Does VOOM include texting?

[KPfromCT]

We will be on Oasis in June, and are looking at the VOOM packages.

Does anyone know if texting is included?

I see streaming, social media, etc.

If DD is texting people back home, and they have an iPhone like her, is the Imessage included?

 

TIA!:D:D

[Merion_Mom]

If it works over wifi, you are good to go.

[Freehike]

iMessage on all of your Apple products works perfectly with Voom.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[GolfMom321]

iMessage works fine, as do other wifi based messenger apps, such as WhatsApp.

[jamesr3939]

Used my iPhone and iPad and i did email, text, and FaceTime plus sent attached photos and videos.

[RadioRob]

Some devices are able to send messages and even place calls over a wifi network. It's known as "Wifi Calling". You need a phone that supports it, and you need to enable the feature with your carrier (most US carriers don't charge for it, but you do need to enable it and specify a 911 address on file). BUT... It lets you use your phone like normal (placing calls, sending SMS, etc) over wifi. http://www.cnet.com/news/what-you-need-to-know-about-wifi-calling/

[IndyKid]

If you have your e-mail set up on your phone, you can also send short messages via Wi-Fi to cell phones that come through as texts.

[Clarea]

If you have your e-mail set up on your phone, you can also send short messages via Wi-Fi to cell phones that come through as texts.

That's true, forgot about those. Every phone has an email address for texts. For example, AT&T phones use <phone number>@txt.att.net. That ould be a way of texting between phones using WiFi without having to use another app.

[happy cruiser1234]

We will be on Oasis in June, and are looking at the VOOM packages.

Does anyone know if texting is included?

I see streaming, social media, etc.

If DD is texting people back home, and they have an iPhone like her, is the Imessage included?

 

TIA!:D:D

 

Yes, she can text, but make sure airplane mode is on, otherwise it might send as a regular text and you will get billed for it.

[Big_G]

If you have your e-mail set up on your phone, you can also send short messages via Wi-Fi to cell phones that come through as texts.

 

That's true, forgot about those. Every phone has an email address for texts. For example, AT&T phones use <phone number>@txt.att.net. That ould be a way of texting between phones using WiFi without having to use another app.

 

Haven't done that in a few years. We used that for sending mug shots out to officers in the field before they had smaaat phones.

[IndyKid]

That's true, forgot about those. Every phone has an email address for texts. For example, AT&T phones use <phone number>@txt.att.net. That ould be a way of texting between phones using WiFi without having to use another app.

 

I found a useful website that allows you to input any US or Canadian cell phone number, it will return the carrier name and the email addresses for text (SMS) and pictures (MMS).

 

Go to http://www.xminder.com/products/carrier-lookup.html

 

Planning to keep in touch this way through VOOM on the Allure next week.

[Clarea]

I found a useful website that allows you to input any US or Canadian cell phone number, it will return the carrier name and the email addresses for text (SMS) and pictures (MMS).

 

Go to http://www.xminder.com/products/carrier-lookup.html

 

Planning to keep in touch this way through VOOM on the Allure next week.

Very useful website, thank-you.:)

[William234]

Generally text messaging does not go through wifi. It uses the cell network and will use the ships (expensive) cell site. As mentioned earlier, some cell providers / phones allow wifi calling and texting which will go through VOOM. I have Mobile and was able to use Wifi Calling to send text messages on my iPhone 6 through the Wifi (pre VOOM) back in September. However, wifi calling (atleast on the iPhone 6) is quite apt to disconnect from WiFi rerouting through the ships cell site.

 

Also, for T-Mobile, it says they will use location information for billing which would seem to say that on a ship, even with WiFi calling, you will be billed as international roaming. I did not see any additional charges on my bill so I am not sure which is correct.

[klove613]

VOOM is great (especially with my iPhone)! I was able to text anyone who had an iPhone and also called my son on his iPhone with FaceTime voice. It connected right up and we talked for at least 30 minutes.

[blackshirt]

Generally text messaging does not go through wifi. It uses the cell network and will use the ships (expensive) cell site. As mentioned earlier, some cell providers / phones allow wifi calling and texting which will go through VOOM. I have Mobile and was able to use Wifi Calling to send text messages on my iPhone 6 through the Wifi (pre VOOM) back in September. However, wifi calling (atleast on the iPhone 6) is quite apt to disconnect from WiFi rerouting through the ships cell site.

 

Also, for T-Mobile, it says they will use location information for billing which would seem to say that on a ship, even with WiFi calling, you will be billed as international roaming. I did not see any additional charges on my bill so I am not sure which is correct.

 

True if you leave your cellular service on but if you put your phone in airplane mode and turn wifi back on, that won't happen.

[blackshirt]

That's true, forgot about those. Every phone has an email address for texts. For example, AT&T phones use <phone number>@txt.att.net. That could be a way of texting between phones using WiFi without having to use another app.

 

The above address is for plain text only. Pictures messages can be send to <phone number>@mms.att.net

[dpostman]

For those not using Apple devices, we use Google Hangouts. Our family has a mixture of Android and "iphones/iPads" and hangouts plays nice with all of them. we use it to text, voice or video Call and even share files and pictures.

 

Just another option I had not seen mentioned.

 

dp

[It's a Ship!!!]

Another one that you can use on both Android and iPhone is Facebook Messenger

[Tommy3putts]

Folks have said the same thing before me but I'll try to say it a different way. "Voom" is not cellular service. Voom is high speed internet. Messages sent over the Internet using a wide variety of iPhone or Android apps (iMessage, Facebook messenger etc...) are not SMS text messages. So there are no text charges. Voom is great.

 

SMS texts go over a cellular network. The ship has a cellular network but it is costly. If you purchase the Voom, then you most likely wouldn't need SMS text messages. If you get Voom, Go to airplane mode and use wifi only.

Edited April 15, 2016 by Tommy3putts

[dpostman]

Another one that you can use on both Android and iPhone is Facebook Messenger

 

You are right about Messenger. This is an entirely personal opinion but, I like to disable Facebook & messenger on my devices when on vacation simply to get away from all of it, and on our next cruise, there are a few people on our large group that don't "believe" in facebook at all, so hangouts is a better fit for our group communication when on ship.

 

However we do use a Facebook group pre-cruise to get things organized and pass along cruise information. I'm working at getting the non-facebook users "onboard"

 

dp

[fred30]

I found a useful website that allows you to input any US or Canadian cell phone number, it will return the carrier name and the email addresses for text (SMS) and pictures (MMS).

 

Go to http://www.xminder.com/products/carrier-lookup.html

 

I just tried that site and it shows "@mms.cricketwireless.net" but I have been on AT&T for a long time. It started with Cingular and was merged over.

Edited April 15, 2016 by fred30

[KingpinRider]

I'm sailing on the Oasis starting this weekend.

 

The REAL question is: will these wifi messaging and calling apps like Google Hangouts work with just the Voom Surf package or does the Voom Surf & Stream package have to be purchased? I've got six in my cruise group and the price difference would be significant.

[William234]

I'm sailing on the Oasis starting this weekend.

 

The REAL question is: will these wifi messaging and calling apps like Google Hangouts work with just the Voom Surf package or does the Voom Surf & Stream package have to be purchased? I've got six in my cruise group and the price difference would be significant.

 

I purchased the Voom Surf and & Stream. FaceTime on our iPad worked very well on that plan. It will sometimes fail to connect so you might have to try again. We were also very easily able to watch Amazon Prime video and Netflix on our iPad.

 

The NBC Sports app will tell you that you are out of market and fail to work.

[KingpinRider]

But will apps like Google Hangouts work with the lower tier Voom Surf package?

[Clarea]

But will apps like Google Hangouts work with the lower tier Voom Surf package?

I don't know about Google Hangouts, but if it does not involve video streaming, it should work on the lower speed package.