calling home

I just read in a Getaway dailie that was just posted that the app can be used to call home. Does anyone know if this is true and if it is an additional charge on top of the $15 to use the app for texting?

It is about $0.79 per minute to call home with the app (cheaper than the AT&T $3.00/minute that our carrier would charge).

If your phone has wifi calling (most phones do now), and if you have wifi minutes or an unlimited plan, you can call for free using wifi. If you do not have wifi calling on your phone, skype sells a wifi calling service for a couple of bucks a month,,, but you still have to pay for ship wifi or have free wifi minutes.

We have done it. Since you are calling through the app and not your actual phone, the number that appears for the person you are calling is not your phone number. We had a horrible connection, and it took multiple tries before the call wasn’t dropped and the other party could hear us. It worked for our emergency though, but I wouldn’t use it as a regular means to keep in touch with home.

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We had a horrible connection, and it took multiple tries before the call wasn’t dropped and the other party could hear us.

The same with me. Using WiFi away from the ship worked better.

I just read in a Getaway dailie that was just posted that the app can be used to call home. Does anyone know if this is true and if it is an additional charge on top of the $15 to use the app for texting?

First of all, I believe the one time charge for activating iConcierge is $9.99.

It's interesting to hear that some have reported being able to call off the ship to a land line using iConcierge. My initial answer would have been no, that the iConcierge app cannot be used for calling off the ship (to your home or any other land based number).

I say this because while the iConcierge app does do wifi calling (you can place a call to the ships's cabin phone of any of your contacts in iConcierge), the app does not require internet access to function. Wifi access alone would not provide a connection from off the ship to a land based phone.

It's my feeling that those who were able to do this may have also had internet access enabled on their phone at the time, and that the wifi calling feature of iConcierge made use of the internet as a connection to the shore based phone number. If it does work, I suspect it's an "unintentional feature" of the app.

If that's the case, to have this work, you would have to pay the activation free for iConcierge, and also purchase (or have as a perk) a package of internet minutes. Your phone would need to be signed onto the internet at the time you tried to make your call. It's worth noting that many phones now offer "wifi calling" as a standard feature, which means that with the wifi on, and the phone connected to the internet, you would not need the iConcierge app to make a wifi call in any case.

No, I did not have internet access available. Calling home is a feature of the app, and has been since the start. $.79/minute.

First of all, I believe the one time charge for activating iConcierge is $9.99.

 

It's interesting to hear that some have reported being able to call off the ship to a land line using iConcierge. My initial answer would have been no, that the iConcierge app cannot be used for calling off the ship (to your home or any other land based number).

 

I say this because while the iConcierge app does do wifi calling (you can place a call to the ships's cabin phone of any of your contacts in iConcierge), the app does not require internet access to function. Wifi access alone would not provide a connection from off the ship to a land based phone.

 

It's my feeling that those who were able to do this may have also had internet access enabled on their phone at the time, and that the wifi calling feature of iConcierge made use of the internet as a connection to the shore based phone number. If it does work, I suspect it's an "unintentional feature" of the app.

 

If that's the case, to have this work, you would have to pay the activation free for iConcierge, and also purchase (or have as a perk) a package of internet minutes. Your phone would need to be signed onto the internet at the time you tried to make your call. It's worth noting that many phones now offer "wifi calling" as a standard feature, which means that with the wifi on, and the phone connected to the internet, you would not need the iConcierge app to make a wifi call in any case.

https://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/iCONCIERGE_062714.pdf

Hello again, thank you for all the replies. That link was very helpful esm. I am trying to figure out the best way to stay in touch with the family back home. I was planning on getting the social media package and using messenger but when I saw this on the dailie I thought it might be better and cheaper, but with per minute charges I might just stick with messanger. If anyone has experience with both I would love to hear which works better.

It may have been because the ship was ‘full’ over the holidays but we had a terrible time with messaging in December on Getaway. I commented on it here. https://gotravellife.com/2018/01/03/about-us/. We paid att $10/day international package (only kicks in when you turn on cellular and there’s data transfer) and used only once. WiFi in port usually worked fine. We used the app for on ship to keep comms with our teenager but it was unreliable, you had to reload it quite frequently but eventually we got each other’s messages.

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Hello again, thank you for all the replies. That link was very helpful esm. I am trying to figure out the best way to stay in touch with the family back home. I was planning on getting the social media package and using messenger but when I saw this on the dailie I thought it might be better and cheaper, but with per minute charges I might just stick with messanger. If anyone has experience with both I would love to hear which works better.

I've used iconcierge to keep in touch with home. It worked great for me. I was able to receive calls and make calls without any issues.

My last cruise I had unlimited internet and I kept in touch using whatsapp and snapchat. You can make and receive phone calls through whatsapp as well as send text message and send pictures and videos. You can do all of this with just the social media package too.

First of all, I believe the one time charge for activating iConcierge is $9.99.

 

It's interesting to hear that some have reported being able to call off the ship to a land line using iConcierge. My initial answer would have been no, that the iConcierge app cannot be used for calling off the ship (to your home or any other land based number).

 

I say this because while the iConcierge app does do wifi calling (you can place a call to the ships's cabin phone of any of your contacts in iConcierge), the app does not require internet access to function. Wifi access alone would not provide a connection from off the ship to a land based phone.

 

It's my feeling that those who were able to do this may have also had internet access enabled on their phone at the time, and that the wifi calling feature of iConcierge made use of the internet as a connection to the shore based phone number. If it does work, I suspect it's an "unintentional feature" of the app.

 

If that's the case, to have this work, you would have to pay the activation free for iConcierge, and also purchase (or have as a perk) a package of internet minutes. Your phone would need to be signed onto the internet at the time you tried to make your call. It's worth noting that many phones now offer "wifi calling" as a standard feature, which means that with the wifi on, and the phone connected to the internet, you would not need the iConcierge app to make a wifi call in any case.

You are incorrect. Using iConcierge to make a phone call does not require purchase of internet plan. There is a feature built into iConcierge that allows for phone calls at $.79/minute.

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