WiFi Calling

[macpiper]

Wanting to find out if we can use WiFi calling while at sea on Princess without incurring additional charges ($$$).

Here are the caveats;

1. iPhone 12.
2. AT&T is the home carrier for the phone.
3. This is for WiFi Calling (voice, not data).
4. Airplane mode on phone is activated (Cell service is off).
5. WiFi on phone is turned on.
6. Will be paying for Princess on board WiFi.
7. Not interested in 3rd party apps (What's App, etc.) (Friends/relatives don't have and/or want those apps)
8. Do not want to pay for Cellular at Sea

 

Anyone with a positive experience using Princess WiFi?

 

Thanks,

 

 

[Charles4515]

1 minute ago, macpiper said:

Wanting to find out if we can use WiFi calling while at sea on Princess without incurring additional charges ($$$).

Here are the caveats;

1. iPhone 12.
2. AT&T is the home carrier for the phone.
3. This is for WiFi Calling (voice, not data).
4. Airplane mode on phone is activated (Cell service is off).
5. WiFi on phone is turned on.
6. Will be paying for Princess on board WiFi.
7. Not interested in 3rd party apps (What's App, etc.) (Friends/relatives don't have and/or want those apps)
8. Do not want to pay for Cellular at Sea

 

Anyone with a positive experience using Princess WiFi?

 

Thanks,

 

 

 

I have AT&T and have used WiFi calling with an iPhone on several sailings successfully with all you caveats. It works on Princess. Also on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, NCL, Holland America and Oceania........

 

Set it up at home and test it at home first though. 

[macpiper]

5 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

 

I have AT&T and have used WiFi calling with an iPhone on several sailings successfully with all you caveats. It works on Princess. Also on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, NCL, Holland America and Oceania........

 

Set it up at home and test it at home first though. 

Perfect!

Thanks!!

[jondfk]

I've done it too though with Verizon.  A few comments:

 

- It worked fairly well for making calls.  Far less so for receiving calls.

- It works except when it doesn't.  I can offer no observed rational for when it will or won't work.  

- Repeated try's in a short period of time seemed to be mostly frustrating.  My rule was try once, if it fails, wait a couple hours and try again.

 

You say you don't want to rely on 3rd party apps, but FaceTime is built into every iPhone and worked somewhat better for me than WiFi calling with Verizon.

[NavyVeteran]

I used WiFi calling with AT&T and iPhone. It worked most of the time. As stated earlier, better for calling than receiving.

 

Since I was using limited free WiFi minutes (Elite), I was only logged on when I wanted to make a call or check something online, so it was not good for receiving calls. On my next cruise, I will have Princess Plus so I should be able to leave the phone logged on all the time - that may solve that problem.

[mellon1]

6 hours ago, jondfk said:

I've done it too though with Verizon.  A few comments:

 

- It worked fairly well for making calls.  Far less so for receiving calls.

- It works except when it doesn't.  I can offer no observed rational for when it will or won't work.  

- Repeated try's in a short period of time seemed to be mostly frustrating.  My rule was try once, if it fails, wait a couple hours and try again.

 

You say you don't want to rely on 3rd party apps, but FaceTime is built into every iPhone and worked somewhat better for me than WiFi calling with Verizon.

Is wifi free with Verizon on the ship to call home?  We have the package.  First time with an Iphone.

[dreams_of_travel]

Double check that your plan supports wi-fi calling. I'm with AT&T, and my plan does not support it. 

[macpiper]

Wow! AT&T tells me that all of their plans come with free WiFi Calling. The only restriction would be if your phone does not have WiFi Calling.

 

[cr8tiv1]

Verizon supports wi-fi calling.  Used it a lot with my older iphone (until I upgraded) and had limited minutes.  Occasionally, there would be a dropped call.  

 

As far as Medallion Net goes, on my October 2021 cruise, my iphone would not stay connected to the Net.  I would have to log in again.  So am guessing if any calls would have come through, they would not have....

[erni]

I agree try it out at home.  Turn on airplane mode then connect to your WiFi and try making and receiving calls.    It worked on our Panama Canal cruise without any problems. We have Verizon.   My brother in law did have a problem at first.  Told him to turn his phone off and back on and after that no problems.   

[MissP22]

6 hours ago, erni said:

I agree try it out at home.  Turn on airplane mode then connect to your WiFi and try making and receiving calls.    It worked on our Panama Canal cruise without any problems. We have Verizon.   My brother in law did have a problem at first.  Told him to turn his phone off and back on and after that no problems.   

I'm going to give that a try with our android phones today. 

It sounds like it should work?????

[vjmatty]

Even if your company doesn’t include Wifi calling, if you download WhatsApp for free you can make and receive calls as well as text. It worked for me in October sailing from Newark to Bahamas anyway. I have an iPhone 12 mini and hubby has the 2020 iPhone SE. 

[MissP22]

6 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

Even if your company doesn’t include Wifi calling, if you download WhatsApp for free you can make and receive calls as well as text. It worked for me in October sailing from Newark to Bahamas anyway. I have an iPhone 12 mini and hubby has the 2020 iPhone SE. 

The best thing about WhatsApp from what I understand is that it allows voice calling between phones on the ship just using the intranet connection.

I'll love the fact that we can call each other even if it is only a few times during the whole cruise. It sure will be easier than blindly searching deck chairs.  

[Rick&Jeannie]

I can attest to successfully using WhatsApp on board.  The only thing that you must keep in mind is that anybody you think you'll want to call must have it as well...but that's not too much of an issue.  It's free.

[MissP22]

2 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I can attest to successfully using WhatsApp on board.  The only thing that you must keep in mind is that anybody you think you'll want to call must have it as well...but that's not too much of an issue.  It's free.

Sounds great. 

Now if Zoom works for one of my meetings I'll really be happy.

Not that I care about the material but I want to irritate them logging in from a cruise ship sitting near the pool with a drink in my hand. 🍹 🍹 😊

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 minute ago, MissP22 said:

Now if Zoom works for one of my meetings I'll really be happy.

 

Can't speak to using Zoom but I don't see why it would not work if Facetime and WhatsApp works...

[MissP22]

6 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Can't speak to using Zoom but I don't see why it would not work if Facetime and WhatsApp works...

There's no reason it should work as long as the bandwidth is sufficient at 2PM when others are using the internet also. We shall see. 

I have no need to call anyone off the ship. Nothing is that important that it can't wait. 

[vjmatty]

2 hours ago, MissP22 said:

There's no reason it should work as long as the bandwidth is sufficient at 2PM when others are using the internet also. We shall see. 

I have no need to call anyone off the ship. Nothing is that important that it can't wait. 

If you have pets it’s comforting to check in with the dog sitter and see how they’re doing. Other than that I generally don’t spend much time contacting anyone on land 

[Shelly97060]

I haven’t tried staring WiFi calling but like the OP I have an iPhone and ATT is my provider.  We use FaceTime audio while connected to internet and phones in airplane mode. Works great. 

[mjmalino]

On 1/20/2022 at 8:14 PM, macpiper said:

Wow! AT&T tells me that all of their plans come with free WiFi Calling. The only restriction would be if your phone does not have WiFi Calling.

 

That is not necessarily true. Their plans all include Wifi Calling IF you purchased your phones with them. At one point, when we had AT&T we purchased OnePlus phones, directly from the manufacturer and the phones did have Wifi Calling capabilities, however, AT&T blocked it  because it was not an ATT branded phone. I am not sure if they changed things as we switched from ATT a couple years ago, but just something to keep in mind if you did not get your phone from them, or it is not on some proscribed list.

[Ellaleah]

FaceTime works great!

[Userclown]

I have iPhone 8 with wifi calling. It works at home and with every wifi service I have ever connected to with the exception of the wifi service on any of my Princess cruises in since November 2021. I worked with the representatives on board. Spent so much time trying to get it to work that I finally gave up. My cruise fun was more important. ATT tells me that it should work and Princess tells me that it should work. I have seen the wifi calling for about 15 minutes at 5am a few times. I did have a Princess person suggest that their wifi just is not strong enough for this phone. They have had other passengers with the same problem. It seems to be associated with the phone not the carrier as the phone is on airplane mode. Good luck, I quit worrying about it. I can see my home security camera, so that is good.

 

[milogurd]

On 1/21/2022 at 5:34 PM, mjmalino said:

That is not necessarily true. Their plans all include Wifi Calling IF you purchased your phones with them. At one point, when we had AT&T we purchased OnePlus phones, directly from the manufacturer and the phones did have Wifi Calling capabilities, however, AT&T blocked it  because it was not an ATT branded phone. I am not sure if they changed things as we switched from ATT a couple years ago, but just something to keep in mind if you did not get your phone from them, or it is not on some proscribed list.

I did not get my phone from AT&T. I purchased a carrier unlocked iPhone directly from an Apple store in April 2019, with no sim installed. Got home, inserted my AT&T sim from an older iPhone, and WiFi calling works great.

Edited May 2, 2022 by milogurd

[UT-Volsfan]

We have Verizon phones and cannot get wifi calling to work in Airplane mode on board.  Both Princess and Verizon  pointed at each other and could not resolve the issue. Finally heard that some cell phone providers limit their wifi calling to within the US.

 

Finally installed a free Wifi calling app and it works fine while in Airplane mode. It assigns a different number to make and receive calls. I have told people at home to text my cell phone number if they need to talk and I will call them back.

[MissP22]

We used to have an older Android phone that didn't have WIFI calling but now have a Galaxy phone (T-Mobile) that does. On our last cruise we installed the free WhatsApp app before sailing & it worked great without any problems to call each other on the ship & a few call to home. It allows texting, calling and video calls between phones and also has an audible tone to let you know about incoming calls.

 

I also participated in two 2 hour Zoom calls while on the ship using my phone and it didn't drop either time.