Help with Verizon cell on cruise

[PinkMEB]

I got confusing info from Verizon about using my phone during the April 1  cruise on Splendor. I want to be able to send and receive texts and calls if necessary. Seems there is an option of $10 a day if the phone is used or a pay as you go. She said to turn off cellular data and turn roaming on while on the ship. What do you Verizon experts do? Thanks for your suggestions. 

[PSU]

Do not turn roaming on. The $10 a day is for when you are in ports. Use wifi calling while you are on the ship with the internet with Regent. I was just on Voyager in Australia, New Zealand and Bali and was able to text with the Regent internet.

[boblerm]

Full disclosure:  I am NOT a Verizon expert.  But I do know that the $10 per day plan is great on land, but does not apply to calls made from ship while at sea, which is $2.99 per minute.  Texts, however, are 50 cents to send and 5 cents to receive.

I agree with PSU, I am usually able to use wi-fi calling, but that depends on quality of internet connection which can be sketchy.

Are you in concierge level or are you SS Society Silver or above?  If so, you get some free phone time from your suite.

Bob

[1985rz1]

1 hour ago, PinkMEB said:

 She said to turn off cellular data and turn roaming on while on the ship. 

I suspect she meant: "turn off cellular data (i.e. voice and data) and turn WiFi on while on the ship."  

Edited February 17, 2020 by 1985rz1

[papaflamingo]

We have Verizon. As others said, use WiFi Calling.  If you haven't already. activated, do so. It's a free service and is very helpful even at home. We have a weak ceil signal so our phones, in our home, are always on WiFi Calling.  This feature "takes over" whenever your phone is on the Internet and the internet signal is stronger than the cell signal.  

 

So, on the ship, set your phone in Airplane Mode (cancels the cell signal), then connect to the Internet.  In a few seconds or so you'll see "WZW Wi-Fi" wherever your phone shows the carrier (Upper left corner on an iPhone).  This verifies that you are now on WiFi Calling.  You can do anything with your phone that you can do in your home.  We did 44 nights from Honolulu to Sydney in 2018 on Mariner.  We used WiFi calling all the time on the ship.  Worked great.  Of course it is Internet dependent, but we've never had a problem.  Also when on shore, almost every cafe has free internet.  Simply get the log in, join the internet, and you should go to WiFi Calling. 

 

Again, it's CRITICAL on the ship or on shore to be in Airplane Mode.  Your phone will automatically select a cell signal if available and strong enough. So you need Airplane Mode to "bias" the phone into WiFi Calling.  

One other comment... always ALWAYS have Data Roaming OFF!! This will Always prevent your phone from doing anything without your knowledge in a foreign country.  If you have Data Roaming ON, and go out of Airplane Mode, your phone could do a bunch of downloading and really run up your bill.   We just keep Data Roaming off permanently. 

 

Here is a screenshot I just took. I've cropped it to isolate the upper portion of my iPhone.  If you look on the upper left you can see "VZW Wi-Fi" indicating that here in my house, I'm in WiFi calling.  You can also see the significantly weaker Cell signal vs. Internet Signal in the upper right. 

[boblerm]

12 minutes ago, papaflamingo said:

We have Verizon. As others said, use WiFi Calling.  If you haven't already. activated, do so. It's a free service and is very helpful even at home. We have a weak ceil signal so our phones, in our home, are always on WiFi Calling.  This feature "takes over" whenever your phone is on the Internet and the internet signal is stronger than the cell signal.  

papaflamingo, thank you for your excellent tutorial.  So is this method more efficient than using, say, Skype?  Seems that it would be, as you can eliminate the extra step of logging on to Skype.

Edited February 18, 2020 by boblerm

[papaflamingo]

2 minutes ago, boblerm said:

papaflamingo, thank you for your excellent tutorial.  So is this method more efficient than using, say, Skype?  Seems that it would be, as you can eliminate the extra step of logging on to Skype.

Yes.  You can always still use Skype of course.  But WiFi Calling simply turns your cell phone from a "cell phone" to an "internet phone" which really all Skype or WhatsApp does.  And since it's not dependent on an app, you can call anyone anywhere in the world, from anywhere in the world for the same cost and rules as if you are sitting in your own home.   No dependency on the other person having any special apps, or even a cell phone. You can call landlines too.  I had to do some business on our cruise and was able to call a Financial agency from literally the Middle of the Pacific Ocean for no charge.  

[boblerm]

Great, thanks.  I guess I should have already known this (duh), but glad that now I do.

Bob

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

Does ATT service work the same?
sheila

[PinkMEB]

Thanks for the suggestions. We are trying wi fi calling at home now. 

[papaflamingo]

19 hours ago, Bellaggio Cruisers said:

Does ATT service work the same?
sheila

Yes.  We used to be ATT.  It's exactly the same except will say "ATT WiFi."  😎

 

Also you should know, ATT international texting rates are different than Verizon.  With no international calling plan,  I believe it's free (unless they've changed)  to receive a text (not photo texts though) and $.50 to send.  Verizon charges $.05 to receive and $.50 to send.  This is important because you can leave your phone on an international cell tower (Make ABSOLUTELY SURE YOU HAVE DATA ROAMING OFF), and if someone needs to get ahold of you they can text you and you can find an Internet Cafe and log onto the internet (again switching to Airplane mode to shut off the cell), and use WiFi calling to call them back.  Just for info.  

Edited February 20, 2020 by papaflamingo

[alainciao]

papa,

I loved this idea so just tried to use WIFI calling .  I turned wifi calling on and got this message, "To allow WIFI calling on this account, call Verizon."  So, apparently, not all Verizon accounts have this capability.  I didn't call as I'm pretty sure I was going to hear that I would need to upgrade my plan.  My guess is you must have unlimited data which would cost me $24 per month.

[boblerm]

On 2/18/2020 at 7:55 AM, papaflamingo said:

So, on the ship, set your phone in Airplane Mode (cancels the cell signal), then connect to the Internet.  In a few seconds or so you'll see "WZW Wi-Fi" wherever your phone shows the carrier (Upper left corner on an iPhone).

FYI, when I turn on Airplane Mode (Android phone), I get disconnected from wi-fi.  I have to go back into settings and reconnect to my wi-fi network, then it works.  

 

Also, on my phone, I do not get this on the upper left of my screen when in Airplane mode

 

 

but when I make a call, I do see this to indicate that it is, in fact, a wi-fi call

 

 

Also, regardless of phone, I believe that you have to go into phone settings to activate wi-fi calling.

 

One last point- on Verizon, while you are on wi-fi calling, calls are free to US numbers, but calls to international numbers are billed as "International Calling While in the US" , so charges do apply.

 

[papaflamingo]

12 minutes ago, boblerm said:

Also, regardless of phone, I believe that you have to go into phone settings to activate wi-fi calling.

Excellent points for sure.  Yes, on all phones you need to actually activate WiFi calling on the phone settings.  It will ask you to enter an address. This is only for 911 response.  So if you call 911 they'll respond to the address you entered.  We simply put our home address to "check the block."    We use ours all the time since our cell signal is so weak in our house.  I highly recommend everyone activate it for that very reason.  

Also a good point about calling international numbers.  When on Wifi Calling you are subject to the same charges as if you are sitting in your own home.  So whatever your plan is in your local area, those rules and charges are in effect. 

Edited February 20, 2020 by papaflamingo

[Sharle]

4 hours ago, alainciao said:

papa,

I loved this idea so just tried to use WIFI calling .  I turned wifi calling on and got this message, "To allow WIFI calling on this account, call Verizon."  So, apparently, not all Verizon accounts have this capability.  I didn't call as I'm pretty sure I was going to hear that I would need to upgrade my plan.  My guess is you must have unlimited data which would cost me $24 per month.

I had WIFI calling with a 2 G shared plan . I think it might depend on your phone. Call them

[lesliebe]

Depending on how long you will be gone and how much on land you will use your phone, Verizon also has monthly plays that were less than the $10 day/30 days.  THe day (or I believe 24 hours) starts from your first use that day...so if you don't use..no charge

[Csphoenix]

I'm leaving on Splendor on Feb 25 and I just called ATT to get the "cruise package".  They don't have the Splendor listed so I can't get the cruise package.  Do I just leave my phone on airplane and use I message, whats app and facebook messenger?

[papaflamingo]

17 hours ago, Csphoenix said:

I'm leaving on Splendor on Feb 25 and I just called ATT to get the "cruise package".  They don't have the Splendor listed so I can't get the cruise package.  Do I just leave my phone on airplane and use I message, whats app and facebook messenger?

Read my post above (post #5).  AT&T works the same way as Verizon.  With internet capability, no need for cellular at sea package.  Save the money.  Also with WiFi calling activated, no need for Whats App.  In WiFi Calling your phone will work exactly like it does at your house.  You will have full capabilities as you do at home with no additional charges  other than something like calling TO an International Number, just like when you are at home.      

As for airplane mode, always keep your phone in airplane mode or you may use the cell instead of internet. That would incur a charge.  Also make sure your phone has "Data Roaming" turned OFF!  That way if you do hook up to a cell, your phone won't do any data downloads unexpectedly. 

Edited February 23, 2020 by papaflamingo

[Csphoenix]

6 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

Read my post above (post #5).  AT&T works the same way as Verizon.  With internet capability, no need for cellular at sea package.  Save the money.  Also with WiFi calling activated, no need for Whats App.  In WiFi Calling your phone will work exactly like it does at your house.  You will have full capabilities as you do at home with no additional charges  other than something like calling TO an International Number, just like when you are at home.      

As for airplane mode, always keep your phone in airplane mode or you may use the cell instead of internet. That would incur a charge.  Also make sure your phone has "Data Roaming" turned OFF!  That way if you do hook up to a cell, your phone won't do any data downloads unexpectedly. 

Thank you for that. When I called ATT yesterday I asked about Wi-Fi calling and the rep said I would still be charged an international rate for the calls. I didn’t think that was correct so I’m glad you clarified that. I think ATT just wanted to up sell me on an international plan💰

[1985rz1]

4 minutes ago, Csphoenix said:

Thank you for that. When I called ATT yesterday I asked about Wi-Fi calling and the rep said I would still be charged an international rate for the calls. I didn’t think that was correct so I’m glad you clarified that. I think ATT just wanted to up sell me on an international plan💰

I hope the rep was referring to calling international numbers over WiFi calling, as that is charged at the international rate, just like back home in the US.  Calling US numbers does not incur any charges; it just uses minutes (and texts) from your normal plan.

[papaflamingo]

17 hours ago, Csphoenix said:

Thank you for that. When I called ATT yesterday I asked about Wi-Fi calling and the rep said I would still be charged an international rate for the calls. I didn’t think that was correct so I’m glad you clarified that. I think ATT just wanted to up sell me on an international plan💰

To add,  like 1985rz says, you will be charged for any International Call that you make, just like at home.  My plan, for example, has no extra charge to call Canada.  So if I'm in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, on WiFi Calling, and I call my cousin in Canada, there is no charge, just like at home.  But if I'm in Dublin, Ireland, on WiFi Calling and call the Pub next door in Dublin, I'll be charged the International Calling per minute rate, just like if I was sitting in my own living room.  As far as the phone is concerned, you are at home and whatever your plan is at your house is what you get charged.   The rep was probably telling you that you still get charged for calling International Phone Numbers.  It is a point that confuses people because the feel like they are making international calls when they aren't.   If you don't have to dial a Country Code, then you won't get charged anything.