Does WiFi calling work under what plan?

[Elaine5715]

Never used WiFI on board...does any or all of the plans work for voice calls on WiFi mode?  

[klfrodo]

Yes

[Organized Chaos]

I find it hard to believe it would work on the Social plan. I'd bet that it doesn't.

 

We were on Valor last month. I had the Value plan and had Wifi Calling turned on. I did receive a call and was able to take it, BUT...it may not have been over wifi, I'm not sure. I never turn on Airplane Mode right away when we're still docked. I was connected to the ship's wifi, but when I got the call, I was on deck 4 by the glass elevators. Since I was near the atrium and it goes all the way up to the glass ceiling, I guess there was a chance I was still getting cell signal and was talking over my cellular network instead of Wifi Calling. I didn't look to see if I had cell signal. I do know that regular SMS texting works using Wifi Calling on the Value plan.

[Brad1972]

it does not work on the social plan.  you have to have the value plan or the premium plan to make Wifi calls.

[Brad1972]

6 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

I find it hard to believe it would work on the Social plan. I'd bet that it doesn't.

 

We were on Valor last month. I had the Value plan and had Wifi Calling turned on. I did receive a call and was able to take it, BUT...it may not have been over wifi, I'm not sure. I never turn on Airplane Mode right away when we're still docked. I was connected to the ship's wifi, but when I got the call, I was on deck 4 by the glass elevators. Since I was near the atrium and it goes all the way up to the glass ceiling, I guess there was a chance I was still getting cell signal and was talking over my cellular network instead of Wifi Calling. I didn't look to see if I had cell signal. I do know that regular SMS texting works using Wifi Calling on the Value plan.

The ship is supposed to have their cell tower turned off while in any port.  So your call either came from either local cell tower at the port or it came through the ships wifi signal as a wifi call.

[joepeka]

It definitely works on the value plan, I cannot speak to the social or premium plans.

[Titan_Cruiser]

1 hour ago, Brad1972 said:

it does not work on the social plan.  you have to have the value plan or the premium plan to make Wifi calls.

 

I have never purchased anything other than the social plan and I have made and received several wifi calls via WhatsApp.

[Organized Chaos]

1 hour ago, Brad1972 said:

The ship is supposed to have their cell tower turned off while in any port.  So your call either came from either local cell tower at the port or it came through the ships wifi signal as a wifi call.

 

To clarify, we were still docked in NOLA on embarkation day. We hadn't left yet. I had mentioned that at first, then edited my comment, but must've deleted that part and didn't realize it. That's what I meant by not turning off Airplane Mode. While we're still docked in the home port, I leave Airplane Mode off until it's time to leave. So there was a chance that cell signal had reached that spot since I was near the atrium skylight. Not sure though.

 

[Organized Chaos]

19 minutes ago, Titan_Cruiser said:

I have never purchased anything other than the social plan and I have made and received several wifi calls via WhatsApp.

 

That's different than what we're talking about. You're using a specific messaging app that works over wifi and is allowed on the Social plan. Wifi Calling goes through the cellular carrier, but occurs over wifi instead of the cellular network.

[doctordi]

I have tried to do calling over Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp (not video) using the social plan, but it lagged so badly that I gave up. I know others have had better success but I wouldn't rely on the social plan if you really need to stay connected via voice. Text messages worked well over either app.

[Elaine5715]

42 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

That's different than what we're talking about. You're using a specific messaging app that works over wifi and is allowed on the Social plan. Wifi Calling goes through the cellular carrier, but occurs over wifi instead of the cellular network.

 

17 minutes ago, doctordi said:

I have tried to do calling over Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp (not video) using the social plan, but it lagged so badly that I gave up. I know others have had better success but I wouldn't rely on the social plan if you really need to stay connected via voice. Text messages worked well over either app.

Thank you.  The person is not going any use any messaging apps, he just needs to take work calls. I will tell him to get the value or premium.  

[ChrisNCruiser]

I'll throw my two cents in - In the past year I've been able to make WiFi calls using the Value plan while out in the middle of the ocean on both the Valor and Sunrise but noticed that the time of day definitely mattered. The calls were crystal-clear very early in the morning when few others on the ship were on the WiFi. As the day progressed and more people were up and on the WiFi, the calls would become increasingly more difficult to connect, and once connected were prone to dropping or sounding choppy / garbled. That said, I never expect to be able to make ANY type of call on a value plan while at sea, so any calls that go through are a plus.

Edited January 25, 2020 by newpherchris

[Sagittarius traveler]

I agree time of day does matter .That's how it is with any wifi at hotels or on cruise ships when everyone is trying to use it all at once during peak hours wifi sucks. Have to be extra early or like 3am trying to speak to someone . 

 

 

 

 

 

13 hours ago, newpherchris said:

I'll throw my two cents in - In the past year I've been able to make WiFi calls using the Value plan while out in the middle of the ocean on both the Valor and Sunrise but noticed that the time of day definitely mattered. The calls were crystal-clear very early in the morning when few others on the ship were on the WiFi. As the day progressed and more people were up and on the WiFi, the calls would become increasingly more difficult to connect, and once connected were prone to dropping or sounding choppy / garbled. That said, I never expect to be able to make ANY type of call on a value plan while at sea, so any calls that go through are a plus.

 

[Cruise-Crazy]

It has always worked for me on the Value plan. 

[mafiadon]

I bought the value plan, but need to check on my mother who is in a nursing home and age 94 and not it the best of health. I didn't know you could make calls from that plan. Are they extra charges for this or basically like calling from home to make a call

[Organized Chaos]

36 minutes ago, mafiadon said:

I bought the value plan, but need to check on my mother who is in a nursing home and age 94 and not it the best of health. I didn't know you could make calls from that plan. Are they extra charges for this or basically like calling from home to make a call

 

Your carrier has to support Wifi Calling and your cell phone has to be Wifi Calling capable (most smartphones are these days). You'll have to go into your phone's settings to turn on Wifi Calling. Not sure about Android, but for iPhones, go into Settings - Phone - Wi-Fi Calling. When you turn it on for the first time, you'll have to enter an emergency address. This is because emergency services can't always see your location like they can with landlines. If you can't give them your location, they will go to this emergency address (typically your home address). As long as your cell carrier supports Wifi Calling, there are no extra charges.

[mafiadon]

2 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

Your carrier has to support Wifi Calling and your cell phone has to be Wifi Calling capable (most smartphones are these days). You'll have to go into your phone's settings to turn on Wifi Calling. Not sure about Android, but for iPhones, go into Settings - Phone - Wi-Fi Calling. When you turn it on for the first time, you'll have to enter an emergency address. This is because emergency services can't always see your location like they can with landlines. If you can't give them your location, they will go to this emergency address (typically your home address). As long as your cell carrier supports Wifi Calling, there are no extra charges.

Thank you I have an iphone 8 Plus so I should be ok and I am with Verizon

[coevan]

6 hours ago, Sagittarius traveler said:

That's how it is with any wifi at hotels

 

 

I have never been to a hotel without hi speed internet that was not streaming fast, nothing like a cruise ship

[Brad1972]

I wonder what ever happened to this supposed WiFi upgrade Carnival said they were going to do on all ships by the end of the summer in 2018.  Cause by the sounds of it a lot of people have mentioned it is still as slow as it’s been for the past few years. No noticeable speed increase has been noticed if they really did upgrade the other ships.

 

https://cruisefever.net/carnival-cruise-line-rolling-faster-internet-every-cruise-ship-fleet/

[Organized Chaos]

1 hour ago, Brad1972 said:

I wonder what ever happened to this supposed WiFi upgrade Carnival said they were going to do on all ships by the end of the summer in 2018.  Cause by the sounds of it a lot of people have mentioned it is still as slow as it’s been for the past few years. No noticeable speed increase has been noticed if they really did upgrade the other ships.

 

Everyone had high hopes when they announced they'd be upgrading the fleet, but you're right, it doesn't feel like it amounted to much. There was talk around the forum that it was happening ship by ship, but you can't really tell these days. We were on the Glory in 2018 and the internet was pretty much unusable the entire time, day or night. It was pretty good last month on Valor, but didn't seem "upgraded" to me. Part of the problem is access points. The Vista class ships and the refitted ships now have many more access points than older ships. That makes a big difference. It allows for much better coverage and spreads out wifi connections more, which helps keep any one access point from getting too overloaded. But adding them to older ships isn't easy. It requires a lot of work to be done to run new wires. That's why we're seeing it happen to these refurbished ships, because they're in dry dock and torn apart anyway.

[Brad1972]

15 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

Everyone had high hopes when they announced they'd be upgrading the fleet, but you're right, it doesn't feel like it amounted to much. There was talk around the forum that it was happening ship by ship, but you can't really tell these days. We were on the Glory in 2018 and the internet was pretty much unusable the entire time, day or night. It was pretty good last month on Valor, but didn't seem "upgraded" to me. Part of the problem is access points. The Vista class ships and the refitted ships now have many more access points than older ships. That makes a big difference. It allows for much better coverage and spreads out wifi connections more, which helps keep any one access point from getting too overloaded. But adding them to older ships isn't easy. It requires a lot of work to be done to run new wires. That's why we're seeing it happen to these refurbished ships, because they're in dry dock and torn apart anyway.

 We were on Glory in April of 2018 also.  Bought the value WiFi plan and it was like you said un-usable. Told guest services if WiFi isn’t even usable then we want our money back. Instead they upgraded us to premium WiFi for free and it was just as bad. Back to guest services and they refund our money but let us keep using the premium plan, not that we could use it though.  The very first dial up internet speeds back in the early 90s were faster then Glory’s WiFi.    2 years prior to Glory we were on Splendor and had the value plan and it was pretty quick.  We even made Facebook messenger video calls with no issues.  I would upload dozens of pictures and videos each day to Facebook for our friends and family to see with no problems.  I uploaded 32 pictures one evening in 4-1/2 minutes.  
We’re going to be on Magic in April and I hope their WiFi isn’t like Glory’s.