Need Help with iPhone settings for texting only on ship

[pcl2001]

You won't need to I message so you won't need wifi, what I always do is turn off cell data so that I won't be charged any data fees. My I phone 4s still can make and recieve calls and text. There is nothing else you need to do. Just make sure everyones phone has the cell data turned off,

go to settings/cellular/turn off cell data, simple.

 

Do not use airplane mode or you won't be able to do anything.

 

There are no charges if you don't answer your phone or make calls. The only charge you will have are the text charges.

There are no roaming charges unless you use the phone to make/recieve calls.

Text charges will be on your AT&T bill.

 

That's not necessarily true. If you receive a call, don't answer it, and it's sent to voicemail, you could be charged not only for the incoming call but for an outgoing call as well.

Per AT&T:

Q. How am I charged for voicemail calls while roaming internationally?

A. Voicemail calls are charged as follows:

When your device is on:

Calls that you do not answer that are routed to the AT&T voicemail system will be charged as an international roaming incoming call to your device.

In addition, the foreign carrier's routing of that call to the AT&T voicemail system may generate an outgoing call charge from your device's location to the U.S.

These charges apply even if the caller disconnects from the voicemail system without leaving a message.

 

If your device is turned off or in flight mode and the wireless network is off:

When someone tries to call you, the call will go directly to your personal voicemail greeting.

Since the network does not try to deliver the call to you in a foreign country, there are no international roaming charges.

 

When receiving Visual Voicemail messages on your smartphone or Apple® iPhone®:

Visual Voicemail messages received when roaming outside of the U.S. will be charged at international roaming data rates, either at the international pay-per-use data rate or against your smartphone or iPhone international data package.

[Colo Cruiser]

That's not necessarily true. If you receive a call, don't answer it, and it's sent to voicemail, you could be charged not only for the incoming call but for an outgoing call as well.

Per AT&T:

Q. How am I charged for voicemail calls while roaming internationally?

A. Voicemail calls are charged as follows:

When your device is on:

Calls that you do not answer that are routed to the AT&T voicemail system will be charged as an international roaming incoming call to your device.

 

When my data is off I recieve calls and if I let them go to voicemail I have never been charged for anything. I have been doing this for 3 years. I have done this all over the world, in the Med/Caribbean/SA etc. I cannot access my voicemail unless I turn data back on.

 

 

In addition, the foreign carrier's routing of that call to the AT&T voicemail system may generate an outgoing call charge from your device's location to the U.S.

These charges apply even if the caller disconnects from the voicemail system without leaving a message.

 

I have never had any additional charges through AT&T.

 

If your device is turned off or in flight mode and the wireless network is off:

When someone tries to call you, the call will go directly to your personal voicemail greeting.

 

Thats why I say don't use airplane mode for the OP so she can text or make/recieve calls if necessary.

 

 

See above.

Edited May 3, 2014 by Colo Cruiser

[skynight]

I would visit the internet cafe on Deck 5 when the attendant is there. They must get these questions all the time and hopefully know the answers. The Star Princess does not have an on board intranet service, at least it didn't last year.

[pcl2001]

See above.

 

I guess you've been lucky, as I know people that have gotten bill shock when they let their calls go to voicemail while roaming. What I posted comes directly from AT&T's site: http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/faq.jsp

[gator582]

Great info! Pam, I was just looking at my phone. Sometimes messages are blue and sometimes they are green to the same person. Do you know why that would be? Thanks.

 

I finally learned about turning off the roaming and data from someone on our Alaska cruise. I was so glad he told us that info.

[Colo Cruiser]

I guess you've been lucky, as I know people that have gotten bill shock when they let their calls go to voicemail while roaming. What I posted comes directly from AT&T's site: http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/faq.jsp

 

 

There is no luck involved on my end.......

This is my real experience, if the data is off then the data is off.

I have had many voicemails waiting for me when I returned to the states and turned my data back on to retrieve them.

All I can say is it worked for me. ;)

[bluesea321]

I have an iPhone 5 with AT&T which I turn off while cruising except in ports like St. Thomas with AT&T cell service. I have been reading these posts with interest but after the conflicting information on charges / no charges I don't know what is right or not and I am left wondering. Perhaps as other posts come in all will be clarified. :confused:

 

To gator582: When the Apple store helped us set up our phones they told us about the blue/green clouds. To use iMessage you have to be on WiFi and the recipient also has to be on WiFi. If the recipient has an iPhone but he/she is not on WiFi the cloud will be green, not blue. Basically with both parties on WiFi Apple uses its own internal network to send the texts bypassing the carrier's cell network.

 

I miss the good old days when I would go to Cozumel or Grand Cayman to scuba and there was no cable TV, no CNN, no cells of course, and only 1 cruise ship a week (none in the Caymans). I could really disconnect from reality but now I check messages, family, stocks, etc. Too bad...

[DrivesLikeMario]

There is no luck involved on my end.......

This is my real experience, if the data is off then the data is off.

I have had many voicemails waiting for me when I returned to the states and turned my data back on to retrieve them.

All I can say is it worked for me. ;)

 

Same for me all over the US, Mexico, Italy and Great Britain with Sprint.

 

So, from what I gather, you all are saying it's best to:

Turn on airplane mode

Turn on Wifi

 

This allows me to not get data (emails), but to still send/receive texts, right?

Edited May 3, 2014 by DrivesLikeMario

[bluesea321]

Same for me all over the US, Mexico, Italy and Great Britain with Sprint.

 

So, from what I gather, you all are saying it's best to:

Turn on airplane mode

Turn on Wifi

 

This allows me to not get data (emails), but to still send/receive texts, right?

 

I think if you turn on airplane mode you will get nothing.

[pcl2001]

I have an iPhone 5 with AT&T which I turn off while cruising except in ports like St. Thomas with AT&T cell service. I have been reading these posts with interest but after the conflicting information on charges / no charges I don't know what is right or not and I am left wondering. Perhaps as other posts come in all will be clarified. :confused:

 

To gator582: When the Apple store helped us set up our phones they told us about the blue/green clouds. To use iMessage you have to be on WiFi and the recipient also has to be on WiFi. If the recipient has an iPhone but he/she is not on WiFi the cloud will be green, not blue. Basically with both parties on WiFi Apple uses its own internal network to send the texts bypassing the carrier's cell network.

 

I miss the good old days when I would go to Cozumel or Grand Cayman to scuba and there was no cable TV, no CNN, no cells of course, and only 1 cruise ship a week (none in the Caymans). I could really disconnect from reality but now I check messages, family, stocks, etc. Too bad...

 

You don't have to be on WiFi to use iMessage, you just have to have data service, which CAN be from WiFi OR the cell service. On the ship there are 2 different ways to connect to data services using your phone. One is via the shipboard cell service called MCP and the other is by using the ship's WiFi service. Using the cell network, you will pay by the kB, at a rate determined by your carrier. For AT&T, it's $0.195/kb, or about $20/MB (http://www.wireless.att.com/travelguide/coverage/coverage_details.jsp?CIDL=1633&MNC=CING) You must have cellular data and roaming turned on for it to work. Using the ship's WiFi, you will need to login to their network and pay by the minute. Either way could be expensive. For the latter, you can put your phone in airplane mode and just turn on WiFi. You won't incur any international roaming fees this way.

 

Some people have not incurred roaming fees by not making or receiving calls, but AT&T does warn you that by letting a call go to voicemail while roaming, you may be charged for both an incoming and outgoing call, even if no message is left (http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/faq.jsp). Your mileage may vary as reported by others.

Edited May 3, 2014 by pcl2001
add something

[pcl2001]

I think if you turn on airplane mode you will get nothing.

 

That's correct. However, if you turn on WiFi while in airplane mode and connect to the ship's WiFi, you can send/receive texts via iMessage. Texts using SMS will not work as this requires a connection to the cellular network.

 

It can seem confusing because of the way Apple integrates iMessage into the messaging program. iMessage is simply a messaging protocol similar to Whatsapp, Skype, etc., except those program require you to use their own program and are not built-in.

[Loonbeam]

To simplify.

 

You must be connected to a cell network to use standard texting. Charges will apply depending on your plan.

 

If you have iPhones, you can also communicate over wi-fi and internet via iMessage. This normally will use either international data or internet minutes, however there may be a loophole as above (once iMessage established the ipV6 address of the other phone, the data moves directly between them, so its possible the usage filter doesn't monitor those ports - you would need to log on at least once to get assigned the ipV6 address).

[Colo Cruiser]

Same for me all over the US, Mexico, Italy and Great Britain with Sprint.

 

So, from what I gather, you all are saying it's best to:

Turn on airplane mode

Turn on Wifi

 

This allows me to not get data (emails), but to still send/receive texts, right?

 

I think if you turn on airplane mode you will get nothing.

 

 

Correct, airplane mode you get nothing.

Not talking wifi here but calls and text.

Just turn off cell data.

Edited May 3, 2014 by Colo Cruiser

[bluesea321]

You don't have to be on WiFi to use iMessage, you just have to have data service, which CAN be from WiFi OR the cell service. On the ship there are 2 different ways to connect to data services using your phone. One is via the shipboard cell service called MCP and the other is by using the ship's WiFi service. Using the cell network, you will pay by the kB, at a rate determined by your carrier. For AT&T, it's $0.195/kb, or about $20/MB (http://www.wireless.att.com/travelguide/coverage/coverage_details.jsp?CIDL=1633&MNC=CING) You must have cellular data and roaming turned on for it to work. Using the ship's WiFi, you will need to login to their network and pay by the minute. Either way could be expensive. For the latter, you can put your phone in airplane mode and just turn on WiFi. You won't incur any international roaming fees this way.

 

Some people have not incurred roaming fees by not making or receiving calls, but AT&T does warn you that by letting a call go to voicemail while roaming, you may be charged for both an incoming and outgoing call, even if no message is left (http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/faq.jsp). Your mileage may vary as reported by others.

 

That's correct. However, if you turn on WiFi while in airplane mode and connect to the ship's WiFi, you can send/receive texts via iMessage. Texts using SMS will not work as this requires a connection to the cellular network.

 

It can seem confusing because of the way Apple integrates iMessage into the messaging program. iMessage is simply a messaging protocol similar to Whatsapp, Skype, etc., except those program require you to use their own program and are not built-in.

 

pcl2001,

Very good information. Thank you for sharing. For those of us that get some free time on Princess' WiFi, turning on Airplane, which also automatically turns off WiFi (at least on my iPhone 5 with iOS 7.1.1) and then turning WiFi on while leaving Airplane on, may be the way to go for free texts, at least while your free WiFi minutes last. This is what DrivesLikeMario mentioned. Is this correct?

 

I do believe that to get free texts with iMessage on land both parties have to be connected to WiFi. If I am on WiFi at home but my wife is on the road the bubble is green and we are using the cell service for texts - if she is at Starbucks on WiFi the bubble is blue and we are using Apple's network for free. That is the way it works for us on land. Does this make sense?

[Nightowl11]

I called the AT&T International Customer Service which is a totally different department, yesterday and got some clarification, but I'm going to call again today and talk to someone else to verify the info. If they both give me the same answers, then I will post it.

 

But what I was wondering, for the ships wifi, in order to use the Internet, you have to purchase the Internet minutes, but if you only want to connect to the wifi to use iMessage, which is free, then technically you won't need minutes, just access to the wifi, right? I'm going to ask that to AT&T too.

[PescadoAmarillo]

I called the AT&T International Customer Service which is a totally different department, yesterday and got some clarification, but I'm going to call again today and talk to someone else to verify the info. If they both give me the same answers, then I will post it.

 

But what I was wondering, for the ships wifi, in order to use the Internet, you have to purchase the Internet minutes, but if you only want to connect to the wifi to use iMessage, which is free, then technically you won't need minutes, just access to the wifi, right? I'm going to ask that to AT&T too.

I haven't found this to be the case. As I said above, once I'm on the ship's WiFi meter, using prepaid minutes, and start an iMessage, then log off the WiFi (so, stop the meter), but leave WiFi on, I was able to continue to iMessage that number only for a brief period of time. In my case, it never exceeded five minutes. But it was nice while watching NFL games on MUTS, to have another few minutes of commenting to friends at home.

 

I didn't find that I could iMessage once to a cell phone number using metered WiFi, and then stop the meter, and stay connected to that number for the duration of the cruise. In fact, sometimes I didn't even get 5 minutes more out of it.

 

I discovered this by chance, when, after logging out of WiFi, I continued to receive texts from someone I'd just been texting. But it inevitably ended quickly.

Edited May 3, 2014 by PescadoAmarillo

[pcl2001]

pcl2001,

Very good information. Thank you for sharing. For those of us that get some free time on Princess' WiFi, turning on Airplane, which also automatically turns off WiFi (at least on my iPhone 5 with iOS 7.1.1) and then turning WiFi on while leaving Airplane on, may be the way to go for free texts, at least while your free WiFi minutes last. This is what DrivesLikeMario mentioned. Is this correct?

I think there's still a little confusion. You must be connected to the ship's WiFi in order to send/receive messages via iMessage with the phone in airplane mode. By connected, I mean actually logged in using your onboard account. You must be logged in the entire time for it to work (NOTE: Some people have reported being able to still send/receive iMessages even after logging out from the network but still connected to WiFi.)

 

I do believe that to get free texts with iMessage on land both parties have to be connected to WiFi. If I am on WiFi at home but my wife is on the road the bubble is green and we are using the cell service for texts - if she is at Starbucks on WiFi the bubble is blue and we are using Apple's network for free. That is the way it works for us on land. Does this make sense?

You don't have to be on WiFi, you just need a data connection, which can be via cellular (3G/4G) or WiFi. I'm not sure why your wife's phone would not be using iMessage when she's not on WiFi, unless she has cellular data turned off or it's unavailable. If both users have iMessage enabled and have a data connection, it should use iMessage (blue) and not SMS (green). As far as I know, there is no way to set iMessage to only work over WiFi.

[pcl2001]

I called the AT&T International Customer Service which is a totally different department, yesterday and got some clarification, but I'm going to call again today and talk to someone else to verify the info. If they both give me the same answers, then I will post it.

 

But what I was wondering, for the ships wifi, in order to use the Internet, you have to purchase the Internet minutes, but if you only want to connect to the wifi to use iMessage, which is free, then technically you won't need minutes, just access to the wifi, right? I'm going to ask that to AT&T too.

 

I think the terminology is getting confused. When most people refer to WiFi, they're referring to the internet. This isn't technically correct, but it's commonly accepted terminology. You can be connected to a WiFi network and not have internet connectivity, as is the case on the ships. Just connecting to the ship's WiFi does not get you connected to the internet, there is an additional step, and that's logging in via their webpage. After that you're connected to the internet. With that explained, iMessage requires an active internet connection and not just WiFi. Therefore iMessage won't work unless you're connected and logged in to the ship's WiFi. However, some people have reported that it still works after logging out from the internet but staying connected to WiFi, although usually only for a few minutes.

[Colo Cruiser]

I called the AT&T International Customer Service which is a totally different department, yesterday and got some clarification, but I'm going to call again today and talk to someone else to verify the info. If they both give me the same answers, then I will post it.

 

But what I was wondering, for the ships wifi, in order to use the Internet, you have to purchase the Internet minutes, but if you only want to connect to the wifi to use iMessage, which is free, then technically you won't need minutes, just access to the wifi, right? I'm going to ask that to AT&T too.

 

 

I would be confused as well, you start out asking about texting and the thread then morphs into I Message/WiFi/ and everything else but.

I have given you my experience with texting, take it for what its worth and good luck. :)

Edited May 3, 2014 by Colo Cruiser

[Mom33]

I called the AT&T International Customer Service which is a totally different department, yesterday and got some clarification, but I'm going to call again today and talk to someone else to verify the info. If they both give me the same answers, then I will post it.

 

But what I was wondering, for the ships wifi, in order to use the Internet, you have to purchase the Internet minutes, but if you only want to connect to the wifi to use iMessage, which is free, then technically you won't need minutes, just access to the wifi, right? I'm going to ask that to AT&T too.

 

You need the wifi, but you need to pay for internet access, unless you are platinum and get minutes for free. Your teens would have to have internet also to receive and send. On land in the US, you can Im on wifi or 4G without charge to fellow I phone users. At Sea, you must leave cell data off or you will face charges.

I don't communicate with anyone on the ship. I use my 4s on the free minutes I get as Platinum. I turn off cell data, turn on airplane mode, then turn wifi back on. I go on wifi and IM my family at no charge and also Facetime at no charge provided there is good bandwidth.

Without wifi, you have to have cellular access to IM.

We removed the 20.00 monthly fee for unlimited texting when we realized we never came close to using it. All our close contacts are on iphones. Those few texts that I get from non iphone users is usually under 5 bucks.

[bluesea321]

I think there's still a little confusion. You must be connected to the ship's WiFi in order to send/receive messages via iMessage with the phone in airplane mode. By connected, I mean actually logged in using your onboard account. You must be logged in the entire time for it to work (NOTE: Some people have reported being able to still send/receive iMessages even after logging out from the network but still connected to WiFi.)

 

No confusion there from me on this one. What you said above is actually what I said earlier. Thanks for restating.

 

 

You don't have to be on WiFi, you just need a data connection, which can be via cellular (3G/4G) or WiFi. I'm not sure why your wife's phone would not be using iMessage when she's not on WiFi, unless she has cellular data turned off or it's unavailable. If both users have iMessage enabled and have a data connection, it should use iMessage (blue) and not SMS (green). As far as I know, there is no way to set iMessage to only work over WiFi.

 

Cellular data is turned on on both phones and iMessage is enabled. However in Settings, Messages, there is a slider that says "Send as SMS when iMessage is unavailable. Carrier messaging rates may apply." We live in The Woodlands, Texas and as the name implies there are lots of trees and few cell towers (heavily deed restricted). I just "googled" a bit and apparently the iMessage servers get overwhelmed at times. Maybe this is the cause. I have moved the slider to the off position but this means we will not be texting over SMS while I have the slider in that position.

 

Again thanks for your detailed posts.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Thanks to those of you who helped. I'm still a little confused so I'll just do what I usually do.

 

I check my email (lots of picture ads I need to go thru that use up a ton of data) using my free Princess mins. THEN I turn on my cell phone for a quick download of whatever is left (voice messages OR texts), then I turn my phone off again. I know this seems a bit tedious but once I go thru all my emails it saves me a lot of data charges.

[janetz]

Thanks to those of you who helped. I'm still a little confused so I'll just do what I usually do.

 

I check my email (lots of picture ads I need to go thru that use up a ton of data) using my free Princess mins. THEN I turn on my cell phone for a quick download of whatever is left (voice messages OR texts), then I turn my phone off again. I know this seems a bit tedious but once I go thru all my emails it saves me a lot of data charges.

 

You may want to reconsider not allowing your teens to have their cell phones while onboard. If it is not used exactly as it should be, roaming tuned off, etc, they could end up with a huge cell phone bill. :) We turn them off and put them in the safe. We do use post it notes and check in with each other, lunch time, etc.

Edited May 3, 2014 by janetz

[DrivesLikeMario]

You may want to reconsider not allowing your teens to have their cell phones while onboard. If it is not used exactly as it should be, roaming tuned off, etc, they could end up with a huge cell phone bill. :) We turn them off and put them in the safe. We do use post it notes and check in with each other, lunch time, etc.

 

Thanks - but I have no teens. I think you meant the other poster. Ours are at the age now with careers of their own that if they charge up massive bills, they pay for it themselves. :D

Edited May 4, 2014 by DrivesLikeMario

[janetz]

Thanks - but I have no teens. I think you meant the other poster. Ours are at the age now with careers of their own that if they charge up massive bills, they pay for it themselves. :D

 

My post was directed to the original poster. :)

I copied your post by mistake. DUH

Edited May 4, 2014 by janetz