Mobile Phones

[clarets]

Can someone please remind me when it is ok to use your mobile without heavy costs.

 

I have done 4 cruises with p&o but possibly due to age and a 3 year gap i have forgot some of the golden rules.

 

Package too expensive, can i use my mobile in ports without being stung?

p.s. i will be putting my mobile in aircraft mode as i board so at least i have remembered that!😃

[david63]

You are probably best checking with your mobile operator for the countries that you will be visiting as there have been a lot of changes with European countries since Brexit

[CRUISENSNOOZE]

2 hours ago, clarets said:

Can someone please remind me when it is ok to use your mobile without heavy costs.

 

I have done 4 cruises with p&o but possibly due to age and a 3 year gap i have forgot some of the golden rules.

 

Package too expensive, can i use my mobile in ports without being stung?

p.s. i will be putting my mobile in aircraft mode as i board so at least i have remembered that!😃

We always put our phones on Flight Mode while on the ship, even if we are on the top deck moored in a port. When we go ashore, I wait to get out the port before turning on my Mobile Data (only can in Europe). On our return to the port, we usually use their WIFI. You can always tell where it is as there are many of the crew hanging around the area!. After the normal 30 minutes free WIFI at the port, we turn back on the Flight Mode before returning onto the ship. The P&O App works perfectly well with the phone on Flight Mode.

[wowzz]

4 hours ago, CRUISENSNOOZE said:

The P&O App works perfectly well with the phone on Flight Mode

It will only work in flight mode,  as it is not an app, merely a portal to the ship intranet .

[Methuselah55]

We use airplane mode on board to access the "app that isn't an app" and usually wait until we have a signal at each port to see what zone we're in before switching any mobile data back on.

Last two trips this year have been to Zone B Europe and the vodafone message reads "...you can use calls, texts, and up to 25GB of data from your plan at no extra cost."

There's a charge of 31p/MB if you use more than 25GB.

It'll be interesting to see how we get on in the Caribbean next January though !

Their Maritime service quotes £2.40/minute for making calls but £1.80/minute for receiving one. Texts are 60pence to send but free to receive. 

 

[Megabear2]

13 minutes ago, Methuselah55 said:

We use airplane mode on board to access the "app that isn't an app" and usually wait until we have a signal at each port to see what zone we're in before switching any mobile data back on.

Last two trips this year have been to Zone B Europe and the vodafone message reads "...you can use calls, texts, and up to 25GB of data from your plan at no extra cost."

There's a charge of 31p/MB if you use more than 25GB.

It'll be interesting to see how we get on in the Caribbean next January though !

Their Maritime service quotes £2.40/minute for making calls but £1.80/minute for receiving one. Texts are 60pence to send but free to receive. 

 

Re the Caribbean we are with EE and pay £5.00 a day to use phone and data if we wait till we get there.  We have an option to add a package before travel and is £11.00 for a month. We have to have full phone and internet use for business purposes so unfortunately have to purchase P&O's wifi.  We find the basic package okay for our uses.

[david63]

13 hours ago, wowzz said:

It will only work in flight mode

Not true - it works with flight mode on or off

[wowzz]

48 minutes ago, david63 said:

Not true - it works with flight mode on or off

My apologies. 

[FangedRose]

2 hours ago, david63 said:

Not true - it works with flight mode on or off

Instructions given to use the app is to switch flight mode on.

[david63]

27 minutes ago, FangedRose said:

Instructions given to use the app is to switch flight mode on.

I agree - but that is to prevent accident connection at a cost.

 

The statement made was that it only works in flight mode which is not the case.

[Methuselah55]

On 10/1/2022 at 10:40 AM, Megabear2 said:

Re the Caribbean we are with EE and pay £5.00 a day to use phone and data if we wait till we get there.  We have an option to add a package before travel and is £11.00 for a month. We have to have full phone and internet use for business purposes so unfortunately have to purchase P&O's wifi.  We find the basic package okay for our uses.

OK that doesn't seem too bad bearing in mind we have 5 sea days: have to check whether Vodafone have anything similar. Other half is looking to change mobile so we might switch her's to EE so we can cover our bets.

[No pager thank you]

In terms of the EU, it may be worth looking at providers who use Three's network.  For my existing mobile phone, I can use my mobile data at no additional cost whilst in the EU - this didn't change post Brexit and its only £5-7 per month.  This means I don't need to worry about turning my phone off whilst in port and will use it normally for calls/data/texts etc. 

 

If you don't have this facility and want to use data then the key is to go to a cafe/restaurant/public place and use their data feed, to avoid being charged (or pay the "data passporting" fee) which varies from network to network.    

 

I do make sure to turn the flight mode on (and mobile data off) whilst at sea, as the Maritime costs of using data are extortionate and can't be got around.  I also can wait a few days before picking up emails/voicemails, as the internet packages on P&O are expensive in my opinion.

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, Methuselah55 said:

OK that doesn't seem too bad bearing in mind we have 5 sea days: have to check whether Vodafone have anything similar. Other half is looking to change mobile so we might switch her's to EE so we can cover our bets.

Sky mobile charge £2 per day for their roaming passport which includes USA, Canada, Australia and Caribbean Islands that are EU country territories.

[Harryjacobs]

O2 customers can use their phoe in Europe with no extra cost.

[Technoman2]

We were with Sky mobile until they took the opportunity to start charging when we came out of EU at £2 a day for use while abroad. Now switched to Lebara and we can use our call and data allowance abroad for free 

[bobstheboy]

1 hour ago, Technoman2 said:

We were with Sky mobile until they took the opportunity to start charging when we came out of EU at £2 a day for use while abroad. Now switched to Lebara and we can use our call and data allowance abroad for free 

Ditto !

[LesleyAnn60]

Has anyone purchased the WiFi package and shared it across 2 mobiles? It does say it’s possible in the Frequently Asked Questions, but not at the same time. I’m wondering how easy it is to log off and then log onto a different mobile device 

Edited October 4, 2022 by LesleyAnn60
Error

[silkworms]

8 minutes ago, LesleyAnn60 said:

Has anyone purchased the WiFi package and shared it across 2 mobiles? It does say it’s possible in the Frequently Asked Questions, but not at the same time. I’m wondering how easy it is to log off and then log onto a different mobile device 

It’s really easy, you don’t even have to switch present device off, it comes up with a question on the second device, ‘Do you want to disconnect previous user?’ We always share like that.

 

Terri

[david63]

2 hours ago, LesleyAnn60 said:

Has anyone purchased the WiFi package and shared it across 2 mobiles? It does say it’s possible in the Frequently Asked Questions, but not at the same time. I’m wondering how easy it is to log off and then log onto a different mobile device 

Another option is to have a mobile router (look on Amazon) which is logged into your wi-fi account and then you can connect as many devices as you want all at the same time. The only restriction is that you have to be in range of the router.

[Shelley61]

If anyone has a package that charges for using their phone abroad, I'd highly recommend a Three PAYG sim.  We just went to America and paid £10 for a SIM package that gave you unlimited (UK) calls and texts and 12GB of data for a month.  We used it as a sat nav on a fly-drive holiday and it was great.

 

O2 (I'm on a business tariff), however, wanted £99.99 for 30 days access to data and a max of 2gb downloads... rip off merchants!

 

They do, however, allow you to use your contract as normal in the EU (for now at least!)

[JDB78]

I'm on Vodafone was able to use my phone in the EU with no extra charges. I did put it on flight mode whilst at sea but I didn't actually need to. I received the following text when connected to the maritime network:

 

"Important Information: You're now connected to a Maritime Network, offered on ferries and ships. Making a call costs £2.40 per minute, receiving one costs £1.80 per minute. Texts are 60p to send, but they're free to receive. To help you manage costs, data services are only available to our business customers, charged at £7.20/MB (inc. VAT). Have a good trip"

 

So in short a personal Vodafone account cannot attract data charges on the maritime network. Obviously worth checking with the provider before you travel. Most info is available online. My travel contract  info and what was included was available through my Vodafone app

 

[Megabear2]

To be certain you use only what you’ve signed up for and your own free data/minutes set a spend cap that's very low, either zero or something like a pound.  Your phone won't accidentally connect to anything you don't want it to either onboard or ashore.

[paulatsea]

sorry if already mentioned.

 

When Flight mode is turned on you need to switch WiFi on to use the ship WiFi and the onboard website.

 

So turn flight mode on - this switches everything off -  then next turn only your wifi on.

This way mobile data etc is all off and only WiFi is on.

 

I have Vodafone and 4G mobile data and calls when docked is not usually expensive - about £2/day but you can buy weekly package.

My contract includes EU roaming.

 

 

 

 

[picsa]

3 hours ago, paulatsea said:

When Flight mode is turned on you need to switch WiFi on to use the ship WiFi and the onboard website.

 

So turn flight mode on - this switches everything off -  then next turn only your wifi on.

This way mobile data etc is all off and only WiFi is on.

That’s not the case with iPhones, as turning on flight mode only turns off the cellular signal, leaving WiFi and Bluetooth on.

[paulatsea]

19 minutes ago, picsa said:

That’s not the case with iPhones, as turning on flight mode only turns off the cellular signal, leaving WiFi and Bluetooth on.

Thanks picsa - just checked iOS remembers if you also manually switched off wifi and or Bluetooth last time you used airplane mode and it will switch these off as well next time you use airplane mode.

 

But you are correct the default now is cellular only - I didn’t know that.

 

 

Edited October 5, 2022 by paulatsea