On Reflection, what settings for iphone to send and receive messages?

[kms8066]

We will be on Reflection in a couple weeks. What settings should we have on (or off) to just send and receive texts, and to allow phone just enough so that someone can leave a voicemail? I know we don't want to enable data roaming! But I want texts to be available all the time.

[cruiserziggy]

This is for iPhone. Not sure about others. Set roaming to voice only. You will be able to text and call but won't run up data charges. The texts will come through as text messages, not iMessages. If you are going to use any data at all it's safest to call our carrier and get an international data package. That helps to prevent running up huge charges.

[dcruisers]

What about texting for Ipads? Or do we just have to buy minutes?

[kms8066]

Where do I set roaming to voice only, please? I'm SO appreciative of this help! We have iphone 4 and iphone 4S.

[cle-guy]

Where do I set roaming to voice only, please? I'm SO appreciative of this help! We have iphone 4 and iphone 4S.

 

Settings--> Cellular

Turn CELLULAR DATA off

Turn DATA ROAMING off

 

This will leave you with only phone calls.

 

If you are on AT&T They have a special cruise ship plan, but unfortunately Reflection is one of 2 of Celebrity ships that doesn't use the Cellular at Sea provider, so you can't take advantage of the package price.

 

Do note that if your phone is on, even if you don't answer it, you will be billed for people trying to call you or when they leave voice mail messages, based on minutes it takes them to call and talk on the voice mail.

[kms8066]

Re: leaving me with voice only . . . will it also eave me with texts being able to send and receive?

[cle-guy]

Re: leaving me with voice only . . . will it also eave me with texts being able to send and receive?

 

That's going to be quite dependent on what cell service you latch onto and when. It will be sporadic I've found.

 

Also if people send messages to you using iMessage, it may not convert over to a SMS text automatically. I've come back to dry land to be deluged with lots of queued up iMessages.

 

AT&T (if that's your provider) just doesn't play well with the service on Reflection, but as you approach land (I seem to recall grabbing local cell providers when within 2 or so miles of coastline) or ports you may find better cell providers on those ares, but rates for messaging and phone calls will be costly. Don't count on a seamless experience and you'll be fine.

 

If it's mission critical, then pay for onboard wi-fi service to provide you with access to iMessaging and log in periodically. Again costly, but if it's important it is what it is. Many ports have wifi service, some for free, some free with purchase at a vendor, but these can all be deluged as well with all there passengers in port and prove difficult to rely on. The farther inland (i.e. away from port) you go the fewer people using the services, the better luck you will have.

 

Don't count on it for shipboard communication with friends, use it for emergencies.

[need2bespoiled]

Re: leaving me with voice only . . . will it also eave me with texts being able to send and receive?

 

Last I checked voicemail on iPhone on all carriers comes in via cellular data. You will not get voicemail with data off, only txt msgs.

 

I use an app, called YouMail to have voicemails emailed to me. It took me a while to configure it so I didn't get there advertising emails, but did get my voicemails emailed to me, but I really love it.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[cle-guy]

Last I checked voicemail on iPhone on all carriers comes in via cellular data. You will not get voicemail with data off, only txt msgs.

 

I use an app, called YouMail to have voicemails emailed to me. It took me a while to configure it so I didn't get there advertising emails, but did get my voicemails emailed to me, but I really love it.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

 

Good point, you won't get the familiar notification button telling you your voicemails in detail or caller ID for them, you'll just get a red dot (not with the number of outstanding voicemails) letting you know there are voicemails, then you have to manually call into your service provider to retrieve them, costing you the expense of minutes for making an outgoing phone call,.

 

I need to find this YouMail. I hate voicemails on land and this sounds like just what I need to get them to my mail box.

[need2bespoiled]

Good point, you won't get the familiar notification button telling you your voicemails in detail or caller ID for them, you'll just get a red dot (not with the number of outstanding voicemails) letting you know there are voicemails, then you have to manually call into your service provider to retrieve them, costing you the expense of minutes for making an outgoing phone call,.

 

I need to find this YouMail. I hate voicemails on land and this sounds like just what I need to get them to my mail box.

 

Commission comes later. Onther feature of the app, is it allows different messages for different callers or groups of callers.

 

I had to unsubscribe from their emails to get rid of the advertising, but that stopped my voicemails from being emailed. I was able to go back in and change the setting to have my voicemails, emailed but the advertising didn't come back.

 

It really helps me organize and keep track of my voicemails, with my emails as my office voicemails are already emailed to me :)

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[gfkcruiser]

I had the international text plan on my European cruise thru ATT last year. I had an issue with texts to other iphones not delivering. I think it had to do with them trying to send with imessage rather than SMS. Text to non iphone was not an issue and one of my sons figured it out and I was able to send and receive with him. I would only do this when not on ships cellular. Only on land.

 

I will shut off the imessage in the future when out of US roaming.

 

Gail

[kms8066]

Thank you for sharing your experiences! To turn off imessage, would you then turn on "send as SMS" for it to send and receive in regular text message?

[Oxo]

Why not check with your provider? AT&T, T-Mobile, Verzion, etc.? Then you can find out what the real story is. Remember, it is your phone and you will pay for your use regardless of what others tell you to do. This way the provider can show you what to do and how to do it. JMHO!

[dcruisers]

rE: iPads...... Can we send texts without having to purchase minutes? Are there roaming charges for texting ?

Thnx

[need2bespoiled]

rE: iPads...... Can we send texts without having to purchase minutes? Are there roaming charges for texting ?

Thnx

 

ipads can only send txts with a cellular connecton, IF it is an ipade with a cellular conncetion

 

Ipads can send iMessages with a Cellular or Wifi connection

 

If you're sailing on the ship, they provide both Wifi Internet and cellular service onboard. You can buy minutes from the ships internet service or use your cellular data plan. Rate will vary on how much time (ship) or size of data (cellular) you buy. Whether you get your connection from from a cellular conencton or wifi you will have to pay for it, whether from your cell provider (cellular) or wifi (ship).

 

The same is true for iphones, except that all iphones that are activted have cellular service. You can turn off data and roaming and still get txts without the data connection enabled, but you will not get imessages. i devices will try and send messages as txt instead of imessages if the receiveing device does not have an internet connection, and only has a cellular connection.

 

Sorry it is so complicated, there are many options and ways to get connected and send messages. Be careful if you don't understand as it can get expensive.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[gfkcruiser]

Thank you for sharing your experiences! To turn off imessage, would you then turn on "send as SMS" for it to send and receive in regular text message?

 

 

Yes. If you go to the apple website you could probably get more info.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[emileg]

We were on the Summit in September. I purchased an International Data Plan from AT&T as well as a wi-fi plan on the ship. I thought I had no reason to turn off data roaming. As a result, even though I did not use the phone while Cellular-at-Sea was showing 3G, Celluar-at-Sea billed me through AT&T for 8 megs for a whopping $164. Apparently Celluar-at-Sea has its own 3G data service and for the few seconds before the ship's wi-fi connects, the phone may check in for notifications.

 

When I complained to AT$T about this $164 charge, they said that my international data plan did not cover cruise ships. They had a separate plan for data on ships about for $100 for 100 megs. As a one-time courtesy, AT&T refunded me the $164. Lesson learned. Even with an international data plan, turn off data roaming while at sea!

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Settings--> Cellular

Turn CELLULAR DATA off

Turn DATA ROAMING off

 

This will leave you with only phone calls.

And text

Do note that if your phone is on, even if you don't answer it, you will be billed for people trying to call you or when they leave voice mail messages, based on minutes it takes them to call and talk on the voice mail.

 

If you are on Bell , you do not get charge if a person leaves a voicemail

[waterbug123]

Settings--> Cellular

Turn CELLULAR DATA off

Turn DATA ROAMING off

 

 

Actually, with an iphone once you turn off cellular data, the option to toggle between data roaming on/off disappears because with cellular data off, data roaming (or not) becomes irrelevant.

 

rE: iPads...... Can we send texts without having to purchase minutes? Are there roaming charges for texting ?

Thnx

 

Depends on your carrier. Many times you can receive incoming texts for free, and are charged .50/text for outgoing. (This assumes the texts do not include pictures, which require data and cost more)

[need2bespoiled]

Actually, with an iphone once you turn off cellular data, the option to toggle between data roaming on/off disappears because with cellular data off, data roaming (or not) becomes irrelevant.

 

 

 

Depends on your carrier. Many times you can receive incoming texts for free, and are charged .50/text for outgoing. (This assumes the texts do not include pictures, which require data and cost more)

 

You quoted a question about an ipad. To be clear 90% of tablets sold do not have cellular data plans so sending or receiving txt msgs is not possible. iMessages would be possible, but that would require an internet connection (wifi)

 

My Verizon corporate plan which included international rates charges me .05 to receive txts internationally (.50 to send).

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[Lsimon]

ipads can only send txts with a cellular connecton, IF it is an ipade with a cellular conncetion...

 

Is this a feature of the newer iPads? On my iPad 2 with AT&T cellular the only text messages it can send are on data connection through iMessage and it will not send a regular cellular (SMS) text message at all. So to send an iMessage text message on the ship would need to be signed into the ship's wifi system.

 

We were on the Summit in September. I purchased an International Data Plan from AT&T as well as a wi-fi plan on the ship. I thought I had no reason to turn off data roaming. As a result, even though I did not use the phone while Cellular-at-Sea was showing 3G, Celluar-at-Sea billed me through AT&T for 8 megs for a whopping $164...

 

The international data roaming packages sold by AT&T do not include service on the cruise ships, only at certain land based foreign ports. The coverage listings on the AT&T page will tell you which ones. AT&T does sell a separate data plan for cruise ships at sea although I do not believe it is offered on the Reflection as I believe Reflection might use a cellular provider which doesn't work with AT&T service. Also, in addition to being much more expensive than the land based packages, I don't know how the cellular data at sea plans work as far as reliability and speed. The only comment I've ever read on these boards about the service was a year or longer ago by Host Andy who tried to use the Verizon package on a cruise and reported it did not work well at all.

 

If you have data roaming turned on while you are at sea then your phone will constantly try to connect to the data services as there are many background apps constantly running that use data services - this is why you had charges even though you didn't think you used the cellular data. The very best way to use cellular data when you are out of the country and using an international, or cruise ship, data roaming package is to use the data roaming switch on your phone as a "toggle switch" to switch it on when you are actively using the phone for data services and then to turn it off as soon as you are finished. That together with monitoring the data usage screens on your phone will help you control your data usage to within the international plan limits or at least keep you apprised if you go over.

[need2bespoiled]

Is this a feature of the newer iPads? On my iPad 2 with AT&T cellular the only text messages it can send are on data connection through iMessage and it will not send a regular cellular (SMS) text message at all. So to send an iMessage text message on the ship would need to be signed into the ship's wifi system.

 

 

Yes, you definitely can, see attached.

 

The android user I sent it to, confirmed receipt.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna