AT&T Cell Phone - Internet at Sea

[NCLSEA123]

We have a group of 20 going on an RCL cruise to Cozumel and our company phones are AT&T and Sprint. From reading these posts it sounds like we will be charged $2.49 per minute when using the voice service, incoming texts are free but outgoing texts are not (data). So if we use our blackberry's what would the data charge be for sending emails? (top sales reps on cruise, it will be almost impossible to stop them!)

 

Well, you can't actually buy a data plan for your phone from Royal Carribean, but if they're on AT&T and they are going to be doing some serious emailing, try and get on the plan I mentioned in this post for a month and they should have unlimited international data. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=24874518&postcount=13

 

Otherwise, the cheapest thing for them to do would be to have their email client forward all their email to their phone as a text message (ie phonenumber@mms.att.net (AT&T), phonenumber@tmomail.net (TMobile), phonenumber@vtext.net (Verizon), or phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com (Sprint)). They can then reply to the emails with a text message (MMS) up to 600kb usually, and only be charged around .35 -.50 per outgoing text, depending on the carrier.

[GBeason884]

I am just about to finish a week on the Voyager of the Seas and found the ship had no data service for GSM based phones while on the Cellular at Sea. My phone is an ATT Bold2 with unlimited international service. I was able to get data service as soon as we got into port, but while at sea, absolutely nothing. The wife did enjoy the quiet lack of emails until I was going to the Internet cafe every 2 hours to answer quick emails that could be handled on a blackberry.

 

Friends with CDMA (Verizon) phones at full data services. I also checked my wife's iPhone to find it had no data services either. No EDGE or gprs. Only GSM.

 

Has anyone had a similar experience with GSM data services lately? I'm trying to figure out if this is an issolated incident or a fleet wide change.

[jackretired]

AT&T iPhones from US with national plan can be used in US ports in the Carribean, i.e. San Juan, the same as the mainland.

[bajathree]

AT&T's international data plan will not work at sea....you will still get charged for roaming on Cellular At Sea......right now only Verizon offers a data plan that work with not getting charged that Cellulat At Sea fee.

 

With AT&T, outgoing texts at .50 cents per.....incoming are free.

[ehfl]

Be sure to verify whether the international data roaming covers at-sea roaming. The two are different, and generally at-sea roaming is not covered under international roaming flat plans.

 

See the following link for details. Scroll to the bottom for rates.

 

http://www.wireless.att.com/travelguide/coverage/coverage_details.jsp?MNC=CING&CIDL=1584&dropFormChoice=2.49%3B2.49%3B1584&product1rate=%242.49&product2rate=%242.49&x=69&y=10

[GBeason884]

I called ATT while at sea (I look forward to the bill for that), and they said I should be all good to go. I was on two previous Princess Cruises and had absolutely no problems. Emails all day long. It was even nice to pull up google maps on my blackberry to find where we were.

 

Again, voice service was fine. Text messages were intermittent. My brother and I had to send myself a message to ourselves to get new messages to come in. Data service was completely blocked.

 

Has anyone with an ATT phone had any data/email service experience on a recent RCCL cruise? I'm booked on the Adventure of the Seas in March and need to know if I need to make alternate plans.

[nanashirl]

I called ATT while at sea (I look forward to the bill for that), and they said I should be all good to go. I was on two previous Princess Cruises and had absolutely no problems. Emails all day long. It was even nice to pull up google maps on my blackberry to find where we were.

 

Again, voice service was fine. Text messages were intermittent. My brother and I had to send myself a message to ourselves to get new messages to come in. Data service was completely blocked.

 

Has anyone with an ATT phone had any data/email service experience on a recent RCCL cruise? I'm booked on the Adventure of the Seas in March and need to know if I need to make alternate plans.

 

Did you get a global plan or what kind of charges did you have. We will be on Voyager this month in Honduras, Belize and Cozumel. Do not want a big cell bill but would like to be able to get text message, etc. Use clock for alarm and so forth. Don't want to hit the satelite on the ship and incur big charges for that.

[GBeason884]

Did you get a global plan or what kind of charges did you have. We will be on Voyager this month in Honduras, Belize and Cozumel. Do not want a big cell bill but would like to be able to get text message, etc. Use clock for alarm and so forth. Don't want to hit the satelite on the ship and incur big charges for that.

 

I have an older ATT Blackberry International. It looks like you can still get the plan; however, most reps do not know about it. http://www.wireless.att.com/businesscenter/popups/general/available-data-rate-plans.jsp

 

The wifi on the ship will be the cheapest by far for Internet. Get a bundled plan. If you go this route, be sure to turn off roaming data on your phone. The download of emails will kill your cell phone bill.

 

Also, when able, call while in port. Most country's roaming is cheaper than the Cellular at Sea.

[GBeason884]

I just called the provider Cellular at Sea. They reported that they have staff onboard the Voyager of the Seas working on the equipment. Until it is fixed, gsm (your ATT and TMobile) will have problems. CDMA (verizon) seemed to be fine.

 

They did say if you KNOW you have problems onboard, push to talk to the IT or communications managers onboard. I only talked to the guest services people who don't know IT. (As soon as I said CDMA vs GSM, their eyes glazed over). As an IT guy, please don't abuse it. If you are not familiar with your phone, ask for some help from friends.

[sjcruiser]

We cruised in the middle of January on the Liberty with our iPhone. Previous smartphones, or telephones for that matter, we were hit with $400-$600 cell phone bills, which was 1/2 to 2/3's more than our usually bill. This happened on all three of of previous cruises with Sprint. With ATT and the iPhone on this cruise, we only used the phone in port (St. Maarten & San Juan), and a few minutes onboard once. Since we were much more aware of the calls bouncing off the ships satellite, which hits any satellite over the ship (even ones in Africa, if you're cruising the Caribbean), we limited our calls and emails, leaving the phone turned off, or in airplane and wi-fi mode locked in the safe. Happy to say that our bill from the cruise is only $40.00 more than our normal bill. Note that thecharges to your bill from the cruise come anywhere from two the three billing cycles after you return, usually.

[QTBabyNurse]

We've cruised before with our iPhone and have learned to turn off the data roaming but don't put it on airplane mode. That way you will be able to use the text messaging feature if desired, but you won't be pulling data for any of your alerts you might have set on your phone and you won't download any email inadvertantly. It will show you if you have any voicemail, but if you try to listen to it, you'll be hit with a $2.49/minute charge through Cellular at Sea. With AT&T, you can receive texts for free but they charge you 50 cents for each one that you send. It's a pretty inexpensive way to keep in touch. As another poster stated, if you happen to port in St. Thomas or San Juan, your phone charges are the same as if you were in the US. That is where I listen to all my voicemail!

[BRU]

Going to be on the Mariner OTS shortly. I read through this thread and there does not seem to be a clear consensus as to whether an International Data Plan will help to avoid the additional charges of Cellular-at-Sea. THIS IS FOR DATA USE ONLY - I don't plan on sending texts, checking voicemail or making phone calls.

 

People keep posting this link: http://www.wireless.att.com/travelguide/coverage/coverage_details.jsp?CIDL=1584&MNC=CING&DID1=347&DID2=&STEP=5, but all it indicates is that it's available onboard the ship. At the bottom it does list rates, but it does not indicate if upgrading to an international data plan will counteract this.

 

Has anyone been able to use their AT&T phone with international data on RCCL WITHOUT the additional internet charge? I'd prefer actual experience to guesses. Thanks!

[Artemis908]

I wanted to use my phone just for data so we could use travel apps and maps while in European ports. But a rep at AT&T told me there was now way to shut off the phone function of my iPhone so I could only use data. And that I'd be charged for roaming anytime my phone was on unless I put it in airplane mode, which obviously would also shut off data.

 

I was also told that even if I got an international plan, I'd still get charged for roaming, it'd just be cheaper.

 

Seemed overpriced for me. Might call up Verizon since my husband has an Android and see if it's any different.

[chotton]

Thanks! That was my understanding as to how it works. I'm still hoping that someone that has AT&T will pipe in and let me know for sure. :o

 

AT&T has a cruise ship data & talk package. I used it with my iphone last feb.

 

Log into your account online and in the area that allows you to change your package and options it should show up in their.

[BRU]

AT&T has a cruise ship data & talk package. I used it with my iphone last feb.

 

Log into your account online and in the area that allows you to change your package and options it should show up in their.

 

AT&T has an "International Roaming - Data" package listed - is this what you signed up for? There is nothing cruise ship specific available on my account.

[jlajla]

I started reading this thread because I have an iphone that is new since my last cruise. I have to say, reading all this (confusing for a non-techie like me) makes me long for the day when a cruise meant that you were out of communication!

 

On my last cruise in December, I brought my non-smart phone, but forgot my charger. Thus, I had no connection to the world (other than to make a call or two from my friend's iphone) for the whole trip. It was lovely. ;)

 

I will have to have my DH read up on this so that we do not accidentally run up a $500 bill!

[BRU]

Going to be on the Mariner OTS shortly. I read through this thread and there does not seem to be a clear consensus as to whether an International Data Plan will help to avoid the additional charges of Cellular-at-Sea. THIS IS FOR DATA USE ONLY - I don't plan on sending texts, checking voicemail or making phone calls.

 

People keep posting this link: http://www.wireless.att.com/travelguide/coverage/coverage_details.jsp?CIDL=1584&MNC=CING&DID1=347&DID2=&STEP=5, but all it indicates is that it's available onboard the ship. At the bottom it does list rates, but it does not indicate if upgrading to an international data plan will counteract this.

 

Has anyone been able to use their AT&T phone with international data on RCCL WITHOUT the additional internet charge? I'd prefer actual experience to guesses. Thanks!

 

Still hoping someone has an answer to this...

[navigator0709]

I'm trying to piece this together myself. we are leaving on Sunday for a caribbean cruise and I'm trying to determine if its worth adding international data to the phone. He're how I THINK it works for AT&T:

 

On the ship, there is no plan you can buy to reduce the cost of the data: the cost for data is standard international roaming rates (same rates I'll pay when on the islands [except St. Thomas]:

Data Usage:

All GPRS pay per use rates are $.0195/KB, except in Canada rate is $.015/KB

This equates to $20 per MEGABYTE.

 

I got that from the bottom of this, and after the conversation with the AT&T chat lady (see below)http://www.wireless.att.com/travelguide/coverage/coverage_details.jsp?MNC=CING&CIDL=1584&dropFormChoice=2.49%3B2.49%3B1584&product1rate=%242.49&product2rate=%242.49&x=15&y=7

 

 

Question, please explain the policy for using my data plan on the ship. Also, is there a data plan I can add to control the roaming charges for data?

You are now chatting with Sandra Gibbs.

Sandra Gibbs: Hello! My name is Sandra Gibbs and I am an International Care Representative. I’m reading your inquiry and I will be right with you.

Me: thank you

Sandra Gibbs: I will be more than happy to assist you with your inquiry.

Sandra Gibbs: Unfortunately, the discounted packages that we offer do not apply while your in the Cruise Ship. You would be billed the standard rates for voice, data and text or picture messages while traveling on the cruise ship. Please allow me a moment to provide the standard rates for the cruise ship:

Sandra Gibbs: The per minute rate while on a Cruise Ship will be $2.49 per minute. The per minute rate applies to incoming and outgoing calls as well as voicemail messages left while the device is on.

Sandra Gibbs: Text are $0.50 to send and $1.30 to send picture messages. Received text messages are deducted from your domestic text messaging plan.

Sandra Gibbs: Data is billed at $0.0195 per kilobyte, which is approximately $20 per megabyte.

 

So, I think we will keep the phones powered off on the ship and turn them on once per day to check for emergency email and send a note 2 or 3 times during the week. I'm probably not going to bother adding the international roaming package because we're only going to be on 2 islands this would apply to (CocoCay and St. Maarten) and we'll be at the beach, not on the phone.

[Mack2]

Yes... so how a cell phone works is that the phone needs to find a network it's familiar with to make a call.

 

On land, this is done through the series of cell towers and repeaters and other equipment that is able to connect your phone to the AT&T network (which is then responsible for making and accidentally dropping your phone calls)

 

 

On a ship, there are no cell towers. There's no way for the cell phone to connect to the AT&T network... except by satellite, which the ship conveniently has set up for your calling pleasure. Unfortunately, the ship's satellite connection will cost you extra money.

 

So what happens is the cell phone will connect to the ship's network via "Roaming". The ship's roaming network will then connect your phone via satellite to the AT&T network (maybe through several channels) at the ADDITIONAL charge of RIDICULOU$$$ so you can make a call in the middle of the ocean.

 

In the past, the ships didn't have this satelllite roaming option. The phones just didn't work. This past cruise, I was afraid I'd get texts. So I just shut the thing off.

 

Expensive. It's better to be "off the grid" when on vacation anyway.

[navigator0709]

Thanks for the detailed explanation.

 

Yes, that's what we'll do too, minus the 2 or 3 times we'll check emails in case anything happens back home we need to know about.

 

Last year, I was mistakenly told by an AT&T rep that yes, the international data plan would cover my ship data. This was in the Meditteranean. We left the phone off (battery removed, just in case) and my husband used 2 or 3 times during that week to check his blackberry emails. I checked our personal email too, and maybe checked one website. (He doesn't have many apps on his work phone, so usage is always low). Anyway, I got a bill a couple of months later for $15 in addition to the $25 extra we had paid for the international data plan (we used it while we were in Europe, on land). When I called, they said, no, I was mistaken, the international plan doesn't cover on ship calls. I was peeved, but paid it since it was $15 only. My new phone would have racked up a lot more charges if I had it then because of all those ridiculous updates that are always happening. I'll have to figure out how to turn it all off, and only turn on email when I actually power the thing up to check.

[T_Bone2012]

We are going to turn our phones off and leave them in the safe - that's what vacations are for! My wife will bring her iPad and I will be bringing my old iPhone 3 (no sim card) to use to check email and send text messages at internet cafe's on the islands we visit. We used the international plan last year in Europe, and it worked well, but that 20 MB of data adds up quickly!

[Mack2]

What you can do is connect to the ship's WiFi or internet cafe for e-mail checking.

 

I won a free 30min of internet use at the Meet and Mingle aboard the Oasis this past week, and I happily used it to check on our emails and Facebook...

 

At $0.65/minute, it was nice... albeit a little slow... but the 30min was good for a few minutes each night. Didn't use the phone (I don't think) and was able to do everything WiFi... and frankly, I didn't REALLY need to do it... but it's an addiction.

 

Like message boards. :(

[Charles4515]

Still hoping someone has an answer to this...

 

The answer is that the International Data plan does not include data onboard cruise ships while they are at sea and the Cellular at Sea network is turned on.

[navigator0709]

The answer is that the International Data plan does not include data onboard cruise ships while they are at sea and the Cellular at Sea network is turned on.

 

That's right. AND the roaming charge for data (at sea and in other international areas when you don't have the International data plan) is billed at $0.0195 per kilobyte, which is approximately $20 per megabyte.

 

People should look at their data phone useage and allocate that out to 7 days at sea. That $20 per megabyte can add up VERY quickly if you have a smartphone that is constantly updating data.