Pride of America and T-Mobile

[resstation]

We will be on the Pride in late July. Our family has the T-Mobile unlimited plan. We wouldn't need to purchase wifi if we can use our smartphones when docked at the ports - is that correct? Or is cell service/island service spotty?

[mking8288]

POA spend most of her time docked and only sailed overnight between islands when not doing overnights, where it will be out of cellular signal range 3 or 4 miles out from ports. Otherwise, it will have cellular coverage once docked and/or near the islands - there is really no need to purchase WiFi packages from the ship.

 

All of the major providers, including T-Mobile have towers nearby and within range of the piers and haven't read of any gaps or coverage issues. T-Mo has been expanding coverage & bands and depending on your devices, just make sure that it can take full take advantage of 4G/LTE signal (Band 4 and whenever Band 12 or 700 Mhz signal can be found :D) if your hardware supports it - Extended LTE coverage is great, especially indoors.

 

If you doing the drive on Road to Hana, expect issues with coverage (if driving, download offline maps to use for GPS Navigation ahead of time) - there are spaced out emergency call boxes along the narrow roadway ... but, what a beautiful drive.

 

Mahalo !

[resstation]

Thank you. That's what I was thinking but you never know! :)

[gwsster]

My cell phone worked great on all of the islands and in port on the ship when I was there last May. I was thankful to a CC poster that posted about not needing Wi-Fi on the POA. The POA Wi-Fi wasn't working well anyway and when I was on board a few weeks ago there were some very unhappy passengers. Your T-Mobile should be just fine.

 

 

Thank you. That's what I was thinking but you never know! :)

[resstation]

Outstanding!

[Kattus]

We have T-Mobile and had great service at all the ports and in some cases up to 30 minutes away from them, just make sure you turn off roaming!

[resstation]

We have T-Mobile and had great service at all the ports and in some cases up to 30 minutes away from them, just make sure you turn off roaming!

 

From what I have read, T-Mobile does not charge for domestic roaming any longer. I'll have to call them to be sure. From what I can recall, they never charged us for international roaming last year either. Not 100% sure. I'll look into it.

[CactusFlower527]

We will be on the Pride in late July. Our family has the T-Mobile unlimited plan. We wouldn't need to purchase wifi if we can use our smartphones when docked at the ports - is that correct? Or is cell service/island service spotty?

 

I have T-Mobile and my phone worked in port and on most of the islands with a really robust signal. UNLIKE my brother's Verizon phone which had issues or low signal anywhere. Honestly, I would bypass paying for the wi-fi as it's pretty crappy.. UNLESS it's been upgraded since May 2014 when we sailed. IT was very SLOW and you can get all the same from your smart phone.

[CactusFlower527]

From what I have read, T-Mobile does not charge for domestic roaming any longer. I'll have to call them to be sure. From what I can recall, they never charged us for international roaming last year either. Not 100% sure. I'll look into it.

 

They do not charge to roam...

 

it was totally free (within the limits of my plan) to use my phone in Hawaii....

[resstation]

Thanks, everyone!