Cell Phones at Sea

[Patsfan3]

So I set up our phones to do the wifi calling when we are on the ship. When I put it on airplane mode it bumps the wifi calling off. Does this sound right?

[Charles4515]

So I set up our phones to do the wifi calling when we are on the ship. When I put it on airplane mode it bumps the wifi calling off. Does this sound right?

 

 

 

After you put it on Airplane Mode that turns WiFi off and all the cell radios off so you need to turn WiFi back on while staying in Airplane Mode. You should then have WiFi calling.

 

 

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Edited December 11, 2016 by Charles4515

[ThirstyCruiser]

Another reason you may wanna turn off WiFi calling when you don't need it is battery life. To use WiFi calling, you need WiFi on. So if you are going to leave WiFi calling on, you need to leave WiFi on. Having your phone constantly search for WiFi signals will drain the battery. Same for BlueTooth and GPS by the way. When someone complains about poor battery life, invariably they have Wifi, Bluetooth and GPS turned on. Rarely for any good reason. Along with a 100 apps still running in the background. "I close my apps all the time." Uh, no, actually you never close any apps, you just minimize them.

 

Back to leaving WiFi calling and thus WiFi on all the time - who would want to automatically connect to random unsecure networks all day long?!:confused:

[Charles4515]

Another reason you may wanna turn off WiFi calling when you don't need it is battery life. To use WiFi calling, you need WiFi on. So if you are going to leave WiFi calling on, you need to leave WiFi on. Having your phone constantly search for WiFi signals will drain the battery. Same for BlueTooth and GPS by the way. When someone complains about poor battery life, invariably they have Wifi, Bluetooth and GPS turned on. Rarely for any good reason. Along with a 100 apps still running in the background. "I close my apps all the time." Uh, no, actually you never close any apps, you just minimize them.

 

Back to leaving WiFi calling and thus WiFi on all the time - who would want to automatically connect to random unsecure networks all day long?!:confused:

 

 

 

Why do you have a smart phone if you want to make it dumb?

 

As far as automatically connecting to random unsecured networks, if your phone does that......then you don't know how to use your phone.

 

 

 

 

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[TeeRick]

Why do you have a smart phone if you want to make it dumb?

 

As far as automatically connecting to random unsecured networks, if your phone does that......then you don't know how to use your phone.

 

 

 

 

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If you are on the ship at sea there is only one WiFi network. My iPhone 7 just stayed on it and my battery life was not an issue. You need to turn on airplane mode and then make sure your WiFi is also turned on in that order. If you have Verizon, the top left corner will be: airplane symbol, VZW Wi-Fi, wifi symbol.

[ThirstyCruiser]

Why do you have a smart phone if you want to make it dumb?

 

As far as automatically connecting to random unsecured networks, if your phone does that......then you don't know how to use your phone.

 

Up above the discussion focused on just leaving WiFi calling on all the time, 24x7x365, and a back and forth and why anyone would ever turn it off.

 

If you are in a stable environment for a length of time where the cellular service is weak to non existent, and the WiFi network is known, strong and you configure your phone to securely connect to it (e.g. cruise ship, or maybe your office building), then yes, turn it on and leave it on.

 

One reason to turn it off, to not have it on 24x7x365, is back home, tooling around town. Having the phone constantly scanning for WiFi networks, finding them, dropping them, finding a half dozen in a mall all at once, finding one then dropping it 2 seconds later when you drive by the Starbucks at 45 MPH, the majority of the time outside the home not finding any WiFi network, but constantly scanning for one, will impact your battery life. For some people this hit on battery life is not consequential. For others its a major factor in being able to make it thru the day without recharging.

 

The example was given where leaving it on all the time would automatically allow a 911 call to go thru if you needed 911 but unbeknownst to you were in an area with weak to no cellular service, with WiFi available however. Having WiFi calling on 24x7x365 presumably allowed this call to go thru without any extra steps like turning on WiFi calling first. Seconds count in a true emergency and all that. But unless that WiFi network was wide open, and you allowed your phone to automatically connect to any network it finds, it ain't gonna be automatic. You are still gonna have to put the emergency on hold and locate the password for that WiFi network, then type it in, then make your call.

 

Anyhoo, WiFi calling is great, I used it last week on Harmony, and left it on all week after I first switched to airplane mode and then connected to Royal's customer WiFi network with a passcode they provided. But I turned it off when I disconnected from that network and reliable cellular service returned (the FLL port).

 

My personal preference is to leave WiFi, GPS and BlueTooth off on my phone unless needed. Takes only a couple taps to enable any of those when needed, while the rest of the time they remain off and not using battery life. I'm on my phone a lot and like to make it thru the day without having to recharge.

 

 

Regarding battery life, and not directed at anyone specific, just sharing something I learned recently. (I don't have an iPhone, but my wife recently switched to it so I became defacto tech support) Double tap the Home button on the iPhone. Those are all the apps you opened, running since you last restarted the phone. When you "closed" them, all you did is minimized them, and they continue to run in the background using memory and battery. Flick them up to really close them and you may find your phone seems more responsive since it doesn't have to manage 38 consecutive minimized apps. And battery life may improve. A thousand pardons to the iPhone experts who already know this. But I think most casual iPhone users don't.

 

(Extra points for sarcasm in any replies)

[Charles4515]

Up above the discussion focused on just leaving WiFi calling on all the time, 24x7x365, and a back and forth and why anyone would ever turn it off.

 

If you are in a stable environment for a length of time where the cellular service is weak to non existent, and the WiFi network is known, strong and you configure your phone to securely connect to it (e.g. cruise ship, or maybe your office building), then yes, turn it on and leave it on.

 

One reason to turn it off, to not have it on 24x7x365, is back home, tooling around town. Having the phone constantly scanning for WiFi networks, finding them, dropping them, finding a half dozen in a mall all at once, finding one then dropping it 2 seconds later when you drive by the Starbucks at 45 MPH, the majority of the time outside the home not finding any WiFi network, but constantly scanning for one, will impact your battery life. For some people this hit on battery life is not consequential. For others its a major factor in being able to make it thru the day without recharging.

 

The example was given where leaving it on all the time would automatically allow a 911 call to go thru if you needed 911 but unbeknownst to you were in an area with weak to no cellular service, with WiFi available however. Having WiFi calling on 24x7x365 presumably allowed this call to go thru without any extra steps like turning on WiFi calling first. Seconds count in a true emergency and all that. But unless that WiFi network was wide open, and you allowed your phone to automatically connect to any network it finds, it ain't gonna be automatic. You are still gonna have to put the emergency on hold and locate the password for that WiFi network, then type it in, then make your call.

 

Anyhoo, WiFi calling is great, I used it last week on Harmony, and left it on all week after I first switched to airplane mode and then connected to Royal's customer WiFi network with a passcode they provided. But I turned it off when I disconnected from that network and reliable cellular service returned (the FLL port).

 

My personal preference is to leave WiFi, GPS and BlueTooth off on my phone unless needed. Takes only a couple taps to enable any of those when needed, while the rest of the time they remain off and not using battery life. I'm on my phone a lot and like to make it thru the day without having to recharge.

 

 

Regarding battery life, and not directed at anyone specific, just sharing something I learned recently. (I don't have an iPhone, but my wife recently switched to it so I became defacto tech support) Double tap the Home button on the iPhone. Those are all the apps you opened, running since you last restarted the phone. When you "closed" them, all you did is minimized them, and they continue to run in the background using memory and battery. Flick them up to really close them and you may find your phone seems more responsive since it doesn't have to manage 38 consecutive minimized apps. And battery life may improve. A thousand pardons to the iPhone experts who already know this. But I think most casual iPhone users don't.

 

(Extra points for sarcasm in any replies)

 

 

My iPhone only automatically connects to captive networks. A captive network is my home network and a few others that I have joined. It does not automatically connect to open networks. You have to select an open network. And if you join an open network you can then Forget that Network. I also have Ask to Join Networks off so that I am not presented with a list of networks that are available. With that off a user has to manually look for networks.

 

Also in settings I can pick which apps can use GPS and when under the Location setting. There is no reason to keep WiFi and GPS turned off. I only have to recharge my battery overnight. I keep Bluetooth on since I have an Apple Watch.

 

As far as closing apps by on an iPhone by flicking them up that is from a mistaken assumption and a waste of time. On iOS those apps being in the app switcher does not mean they are running. The multitasking is intelligent so that when the task is finished they close the app. The app switcher is a list of recently used apps, not a list of running apps. The only reason to close an app is if it has become unresponsive or erratic. So your iPhone advice is not expert. It is wrong.

 

 

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Edited December 11, 2016 by Charles4515

[ThirstyCruiser]

Thanks for the info on the Home button on the iPhone and what it actually shows when double tapped. I researched some more. This page was helpful in explaining why my understanding was incorrect.

http://www.speirs.org/blog/2012/1/2/misconceptions-about-ios-multitasking.html

 

The above was good for iPhone. The below similar for Android:

http://www.techlicious.com/tip/whats-draining-your-android-battery/

 

Of course, my original misconception (corrected by you) was something I read online and took on faith. But I did more research today and most seemingly authoritative sources concur with what you said and the 2 links above say.

 

 

 

 

Having a preconfigured set of WiFi networks (captive ones) that you can rely on for things like WiFi calling if needed makes sense. I'm not convinced leaving WiFo on all the time, but I see your point. Will think / read more on this one.

 

GPS I still think is a pig when it comes to battery life so I'm gonna stick with leaving that off until and unless needed.

 

Again, thanks for the edumacation on that home button and background tasks in iOS (and Android it turns out as well).

[troykahack]

You're welcome.:)

 

I know I am late to the party here... but we are AT&T. SO buys a plan from AT&T for limited texting and cell phone usage on the islands.... It seems it would be better to buy VOOM?

 

Ask Bob, any thoughts?

[Clarea]

I know I am late to the party here... but we are AT&T. SO buys a plan from AT&T for limited texting and cell phone usage on the islands.... It seems it would be better to buy VOOM?

 

Ask Bob, any thoughts?

Apples and oranges. VOOM is for on the ship, AT&T package is for off the ship. You may want both depending on your communication needs.

[Charles4515]

 

GPS I still think is a pig when it comes to battery life so I'm gonna stick with leaving that off until and unless needed.

 

 

That may be so with Android I don't know, but with an iPhone I don't worry about it because I can micromanage which apps use it. Any app installed has to ask permission to enable Location Services. And under Privacy> Location Services, every app that can use Location Services is listed. If the user granted permision there are three possible, changeable settings if an app can use location service; Never, While Using, Always. Most apps I have Never, some I have While Using, like for example Jet Blue, I want the app to know when I am at an airport, or Google Maps which needs to use the GPS when I am using it. Google Maps is not using the GPS when I am not using it. Siri I have set to While Using.The only app that I have on Always is a weather app, Dark Sky which warns me when it is going to rain or snow in a few minutes. Comes in quite handy around here. In addition if I had Location Services turned off, System Services like Find My iPhone, Emergency SOS, (System Services can also be managed) would be turned off. I would rather keep those on all the time. Turning off the GPS would make the phone rather dumb. I think managing it for battery life and privacy makes more sense. I don't know if you can do that on Android. Probably a lot of iPhone users don't know they can micromanage the use of the GPS. Managing the use could improve their battery life, particularly if they have apps that are in the Always on state that do not need to be Always on. Which is most of them.

Edited December 11, 2016 by Charles4515

[nevin-deb]

Just an FYI for Verizon customers... As of 1/18/17 Verizon no longer participates in cellular data at sea and the cost of a call on cellular voice is $2.99/ minute

 

 

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[easyboy]

Just an FYI for Verizon customers... As of 1/18/17 Verizon no longer participates in cellular data at sea and the cost of a call on cellular voice is $2.99/ minute

Thanks for the heads up.

[Coochuck]

Going to sail this week on the Harmony. First time with the iphone 7. Had a 5S before. Got the internet package for the week. I assume, just as I did at home...enable WIFI Calling, put phone in airplane mode...and good to make calls home...correct?

 

Thanks

[esper10]

I know I asked this before but I'm not sure. If I buy the land package from Verizon when I make a call I must take it OUT of airplane mode right? Also I was told I need to disable notifications than call normally. Did I get it right? By the way will be calling a cell phone does it matter? Now if I have an emergency and will place a call as pay as you go do I need to set any thing for wifi or not since I will pay the $2.99 per minute. Will I just take the phone out of airplane mode and call? Please help. I'm cruises in 10 days and still don't fell I got it together 😥

[esper10]

I know I asked this before but I'm not sure. If I buy the land package from Verizon when I make a call I must take it OUT of airplane mode right? Also I was told I need to disable notifications than call normally. Did I get it right? By the way will be calling a cell phone does it matter? Now if I have an emergency and will place a call as pay as you go do I need to set any thing for wifi or not since I will pay the $2.99 per minute. Will I just take the phone out of airplane mode and call? Please help. I'm cruises in 10 days and still don't fell I got it together 😥

 

Also if I buy the internet package and set the phone on wifi will I be able to receive calls also? Or just call out, and lastly how will I be able to check my mail or text? The phone need to be NOT on airplane mode? Airplane mode just when I call out? Sorry if my questions might sound silly but I truly don't know. I'm leaving and older parent back home and need to check make sure that all is ok. I never used the phone in the past when cruising. Thanks again

[Clarea]

Going to sail this week on the Harmony. First time with the iphone 7. Had a 5S before. Got the internet package for the week. I assume, just as I did at home...enable WIFI Calling, put phone in airplane mode...and good to make calls home...correct?

 

Thanks

Correct.

[Charles4515]

I know I asked this before but I'm not sure. If I buy the land package from Verizon when I make a call I must take it OUT of airplane mode right? Also I was told I need to disable notifications than call normally. Did I get it right? By the way will be calling a cell phone does it matter? Now if I have an emergency and will place a call as pay as you go do I need to set any thing for wifi or not since I will pay the $2.99 per minute. Will I just take the phone out of airplane mode and call? Please help. I'm cruises in 10 days and still don't fell I got it together [emoji26]

 

 

 

When you are in port and you want to use the roaming package you purchased from Verizon, you must take your phone out of Airplane Mode to get cell service. Whatever rates are part of your cell package will be charges. The $2.99 per minute is if you take your phone out of Airplane Mode at sea and use the onboard cell service. Your rate on land with the Verizon cell package should be much less.

 

 

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Edited January 23, 2017 by Charles4515

[Charles4515]

Also if I buy the internet package and set the phone on wifi will I be able to receive calls also? Or just call out, and lastly how will I be able to check my mail or text? The phone need to be NOT on airplane mode? Airplane mode just when I call out? Sorry if my questions might sound silly but I truly don't know. I'm leaving and older parent back home and need to check make sure that all is ok. I never used the phone in the past when cruising. Thanks again

 

 

 

If you buy an internet package on the ship and enable Wifi calling you can make and receive calls. The instructions were in the other thread you posted to, Airplane mode and turn WiFi on etc., read the links that were posted on how to, you can make and receive phone, calls, text, check your mail.

 

On the ship with an internet package from the ship you want to be in Airplane Mode with WiFi turned on. On land you would want to be out of Airplane Mode unless you find a WiFi hotspot.

 

 

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Edited January 23, 2017 by Charles4515