International Cell Phone

[AlbertusMagnus]

Buon giorno,

Can anyone tell me what cell phone companies are available in the US that offer International calling. How can I get a phone that I can use at sea?

Mille grazie,

Alberto

[kitty9]

Every cell phone provider has at least one phone model that can be used internationally. That list includes Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, ATT, AllTell and US Cellular. It's more a function of the particular phone you purchase rather than the actual provider. Not all cell phones are equipped to call internationally. I would suggest going to each company's website and see which of their phones can call internationally.

 

To call at sea the ship must have the satellite capability, which not every ship has. Or you can rent a satellite phone that can be used at sea, regardless if the ship has satellite capabilities or not.

[judatt]

Greetings, Alberto. I work for an international firm and we have several people who travel internationally quite often, including me. Our telecommunications office did the research and for those of us who travel overseas, we use AT&T. My blackberry has worked fine most places I have been for both voice and data. It is not necessarily cheap, but it works and in most places it is more or less reasonable.

[Fisherwoman]

The company I work for uses Simphonee. These phones are not the fastest but they are cheap. The phone actually calls you back with the connection.

 

www.simphonee.com

 

Fisherwoman

[cruisegal101]

Greetings, Alberto. I work for an international firm and we have several people who travel internationally quite often, including me. Our telecommunications office did the research and for those of us who travel overseas, we use AT&T. My blackberry has worked fine most places I have been for both voice and data. It is not necessarily cheap, but it works and in most places it is more or less reasonable.

 

I also use AT&T with a Treo 750 and it works great. Since I only travel for pleasure, I change to their World Traveler option that costs $5.99 per month and you have to keep it for 2 months after your return home to allow time for bills from other carriers abroad to bill for time used. For an additional $24.99 for the month that you are traveling you have 20 mb of internet access/email. Text messages are $.50 per message sent and no charge for incoming as long as you are within your monthly allowance.

[hermang]

Last year on the way back from Hilton head we saw an ad for a world phone from : http://www.mobalrental.com/

 

They sell 2 phones - one is $49 the other is $99. Here is the deal - you only pay for calls you make. They give you a UK based number so people can call you.

 

$99 phone works in 170 countries. Loaned it to a friend who went to Spain and saw service everywhere (GSM). Phone is a Siemens A70 - not feature rich. so then I bought an unlocked Blackberry on ebay for $100 and got another SIM card from Mobal for that - same deal - you only pay for usage.

We carry it just in case we need to call home - $1.50 - $ 2.95 for most places we were. Had service in Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Montego Bay.

 

We are going on a caribbean cruise next year - St.Kitts and St. Martaan and a TA later in the year - will have both phones with us.

 

YES ATT may be cheaper - but the plans are not and world phnes from Verizon are very expensive

[Verity]

Verizon is our cell phone carrier. They told us when we go on our cruise in Australia we can rent an international phone for a very nominal rate from them.

[hermang]

Verizon is our cell phone carrier. They told us when we go on our cruise in Australia we can rent an international phone for a very nominal rate from them.

 

I think I heard $9/day + charges for use - on a 14 day cruise you would be better off buying your own and paying only for useage

[Lsimon]

Our ATT phone is a "tri" band international phone and worked in all areas on last years mediterranean cruise except Croatia. If we'd had a quad band phone it would have worked here. There is a place on the ATT web site that list the rates and will tell you what country your phone will work in. Look for "International Roaming" information on their web site. Also make sure international roaming is allowed on your phone, and as noted above sign up for their world traveler option for the time period of your travel and cancel it after charges clear.

 

There are some companies that offer Europe based SIMs for your GSM phone. These are cheaper if you make or receive a lot of calls, but we figured that with the initial purchase costs it would only be worthwhile if we were to make a lot more than 100 minutes of calls. You can Google international GSM SIM or something like that to find several providers. I remember looking at a company called GEOSIM (or Global SIM) but there were a few others. One thing to consider is that with these SIM's you'll have a Europe based phone number so while outgoing calls are cheaper the person calling you from the USA will have to pay for the call to Europe.

[Dog Mommie]

One thing to consider is that with these SIM's you'll have a Europe based phone number so while outgoing calls are cheaper the person calling you from the USA will have to pay for the call to Europe.

 

Larry, that was my 1st thought, too, but after looking at the site, it says while you have an Estonia #:eek: , they also give an 800# for friends and family to call you.

 

While I haven't done anything further than look at the site, I do wonder if others here have experience with this and if it does really work as advertised... i.e., truly free for incoming calls and free (thru the 800#) for people in the U.S. to reach you!

What's the catch???:confused:

[candbgirl]

Last year on the way back from Hilton head we saw an ad for a world phone from : http://www.mobalrental.com/

 

They sell 2 phones - one is $49 the other is $99. Here is the deal - you only pay for calls you make. They give you a UK based number so people can call you.

 

$99 phone works in 170 countries. Loaned it to a friend who went to Spain and saw service everywhere (GSM). Phone is a Siemens A70 - not feature rich. so then I bought an unlocked Blackberry on ebay for $100 and got another SIM card from Mobal for that - same deal - you only pay for usage.

We carry it just in case we need to call home - $1.50 - $ 2.95 for most places we were. Had service in Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Montego Bay.

 

We are going on a caribbean cruise next year - St.Kitts and St. Martaan and a TA later in the year - will have both phones with us.

 

YES ATT may be cheaper - but the plans are not and world phnes from Verizon are very expensive

 

 

We have the Mobal phone and it works beautifully. We bought the $99 phone and it worked in every single port we visited and out in the middle of the sea too. As we entered various locales we received a text message welcoming us to the new server. We used it on our Scandinavia and Russia cruise with no problem. You can set it up for voice mail too. Very handy and very reasonable. And I don't care that it is basic without all of the bells and whistles. I highly recommend it to anyone.

[Leela]

I have a Motorola Razr from T-Mobile and have used it in Europe, the Caribbean, Bermuda, Canada, Central America, and of course the US.

[hermang]

We have the Mobal phone and it works beautifully. We bought the $99 phone and it worked in every single port we visited and out in the middle of the sea too. As we entered various locales we received a text message welcoming us to the new server. We used it on our Scandinavia and Russia cruise with no problem. You can set it up for voice mail too. Very handy and very reasonable. And I don't care that it is basic without all of the bells and whistles. I highly recommend it to anyone.

 

For some reason - and I spoke to Mobal - even though Costa Rica is GSM there was an issue with their phone company not willing to participate. That was several months ago so it may have changed. Never got the text message when we were in a different country and in fact Cozumel and Mobay had several GSM providers. I suspect we will have to try dialing on one of our cruises. But since I have had the phone I got a couple of bogus text message charges while in the USa - they didn;t amount to more than $5.00 or so but Mobal credited them back.

[Denny01]

I think it depends on when/where.

 

Abroad ship, a number of carriers will have access, which will range from 2.99 -4.99 per minute (US).

 

In port, you have a number of options. Check with your current provider and they should be able to let you know what ports are covered at some fee, usually at the above rates, generally.

 

For true international calls, the satillite phones will work, but usually are expensive unless you need them a great deal.

 

I used the redcard renting a phone and then using that. But the card is usually for a specific country and you end up getting one for each port.

 

I haven't used a cellphone on cruise except to check in with family to make sure everybod is still alive and all is 'generally' OK.

 

I DON'Tcheck work issues. I've trained my support to take the lead, and don't worry about it unless there is a major issue, which is handled via email instead of phone, so as I said above, it's mainly to give my elderly mother a POC, and my grown kids a check-in.

 

If you are expecting a limite use as I've discussed above, check your provider for info on cruises generally, and your cruise ship specifically, or rent an international phone.

 

 

Denny

[ECCruise]

I think it depends on when/where.

 

Abroad ship, a number of carriers will have access, which will range from 2.99 -4.99 per minute (US).

 

In port, you have a number of options. Check with your current provider and they should be able to let you know what ports are covered at some fee, usually at the above rates, generally.

 

For true international calls, the satillite phones will work, but usually are expensive unless you need them a great deal.

 

I used the redcard renting a phone and then using that. But the card is usually for a specific country and you end up getting one for each port.

 

I haven't used a cellphone on cruise except to check in with family to make sure everybod is still alive and all is 'generally' OK.

 

I DON'Tcheck work issues. I've trained my support to take the lead, and don't worry about it unless there is a major issue, which is handled via email instead of phone, so as I said above, it's mainly to give my elderly mother a POC, and my grown kids a check-in.

 

If you are expecting a limite use as I've discussed above, check your provider for info on cruises generally, and your cruise ship specifically, or rent an international phone.

 

 

Denny

 

ATT is much cheaper than these rates. $2.49/minute onboard and, in Europe, most countries are $1.29/minute. Just be certain to have international roaming activated. You do NOT need to buy the international package for $6.00/month unless yoiu are going to make numerous calls. In most cases the international package will save ~ .30 minute so you would need 20 minutes to break even.

[hermang]

ATT is much cheaper than these rates. $2.49/minute onboard and, in Europe, most countries are $1.29/minute. Just be certain to have international roaming activated. You do NOT need to buy the international package for $6.00/month unless yoiu are going to make numerous calls. In most cases the international package will save ~ .30 minute so you would need 20 minutes to break even.

 

If you have Verizon or Sprint/Nextel some other CDMA carrier - AT&T is not going to do you any good.

 

As I understand it - most if not all of Europe is GSM which means people have connectivity almost anywhere - Not true in the USA

[Verity]

Our verizon phone was one of the few phones that worked in the middle of thee Pacific when the Infinity had a pod problem and we all missed our flights out. I know because there was a line of people to use my phone(they all paid me without my asking for the charges). I wonder if it worked because of the ship's antenna. We just want our children to be able to get hold of us in Australia if there is a problem. I think I'm going to give the Captain's Club a call tomorrow and see if the ship's antenna makes a difference when the ship is at sea. My husband said that $9 a day for rental was a lot more than he was quoted when he called Verizon. He is going to double check tomorrow.

[hermang]

Our verizon phone was one of the few phones that worked in the middle of thee Pacific when the Infinity had a pod problem and we all missed our flights out. I know because there was a line of people to use my phone(they all paid me without my asking for the charges). I wonder if it worked because of the ship's antenna. We just want our children to be able to get hold of us in Australia if there is a problem. I think I'm going to give the Captain's Club a call tomorrow and see if the ship's antenna makes a difference when the ship is at sea. My husband said that $9 a day for rental was a lot more than he was quoted when he called Verizon. He is going to double check tomorrow.

 

On the TA Nov 2009 we will be away almost 16 days so we do want a way for the kids to call us in an emergency. I know when we went to Alaska we stayed in Vancouver for 2 days and Verizon had a Canada + plan that we were able to upgrade to for about $20 for the month. Only issue was it changed our contract expiration by 2 months.

 

Verizon had a BB 8830 which was CDMA and GSM but they wanted over $400 to buy and we had to get a data plan The other world phone was a piece of junk.

 

With Celebrity as I understand it - they have a capability on board for both GSM and CMA which operates whe you are not in port. Check out roaming charges though.

[stuboat]

On RCCL it is $4.99 a minute.

[cruisegal101]

Many cruise lines participate in Cellular at Sea. This link will take you to the ships that are covered. http://www.cellularatsea.com/shipsinservice.htm

 

The rate for using your phone while on the ship is $2.49 per minute. Your phone carrier's site should have a list of countries under their international plan information and will include Cruise Ship as a destination if the carrier participates in Cellular at Sea.

[Verity]

Many cruise lines participate in Cellular at Sea. This link will take you to the ships that are covered. http://www.cellularatsea.com/shipsinservice.htm

 

The rate for using your phone while on the ship is $2.49 per minute. Your phone carrier's site should have a list of countries under their international plan information and will include Cruise Ship as a destination if the carrier participates in Cellular at Sea.

 

Thank you for the info. We are not planning on using our phone at all unless we get an urgent message. We just want our children to be able to leave a message on our cell phones. We will be gone 3 weeks and don't want to spend a fortune renting a cell phone that we won't use hopefully. Am I correct in assuming that Cellular at Sea would work in Australia? I am a technological idiot so I need it spelled out. My husband and I refuse to use the computer while we are on vacation unless we need to.

[hermang]

Thank you for the info. We are not planning on using our phone at all unless we get an urgent message. We just want our children to be able to leave a message on our cell phones. We will be gone 3 weeks and don't want to spend a fortune renting a cell phone that we won't use hopefully. Am I correct in assuming that Cellular at Sea would work in Australia? I am a technological idiot so I need it spelled out. My husband and I refuse to use the computer while we are on vacation unless we need to.

 

Cellular at sea is shut down when the ship is in port SOOO if Australia is GSM then the Mobal phone I mentioned or if you have AT&T should work

[hermang]

Thank you for the info. We are not planning on using our phone at all unless we get an urgent message. We just want our children to be able to leave a message on our cell phones. We will be gone 3 weeks and don't want to spend a fortune renting a cell phone that we won't use hopefully. Am I correct in assuming that Cellular at Sea would work in Australia? I am a technological idiot so I need it spelled out. My husband and I refuse to use the computer while we are on vacation unless we need to.

 

Call Charges For Australia :

 

 

Incoming calls National calls Calls to USA & Canada Calls to other Mobal World Phones Calls to other countries SMS text messages

$1.25/min $1.50/min $1.95/min $1.95/min $3.75/min $0.80/message

[ECCruise]

On RCCL it is $4.99 a minute.

 

For which carrier?

[Verity]

My husband just called verizon. This is what they told him.

 

 

3. Phone:

 

Our phone will work in New Zealand and on the boat (it will work on the

Century, Constellation, Galaxy, Infinity, Mercury, Millennium, and the

Summit. In New Zealand, the charge is $1.29 per minute.

 

On the ship, the fees will probably be the same as in Australia:

$2.49/minute, text 50c to send, 5c to receive. In Australia, we need a

global phone. They will lend us one for $9.99 shipping charge. If we do

not return it within 30 days of leaving, we owe $199.00 We also need to

unblock our phones before we leave (*228 send). I talked to: 800-711-8300