glenn29 Posted March 17, 2012 #1 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Im not worried about cell coverage on the islands. I know I'll have it near populated areas but might/will lose it driving to more remote locations. My question is at what point do I turn my iPhone on airplane mode so I don't get phone and data charges on the ship? For example, we sail from Hilo to kona, are we close enough to the island the entire time it won't matter or will I lose 3G from shore and pick up the ships? Also between islands. We'll be on the march 23rd century that hits Oahu, Maui, kauai and the big island. Anybody have any info? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiserBruce Posted March 18, 2012 #2 Share Posted March 18, 2012 Im not worried about cell coverage on the islands. I know I'll have it near populated areas but might/will lose it driving to more remote locations. My question is at what point do I turn my iPhone on airplane mode so I don't get phone and data charges on the ship? For example, we sail from Hilo to kona, are we close enough to the island the entire time it won't matter or will I lose 3G from shore and pick up the ships? Also between islands. We'll be on the march 23rd century that hits Oahu, Maui, kauai and the big island. Anybody have any info? Thanks Any time you are not tied to a dock, it is possible you will access the ship's cell tower, and pay big fees for data or phone use. I wouldn't even expect you would be safe at a tender port like Kona unitl your tender tied up to the shore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glenn29 Posted March 18, 2012 Author #3 Share Posted March 18, 2012 Thanks for the reply. That's what I was thinking as well. Probably airplane mode as soon as I leave land till I get to land again....just to be on the safe side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiserBruce Posted March 18, 2012 #4 Share Posted March 18, 2012 Might as well just turn it off. If you are going to play games or take pics, I understand. But, unless you are actually doing those things, why not just turn it off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glenn29 Posted March 18, 2012 Author #5 Share Posted March 18, 2012 I tend to leave it on while on ship because I still use it for a lot of things. It works as my Ipod for music, it's our sound machine and alarm clock at night and most of all I use it as a camera. In airplane mode it has no way to pick up any signals so it should be safe in that way, I have about the same chance of forgetting to change it to airplane mode as I do forgetting to turn it off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lv2bgoofy Posted March 18, 2012 #6 Share Posted March 18, 2012 I just came back a couple of weeks ago and I never turned my phone off and never put it on airplane mode. I received no data charges or any extra charges from sailing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
born2cruize Posted March 18, 2012 #7 Share Posted March 18, 2012 You don't say what ship you're on. If it is the POAm you don't need to worry as they do not have a cell tower they have a satellite dish for Internet but no cell tower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glenn29 Posted March 18, 2012 Author #8 Share Posted March 18, 2012 I'll be on the Celebrity Century, I"m not 100% but pretty sure that this ship does have a cell tower, good to know about POA though. Brn2bgoofy, what ship were you on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NapaMike Posted March 19, 2012 #9 Share Posted March 19, 2012 I'll be on the Celebrity Century, I"m not 100% but pretty sure that this ship does have a cell tower, good to know about POA though. Brn2bgoofy, what ship were you on? Glenn-thanks for the reminder on that- if you find out about cell tower on century vs. satellite, can you post it here? We will be on it also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
born2cruize Posted March 19, 2012 #10 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Glenn-thanks for the reminder on that- if you find out about cell tower on century vs. satellite, can you post it here? We will be on it also. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but cell towers talk to other cell towers. So therefore once a cell tower is our of range it doesn't work. I always believed the phone system on the ship was a satellite phone system therefore individual cell phones won't work with a satellite phone system. The advantage of putting a cell phone in airplane mode was to prevent the battery from draining because the phone would constantly poll trying to make a cell tower connection when no connection was possible. Does anyone know how close or far away two cell towers have to be to connect? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiserBruce Posted March 19, 2012 #11 Share Posted March 19, 2012 According to the Celebrity website, all Celebrity ships have cell towers tied to satellite communications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
born2cruize Posted March 19, 2012 #12 Share Posted March 19, 2012 According to the Celebrity website, all Celebrity ships have cell towers tied to satellite communications. Thanks, that explains how a cell tower can communicate with a satellite system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiserBruce Posted March 19, 2012 #13 Share Posted March 19, 2012 And, in reality, cell towers don't talk to other cell towers, at least not directly. Your cell phone call goes to a cell tower. If you are calling someone not on that same tower, you phone call is routed via landlines- regular phone lines- to the tower where the person you are calling is located. Then it is rebroadcast into the air, reaching the cell phone you are calling. If you are calling a hardwired phone, the cell phone call goes to a tower, but never comes back out into the air, it just stays on the landline to it's destination. On a ship, the tower receives the calls, and the ship's landline takes it to the ship's satellite dish, sending it off to it's destination via the satellite(s), landlines, and, if required, cell tower(s). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chipmaster Posted March 19, 2012 #14 Share Posted March 19, 2012 When in doubt just turn off as the ship disembarks. Visual distance is not a good indicator of connection.. Im not worried about cell coverage on the islands. I know I'll have it near populated areas but might/will lose it driving to more remote locations. My question is at what point do I turn my iPhone on airplane mode so I don't get phone and data charges on the ship? For example, we sail from Hilo to kona, are we close enough to the island the entire time it won't matter or will I lose 3G from shore and pick up the ships? Also between islands. We'll be on the march 23rd century that hits Oahu, Maui, kauai and the big island. Anybody have any info? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lv2bgoofy Posted March 19, 2012 #15 Share Posted March 19, 2012 I was on the POA - so without the cell tower I didn't need to worry about it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welove2cruise* Posted March 21, 2012 #16 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I believe with verizon you will always see a notification (I also get text messages) when you are roaming. I will probably just turn off the option for data roaming completely just to be safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcruisers Posted March 21, 2012 #17 Share Posted March 21, 2012 From Hawaii are calls on cell phones free to the mainland? I have Verizon and on our cruise last fall to Alaska calls home were part of the plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiserBruce Posted March 21, 2012 #18 Share Posted March 21, 2012 From Hawaii are calls on cell phones free to the mainland? I have Verizon and on our cruise last fall to Alaska calls home were part of the plan. Depends on your plan. But if you have a free long distance for all 50 states, well, Hawaii is part of the US....;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassyredhat Posted March 22, 2012 #19 Share Posted March 22, 2012 I had mine on (AT&T) in Alaska and got charged big time. However, it did notify me when I was getting charged. In 2 weeks, in Hawaii, it's on airplane mode until my feet hit the dirt. :D Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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