WiFi calling on Magic, what did I do wrong?

[shibby sails]

 Just back from Magic. iPhone connected to ship's WiFi , airplane mode on, Wi-Fi calling on worked with no problem on RCCL. Could not get it to work on Carnival with premium plan. Kept saying turn airplane mode off. If I did that it would cost me $6.00 a minute. Gust services said you cannot make Wi-Fi calls. Need to use Whatsapp. I remember using it before Covid sailings. Anyone else have this problem and what do you do on Carnival to make a WiFi call while connected to ships WiFi plan.

[balcony bound]

I would be interested to know how this should work as well.

 

Did you try using Facetime?

[TechDiva]

I was on Magic for Halloween and had the same problem.  I ended up with a large phone bill to keep in contact with my sons (I'm not mad about that).

I had taken a cruise September 2019 and WiFi calling worked perfectly (on the Breeze).  So, I'm not sure what changed, unless Carnival has figured out how to block it.

[webzila]

I was just on the Breeze and WiFi calling worked just fine with premium internet. Magic shouldn't be any different. Maybe it's some phone config/setting

[BlerkOne]

Depending on what your cell provider charges you for calls, you might consider calling FROM the ship on the stateroom phone for $1.99/minute (last I tried).

 

I may try on my next cruise. If I turn off airplane mode and roaming it might work okay. My phone indicates if it is WiFi calling (which I also would have to enable).

[CruisingFromLA]

I have T-Mobile and a Samsung S21, and couldn't get it to work on the Carnival Vista 2 weeks ago. I spent about 2 minutes trying to figure it out and didn't pursue it further since I am on vacation and didn't want to spend a long time trying to figure it out. I just ended up using Google Hangout when I need to call and text someone instead.

[dude_hdt]

WhatsApp is the way to go.  Did several voice calls during Vista Oct 2 cruise with middle wifi plan.  Pre-covid, even did video call thru WhatsApp...blurry but it worked.  Just make sure whoever you're planning to call has WhatsApp and test it out at home before you cruise.

[shibby sails]

I have an iPhone 10. WiFi calling worked perfectly before covid back in 2019 on Magic. I believe for some reason they are blocking calls because guest services adamantly said you can't make WiFi calls. That makes no sense and is why I asked if anyone got around it somehow. I know I can use their phone for $1.99 a minute but I already brought their WiFi so I should be able to get through with that. 

[Smokin J]

Check out your phone provider.  I got international plan for $5 day unlimited calls text data.  Lot cheaper than carnival

 

[bigcstyle4]

I've never been able to figure this out. It worked for me on Magic on the Value Plan this September (my carrier is Verizon). Seems to be hit or miss/comes and goes randomly.

[ProgRockCruiser]

On 11/20/2021 at 4:12 PM, Smokin J said:

Check out your phone provider.  I got international plan for $5 day unlimited calls text data.  Lot cheaper than carnival

 

Coverage even at sea using sat comm, or just when in ports?

[jimbo5544]

5 hours ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

Coverage even at sea using sat comm, or just when in ports?

From a Verizon perspective, just ports.

[ProgRockCruiser]

14 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

From a Verizon perspective, just ports.

That's what I would assume, but the poster didn't specify, so thought I'd ask in case there was some carrier offering such a deal!

[jimbo5544]

2 hours ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

That's what I would assume, but the poster didn't specify, so thought I'd ask in case there was some carrier offering such a deal!

Understand, was jsut adding our experience,

[nudistcruzer]

iPhone 13 Pro

iOS 15.3.1

AT&T 

2/15/2022 - no AT&T WiFi calling on Carnival Pride.

It looks like I need to cancel something. 
 

Skype works.

 

One more reason to never cruise.  I think I’m done with cruising. They go out of their way to punish their passengers. 

 

[lasekeye]

I’m paranoid about this type of issue.  When I travel & want to use ONLY wifi, I actually take out my SIM card.

[Don Kehote]

8 hours ago, nudistcruzer said:

One more reason to never cruise.  I think I’m done with cruising. They go out of their way to punish their passengers. 

Okay bye.

[twangster]

Five cruise lines sailed since the restart and the only line/ship where my wifi calling wouldn't work was Carnival and the Mardi Gras.  Just assumed Carnival blocks it.  No issues on other lines.

[MrMarc]

As I understand it, Carnival has blocked wifi calling.

[mz-s]

One of the pluses of my Office 365 plan is I get 60 minutes of Skype calling per month for free. I use it when I am on a cruise to make calls without worrying about roaming. I haven't tried it on ship WiFi (I don't buy it) but it works great when at the Starbucks in Nassau etc.

[Virga]

I haven't managed to get it working in the covid era, though sometimes (randomly, it appears, even on the same cruise) I'll occasionally (sporadically) start being able to receive and send texts.  I'm a Verizon customer, for what it's worth.

[jstrutton]

OK, here is our real-world scenario.  We were on the Miracle in Feb going to Hawaii and in the middle of the Pacific.  Sitting on deck when my wife's phone rang.  It was a normal call from our daughter using her normal T-Mobile phone number (not WhatsApp).  Her phone was on Airplane mode, but wi-fi calling was not turned off.  They talked for 17 minutes and when we got home, there was $125 bill from T-Mobile for that one phone call.

 

Called T-Mobile to see how this happened and what they could do.  They said that each ship has a cell phone tower on them and periodically cell phone calls can go through them.  However, when cell phones use this service, the cruise line charges $6.99 per minute.  So, the charge is actually something Carnival (or any cruise line) charged the cell service and obviously they just charge it back to the customer.  

 

Called T-Mobile and the good news is that T-Mobile cut 75% of the bill off since this was the first time this had happened and also, we are new customers.  The rep told me to avoid this we needed to turn on airplane mode but also turn off Wi-Fi calling and to just use data calling services like WhatsApp.  

[sanger727]

You should not have had a cell phone tower call come through when you are in airplane mode. Your cellular service is turned off. Is it possible the airplane mode turned off accidentally? Another thing I do to be troops sure is I also turn off roaming. Should do the same thing. So with both roaming off and airplane mode off your phone will not connect to a non-t mobile network. even if airplane mode is inadvertently turned off.