Phone calls, texting, face time video calls

[Annicruise2014]

We have a trip that has been planned for over a year.  We are under 180 days, leaving in September and gone for 2 weeks.  JUST FOUND OUT MY DAUGHTER IS EXPECTING AND DUE WHILE WE ARE GONE.  I am happy and mad at the same time.  😜

 

Anyway, what is the best voom, wifi, my cell phone plan to get and or use so I can get phone calls, videos, texts etc to talk to family IF the baby comes while we are gone.  I know, nothing I can do while I am gone, just enjoy my vacation and see them when I get home. But I would like to know what's going on at home in this situation. We will be in Alaska ( I know Ovation has never sailed there before) and Canada.

 

Thank you for any suggestions and information you can give.

[Clarea]

You would want surf & stream VOOM.

[WisconsinFan]

Check with your cell phone carrier about Alaska. We have US Cellular and had no issues at all when we were in port in Alaska for both voice and data. Alaska is very port intensive and so we were on land most days and only had one day where we did not go into port- Glacier Bay, unless you count our sailing from Seattle. Check with your carrier about Canada and if they have options for you. Your cell phone will connect to the ship carrier if you do not have it on airplane mode, and that could be a big surprise.

 

Learn how to do voice over internet calls- this could be Facebook Messenger if you have an Android or if you both have Apple products Facetime. What's App is also another one. My son last January was on Adventure of the Seas and only had the surf package and didn't have any issues calling us through Facebook- and he did the video as well. With surf you should also be ok getting emails.

 

As you know, baby is going to come when baby wants to come and it is always an exciting time. Congratulations!

[papaflamingo]

Activate "Wifi Calling" on your phones before you leave.  It's a free service.  When on the Wifi on the ship, turn your  phone into "airplane mode" and log onto the wifi.  You're phone should read "[your carrier]wifi."  For example, we have an Iphone and have Verizon.  When in Wifi Calling it says in the upper left where the carrier is displayed "VZWwifi"  If you see that, you can use your phone as if you are in your own house.  No additional charges for calls, texts, etc.    You can do this anytime you are connected to the internet, and you only need to go to airplane mode if the cell signal is strong (like on the ship or in port) to make the phone go into wifi calling.  

We used it last week on Allure, and we also used it last fall on a 44 night South Pacific/NZ/Australia cruise.  Works great!  

Congrats on the baby! How exciting!  

Edited March 18, 2019 by papaflamingo

[Annicruise2014]

Thanks for the advice.......  I talked to ATT ('thats what we have).  I'm afraid of screwing up, i'm sometimes technically challanged, and getting home to a massive bill.  I can get unlimited talk, text, picture and video texting and 200 mg of data which I am told is not alot.  I'm fine with that but afraid that I won't get apps turned off and they will be streaming in the background.  We don't have Facebook, too much family drama. Does the facetime app use data?  I don't know which apps use data and wifi. I am  familiar with using facetime.

 

The Voom surf and stream package, would facetime work on the ships plan? Unlimited?

 

thanks again for all your help.  First baby came 2 weeks early, that would be fine again.  Maybe I'll have a talk with this little bean.  If anything like mom and older sibling, it will still do what it wants! 🤣

[blackshirt]

Yes, FaceTime would use data when on cellular. The ATT $100 cruise ship plan only provides 200 mb of data and that is nothing. Yes, FaceTime will work over voom and since you have an iPhone, WiFi calling will work over voom too. ATT has fair to good coverage in Alaska ports. You may even get service while cruising but if you have voom, it won’t matter. You really don’t need the ATT cruise package. Just make sure you leave data roaming off.

[SRF]

On 3/18/2019 at 4:53 PM, papaflamingo said:

Activate "Wifi Calling" on your phones before you leave.  It's a free service.  When on the Wifi on the ship, turn your  phone into "airplane mode" and log onto the wifi.  You're phone should read "[your carrier]wifi."  For example, we have an Iphone and have Verizon.  When in Wifi Calling it says in the upper left where the carrier is displayed "VZWwifi"  If you see that, you can use your phone as if you are in your own house.  No additional charges for calls, texts, etc.    You can do this anytime you are connected to the internet, and you only need to go to airplane mode if the cell signal is strong (like on the ship or in port) to make the phone go into wifi calling.  

We used it last week on Allure, and we also used it last fall on a 44 night South Pacific/NZ/Australia cruise.  Works great!  

Congrats on the baby! How exciting!  

 

1)  You need a smart phone for this

2)  Your carrier needs to support it.  The big 3 all do (T-mobile, Verizon, ATT).  Others, you have to check.

[twangster]

While Ovation is O3b capable, O3b doesn't work as well that far North. 

 

The ship may switch over to the old geosync satellites that all Alaska cruises use at times.  At times internet on Alaska cruises is hit or miss.  It's not unusual for there to be no satellite services for hours at a time.   

 

The entire time while at Dawes Glacier is spent in a narrow channel with high mountains on both sides.  There was no coverage on Explorer last year for six to eight hours at Dawes.

 

At other times a text might go through but facetime might not work.  

 

Set expectations low for Alaska Voom.  

 

Most of the time Ovation will be in the "limited services" O3b coverage area.

 

[cruiseguy1016]

We cruised in Alaska on Radiance 2 years ago. I was very disappointed with Voom Surf and Stream while away from land. I didn't try but I doubt I could have streamed anything. We have Verizon and Verizon service in every port was fantastic. I'm assuming AT&T will be the same. If I were you, I'd purchase the Voom Surf and Stream package and hope you have better luck than we did while at sea. How many sea days will you have? Use WiFi calling and you won't burn any of your data on your phone. Do you have video calling capabilities on your phone? Knowing how well cell service is in the ports, I'd just plan on doing all of my phone calls while in port. Remember, Alaska is part of the U.S. so whatever data plane you have at home will work while you are in Alaska at not extra charge.

[papaflamingo]

21 hours ago, Annicruise2014 said:

Thanks for the advice.......  I talked to ATT ('thats what we have).  I'm afraid of screwing up, i'm sometimes technically challanged, and getting home to a massive bill.  I can get unlimited talk, text, picture and video texting and 200 mg of data which I am told is not alot.  I'm fine with that but afraid that I won't get apps turned off and they will be streaming in the background.  We don't have Facebook, too much family drama. Does the facetime app use data?  I don't know which apps use data and wifi. I am  familiar with using facetime.

 

The Voom surf and stream package, would facetime work on the ships plan? Unlimited?

 

thanks again for all your help.  First baby came 2 weeks early, that would be fine again.  Maybe I'll have a talk with this little bean.  If anything like mom and older sibling, it will still do what it wants! 🤣

What type of phone to you have (Iphone or Android)?  If an Iphone, go into "settings" then "cellular" then select "cellular data options" then "roaming" select "voice only."  Then you should not ever data roam.  Also if you activate WiFi calling, select "Prefer Wi-Fi while roaming."  That way you should always bias to "wifi calling" when in a foreign country or on the ship.  But to ensure that you go into wifi calling, when on the ship or in a foreign country AND logged onto wifi, simply keep your phone in "airplane" mode.  That way you'll never roam or make or receive phone calls while roaming.  

If you have an Android, you'll have to ask someone else where these settings are located.  

WiFi calling works great on ATT.  We used to have it.  Our house has a very weak Cell signal.  So we use WiFi calling anytime we are home.  It biases automatically and seamlessly when our phone hooks up to our Wifi.  It joins automatically, so we never notice anything.  We leave it on all the time and anytime we are on Wifi and the signal is weak, or if we are in a roaming situation, it biases to Wifi Calling.  We just go into Airplane Mode to make sure when on the ship or in a foreign country. 

[SRF]

14 hours ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

We cruised in Alaska on Radiance 2 years ago. I was very disappointed with Voom Surf and Stream while away from land. I didn't try but I doubt I could have streamed anything. We have Verizon and Verizon service in every port was fantastic. I'm assuming AT&T will be the same. If I were you, I'd purchase the Voom Surf and Stream package and hope you have better luck than we did while at sea. How many sea days will you have? Use WiFi calling and you won't burn any of your data on your phone. Do you have video calling capabilities on your phone? Knowing how well cell service is in the ports, I'd just plan on doing all of my phone calls while in port. Remember, Alaska is part of the U.S. so whatever data plane you have at home will work while you are in Alaska at not extra charge.

 

If you did not try streaming, you do not know.

 

Two different parameters for internet speed.  Data rate and ping time. 

 

Data rate is how fast the data can be transmitted, typically something like a large file or streaming.  Even the older ship support 5 mbps data rates.  And I and others have tested it, and seen these speeds.

 

But with either package, the ping times are 1/4 to 1/2 second or even longer (in another thread, someone posted a screen shot of SpeedTest showing a 650 ms ping).   Ping time is how long for your device to send a request for data and for that data to come back to you.  Many webpages have multiple requests for data to load.  Amazon has a LOT of requests.  So even with a fast data rate, every request takes 1/4 to 1/2 second.  10 requests, 2.5 - 5 seconds.  100 requests, 25 - 50 seconds.

 

So it seems slow, and IS, but still have a data rate that can support streaming, as streaming does not have many data calls (one call and then everything "streams").

[reallyitsmema]

11 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

If you did not try streaming, you do not know.

 

 

 

 

You don't know either as Ovation has not sailed Alaska yet.