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Unlimited Internet - WiFi Calling on iPhone


kjwkjw
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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.

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I've used this before for FaceTime, connecting with the ship's wifi while in airplane mode. I have an iPhone 6. Of course the other person you are Face Timing with would have to have an iPhone.

 

Are the the above procedures for calling iPhone to iPhone, or can you call any U.S. phone number/cell number thru wifi?

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Are the the above procedures for calling iPhone to iPhone, or can you call any U.S. phone number/cell number thru wifi?

 

 

You can call any phone, does not need to be an iPhone.

I actually tested this at home before I left by calling my home land line.

Works great, and it's great fun to call friends from remote beach bars, since almost everywhere has wifi these days.

 

I was even on a catamaran trip in St Maarten where the boat was equipped with wifi. I never called anybody, but did send some pix.

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I have used this method on our last two recent cruises (Silhouette and Anthem) with the ships's unlimited WiFi and with my iPhone 7. It does need to be set up once on your Verizon Wireless account before you leave. Works great for phone calls and iMessages to USA numbers. No charges from Verizon. It also works in ports if you find a WiFi signal. Note that some older models of iPhone do not support WiFi calling. I previously had a 5s and it did not work. It is nice if their are two (or more) of you as you can call or text each other on the ship. There is no need to have Bluetooth turned on.

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I have an IPhone 7 and I looked under Prefer W-IFI but I could not find anything for 'set up emergency address'. Can you explain further.

 

Thanks,

 

Mosholu

 

 

Set connection preference

  1. From the Home screen, tap Settings.
  2. Tap Phone.
  3. Tap Wi-Fi Calls.
  4. Tap the slider next to Allow Wi-Fi Calls to turn Wi-Fi Calling on.
  5. Tap Update Emergency Address.
  6. Enter your E911 address and tap Save.

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Set connection preference

 

  1. From the Home screen, tap Settings.
  2. Tap Phone.
  3. Tap Wi-Fi Calls.
  4. Tap the slider next to Allow Wi-Fi Calls to turn Wi-Fi Calling on.
  5. Tap Update Emergency Address.
  6. Enter your E911 address and tap Save.

 

 

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...

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It is the same on AT&T

 

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...

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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...

 

 

Is it not true, however, that both of you need to have unlimited WiFi to use your phones as walkie-talkies? We have had a single unlimited package on some recent trips and shared it back and forth, but by definition only one could be on WiFi any one time.

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I was pleasantly surprised with the Wifi on Reflection. The only time I ever had an issue with it was the day we left Grand Cayman. I'm not sure if there was a connectivity issue or the system was just bogged down with traffic once every returned to the ship. I wouldn't hesitate to pay the premium to buy Go Best again to have the Wifi included. I was a nervous it would be too slow to use and the extra money would be a waste.

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kjwkjw - Thank you so much. There is one thing that I am confused about.

 

Does this WiFi calling actually use the ships WiFi minutes (we get Elite Plus minutes) to make the calls, text and Facetime? Or do we have to have an Unlimited Internet on the ship?

 

We do have the iPhone 6's and 7's with WiFi calling and unlimited texting, but not unlimited data.

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kjwkjw -

Does this WiFi calling actually use the ships WiFi minutes (we get Elite Plus minutes) to make the calls, text and Facetime? Or do we have to have an Unlimited Internet on the ship?

a.

 

 

If you follow the OP's instructions, you will be fine.

Key point for you would be to get the phone into Airplane Mode as soon as you leave port (or before). This will not use any data . That's what that setting is for.

 

Rather than having your phones with you and able to receive and make calls at all times as with an unlimited package from the cruise line, you will only make and receive calls when you are logged in to the ship's wifi and using your Elite Plus minutes.

 

Once logged in, it does not matter what you are using the internet for (calls, web surfing, email, etc.). Your minutes will just count down as normal, until they are used up.

 

As I and others have mentioned, be sure to take advantage of the wifi calling when on shore, as well. Find somewhere with wifi, log in to their account, and call home, email, web surf, text, as you wish.

 

Does this clear anything up? Just remember to keep Airplane More on at all times while you are away.

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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.

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If you follow the OP's instructions, you will be fine.

Key point for you would be to get the phone into Airplane Mode as soon as you leave port (or before). This will not use any data . That's what that setting is for.

 

Rather than having your phones with you and able to receive and make calls at all times as with an unlimited package from the cruise line, you will only make and receive calls when you are logged in to the ship's wifi and using your Elite Plus minutes.

 

Once logged in, it does not matter what you are using the internet for (calls, web surfing, email, etc.). Your minutes will just count down as normal, until they are used up.

 

As I and others have mentioned, be sure to take advantage of the wifi calling when on shore, as well. Find somewhere with wifi, log in to their account, and call home, email, web surf, text, as you wish.

 

Does this clear anything up? Just remember to keep Airplane More on at all times while you are away.

 

 

Ok. I have enabled wifi calling. However if I put airplane mode on it says I can't access it. Did I do something wrong?? Also should I keep cellular off??

 

Thanks

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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Ok. I have enabled wifi calling. However if I put airplane mode on it says I can't access it. Did I do something wrong?? Also should I keep cellular off??

 

Thanks

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

so go airplane mode then hit the wifi icon to turn wifi back on you can have airplane mode enabled and still keep bluetooth and wifi on, you don't need bluetooth for this, but you will need wifi, but you leave it in airplane mode, and yes you certainly should keep cellular off, but it will be off if you are in airplane mode.

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I want to know this too....

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

this shouild work whereever you have an internet connection, i don't think they can know where you are, worse case you could actually setup a vpn, which is much harder, but still possible and make it look like you are somewhere else. ie connect to a vpn in Los angeles when you are in europe, but you are just adding more overhead and latency to an already tenuous connection.

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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.

 

 

this is critical, if you turn on wifi calling and log your phone in you will use up all of your minutes, because your phone will constantly connect, not tons but enough to use up all of your minutes, so either get unlimited or sign in and out. if you forgot to sign out you will just continue to use minutes

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so go airplane mode then hit the wifi icon to turn wifi back on you can have airplane mode enabled and still keep bluetooth and wifi on, you don't need bluetooth for this, but you will need wifi, but you leave it in airplane mode, and yes you certainly should keep cellular off, but it will be off if you are in airplane mode.

 

 

Thanks. I did. It worked. We r going to So America. Will be interesting to see if it works.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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Thanks for the notes/corrections. I did mention to turn on Bluetooth, which a few have mentioned is not necessary. They are correct, however, if you use any type of BT earbuds, etc. this must be activated. I had intended to edit my original post, but see that the edit option expires after a short time. Oh well.

 

I also saw a few notes that it wasn't working right away. I did find that it took a few minutes (usually) for the WiFi calling to "kick in". Before that, the phone would give a message that you can't make calls in Airplane Mode. This always (for me) corrected itself within a minute or 2.

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Thanks. I did. It worked. We r going to So America. Will be interesting to see if it works.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

hey i'm going to sweden in 5 months so when you get back, come back to this thread and tell us if it works, or do it on the ship, because i'm interested...

 

also if anyone is reading this currently in the med or baltic, i would be interested if you can get it to work.

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hey i'm going to sweden in 5 months so when you get back, come back to this thread and tell us if it works, or do it on the ship, because i'm interested...

 

also if anyone is reading this currently in the med or baltic, i would be interested if you can get it to work.

 

 

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

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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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?

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