Beware Smart Phone Users

[Freecall]

I'm assuming that info was in the instructions that came w/ the phone, ...........

What instructions? Apple certainly don't provide them.

 

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[judla]

Hey Bighairtexan! It's me judla. I am afraid I started this mess--are you surprised? Your answer was right. Just turning the power button or airplane mode will only store all the messages, news, and all the little things we don't realize are constantly updating on our phones and the second you turn that power/airplane mode back back on they download causing that extra $$$$$ charge on your bill. The only ports they told me to do this in were American territories like Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. I am not taking any chances either.

[DuncanHusky]

I can comment from recent experience on a very specific case: for folks who use Sprint and have a Samsung Epic 4G or HTC Evo 4G. Sprint does not consider these phones "global phones" and thus you cannot get International plans for them (when I had a Palm Pre and went to Canada, though, I was able to get an inexpensive pro-rated add-on for a couple of bucks that allowed me to use phone and data there).

 

If you take an Epic or Evo out of the country, do some searches on how to turn off background data functions, or you'll be quite sorry when your bill comes! (And yes, you can put them into airplane mode as well - or just turn them off completely!)

[southernbreezes]

Total nonsense. We've cruise many times with our Verizon smart phones and never incurred a charge for our phone being off or on all over the Caribbean, Bermuda and Canada, as long as we didn't make a call.

Well you are lucky - did anyone leave you a voice mail. I have AT&T and also was told that I would be charged for every message I get if my phone is left on. I set my phone to Air Plane mode - this is for phone service, my data roaming is always set to Data Roaming - OFF.

When in US waters, Florida Ports, St. Thomas and San Juan, I use my phone and check messages with no charge.

[IHateSnow!]

I have an Evo 4G which I recently took on a 7 night Royal cruise. I had it on, in airplane mode with data roam turned OFF for the majority of the cruise. I did turn it on however for a little while to make a couple calls while in port. As long as you turn data roam off it will not try and sync any of your data applications.

 

If you keep your phone in airplane mode with the data roam turned off you'll have no issues whatsoever. I've done this with evo's, blackberry's and iphones on Sprint and ATT.

 

If you want to be able to add texting via ATT - call them. They have a plan that is $10. and it allows you 50 or so texts. Much cheaper than the individual rate. they also have international data plans available starting at $20 a month on ATT.

[packedandready]

Thanks for all this information. Being a neebie to the smart phone world I think I'm just going to put it on airplane mode, turn the phone off and use the ships computers. May be a little more money but I'll probably sleep better.:D

[C 2 C]

Friends on Azamara right now emailed that a new all inclusive plan is being introduced onboard:

 

All the email you want only $50.00 per day.

All the phone usage you want for only $75.00 per day.

 

you must sign up for every day of the cruise.

 

I've had many Transatlantic cruises that cost less than that a day...

 

Silence is golden but verbosity has a silver lining...

[bighairtexan]

What instructions? Apple certainly don't provide them.

 

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I have a Droid 2 thru Verizon and there was a tiny booklet in the bottom of the box. PROBABLY instructions. Heck my last Motorola Razor had probably 1/4 of the bells and whistles that my Droid has and it had a TOME instead of a booklet. (which I didn't read either. But yes I do ask for directions when I'm lost) :D

 

judla, I just WISH you'd started this thread in early October. I winced when I got my $225 cell bill after going on the Solstice.

 

C 2 C, I have to say other than my kids in an emergency, there is NO ONE that I would want to speak with so badly that I'd pay that kind of daily charge. WOWSERS!! :eek:

[Lsimon]

What instructions? Apple certainly don't provide them.

 

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Yes they do - you just need to know where to look.

 

I can't remember if this was on the small sheet of paper with basic operation included with our phone or if I found it elsewhere, or just happened on it, but: Open Safari and open your bookmarks - there should be a bookmark called "iPhone User Guide" that brings up a very nice instruction guide. There is even a search icon at the top of the guide that comes up and you can search for topics if you can't find them in the menu and indexes. For example, searching for "roaming" or "international" comes up with a section called "Using iPhone Abroad" which includes a discussion of many, or maybe all, of the topics talked about on this thread as far as phone settings.

[cruzcat]

I have a Droid 2 thru Verizon and there was a tiny booklet in the bottom of the box. PROBABLY instructions. Heck my last Motorola Razor had probably 1/4 of the bells and whistles that my Droid has and it had a TOME instead of a booklet. (which I didn't read either. But yes I do ask for directions when I'm lost) :D

 

I have a Droid X and you can download a copy of the manual from the Motorola web site. However, it doesn't say a thing about roaming. This thread has been so informative since I haven't had my Droid very long and was wondering how it will work on my Eclipse cruise.

[Razorbuk]

Very interesting. I just checked at my Verizon store and he gave me a totally different answer. He said I could "uncheck Mobile Network" in the Wireless & Network section of settings and then click the WiFi setting to on and I would be fine. That no roaming charges would occur and I could even use the ship's WiFi on my phone. I wonder who is right?

[SilkShirt]

For Blackberry go to manage connections, turn all connections off, scroll down to mobile network options, turn off data services.

[6502programmer]

Very interesting. I just checked at my Verizon store and he gave me a totally different answer. He said I could "uncheck Mobile Network" in the Wireless & Network section of settings and then click the WiFi setting to on and I would be fine. That no roaming charges would occur and I could even use the ship's WiFi on my phone. I wonder who is right?

 

You can use wifi, but what you need to understand is that while the phone will see the wifi, unless you log in to the X login page (the pros call it a captive portal), you won't be able to get anywhere useful with your phone. Also, unless you've got a UMA-capable phone, you won't get voice (PSTN) access, and I don't believe that Verizon supports UMA.

 

In a nutshell, yes, unchecking "mobile network" will keep you from latching onto the ship's cell tower. "Airplane mode" is simply disconnecting "mobile network", wifi, and bluetooth.

[LynnMW3]

For Blackberry go to manage connections, turn all connections off, scroll down to mobile network options, turn off data services.

 

I knew how to do the first part, but had no idea I had to turn off the data services separately! Thanks so much!

 

~Lynn

[mummsie]

With my iPhone, I turn off data roaming as soon as I'm about to board the ship. I've heard from reliable sources of someone who was in dock but on the ship and his phone was considered "roaming" even while in port. He was texting/talking/posting up a "wish you were here, we're about to leave the port" storm and had a might surprise when he returned after his cruise! :eek:

 

I recently learned on my Christmas trip to Costa Rica, that even if you turn data roaming off, if you can get a cell signal and someone calls you and leaves you just a voice message, it is still considered roaming even if you wait until you are back in the States to listen to the voicemail. I usually have a :confused: charge or two on my monthly statement but they're always less than $1 so I don't bother to find out why I was charged. However, when I returned from my Xmas trip, the charge was for $2.29 so I decided to call just for educational purposes. Turns out I was charged for a 20 sec voicemail. The AT&T rep kindly reversed the charge even tho I did not request it and now I know in the future to use the full-out "airplane mode". Hope this helps someone else. :rolleyes:

 

cheers,

:)

 

Data roaming doesn't stop you from using the phone as a phone for calls or texting. Just turn the data roaming off on the iphone. Sometimes you can get free wifi in some ports so I just do a search then to do any emails. There are not extra charges for using wifi. I work in the mobile industry in Australia - don't think its any different overseas. mummsie

[Lsimon]

Very interesting. I just checked at my Verizon store and he gave me a totally different answer. He said I could "uncheck Mobile Network" in the Wireless & Network section of settings and then click the WiFi setting to on and I would be fine. That no roaming charges would occur and I could even use the ship's WiFi on my phone. I wonder who is right?

 

Please keep in mind that the ship's wi-fi is not free. It is $0.65/min but you do need to log at least the first time, and maybe every time, before the charges will start. But they will not stop unless you either log off (which we couldn't do on our iPhone) or shut off the wi-fi (which we could do). If you log on and never turn it off you'll have one heck of a nasty surprise on your on-board ship account!

 

Wi-fi is only free if you are using a free wi-fi service! The only big plus is that you can not accidentally start wi-fi charges on a wi-fi system that you haven't set up for charges or logged into. Since it isn't automatic to your cell bill like the 3g/cellular data is you won't accidentally incur charges - but if you do sign up for a "pay" wi-fi service you need to know how to stop the charges from continuing.

[packedandready]

Please forgive my stupid question...new to smartphones. I finally found out how to turn off roaming. Mine was already turned off. Should it have been turned on? When and why should it be on for every day use? Thanks

[Lsimon]

Please forgive my stupid question...new to smartphones. I finally found out how to turn off roaming. Mine was already turned off. Should it have been turned on? When and why should it be on for every day use? Thanks

 

Roaming is not relevant for every day use and the setting should not make a difference. By definition you are only "roaming" if you are outside of your normal service area and since almost every cell phone company now covers the entire USA, roaming is most relevant outside of the country.

 

Although with that said "off" is a good position. It used to be that if you were in an area your own cell company didn't cover (even a rural area right outside of the city you live in) but was covered by another carrier your phone would switch to roaming and you'd be charged roaming rates on another carrier if the other carrier did have service in that area. I haven't seen this in years but it might still happen. These days roaming mostly relates to travel outside of your home country.

[packedandready]

Roaming is not relevant for every day use and the setting should not make a difference. By definition you are only "roaming" if you are outside of your normal service area and since almost every cell phone company now covers the entire USA, roaming is most relevant outside of the country.

 

Although with that said "off" is a good position. It used to be that if you were in an area your own cell company didn't cover (even a rural area right outside of the city you live in) but was covered by another carrier your phone would switch to roaming and you'd be charged roaming rates on another carrier if the other carrier did have service in that area. I haven't seen this in years but it might still happen. These days roaming mostly relates to travel outside of your home country.

 

Thanks so much!

[Suzanne123]

Another dumb question or two or three -- I have a 3g iPhone. My settings at home are always airplane mode and data roaming off. However, when I tap on any of the apps or my e-mail, it updates them.

 

So my question is, when I go to Europe, if I purchase a data plan from AT&T (around $100), will I need to put data roaming "on" to use my apps? I already downloaded the London tube map, Kayak, hometown newspaper, and some other apps that I think may come in handy. Do I then need to turn off data roaming when I am done at any session so I don't go over my allotted mb? Should I delete some of the apps that I know I won't be using so that they don't automatically update and use up my mbs?

 

And it's my understanding that even with a pre-purchased data plan, that I still have to buy an additional pre-paid phone plan for Europe or I'll be charged whatever they get for calls by the minute.

 

Is any of all of that correct?

 

(It's times like these when I wish I had a teenager in the house who could explain all this.) :)

 

Thanks.

[klam_chowder]

Another dumb question or two or three -- I have a 3g iPhone. My settings at home are always airplane mode and data roaming off. However, when I tap on any of the apps or my e-mail, it updates them.

 

So my question is, when I go to Europe, if I purchase a data plan from AT&T (around $100), will I need to put data roaming "on" to use my apps? I already downloaded the London tube map, Kayak, hometown newspaper, and some other apps that I think may come in handy. Do I then need to turn off data roaming when I am done at any session so I don't go over my allotted mb? Should I delete some of the apps that I know I won't be using so that they don't automatically update and use up my mbs?

 

And it's my understanding that even with a pre-purchased data plan, that I still have to buy an additional pre-paid phone plan for Europe or I'll be charged whatever they get for calls by the minute.

 

Is any of all of that correct?

 

(It's times like these when I wish I had a teenager in the house who could explain all this.) :)

 

Thanks.

 

I have no idea if your iphone is in airplane mode how your apps or e-mail could be updated. :confused:

 

To cut down on your mb useage, ensure apps that are irrelevant to your trip have push disabled.

 

cheers,

:)

[Lsimon]

Another dumb question or two or three -- I have a 3g iPhone. My settings at home are always airplane mode and data roaming off. However, when I tap on any of the apps or my e-mail, it updates them.

 

So my question is, when I go to Europe, if I purchase a data plan from AT&T (around $100), will I need to put data roaming "on" to use my apps? I already downloaded the London tube map, Kayak, hometown newspaper, and some other apps that I think may come in handy. Do I then need to turn off data roaming when I am done at any session so I don't go over my allotted mb? Should I delete some of the apps that I know I won't be using so that they don't automatically update and use up my mbs?

 

And it's my understanding that even with a pre-purchased data plan, that I still have to buy an additional pre-paid phone plan for Europe or I'll be charged whatever they get for calls by the minute.

 

Is any of all of that correct?

 

(It's times like these when I wish I had a teenager in the house who could explain all this.) :)

 

Thanks.

 

Ok let me try this:

 

1. More likely than not you are using wi-fi to update and use your apps at home, although if you are able to make phone calls and/or do text messaging then your phone is NOT in airplane mode.

 

2. As to data plan in Europe Questions:

a. yes you will need to put data roaming on to use the apps unless you can find wi-fi service to use at one or more establishments.

b. Yes you need to turn the data roaming off the stop using up your data plan.

c. Even if you turn your data plan off when you are not using it there is no guarantee you will not go over your plan when you are using it - it does not stop when used up it just switched to more expensive non-plan data.

d. Deleting your apps may or may not help depending on what they are or how they are set. This varies for each app and there is no across the board rule.

e. I didn't know they even had a pre-paid phone plan for Europe available. I though the only options was pay by the minute. But even if there is such a plan you'll need to determine if you'd be better off with or without it. And you are correct that a data plan has no bearing on your voice or text costs.

 

3. Wishing you had a teenager to help: Should have thought of that 13 to 19 years ago.

[packedandready]

What exactly is airplane mode?

[rhuntington3]

What exactly is airplane mode?

 

Airplane Mode turns off the radio in your phone so it cannot transmit or receive a signal.

[ibwig]

For Blackberry go to manage connections, turn all connections off, scroll down to mobile network options, turn off data services.

 

After reading this thread I called Verizon and this is what they told me to do - and to do it before I get on the ship.