Cell service w/o roaming from Bayonne to Port Canaveral

[sportmorgan]

Sailing Oasis in July. Bought 4 device surf and stream to share between 8 people.  Are there locations where the ship sails that are close enough to shore where service (AT@T) would be available if we needed more people to have intermittent access. Not sure how far off the coast cell service goes, though we go offshore fishing on our own boat in Connecticut and never have a problem (but not sure we are ever out more that 20 miles or so). 
 

thanks!

lynn

 

Edited June 8, 2022 by sportmorgan

[Charles4515]

They don't sail close enough until saiing into a US port to get a good enough signal. Plus the ship will turn on Cellular at Sea when 12 miles out which will drown out any weak AT&T signal. . 

[pcur]

Cellular at Sea is EXPENSIVE.  I got surprised when I thought an incoming call from family was still receiving from my provider.  $60 phone call.

 

I'm going to try calls via FB Messenger next cruise.  I'll have to test it out first.

Edited June 8, 2022 by pcur

[RosieRoo]

I have AT&T and never have service unless we are in port. 

[RosieRoo]

31 minutes ago, pcur said:

 

I'm going to try calls via FB Messenger next cruise.  I'll have to test it out first.

If you have an internet package and an IPhone you can use wifi calling and FaceTime. 

[mo&fran]

2 hours ago, sportmorgan said:

Sailing Oasis in July. Bought 4 device surf and stream to share between 8 people.  Are there locations where the ship sails that are close enough to shore where service (AT@T) would be available if we needed more people to have intermittent access. Not sure how far off the coast cell service goes, though we go offshore fishing on our own boat in Connecticut and never have a problem (but not sure we are ever out more that 20 miles or so). 
 

thanks!

lynn

 

Get a US map and draw a line from Bayonne to Canaveral, and as you pass the Carolina coast,  you will see how far off shore the ship is.   

 When I was a new aviator, I was amazed that West Palm beach is actually due south of Pittsburgh. and a whole lot of the east coast is to the west of Pittsburgh.

[johnjen]

3 hours ago, sportmorgan said:

Sailing Oasis in July. Bought 4 device surf and stream to share between 8 people.  Are there locations where the ship sails that are close enough to shore where service (AT@T) would be available if we needed more people to have intermittent access. Not sure how far off the coast cell service goes, though we go offshore fishing on our own boat in Connecticut and never have a problem (but not sure we are ever out more that 20 miles or so). 
 

thanks!

lynn

 

Not worth the risk of getting a massive bill - considering the poor cellular propagation that far out at sea (even three miles out is risky). But please let us know how it goes and the end result....happy cruising.

Edited June 8, 2022 by johnjen

[Sunshine3601]

Make sure everyone puts their  devices on airplane mode..

You don't want to be hit with roaming charges.

[dcgrumpy]

If you have a wifi package 

1 hour ago, RosieRoo said:

If you have an internet package and an IPhone you can use wifi calling and FaceTime. 

We were also able to use wifi calling and texting with our Samsung phones.

[Charles4515]

32 minutes ago, dcgrumpy said:

If you have a wifi package 

We were also able to use wifi calling and texting with our Samsung phones.

 

For some reason there are some Android phones for which AT&T does not enable WiFi calling. In that case WhatsApp over the ships WiFi would probably be their best alternative.. 

Edited June 8, 2022 by Charles4515

[dcgrumpy]

1 minute ago, Charles4515 said:

 

For some reason there are some Android phones for which AT&T does not enable WiFi calling. In that case WhatsApp would probably be their best alternative.. 

 

We have Verizon. When we sailed on Scarlet Lady and Mardi Gras a few months ago mine worked but my husband's didn't, so we used What's App. Before our Harmony cruise last month I had him try it at home to see if we could figure out the issue. I'm not sure what the problem was but he got it to work before we left and it worked on our cruise. 

[Another_Critic]

12 minutes ago, dcgrumpy said:

 

We have Verizon. When we sailed on Scarlet Lady and Mardi Gras a few months ago mine worked but my husband's didn't, so we used What's App. Before our Harmony cruise last month I had him try it at home to see if we could figure out the issue. I'm not sure what the problem was but he got it to work before we left and it worked on our cruise. 

On some (all?) plans, you have to enable WiFi calling on your home network using cellular data, before going off network.

[dcgrumpy]

1 minute ago, Another_Critic said:

On some (all?) plans, you have to enable WiFi calling on your home network using cellular data, before going off network.

 

Yeah, he thought it was on beforehand but it didn't work on either cruise.

[SG65CB]

4 hours ago, mo&fran said:

Get a US map and draw a line from Bayonne to Canaveral, and as you pass the Carolina coast,  you will see how far off shore the ship is.   

 When I was a new aviator, I was amazed that West Palm beach is actually due south of Pittsburgh. and a whole lot of the east coast is to the west of Pittsburgh.

 

...Just back from checking my maps...

 

Pittsburgh is indeed east of Florida. Continuing south, I have learned all of South America is east of Pittsburgh. 

[BND]

Hmm, I read this same exact question on FB earlier today.  

[pcur]

6 hours ago, johnjen said:

Not worth the risk of getting a massive bill - considering the poor cellular propagation that far out at sea (even three miles out is risky). But please let us know how it goes and the end result....happy cruising.

I found that sailing along the CA coast, I was slipping in and out of my cell provider's signal, and that's what happened when I was on a call.  It switched over to Cellular at Sea mid-call.

[johnjen]

1 hour ago, pcur said:

I found that sailing along the CA coast, I was slipping in and out of my cell provider's signal, and that's what happened when I was on a call.  It switched over to Cellular at Sea mid-call.

Eek. I hope your bill wasn't bad.....for me? Airplane mode, roaming turned off completely. And, one thing some people forget? Turn off those unused apps. Make them all go to sleep. If one wants to update, you're screwed.

[Charles4515]

7 minutes ago, johnjen said:

Eek. I hope your bill wasn't bad.....for me? Airplane mode, roaming turned off completely. And, one thing some people forget? Turn off those unused apps. Make them all go to sleep. If one wants to update, you're screwed.

If you are in Airplane mode apps won’t update over cellular. 

[johnjen]

8 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

If you are in Airplane mode apps won’t update over cellular. 

You're absolutely right - we all know this - but they WILL try updating AFTER airplane mode is turned OFF, just an added precaution when leaving the ship.

[RedIguana]

16 hours ago, SG65CB said:

Pittsburgh is indeed east of Florida. Continuing south, I have learned all of South America is east of Pittsburgh.

Close...parts of Ecuador and Peru are west of Pittsburg. But it really is amazing how far east South America is compared to most of North America. Maybe it should be Northwest America and Southeast America.