WiFi Calling vs. SkypeWhatsAp

[Ep010835]

For many years we've used Skype/WhatsAp for all of our telephone/text needs while outside the US. Not being really technically hip, I've just learned about WiFi calling. We are ATT subscribers and as I understand it, WiFi calling is an available feature bundled within our ATT service plan. We both have iPhones, if this matters.

 

When we get on a ship the first thing we do is to put all of our devices in airplane mode then connect to the ships WiFi. This gives us access to Skype/WhatsAp, etc. The problem I've found is that we do not receive phone calls and we also miss voice mail messages left on our phones. 

 

If we were to turn on WiFi calling, would this allow us to receive calls and voice mail message while on a cruise?

 

How then would we set Airplane Mode? What about the correct setting for Data Roaming? 

 

Any guidance would be much appreciated!! 

[hallux]

As long as you set up WiFi calling before leaving home, just do the same thing you've been doing and it should work.  Airplane mode on, WiFi on, pay for internet access on the cruise.

[CaptFantastic]

I think the WIFI network also has to allow or support WIFI calling. There has to be a link between the WIFI network and the cell network.

[Hlitner]

I cannot speak to ATT because we switched to T-Mobile which simply works in over 200 countries at no additional charge (pard me for this advertising).  WiFi calling is a great option but really should be set-up while you are at home (and on your home network).  It must be enabled on your phone.  Click on "Settings" and then "Celluar."  If it is part of your plan you should see "WiFi Calling" which you must turn on...and then test.  At least that is how it works on T-Mobile.  Once enabled it has treated us well around the world as long as the WiFi connection is fast enough.  We also have WhatsApp on our phone as a back-up. 

 

Hank

[Ep010835]

19 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

I cannot speak to ATT because we switched to T-Mobile which simply works in over 200 countries at no additional charge (pard me for this advertising).  WiFi calling is a great option but really should be set-up while you are at home (and on your home network).  It must be enabled on your phone.  Click on "Settings" and then "Celluar."  If it is part of your plan you should see "WiFi Calling" which you must turn on...and then test.  At least that is how it works on T-Mobile.  Once enabled it has treated us well around the world as long as the WiFi connection is fast enough.  We also have WhatsApp on our phone as a back-up. 

 

Hank

 

So when you are using your wifi calling, how do you set your:

Airplane Mode setting?

Data Roaming setting?

 

When you are using wifi calling, are you able to:

Use your phone for calls (as long as you are connected to wifi) just as you do at home?

Receive test messages just as you do at home?

Send and receive text/sms messages just as you do at home?

[Hlitner]

27 minutes ago, Ep010835 said:

 

So when you are using your wifi calling, how do you set your:

Airplane Mode setting?

Data Roaming setting?

 

When you are using wifi calling, are you able to:

Use your phone for calls (as long as you are connected to wifi) just as you do at home?

Receive test messages just as you do at home?

Send and receive text/sms messages just as you do at home?

When we are in a port (or within a few miles) we will have our phone on its regular mode so that we can use the shore-based cells (which cost us nothing on our T-Mobile plan...except for phone calls which are 25 cents a minute).   Once the ship leaves the port (and we are out of range of shore-based cells, we put it in airplane mode.   In some parts of the world we can get shore-based cells up to about 10 miles out to sea although we only have the phone on if we have a reason.

 

At that point it all depends on our onboard WiFi situation.  If we have limited WiFi time (or are paying by the minute) just turn off our phones and lock them in the cabin safe.  Once or twice a day I will log onto the ship's Wifi (while still in airplane mode) and deal with e-mail issues, texts, and phone calls (assuming the Wifi is good enough).  If we happen to be on a cruise where we have unlimited Wifi then we will keep our phones in Airplane mode, turn on Wifi, logon to our Wifi account, and also turn on our data.  Keeping the phone in Airplane mode will ensure that it does not connect to the ship's Cellular service (which can become very expensive). 

 

It is only in the past two years that we have been on some cruises that offer unlimited WiFi.  To be honest, we generally do not pay for unlimited unless it is a bargain (such as when on MSC).  DW and I can live without our phones.....although we do like to get our e-mails once or twice a day.  But lately, more cruise lines are offering must faster WiFi with some decent unlimited plans or with lots of minutes.  On Princess, DW and I will get 1000 minutes (500 minutes each) for free on our longer cruises because of our Elite status.  With those free minutes we generally log on once or twice a day to retrieve e-mails and do whatever.  

 

Other lines are awful with HAL leading the pack (at being awful).  HAL has traditionally had very slow Internet (they are starting to upgrade their service) and they do not give us any free minutes (despite having over 500 days on that line).  On our long cruises we will purchase a cheaper package (with minimal minutes) to use once a day to get e-mails.  Because we have T-Mobile we can generally connect in any port (using cells or Wifi) and that is where we try to handle any major stuff such as phone calls.

 

With iPhones we think it is very important to always keep "cellular data" turned off when on a ship.  Using Airplane Mode will do this, but you can always double check by going to "Settings" "Cellular" and looking at the Cellular Data item and making sure it is off.  If you turn that on you always run the risk of your phone connecting to the ship's cell (in the background) and running up lots of bills.  It should not happen...but there have been too many cases where it did!  With our T-Mobile plan, even if we do turn on everything while at sea, our phone will ask us if we want to connect to the ship's cellular system...but there have folks who claim their phones connect automatically!  Hence, keeping it on Airplane Mode (and making sure that does turn off Cellular Data) is wise.   Of course the smartest thing is to simply turn off your phone, lock it in your safe, and enjoy your vacation.  We have been traveling (Internationally) for over fifty  years and only had International Cell service for about the last 5.  Somehow, we survived all those years without cell phones.

 

Hank

[Ep010835]

8 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

At that point it all depends on our onboard WiFi situation.  If we have limited WiFi time (or are paying by the minute) just turn off our phones and lock them in the cabin safe.  Once or twice a day I will log onto the ship's Wifi (while still in airplane mode) and deal with e-mail issues, texts, and phone calls (assuming the Wifi is good enough).  If we happen to be on a cruise where we have unlimited Wifi then we will keep our phones in Airplane mode, turn on Wifi, logon to our Wifi account, and also turn on our data.  Keeping the phone in Airplane mode will ensure that it does not connect to the ship's Cellular service (which can become very expensive). 

 

I think I'm beginning to understand. Thus far we've confined our cruising to Princess, Viking and Regent. All of which offer unlimited and reasonably fast wifi. After being on the Grand last month, I've vowed NEVER to take another cruise with pitifully slow speeds. MedallionNet just plain rocks!!

 

While cruising my situation requires me to stay logged in all the time. Wife just wants to . This begs for unlimited and very fast internet. Which, of course, MedallionNet provides. 

 

So I hear you saying that once we board, we should put our phones in Airplane Mode and turn on wifi in order to connect to MedallionNet. Correct? What do you mean when you say, "also turn on our data"?

 

Again, being concerned only with "wifi calling" and trying to understand it, will I be able to make phone calls, send and receive texts and listen to voice mails on my phone that come into my US number when connected to "wifi calling"?

 

 

 

[Hlitner]

17 minutes ago, Ep010835 said:

 

I think I'm beginning to understand. Thus far we've confined our cruising to Princess, Viking and Regent. All of which offer unlimited and reasonably fast wifi. After being on the Grand last month, I've vowed NEVER to take another cruise with pitifully slow speeds. MedallionNet just plain rocks!!

 

While cruising my situation requires me to stay logged in all the time. Wife just wants to . This begs for unlimited and very fast internet. Which, of course, MedallionNet provides. 

 

So I hear you saying that once we board, we should put our phones in Airplane Mode and turn on wifi in order to connect to MedallionNet. Correct? What do you mean when you say, "also turn on our data"?

 

Again, being concerned only with "wifi calling" and trying to understand it, will I be able to make phone calls, send and receive texts and listen to voice mails on my phone that come into my US number when connected to "wifi calling"?

 

 

 

I am certainly not a cell phone expert so I hope others jump in.  My last post even confused me :).  You do not want to turn on "Cellular Data" when out of range of shore-based cells.  Bottom line is that anything "cellular" should be OFF when you are at sea and using ship Wifi.  You do not want to take any chance that your phone can somehow connect to the ship's Cellular system (which can cost you more than $5.00 a minute).  Sorry if that last post was wrong :(.  On iPhones you can have WiFi working, Cellular data turned off (which should happen in Airplane mode) but still get data (i.e. the web) through WiFi.  I have no clue as to the settings on Android phones.

 

I agree with you about "Medallion Net."  We first experienced that last August when on the Regal Princess in Europe (doing a TA to NYC).  Because there were still problems with the onboard systems, Princess gave us free unlimited WiFi (for Elites) for the entire cruise.  The service was terrific and fast.  In Nov-Dec we were on the MSC Divina (21 days) where we purchased 5 Gigs (it was inexpensive) and it was nearly as good as Medallion Net.  The 5 Gigs was almost as good as unlimited since we did not do anything that hogged lots of data.  But last April we were on the Golden Princess (in Asia) which still had the old Princess system...and service was awful!

 

We were again on the Regal in late October (for its repo cruise to Florida) and the Medallion Net was not working properly.  It was hit or miss as to whether it worked at all and speeds varied from good to awful.  There is no way we would recommend that anyone who had to depend on good Internet for work take their chances on any cruise.  The reliability of cruise ship Internet still leaves too much to be desired.

 

Hank

 

 

[Ep010835]

6 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

I am certainly not a cell phone expert so I hope others jump in.  My last post even confused me :).  You do not want to turn on "Cellular Data" when out of range of shore-based cells.  Bottom line is that anything "cellular" should be OFF when you are at sea and using ship Wifi.  You do not want to take any chance that your phone can somehow connect to the ship's Cellular system (which can cost you more than $5.00 a minute).  Sorry if that last post was wrong :(.  On iPhones you can have WiFi working, Cellular data turned off (which should happen in Airplane mode) but still get data (i.e. the web) through WiFi.  I have no clue as to the settings on Android phones.

 

Hank

 

 

 

All of our devices are Apple "iDevices" so you and I are speaking the same language.  😀

 

If anyone is willing to help with this part, I'd be very appreciative:

1. Again, being concerned only with "wifi calling" and trying to understand it, will I be able to make phone calls, send and receive texts and listen to voice mails on my phone that come into my US number when connected to "wifi calling"?

[CruiserBruce]

Cell phones have two ways of communicating...cellular and Wifi.  Both transmit data, but in most cases, cellular is the one that is going to cost you. So, typically,  that needs to be off in most cases outside of your home country coverage area. Unless you have a phone plan that gives you better cost coverage.

 

"Airplane mode" turns off both methods of communication with one button. When you turn on Wifi, you are overcoming the turning off of Wifi by Airplane mode. Cellular is still off.

 

In my case, most the time at home, Wifi is off, and cellular is on. Outside the country is opposite. Recently our plan has improved,  and cellular is on nore.

[Hlitner]

Just now, Ep010835 said:

 

All of our devices are Apple "iDevices" so you and I are speaking the same language.  😀

 

If anyone is willing to help with this part, I'd be very appreciative:

1. Again, being concerned only with "wifi calling" and trying to understand it, will I be able to make phone calls, send and receive texts and listen to voice mails on my phone that come into my US number when connected to "wifi calling"?

That part I can answer :).  And it is a big YES...as long as the WiFi connection is decent and the WiFi provider (such as the cruise ship) does not put any kind of restriction on the WiFi.  When we were using Medallion Net (Regal Princess) we routinely used data, text, phone calls, and had very good Facetime sessions with our Grandson.   Even when we are in our own home (which has excellent WiFi throughout) our iPhones automatically default to "WiFi calling" once connected to our network (which happens as soon as we get near the house).  We could turn off the Wifi on the iPhone and use a regular cell connection, but no reason.  T-Mobile has the phones programmed to use WiFi calling if its available (I guess it saves T-Mobile money).  It all works automatically and we notice no difference in quality between the Wifi calling and cell calling.  

 

Set it up in your own home and test it.  I am assuming that ATT will work similar to T-Mobile...but that is just a guess.

 

Hank

[ldubs]

I recently asked a guy at the AT&T store almost the exact same question as the OP's.  AT&T guy says if the phone has wifi calling enabled and is in airplane mode, we would not see a charge.   

 

And that folks is the sum total of my tech expertise on this subject!  

[hallux]

7 hours ago, CaptFantastic said:

I think the WIFI network also has to allow or support WIFI calling. There has to be a link between the WIFI network and the cell network.

Yes, kind of.  No.

 

The WiFi network has to be fast enough to support the voice calling so the phone will prefer it when both are available, but with no other option it will certainly try to use whatever WiFi is available.

 

No, there doesn't need to be a link between the WiFi network and your cell provider.  If you mean that the WiFi network has to be able to get to the internet (meaning you would need to pay for WiFi on the ship in order to "get out" from the ship) then you are definitely correct.

[SRF]

19 hours ago, Ep010835 said:

For many years we've used Skype/WhatsAp for all of our telephone/text needs while outside the US. Not being really technically hip, I've just learned about WiFi calling. We are ATT subscribers and as I understand it, WiFi calling is an available feature bundled within our ATT service plan. We both have iPhones, if this matters.

 

When we get on a ship the first thing we do is to put all of our devices in airplane mode then connect to the ships WiFi. This gives us access to Skype/WhatsAp, etc. The problem I've found is that we do not receive phone calls and we also miss voice mail messages left on our phones. 

 

If we were to turn on WiFi calling, would this allow us to receive calls and voice mail message while on a cruise?

 

How then would we set Airplane Mode? What about the correct setting for Data Roaming? 

 

Any guidance would be much appreciated!! 

 

Yes.  You do have to enable Wifi calling while connected to your cellular network, so do this before you leave home.

 

And yes, you will receive calls and texts, just like you do at home.  And you can make calls also, to any number.  

 

I used to use Skype for calling home from international, but to call someone who is not in Skype, I had pay.  Wifi calling is free.

 

And can be used anywhere you have wifi, including free wifi hotspots.

[SRF]

3 hours ago, hallux said:

Yes, kind of.  No.

 

The WiFi network has to be fast enough to support the voice calling so the phone will prefer it when both are available, but with no other option it will certainly try to use whatever WiFi is available.

 

No, there doesn't need to be a link between the WiFi network and your cell provider.  If you mean that the WiFi network has to be able to get to the internet (meaning you would need to pay for WiFi on the ship in order to "get out" from the ship) then you are definitely correct.

 

If the network is that slow, it will not support Skype or Whatsapp or ... calling either.

[SRF]

9 hours ago, Ep010835 said:

 

All of our devices are Apple "iDevices" so you and I are speaking the same language.  😀

 

If anyone is willing to help with this part, I'd be very appreciative:

1. Again, being concerned only with "wifi calling" and trying to understand it, will I be able to make phone calls, send and receive texts and listen to voice mails on my phone that come into my US number when connected to "wifi calling"?

 

Yes.

 

I actually use wifi calling at home, as I live in the country, and cell signal is not that strong.

[SRF]

10 hours ago, Ep010835 said:

 

So when you are using your wifi calling, how do you set your:

Airplane Mode setting?

Data Roaming setting?

 

When you are using wifi calling, are you able to:

Use your phone for calls (as long as you are connected to wifi) just as you do at home?

Receive test messages just as you do at home?

Send and receive text/sms messages just as you do at home?

 

Airplane mode ON

Wifi ON

Wifi Calling ON

 

Using your phone, you will not know if you are using cellular or wifi.  The only way to know is to log at the connection name at the top of the screen.

[SRF]

11 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I cannot speak to ATT because we switched to T-Mobile which simply works in over 200 countries at no additional charge (pard me for this advertising). 

Hank

 

FYI, more than 210 countries. 😄

 

I switched a few years ago (do a lot of international travel) and have not looked back.

 

[Ep010835]

4 hours ago, SRF said:

 

Airplane mode ON

Wifi ON

Wifi Calling ON

 

Using your phone, you will not know if you are using cellular or wifi.  The only way to know is to log at the connection name at the top of the screen.

 

By golly, I think I've finally got it!  

 

No more getting back to port and finding many voice mails that I've been unable to get to. Yippie!! 😀😀

 

Thanks all for educating me! I appreciate it. 

Edited March 22, 2019 by Ep010835

[SRF]

Glad to help.