texting with voom

[buzz2400]

I'm a few days away from taking my cruise.  We are purchasing the voom internet.  I need to tell my family what format I will be texting them from.  Can you use messenger or whatsapp?  I am assuming you can't use your regular cell phone texting.  Thanks in advance.

[Funky Fusion FoodsJ]

I just use regular cell phone texting with Voom.

[GTO-Girl]

13 minutes ago, buzz2400 said:

I'm a few days away from taking my cruise.  We are purchasing the voom internet.  I need to tell my family what format I will be texting them from.  Can you use messenger or whatsapp?  I am assuming you can't use your regular cell phone texting.  Thanks in advance.

We have AT&T for our cell service.  We purchase the WiFi pkg….put our phones on airplane mode (very important!!)…..turn on WiFi calling and then we can use our phone for text and calling just as we would at home..

[Jt4428]

We were on Oasis last week.   I purchased 1 Voom + surf package.  I also had Verizon put the Travel Pass on my plan for my phone (I think $10 a day).  I needed to keep in touch with my elderly father and mother in law.  I haven't seen my Verizon bill yet, but whatever it is, it's worth it for peace of mind.

Edited June 22, 2022 by Jt4428

[Bobal]

Yes you can use Messenger and WhatsApp 

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, buzz2400 said:

I am assuming you can't use your regular cell phone texting. 

Yes, you should be able to - practice now on land, set up WiFi calling, put phone in airplane mode and turn on wifi only.

Edited June 22, 2022 by Biker19

[rudeney]

2 hours ago, Jt4428 said:

We were on Oasis last week.   I purchased 1 Voom + surf package.  I also had Verizon put the Travel Pass on my plan for my phone (I think $10 a day).  I needed to keep in touch with my elderly father and mother in law.  I haven't seen my Verizon bill yet, but whatever it is, it's worth it for peace of mind.

 

Unless it's changed, the Travel Pass does not include cruise ship cellular systems - it's only for foreign countries.  

[smokeybandit]

You can use your carrier's messaging if you have wifi calling enabled BUT it's no guarantee to actually work.

 

You're better off with a 3rd party tool like Messenger or WhatsApp

[Jt4428]

22 minutes ago, rudeney said:

 

Unless it's changed, the Travel Pass does not include cruise ship cellular systems - it's only for foreign countries.  

Yes that is true but I think I was covered with the ship's purchased internet.

[buzz2400]

Thank you for the replies. 

[jbrinkm]

We preferred WhatsApp on the ship - there seemed to be a delay for us with Messenger. It was quick to set up.

[Medic5emt]

23 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

We have AT&T for our cell service.  We purchase the WiFi pkg….put our phones on airplane mode (very important!!)…..turn on WiFi calling and then we can use our phone for text and calling just as we would at home..

We have AT&T as well. As the post states we have had no issues on Celebrity or RCL using our I phone as described. You will notice a delay when doing a voice or Face time call. Have fun

[brillohead]

Set up Wi-Fi calling NOW, not on the ship.  There's no need to use WhatsApp or Messenger.

You can practice with it at home -- your phone and texts should work just like normal.  After setting up Wi-Fi calling, turn on Airplane Mode and then turn Wi-Fi back on.  You can now make phone calls and text just like normal.  It will be the same way on the ship.

But you MUST be connected to the cellular network at the time you set up Wi-Fi Calling on your phone, you can't do it while connected to just Wi-Fi. 

I have been using Wi-Fi calling for years now.  My previous home had crappy cell reception, and now I live in a basement where I don't get cellular reception, but my phone works normally for voice and text because I use Wi-Fi calling.  

 

[LeeW]

I've had mixed luck with texting over VOOM.  Sometimes it works, sometimes not.  Think my phone assumes that texting a single recipient is text, and multiple people is multimedia.  The former usually uses cell, latter always uses internet.  Weird.  Could avoid this using the various apps, but not worth the bother.  And of course voice over internet depends on a good wireless connection on the ship.  Often drops as you move around.

 

As brillohead mentioned, you MUST set up wifi calling (voice over internet) before you leave your service area.  And in my case I have to do it in the port before we sail - even though it has been set up for years at home.  We don't need to worry about turning off cell (airplane mode) since our carrier doesn't do roaming at all.  Except on Disney - can't do their safety briefing with cell on.

[rudeney]

Some native text messaging apps will use your Internet connection even for MMS.  If you have an Android, try "Google Messages".  I think Verizon's "Message+" (or maybe just "Verizon Messages") also works if you are on that network.  An advantage to these alternate text messaging apps is that you can also link to your computer to message from there.

[GTO-Girl]

On 6/22/2022 at 12:11 PM, Jt4428 said:

We were on Oasis last week.   I purchased 1 Voom + surf package.  I also had Verizon put the Travel Pass on my plan for my phone (I think $10 a day).  I needed to keep in touch with my elderly father and mother in law.  I haven't seen my Verizon bill yet, but whatever it is, it's worth it for peace of mind.

Because you had already purchased the WiFi package you could have put your phone on airplane mode and turned on WiFi calling and you could have used the phone for calling and texting just as you would at home.

 

You didn’t need the $10 a day package.  Most times the international travel passes are for when you are in a foreign country not for the cruise ship as they operate off Cellular At Sea….

[Jt4428]

20 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

Because you had already purchased the WiFi package you could have put your phone on airplane mode and turned on WiFi calling and you could have used the phone for calling and texting just as you would at home.

 

You didn’t need the $10 a day package.  Most times the international travel passes are for when you are in a foreign country not for the cruise ship as they operate off Cellular At Sea….

Thank you. That is what I did to make calls on the ship.  but I wanted to call from the islands also. I think the travel pass only kicked in if I used it on the islands. I'll see when I get my next bill.

[jbrinkm]

24 minutes ago, Jt4428 said:

Thank you. That is what I did to make calls on the ship.  but I wanted to call from the islands also. I think the travel pass only kicked in if I used it on the islands. I'll see when I get my next bill.

 

That is what we did also for our April cruise. You "activate" the travel pass with Verizon so you get charged the $10/day for use in different countries instead of roaming. It gives you access to all of your usual plan benefits when you are in another country. Our plan covered Mexico automatically so we were only charged in Honduras when we were in port / off of the ship (my husband had to keep in touch with work). Just remember to turn back off your mobile data when you return to the ship so you don't get charged roaming at sea (you need it turned on when on land using the travel pass).