"WIFI Calling" on the ship

[avalong]

Has anyone tried to use "WIFI Calling" on an Oceania ship?  Did it work?

[lelak]

Yes.  It worked fine on Marina in March.

[bob brown]

Works fine on the Insignia…just be sure to enable it on your phone and with your cell provider before leaving home…very difficult to do after.

[WESTEAST]

We've found using the WhatsApp with onboard Wi-Fi works perfect and we don't have to involve our cell phone provider (remember to put on airplane mode).

[BrakeawayTakeaway]

So does WiFi calling from sea mean roaming charges on your cell phone bill? (I have never cruised) I would think if you put your phone in airplane mode and used WiFi calling it wouldn’t involve your cell carrier at all.  Or sending texts on WiFi, same thing?  The only thing you would have to enable before cruising is the cellular at sea (expensive) with your cellular carrier, but if your phone is in airplane mode you’re not using that.  

[Snaefell3]

6 minutes ago, BrakeawayTakeaway said:

So does WiFi calling from sea mean roaming charges on your cell phone bill? (I have never cruised) I would think if you put your phone in airplane mode and used WiFi calling it wouldn’t involve your cell carrier at all.  Or sending texts on WiFi, same thing?  The only thing you would have to enable before cruising is the cellular at sea (expensive) with your cellular carrier, but if your phone is in airplane mode you’re not using that.  

WiFi calling uses the internet to connect to your cellphone provider rather than cell towers and cell trunks.

 

Three caveats:

1) Be *very* sure `airplane mode` doesn't get toggled off, because you can't tell if you are making or receiving a call via WiFi calling or expensive cell tower without looking at the idiot icons. 

2) WiFi calling face-plants if there isn't audio-level bandwidth available from the ship at the time you want to make or get a call.

3) Folks who don't realize you're cruising will call thinking you are in your home timezone.

[johnwelch62]

I used WiFI calling on Verizon on our recent cruise on the Vista. And I did get a few spam calls. 🙂

[bob brown]

When you are on wifi calling, your phone acts like you are at home, except there is somewhat of a lag, and its easy to “step on” the other persons voice…

[Snaefell3]

32 minutes ago, bob brown said:

When you are on wifi calling, your phone acts like you are at home, except there is somewhat of a lag, and its easy to “step on” the other persons voice…

Speed-of-light lag up to a GEO-orbit satellite and back down is about a ¼ second or a sixteenth note.  It's there but I wouldn't expect it to bite except in a conversation between two auctioneers.  😉

[avalong]

5 hours ago, johnwelch62 said:

I used WiFI calling on Verizon on our recent cruise on the Vista. And I did get a few spam calls. 🙂

Did you have to make any arrangements with Verizon ahead of time?

[johnwelch62]

2 minutes ago, avalong said:

Did you have to make any arrangements with Verizon ahead of time?

No, I have enabled WiFi calling on my phone and there was no need to notify Verizon.

[avalong]

3 minutes ago, johnwelch62 said:

No, I have enabled WiFi calling on my phone and there was no need to notify Verizon.

Great! Thanks so much for the info.

[CurlerRob]

11 hours ago, Snaefell3 said:

Speed-of-light lag up to a GEO-orbit satellite and back down is about a ¼ second or a sixteenth note.  It's there but I wouldn't expect it to bite except in a conversation between two auctioneers.  😉

There can be other delays besides the transfer time to a satellite - digital processing at multiple points in the chain, latencies, router stacking, etc.  Anyone who has ever done a video conference call has experienced lags of this sort and the accompanying 'talk overs'. They don't always surface on every call, but @bob brown's caution is reasonable. 🍺🥌

[Snaefell3]

1 hour ago, CurlerRob said:

There can be other delays besides the transfer time to a satellite - digital processing at multiple points in the chain, latencies, router stacking, etc.  Anyone who has ever done a video conference call has experienced lags of this sort and the accompanying 'talk overs'. They don't always surface on every call, but @bob brown's caution is reasonable. 🍺🥌

Different kettle of fish: video uses a bunch more bandwidth and processing than audio, even duplex audio.  In addition, Zoom calls pass through extra router paths, one for each participant.

 

Yeah, buffering and lag can happen, but such is much more likely from your ship not having enough bandwidth on it's satellite link to service all the traffic at the moment of your call.

[CurlerRob]

1 minute ago, Snaefell3 said:

Different kettle of fish: video uses a bunch more bandwidth and processing than audio, even duplex audio.  In addition, Zoom calls pass through extra router paths, one for each participant.

 

Yeah, buffering and lag can happen, but such is much more likely from your ship not having enough bandwidth on it's satellite link to service all the traffic at the moment of your call.

Agreed - unfortunately, lack of sat bandwidth on cruise ships is endemic and likely the cause of the audio hit experienced by @bob brown. Cheers! 🍺🥌

[Snaefell3]

45 minutes ago, CurlerRob said:

...lack of sat bandwidth on cruise ships is endemic...

We're pretty much stuck with such.  No sooner do they figure out how to afford more bandwidth, we use it.  No?

 

Oceania's upcharge for streaming turns out to be a good thing.  8^o