AT&T Cell Phone

[alijay]

I will be on the Enchanted Princess, in the Caribbean.  I have AT&T on my cell phone.  I don't plan to make calls, but may send a few texts.  I see that AT&T has a $60 plan (for 30 days) for use on cruise ships.  Do you think I need that, or should I just use my plan and pay per text?   ( I will purchase the ship's wifi.)

 

Thank you.

Alice

[dpalmquist]

You can text iphone to iphone on wifi. Nothing extra needed. If an android is involved use messenger or signal.

We video call from the ship and for all of this you just need wifi.

Edited June 18 by dpalmquist

[alijay]

8 minutes ago, dpalmquist said:

You can text iphone to iphone on wifi. Nothing extra needed. If an android is involved use messenger or signal.

We video call from the ship and for all of this you just need wifi.

Thank you.  I have an iphone, so based on what you said I should be good.  Do I need to put my phone in airplane mode,

while on the ship?

[gsmith2424]

18 minutes ago, alijay said:

I will be on the Enchanted Princess, in the Caribbean.  I have AT&T on my cell phone.  I don't plan to make calls, but may send a few texts.  I see that AT&T has a $60 plan (for 30 days) for use on cruise ships.  Do you think I need that, or should I just use my plan and pay per text?   ( I will purchase the ship's wifi.)

 

Thank you.

Alice

Since I saw you got an iPhone the best thing to do is to turn WiFi calling on and have Airplane mode active. With WiFi calling active you can receive and make calls/texts as long as you keep the phone in airplane mode (no additional fees for WiFi calling). Depending on the islands you are going to your plan may work on those islands without paying a fee if you turn the cellular back on while on those islands.

 

https://www.att.com/plans/unlimited-data-plans/roam-latin-america/

Edited June 18 by gsmith2424

[dpalmquist]

6 minutes ago, alijay said:

Thank you.  I have an iphone, so based on what you said I should be good.  Do I need to put my phone in airplane mode,

while on the ship?

Yes, you will need to put it in airplane mode. If you text anyone with a Samsung or Android, you must use Messenger or Signal.  I am a green bubble Android user who messes up iPhone group messages. 🤣

 

If you are doing the Eastern leg on Enchanted most of the stops are US Territory. We will be doing that on July 6. 

Edited June 18 by dpalmquist

[alijay]

5 minutes ago, dpalmquist said:

Yes, you will need to put it in airplane mode. If you text anyone with a Samsung or Android, you must use Messenger or Signal.  I am a green bubble Android user who messes up iPhone group messages. 🤣

 

If you are doing the Eastern leg on Enchanted most of the stops are US Territory. We will be doing that on July 6. 

I am doing the Eastern Caribbean.   So if I am in a US territory, it is the same as being in the US (for AT&T)?

[Jadn13]

AT&T also has a $10 international day pas (24 hour period) just make sure it’s active in your phone account.  if you needed to make a call from a port you’re set,

Mexico is included in some phone plans if that’s one of your ports.

[dpalmquist]

18 minutes ago, alijay said:

I am doing the Eastern Caribbean.   So if I am in a US territory, it is the same as being in the US (for AT&T)?

It is for T-Mobile but you would need to check with AT&T. I would call them and ask to be sure.

Edited June 18 by dpalmquist

[Jadn13]

2 minutes ago, alijay said:

I am doing the Eastern Caribbean.   So if I am in a US territory, it is the same as being in the US (for AT&T)?

Day pass is now $12 

https://www.att.com/international/#s

[FLAlaska]

11 minutes ago, Jadn13 said:

AT&T also has a $10 international day pas (24 hour period) just make sure it’s active in your phone account.  if you needed to make a call from a port you’re set,

Mexico is included in some phone plans if that’s one of your ports.

Thats what I use but that doesn't cover calls , etc while at sea. For that I use whats app and wifi calling (but you have to have wifi )

 

Oh and the day pass only kicks in if you use it. If you do not, it doesn't charge you anything

[jeromep]

I've posted about this before, but I'll do so again and try to break it down as best as I can.

 

First off, you have to think about where you are when you use your phone.  Second, you need to understand the wireless resources your phone could access for communications and what you should be using, depending on where you are.

 

So, let's start out by dealing with using your cell phone while visiting an island.  If you are in Puerto Rico or the USVI, you are in the United States.  AT&T has operations in both places, has towers in both places, and your phone will connect with those towers just as if you were at home.

 

All the other Caribbean islands are foreign countries and as such your phone will be trying to connect to a foreign country's cellular providers.  On AT&T you would need the International Day pass, at what is now $12/day to use your phone in those countries.  It is a flick of a switch on your AT&T cellular account online to activate the International Day Pass, and you only get charged for it if your phone connects to a cellular network in a foreign country.  You can leave the International Day Pass turned on all the time and it only activates and charges you when you are in a foreign country connected to a foreign cellular provider.

 

Keep in mind that unless you have your phone in airplane mode or have gone into your cellular settings and turned off your cellular transceiver, if your phone is on in a foreign country it will try to connect to whatever cellular system is there and you will get charged for that International Day Pass, or if you don't have that, the prevailing call, data, and message rate for international usage for that locale (which could be a lot more than the International Day Pass).

 

Now, let's get to the cruise package.  First off, both packages that AT&T offers are tremendously overpriced.  If you are getting an Internet package on board, there is no practical reason for you to get the cruise package from AT&T.  Assuming that you have Plus or Premier or are purchasing an unlimited WiFi package, you will turn airplane mode on while on the ship and connect to WiFi.  From there iMessage and FaceTime activity will all be carried over the ship's WiFi to their satellite Internet service.  What you need to do with AT&T, to effectively use WiFi for normal cell phone usage while on board and at sea, is to ensure that you have WiFi calling turned on, on your phone.  I'm not aware of any carriers that charge users for WiFi calling, however depending on the service package you have with AT&T, WiFi calling might not be included, so you need to look into that with AT&T before your cruise.  But I'm willing to bet you have the service already.  So, you need to turn on WiFi calling on your phone, and go through a small amount of setup with the service for E911 and such before the service is active.

 

WiFi calling is beneficial to all the cell providers because it offloads phone calls to the terrestrial Internet taking traffic off cell phone towers, allowing the cellular providers to have more efficiency in their network.  Therefore WiFi calling is almost always included on all calling plans and the switch to turn it on is there in your phone's settings, just waiting to be used.

 

With WiFi calling on, your phone's cellular system turned off due to airplane mode, and your connection to ships WiFi and Internet, your phone will behave as if it were connected to the cellular network at home.  You'll get regular phone calls and conventional text messages just as you would at home.  Just remember to put your phone into airplane mode as you re board the ship from a day on shore so that it doesn't try to connect to the "cellular at sea" service, which would rack up tremendously expensive charges.

 

I hope this makes sense, and if you have questions I'd be happy to answer them.

[Rick&Jeannie]

23 hours ago, Jadn13 said:

Day pass is now $12 

https://www.att.com/international/#s

Bummer...though not really unexpected. I've been using that plan for several years at $10.