Unlimited Internet - WiFi Calling on iPhone

Will do!!

One more question. If I have wifi calling on will a phone call go through wifi even if cellular is on?? Obviously if on airplane mode that is not possible. I guess what I am wondering is I probably shouldn't have wifi calling on always. Only if definitely going to use it like on the ship

 

 

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well a phone call would go through if you are connected to wifi verizon et all will just route the call through the wifi network, but if you don't have wifi it won't work. i think you can just leave wifi calling on all the time apparently the handoff's used to be not that good but they are better, by handoff i mean you connect the call on cellular but then you get wifi and lose a good cellular connection apparently there was difficulty handing off but i understand that is better now...

guess you could experiment for now, i went ahead and turned it on and i'm going to leave it for awhile and see how it goes.

I was planning on do this on our Reflection Med cruise this summer. We booked the "Best" package that came with unlimited WiFi perk. Would my wife and I both be able to connect our iPhones to the WiFi to call each other on the ship?

that's my plan, so i would think yes. let me know how it goes thats' my plan as well. it should just get routed over wifi to florida then onto verizon network then back to her, probably a bit of delay when you are talking but should still work.

So I set this all up and everything looks good - now if I call the US from let's say, Costa Rica. I just dial the number with the area code? No need to dial country codes or anything?

Having just returned from a cruise on the Reflection, I wanted to post a message/tutorial about WiFi calling utilizing Verizon Wireless on my iPhone (though I suspect it will work the same with the others). I was able to set mine up relatively easily and it worked extremely well, other than a 1 second delay on my end).

 

First, a few caveats...

 

1) Make sure you have an unlimited, or large internet package.

2) CRITICAL: do not allow your cell phone to connect to the ships cell antenna, or you'll be in for a huge surprise when you get your bill. I'll explain how shortly.

 

Here is what I recommend doing, in this order:

 

1) Go into Settings>Phone>Wi-Fi calling and set to On. I also selected Prefer Wi-FI While Roaming. You'll need to set up an emergency address for 911 services, so put whatever you want in there. I just used my home address. According to the disclaimer, you're supposed to change this whenever you go somewhere, but you only have to set it once. I set mine up before I left the states, but not my wife's phone and she was not able to get this working until we called Verizon to do something on their end (I don't know what). Set it up well before your cruise and you'll be able to work out any issues.

 

2) Connect to the ship's WiFi (after setting up an account)

 

3) Swipe up and put your phone in Airplane Mode. This is critical and is what prevents the phone from connecting to the ship's cell antenna.

 

4) Swipe up again and select WiFi. You couldn't do this a few years ago, but now you can be in airplane mode with WiFi and Bluetooth active. You may need to connect to the ship's WiFi again.

 

5) It will take a few minutes, but at the top of the phone you should see the Airplane Mode Icon + VZW Wi-FI + the WiFi signal meter.

 

That's it. I made calls throughout the Caribbean with no problems whatsoever, other than the slight delay. I was able to receive calls, as well as both iMessages and normal texts. Voicemail was tricky, but I was able to just call my number, put in my PIN, and retrieve messages that way.

 

I hope someone finds this helpful. If there's a step I missed, just reply to this thread and I'll edit the post.

So I set this all up and everything looks good - now if I call the US from let's say, Costa Rica. I just dial the number with the area code? No need to dial country codes or anything?

That's how it was in St Maarten and St. Kitts, so I assume that will be the case in Costa Rica. Worst case, you may just need to dial a "1" before the area code.

So I set this all up and everything looks good - now if I call the US from let's say, Costa Rica. I just dial the number with the area code? No need to dial country codes or anything?

You use your phone and text just like you were at home in the US. You do not need to dial +1 for US calls unless you normally do that from home for some reason. That is a cellular thing.

As long as you are on any type of WiFi you can use WiFi Calling. Unlimited WiFi is nice since you can leave your phone on airplane mode the entire cruise on ship and make/receive calls and texts any time. If there are two of you with unlimited WiFi packages this works well for communicating with each other on board. If you choose to use the elite or elite+ Wifi minutes with WiFi calling you will just need to remember to sign in and out of WiFi on your phone when you want to use WiFi calling.

Thanks!

I was planning on do this on our Reflection Med cruise this summer. We booked the "Best" package that came with unlimited WiFi perk. Would my wife and I both be able to connect our iPhones to the WiFi to call each other on the ship?

Goodquestion. I would think that you and your wife would both need a separate WiFi package.

Thanks!

 

 

Goodquestion. I would think that you and your wife would both need a separate WiFi package.

don't you get two pins with the unlimited perk?

The Go Best perk usually is unlimited wifi for each of the first two people in a room. They would have separate accounts, separate passwords and PINS.

When you buy unlimited internet on board, it is sold for one device at a time -- two people can share it but only one person can be on line at a time.

Or it can be sold as a package where the second person gets their own unlimited account, usually for a 50% discount.

In any case, for two people to be able to contact each other on board, they would both have to have their own accounts.

We had Go Best and they gave us one pin only but we set up two accounts with different sign in's.

having just returned from a cruise on the reflection, i wanted to post a message/tutorial about wifi calling utilizing verizon wireless on my iphone (though i suspect it will work the same with the others). I was able to set mine up relatively easily and it worked extremely well, other than a 1 second delay on my end).

 

First, a few caveats...

 

1) make sure you have an unlimited, or large internet package.

2) critical: Do not allow your cell phone to connect to the ships cell antenna, or you'll be in for a huge surprise when you get your bill. I'll explain how shortly.

 

Here is what i recommend doing, in this order:

 

1) go into settings>phone>wi-fi calling and set to on. I also selected prefer wi-fi while roaming. You'll need to set up an emergency address for 911 services, so put whatever you want in there. I just used my home address. According to the disclaimer, you're supposed to change this whenever you go somewhere, but you only have to set it once. I set mine up before i left the states, but not my wife's phone and she was not able to get this working until we called verizon to do something on their end (i don't know what). Set it up well before your cruise and you'll be able to work out any issues.

 

2) connect to the ship's wifi (after setting up an account)

 

3) swipe up and put your phone in airplane mode. This is critical and is what prevents the phone from connecting to the ship's cell antenna.

 

4) swipe up again and select wifi. You couldn't do this a few years ago, but now you can be in airplane mode with wifi and bluetooth active. You may need to connect to the ship's wifi again.

 

5) it will take a few minutes, but at the top of the phone you should see the airplane mode icon + vzw wi-fi + the wifi signal meter.

 

That's it. I made calls throughout the caribbean with no problems whatsoever, other than the slight delay. I was able to receive calls, as well as both imessages and normal texts. Voicemail was tricky, but i was able to just call my number, put in my pin, and retrieve messages that way.

 

I hope someone finds this helpful. If there's a step i missed, just reply to this thread and i'll edit the post.

thank you sooo very much for this information... :)

I have an old i5.. we were on a river cruise with unlimited wifi.. my DH and I us messager from Facebook to text each other on the ship. You can also make calls to anyone. we are always on airplane mode and never charged..

i see the emergency address on mine as well, but i am on verizon it's possible that if you are not in the us, or if you are on a different carrier that you might now see that.

 

also this is great information I added it to my celebrity secrets list. I had unlimited internet the last two trips and was going to buy the walkie talkies for my wife and I for this trip but now I can just use this...

Where can I find your celebrity secrets list??

Thanks for the step by step directions!

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Will it work for t mobile?

Helaine

Any advice for setting this up on a Samsung smartphone?

I know the OP set this thread up for iPhone users, but both the OP and others on this thread seem very knowledgeable. I have a Samsung Galaxy S7, and can't find a specific Wi-Fi calling option. I checked all Settings as well as Call Settings and nothing seems to jive with what is described for an iPhone. Any advice would be appreciated.:)

Samsung S7--go into settings, choose advanced calling (under mobile networks), and choose wi-fi calling. Set up accordingly...it should take 30 seconds to complete.

You will want to go into airplane mode prior to leaving port and then manually turn on wi-fi. (all through settings) and then connect to the ship's wifi.

Samsung S7--go into settings, choose advanced calling (under mobile networks), and choose wi-fi calling. Set up accordingly...it should take 30 seconds to complete.

 

You will want to go into airplane mode prior to leaving port and then manually turn on wi-fi. (all through settings) and then connect to the ship's wifi.

Thanks so much for your response, NJ cruise dude. I'm afraid that still doesn't work....a "wi-fi calling" option doesn't pop up. Instead I get four other options under mobile networks.... "Data roaming," Network mode," "Access Point Names," and 'Network operators." I'm wondering if its because we have a Canadian network operator not providing the same options as in the US? :confused:

Having just returned from a cruise on the Reflection, I wanted to post a message/tutorial about WiFi calling utilizing Verizon Wireless on my iPhone (though I suspect it will work the same with the others). I was able to set mine up relatively easily and it worked extremely well, other than a 1 second delay on my end).

 

 

Can you please clarify? Did you provider still charge you minutes and data as per your plan?

 

Thank you.

Thanks so much for your response, NJ cruise dude. I'm afraid that still doesn't work....a "wi-fi calling" option doesn't pop up. Instead I get four other options under mobile networks.... "Data roaming," Network mode," "Access Point Names," and 'Network operators." I'm wondering if its because we have a Canadian network operator not providing the same options as in the US? :confused:

It looks like Bell Canada offers wi-fi calling, but only on iPhones. So, it might depend on your carrier.

This is great information. Thank you so much!

It looks like Bell Canada offers wi-fi calling, but only on iPhones. So, it might depend on your carrier.

I just checked with Bell Canada, and you are right, only on iPhones with minimum IOS10. Not possible on Samsung phones. I should have kept my old iPhone in a drawer after I switched to Samsung, could have registered the old phone with a new number on a basic plan and used it on our European trips. Oh well!

Having just returned from a cruise on the Reflection, I wanted to post a message/tutorial about WiFi calling utilizing Verizon Wireless on my iPhone (though I suspect it will work the same with the others). I was able to set mine up relatively easily and it worked extremely well, other than a 1 second delay on my end).

 

 

Can you please clarify? Did you provider still charge you minutes and data as per your plan?

 

Thank you.

 

My plan with Verizon does not charge the minutes or data used when using WiFi Calling. I used it on a recent AMAWaterways river cruise and it worked flawlessly! We had free Internet service on the ship. I used it with my iPad and my iPhone. :)

This does work. The only downside is that the ships still have limited bandwidth and although there was a great improvement in the speed of the internet when they first upgraded the system, it is slower again because of the many unlimited packages and people leaving it on all the time. This will only add to the problem.

VoIP also works with Xfinity voice (through Xfinity Connect.) We have called from Antartica, Australia, South China Sea and the Baltic using wifi (VoIP.) The key is to leave your phone in airplane mode and only use wifi. We have had no problems with band width. You just have to have a strong wifi signal.

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This does work. The only downside is that the ships still have limited bandwidth and although there was a great improvement in the speed of the internet when they first upgraded the system, it is slower again because of the many unlimited packages and people leaving it on all the time. This will only add to the problem.

I think they kick you off after 2 hours of inactivity.