Will iMessage work?

[Jason12]

All my family use iPhones and I wondered if the iMessage will work on board using the wifi, it would be great to keep tabs on where we all are.

 

Jason

[Jason12]

I just realised I would need to keep the wifi on constantly, I thought it was pay per MB..:(

[silentbob007]

You are right, unfortunately ... you'd have to have wifi on and it could get very pricey very quickly. It would probably be cheaper to use regular texts through the cell plan, depending on your plan (I believe I've paid $.50 message) ... though still not that cheap for a lot of messages.

[Jason12]

You are right, unfortunately ... you'd have to have wifi on and it could get very pricey very quickly. It would probably be cheaper to use regular texts through the cell plan, depending on your plan (I believe I've paid $.50 message) ... though still not that cheap for a lot of messages.

 

So can you get a signal on board?

[silentbob007]

The ship has a tower. Texts are not counted the same as land, though, because it is "international". For example, I believe the last time I texted with ATT, incoming texts came out of my regular monthly plan, but outgoing cost the $.50. You'd need to check with your provider for specifics though.

[Clarea]

All my family use iPhones and I wondered if the iMessage will work on board using the wifi, it would be great to keep tabs on where we all are.

 

Jason

I don't know how iMessage works. If iMessage uses the internet, then your cost would be as Chris described above. However, if iMessage is totally peer to peer (a phone sends a message directly to another phone) and does not use the internet, you can likely use it for free.

 

Just connect to the ship's WiFi (making sure you turn off cellular), but don't log in to Royal's internet service. Try the iMessage. If it works, you're in business. If not, then you know it needs internet access.

[Jason12]

Just connect to the ship's WiFi (making sure you turn off cellular), but don't log in to Royal's internet service. Try the iMessage. If it works, you're in business. If not, then you know it needs internet access.

 

As long as i can connect to the ships wifi only (not internet) then there are Wilkie talkie apps that's should work.

 

Nice one thanks :D

[Clarea]

As long as i can connect to the ships wifi only (not internet) then there are Wilkie talkie apps that's should work.

 

Nice one thanks :D

Possibly. Depends on how one device finds the IP address of the other. Sometimes they need the internet for the initial connection and then they use peer-to-peer for subsequent communications. Sometimes they do a broadcast, in which case it would depend if the Royal IT people allow broadcasts on with wireless, and also allow 2 wireless devices to talk to each other. Lots of chances for it not to work. But nothing to lose by trying.

[gcuecruise]

I am guessing you can not connect to their wifi without paying for it. It would take the market away from their Royal Connect phone rentals onboard.

[Clarea]

I am guessing you can not connect to their wifi without paying for it. It would take the market away from their Royal Connect phone rentals onboard.

You can for sure connect to the WiFi without paying. I do it all the time when I want to print something from my laptop. I can print to the ship's printers in the guest computer area without logging into (and hence paying) for the internet.

 

The question is whether other functions are blocked that would preclude the iMessage or walkie talkie apps from working.

[gcuecruise]

You can for sure connect to the WiFi without paying. I do it all the time when I want to print something from my laptop. I can print to the ship's printers in the guest computer area without logging into (and hence paying) for the internet.

 

The question is whether other functions are blocked that would preclude the iMessage or walkie talkie apps from working.

 

This is great to know. My wife and I use TextFree, a free texting app that we use either over wifi or over a data plan. I doubt we can use that because it is based on a phone number that TextFree assigns to us.

 

I am not familiar with these walkie talkie apps.

[SB9]

Pretty Sure you need a data connection to use iMessage. So you would have to connect to the ships wifi. http://www.apple.com/ios/features.html#imessage

 

As far as what Royal will charge for I have no idea. Curious myself.

[Daghis]

Since iMessage uses Apple's servers (for push notifications), you'd probably need to be fully connected and authenticated to the ship's WiFi service. That means you'd be paying the per-minute rates to use WiFi and that would be quite prohibitive in terms of cost.

[gcuecruise]

Pretty Sure you need a data connection to use iMessage. So you would have to connect to the ships wifi. http://www.apple.com/ios/features.html#imessage

 

As far as what Royal will charge for I have no idea. Curious myself.

 

The description in that link says it can work over wifi. Now since iMessage works with iPod Touches, it is clear it does not need a data plan.

 

So my question is if you can connect to the ships wifi without paying for it, like clarea states, will imessage work, since you are only communicating with the local network and not accessing data via a cell or satellite signal, which of course needs to be paid for on the ship?

 

I am guessing it won't since it would have been discovered and discussed by now.

[Clarea]

The description in that link says it can work over wifi. Now since iMessage works with iPod Touches, it is clear it does not need a data plan.

 

So my question is if you can connect to the ships wifi without paying for it, like clarea states, will imessage work, since you are only communicating with the local network and not accessing data via a cell or satellite signal, which of course needs to be paid for on the ship?

 

I am guessing it won't since it would have been discovered and discussed by now.

The previous poster says that iMessage uses Apple servers, so even though it uses WiFi, you would still need internet enabled to reach the Apple servers, and therefore be paying by the minute.

[IHateSnow!]

If you have AT&T they have (or did have about a year ago) an international texting plan for $10 that gave you a certain amount of included outgoing and unlimited incoming texts. Not sure if they still do, but it it would be worth looking into.

 

I'm not sure if Verizon has something similar.

 

Incoming texts are always less - usually between .05 and .15 ea.

 

I just paid about $30 total for 100 texts on my last 3 night cruise with sprint on my evo (my iPhone is through work, didn't think they'd appreciate a huge international bill!)

[james4]

All of the "walkie talkie" type apps for iphone rely on server communications. The same way imessage, and blackberry messenger works. I took a look at the app store and did not see anything that would work for the scenario you listed.

 

I wonder how the phones that the ship "rents" out work for communication, I would assume they would only be relying on the local network rather than internet communication? Possibly just using a local ship based server to handle the requests...

 

I am not sure how difficult it is to get your own channel on a standard handheld walkie talkie, but it seems they would work best for what you are doing.

[Jason12]

All of the "walkie talkie" type apps for iphone rely on server communications. The same way imessage, and blackberry messenger works. I took a look at the app store and did not see anything that would work for the scenario you listed.

 

 

some talkie apps only need a local wifi connection not internet needed.

[james4]

some talkie apps only need a local wifi connection not internet needed.

 

Thats interesting, is there a particular app you found that can do this? I would certainly be interested in using one as well.

[Jason12]

Thats interesting, is there a particular app you found that can do this? I would certainly be interested in using one as well.

 

there is a few and they are all called walkie talkie one as got a yellow phone on the app picture and the other as a green with purple background and one called chat.

[samoyedlover24]

Sorry if this goes off topic, but does anyone know if can you text from an iPhone 4S on Verizon to other phones in the family? If so, can you just text and not use email, web, calling, etc? My family would just like to communicate using texting—but not having to worry about being charged for things that use the internet. In other words, can you strictly use a Verizon iPhone 4S to text and nothing else internet-related? Thanks!

 

—samoyedlover24

[james4]

there is a few and they are all called walkie talkie one as got a yellow phone on the app picture and the other as a green with purple background and one called chat.

 

My only other thoughts about this would be whether or not their network allows guest devices to talk to each other on the network. I think there is a policy that can be put in place to keep hosts from even seeing each other on the network. And I wonder if the battery life would be impacted in any way due to the possibility of always having wireless in use to receive messages if push could not be used (I am not sure if a server is required for push to work).

 

If that is not the case then this would be a really neat way to communicate on the boat considering I always use my iphone as a camera.