Cingular Cell Phone Coverage Available on Summit

[Barry ATL]

Cingular inherited a program from AT&T Wireless when the merger happened last year. The program involved putting a micro-cell on a cruise ship so folks could use their cell phones while on the ship. The technology is slowly expanding to more ships. I just checked the site and it lists the Celebrity Summit as one of the ships where the service is available. Here are the links:

 

List of ships that Cingular has cell phone service on:

 

http://onlinestorez.cingular.com/travelguide/coverage/cruise_ships_rates.jsp?PIDL=IRSD|IRWT

 

 

Details on the Celebrity Summit service:

 

http://onlinestorez.cingular.com/travelguide/coverage/lcd_coverage_details.jsp?CIDL=1504&MNC=CING

 

Now, this is just research on my part. Has anyone actually used the service? It is much cheaper than ship-to-shore calls.

 

Last year while on a Princess cruise, we had a hurricane threaten two of our businesses. I spent over $400 on ship-to-shore calls getting the businesses ready and evacuated. I have a Summit cruise scheduled for 9/9/06 and if this service is available, it will be a HUGE help to me. The only way I can cruise is to stay in touch with our businesses... so, I plan on spending money on ship-to-shore calls.

 

Also, I have a laptop data card with Cingular. The data rates listed are much better than the Celebrity rates. Since it is GPRS only, it will be slow, but it is much better than $0.75 per minute that Celebrity charges.

[canderson]

As I understand it, you'll want to be SURE that the phone you've got is GSM capable, as it will be some time yet before other technologies are supported. Further, be certain that you have assured that international calling is enabled for your account and phone. On some plans from some providers, it is turned off by default.

 

Last, that GPRS is another technology layer altogether, and while very commonly added to land-based GSM systems, I've heard nothing about support for the GMSK and packet interface aboard ship. It would be best to check to see if they've incorporated it into their GSM on-ship network before getting your hopes up.

[Barry ATL]

canderson, I am a huge cell phone geek... I one one of the older members of howardforms.com. The specs say that GPRS is available. Since the Cingular site normally lists GPRS, GPRS/EDGE, or nothing for international carriers, I am assuming it works.

 

I do have international calling and international roaming for all regions enabled on all the phones we have on our business account.

 

Have a look at the link and see what you think. Hopefully, we will hear from someone who has used the service.

[canderson]

Have a look at the link and see what you think.

Didn't realize the first time that the ship names were also links. I see the GSM/GPRS 1900 for Summit now, so you should be good to go. I'm surprised Celebrity didn't note that in the original press release that I caught when they first announced the plan. 2 cents a KB for data isn't bad, but a person could beat the sneakers off the Cingular 50 cents per SMS sent message easily enough by sending a few emails at a time via webmail. The trick on the machines in the internet cafe aboard ship is to precompose the messages in Word or Wordpad (there are no charges for this off-line use of the cafe machines), then quickly paste them into webmail while actually online at 75 cents a minute. You can send a ton of stuff that way for not much $.

 

The QOS you get can actually depend a lot on your itinerary. As an example, in the Inside Passage, it would be easier to hit a land based tower than to get the satellite service to work reliably (they pretty well live on cell service up there, so coverage is much better than you might think)! We had quite a few dropouts while up there on the satellite.

[Barry ATL]

When we were in AK last year, Dobson had just turned on GSM within the last month or so. It was horrible. They did not allocate enough spectrum and we kept getting network busy in all the ports. I assume they will have things a little more settled by the time we go again.

 

Did you use the Internet from your room on your trip or just the cafe?

[canderson]

When we were in AK last year, Dobson had just turned on GSM within the last month or so. It was horrible. They did not allocate enough spectrum and we kept getting network busy in all the ports. I assume they will have things a little more settled by the time we go again.

 

Did you use the Internet from your room on your trip or just the cafe?

I was on a CDMA system up there last time and things were pretty well covered, but as I recall, a lot of it was AMPS service. I'm working with Nextel now, and they never go anything going up in that area.

 

Where will you be cruising?

[Barry ATL]

The big carrier in AK went CDMA and Dobson went GSM. Analog is still king in rural AK because of the distances between towers. Digital will only go so many miles because of the time it takes for the signal to reach your phone and your phone to get it's response back to the tower.

 

Our ports will be Sitka, Skagway, and Jauno. The arrival/departure port is Vancouver. We love Vancouver and can't wait to see Sitka. On the return, we plan to spend a few days in Victoria.

[canderson]

The big carrier in AK went CDMA and Dobson went GSM. Analog is still king in rural AK because of the distances between towers. Digital will only go so many miles because of the time it takes for the signal to reach your phone and your phone to get it's response back to the tower.

??? 186,000mps is what it is.

 

I believe that the primary reason that analog is more practical at substantial distances is that the human ear (brain, actually) can work out the information suprising well from somewhat degraded analog audio signals -- but the compression / decompression algorithms for digital REALLY REALLY hate data loss. I love the sounds that the TDMA's make as the data starts to fall apart. Sounds like somebody fooling around with loops of R2D2.

[Barry ATL]

We are getting too technical. I just wrote a whole paragraph on the technical reasons TDMA is the best digital service for rural carriers.... I deleted it. I am forgetting this is not the cell phone board. :)

 

Back to the original topic... service on the Summit. Hopefully, somoene has used Cingular there or on one of the other ships that have the service. Would like to hear their comments.

[canderson]

We are getting too technical. I just wrote a whole paragraph on the technical reasons TDMA is the best digital service for rural carriers.... I deleted it. I am forgetting this is not the cell phone board. :)

Yeah, I'm doing Nextel at present. Fun in the boonies.

 

Good luck with the satellite link up north. The scenery is fantastic even when the connection isn't!

[WHMInc]

So, if I am on a ship that does not ave cell coverage but I can see a ship that is listed as having coverage will I be ableto use their antenna to make a call?

 

Just curious. Thanks

[Airb330]

Geez Barry, this isn't Hofo ;) I agree with you about TDMA and rural areas too. Glad you saw my post on the Cingular ship roaming, or maybe you didn't and looked it up yourself lol.

 

My data never worked right when I was in Paris last January. MEdiaworks etc. never worked. Everything was correct on my account too, and I doubt GPRS was down on all 3 carriers. However, I did not get charged for SMS's abroad, so people may luck out on that one. I wish I knew that at the time, I would have sent a lot more. At least incoming only take from our regular bucket of SMS.

 

T-Mobile uses 1900 (PCS) GSMM coverage. This means any T-Mobile phone can use this service by Cingular with appropriate roaming package, but it is 4.99 per minute with them. Usually T-Mobile is cheaper than Cingular too!

[KAJOKG]

As far as technology is concerned, I am illiterate. But when we were on HAL's Volendam last month, I was able to call home from the ship. It was out to sea in the Bahamas region. Since my area was being battered by Wilma, I was most grateful to be able to use my cell from the ship to check up. HAL has installed technology so that many companies can be used. Mine is Cingular. We did not incur roaming charges, but were charged $2 per minute. Not bad I think.

[kitty9]

I used my Verizon cell on the Summit this past March, and it worked fine with the GSM. But, the charges were insane----$6.95 a minute. Now I have my Blackberry and their charges, via T-Mobile were only $1.29 a minute. I almost passed out when I got my cell phone bill after the Summit cruise. One call my mom made to dad was $150. No more Verizon for me on cruises.

[canderson]

I used my Verizon cell on the Summit this past March, and it worked fine with the GSM. But, the charges were insane----$6.95 a minute. Now I have my Blackberry and their charges, via T-Mobile were only $1.29 a minute. I almost passed out when I got my cell phone bill after the Summit cruise. One call my mom made to dad was $150. No more Verizon for me on cruises.

It sounds as though if you come in with a non-Cingular GSM phone that they hit you for the standard rate that you'd pay if you were in your cabin. OUCH! Perhaps Cingular has paid for the onboard equipment and plans to amoritze this by locking people into their roaming charges by dissuading people from using someone else's network!

[pmts]

Leave your cell phones home. You're on vacation!

[KAJOKG]

Leave your cell phones home. You're on vacation!

Well, I'll tell you, I was very happy I had mine with me. We were getting sketchy news about hurricane Wilma -- and she was headed right for my neighborhood! Thankfully, I was able to make contact with my family while out to sea to make sure they were ok. The relief was worth anything I would have to pay!

[Barry ATL]

Leave your cell phones home. You're on vacation!

 

I own movie theatres. We are not big enough to have an operations manager over all locations... I am it. Last years Princess cruise to AK was our first vacation that lasted more than three days in more than 12 years. The reason I can go on a cruise now is because I can stay in touch. Last year while gone, Hurricane Ivan was headed for two of the theatres. Both had manditory evacuactions. We did not have a hurricane plan (we do now), so I spent over $400 in ship-to-shore calls make sure the property was save and my employees were safe. Then getting us open again ASAP after Ivon jogged to the right. Also, I have to have Internet access. I will spend a good bit of money on staying in touch and I just consider that part of my vacation cost.

[SEPyle]

Someone mentioned that the talk was getting too technical and I agree. So forget the technical stuff. Let me just say that while I was on the Summit in May (Alaska) I was hit with an over the top cell phone bill. I had no idea there was anything new with using cell phones while on the ship. I only used mine (cingular) while in port. Several weeks after returning home I recieved a cell phone bill which totaled about $150. I was shocked and ticked to say the least, because I had done my homework and made sure my nationwide plan included using my cell phone in Alaska where service allowed. I fought hard with Cingular and they finally voided the charges stating the reason was because I was nothing stating on the phone that I was roaming.

 

Here's what I found out: The ship's equipment is supposed to be turned off while in port. The charges occured when I was sitting on my balcony while in port. It's evident they did not turn off the new-fangled equipment! I also found out whatever tower picks up your signal is the one you will be charged. So if anyone is even next to the ship, beware: You might be paying a lot for that call.

 

Hope this helps someone save money!

[canderson]

 

Here's what I found out: The ship's equipment is supposed to be turned off while in port. The charges occured when I was sitting on my balcony while in port. It's evident they did not turn off the new-fangled equipment! I also found out whatever tower picks up your signal is the one you will be charged. So if anyone is even next to the ship, beware: You might be paying a lot for that call.

 

Hope this helps someone save money!

No question about this. A thread started on the same topic not long after Celebrity announced this new service, and many of us warned folks to get far clear of the ship when in port and using a cell phone if they thought they'd be better off with "local" landbased rates (especially in U.S. coastal waters) -- we assumed (evidently correctly) that the ship's equipment would still be active and capturing calls!:mad:

[Barry ATL]

In Alaska, I used my phone a lot while on the ship, but in are near port. I will have to be very careful. One thing to do is dial an invalid number and see if the recording is Cingular or someone else. An example would be to dial just two digits like 54 and press talk. Normally, you will get a recording with the Cingular jingle music. If you get something else, then you will be safe.

[beverland]

I can hardly wait to be sitting by the pool with everyone yacking on their cell phones!!

 

Gees.........can't we just "get away" for a change?? :rolleyes:

[TechKnowBabble]

I also have a Blackberry with T-Mobile but ONLY use it for data service. I was considering getting the international plan for data, it's 19.95 for February when I'm on our cruise. Would I be able to use the service ANYWHERE on Summit? Meaning would I also be able to the service ON SHIP while at sea for data services without 'roaming'? I know I should probably ask T-Mobile but I thought perhaps someone would know here. A lot of times when you ask a question of any cell phone company you get less than an accurate answer. :)

[TechKnowBabble]

Sorry duplicate....

[kitty9]

Yes, you can use the Blackberry for everything when you're at sea. But, you will rack up those insane charges using Celebrity's satellite. When off the ship, you can use the local satellites, and pay a whole lot less. If I remember correctly, according to my rate plan page, most of the islands in the Caribbean and in Mexico are only $1.29 to $1.49 a minute. But you must activate the international plan before you leave home in order to access foreign satellites.