No Cellular Service with AT&T iPhone on Silhouette with OnWaves (Threads Merged)

[Lsimon]

Just returned from our Eclipse sailing.

 

First off we discussed the problem with yet another person from Celebrity just before our cruise who indicated again the problem related to the phones trying to connect in 4G or LTE and to check with our carrier to find out how to disable that.

 

We phoned ATT and they said that if we turned off cellular data completely then the phone wouldn't attempt to connect in 4g or LTE. This isn't an issue for us since we can't use on board data with ATT in any event.

 

We did this on one of our iPhone 5's and did not make any change with the other but both phones had cellular service for calls and text messages - so either the system has been fixed or the Eclipse didn't have the same issues as the Silhouette for us. Note that quality of service was mixed with some calls and texts working fine and some not going through immediately. Some text messages were not received until days later although most were received in short order.

 

One interesting change: About 2/3 of the way through the cruise our phones started registering as "Cellular at sea" rather than "on Waves" so it could be that they've replaced On Waves on the Eclipse!!! We tried to ask someone about this at the internet cafe but there was always a line of people to talk to the tech's there so we never got around to it.

[footer6]

"We also had a iPad with us and the iPad would connect to the cellular system on board even though we didn't use it on the system at all. It is a 3G iPad that works with the ATT Cellular data at home. On the ship it did say "OnWaves" in the spot where it identified the carrier and had 5 bars in our cabin."

 

Lsimon, You mentioned using an Ipad 3G connection onboard. How does that work? I assume you need to buy an internet package from Celebrity in order to connect.

[Lsimon]

"We also had a iPad with us and the iPad would connect to the cellular system on board even though we didn't use it on the system at all. It is a 3G iPad that works with the ATT Cellular data at home. On the ship it did say "OnWaves" in the spot where it identified the carrier and had 5 bars in our cabin."

 

Lsimon, You mentioned using an Ipad 3G connection onboard. How does that work? I assume you need to buy an internet package from Celebrity in order to connect.

 

While our iPad showed a connect we did not have any access as data roaming was turned off - so despite the connect it was unused - same situation you described.

 

We did use the iPad for connecting to Celebrity's wi-fi internet access on a regular basis.

 

On our cruise just completed we also purchased an AT&T International data package (120MB for $30) and used that when docked at ports of call on land based cellular systems - being careful to only turn data roaming on when we were actually using the ipad at the ports and turning it off when finished with a session.

[tonyzee]

What's the latest on availability of GSM cellular on Solstice class ships?

[Lsimon]

What's the latest on availability of GSM cellular on Solstice class ships?

On most of the ship's they've had a different company than on the Silhouette when I had my problems. Most use Wireless Maritime Services (a/k/a Cellular At Sea) and I've not heard of such issues with them. Naturally service isn't nearly as good as land based service but it is pretty workable if you understand you are in the middle of the ocean and aren't going to get a perfect connection.

 

When we were on the Eclipse last March they switched from OnWaves to Cellular At Sea in the middle of the cruise. I've read that they either are going to, or have recently, switched the ships that used OnWaves to Cellular at sea which should hopefully eliminate the problems I had last December

[tonyzee]

On most of the ship's they've had a different company than on the Silhouette when I had my problems. Most use Wireless Maritime Services (a/k/a Cellular At Sea) and I've not heard of such issues with them. Naturally service isn't nearly as good as land based service but it is pretty workable if you understand you are in the middle of the ocean and aren't going to get a perfect connection.

 

When we were on the Eclipse last March they switched from OnWaves to Cellular At Sea in the middle of the cruise. I've read that they either are going to, or have recently, switched the ships that used OnWaves to Cellular at sea which should hopefully eliminate the problems I had last December

 

Thanks! I know Cellular At Sea works.