AT&T Phones on FOS

[jenduse]

I'm sorry if this question has been asked before. We have AT&T cells and I wanted to know what I need to do to get the best rates while on our ship. I know what you are going to say---DON'T USE IT! It's our 1st trip away from our toddler so I will want to check in every so often to be sure all is going well. Thank you in advance!!

[jakeil7]

Can you check in via email?

[jenduse]

Yes, I can but thought it'd be nice to talk with him for a minute or two. I thought about communicating via Skype but doubt that will work too well given the internet speed doesn't seem too quick.

[BaumD]

First you will need to enable "international dialing" on your phone. A call to AT&T can do that.

 

Cost to use your phone thru the ship's cell system will be $2.49 per minute. If you go to AT&T's website and check international rates, it will tell you the rate for each island you are visiting.

[SA Traveler]

We always add the international calling before we leave and discontinue it when we return. It's around $5.00 per month. It really doesn't matter when you are on the ship - the rate is $2.49 per minute for Cellular at Sea regardless. However, in the ports you will normally get much better rates than if you didn't have the international plan. For texts the last time we used it it was $.20 to receive and $.50 to send a text message.

 

I totally understand why you want to be able to keep in touch. We normally keep the phone in the safe and check for messages a couple of times a day. $2.49 per minute is much cheaper than $7.95 if something happens while you are gone and you have to keep in touch. Personal experience when MIL had a stroke while we were on a cruise and we got home with a huge phone bill.

[CruiseLover15]

Be careful with your emails. You will either want to turn off emails on your phone or also add international data to your phone while you are on the ship. I traveled to Toronto for 2 days in April and I had international calling but not international data. I encured an extra $300 in charges just from emails being pushed to my iPhone.

[jenduse]

Thank you for the info. I'll be sure to add that to the phone before going. Sounds like one's cell is the way to go instead of ship's phones.

[UTCJCB]

I am a sales rep and work for AT&T in Chattanooga, TN. You will be charged the PER USE rates for DATA (.05 cents a kb, 50 center per text internationally) and at per minute rates that vary by country. I will say this....you MUST have customer service add international dialing if you want to use LAND BASED cellualr networks. These networks are most often cheaper than using the cellualr by sea program. You can also add the AT&T world traveler for one month that gives you discounted intl roaming calls...then dropp the plan when you get back. it's 5.99 per month, but really only feasible if you are making a lot of calls. you can get 200 international texts for 10.00 also, but this is still ONLY if you are using land based carriers. Make sure if you have an iPhone or Blackberry, just TURN IT OFF the whole duration. International data roaming is VERY expensive and not worth the hassle when you get your next bill.

 

You can email me at utcjcb at msn.com if you have any other questions...i'll be happy to answer them for you! :D

[jerseysmom]

We are thinking about going to Australia in January. We can add international to our Iphones but you are saying that it doesn't include data? DH planned to use his app Say Where to find where we planned to go each day.

[UTCJCB]

We are thinking about going to Australia in January. We can add international to our Iphones but you are saying that it doesn't include data? DH planned to use his app Say Where to find where we planned to go each day.

 

Correct. That does NOT include data. There is a plan that is 200 mb of data for an iphone that you can get that is 59.99. it's an international roamning data plan especially for the iphone. if you download the app from the app store ahead of time, and the app doesn't have to connect to a network, then just leave the iPhone in airplane mode, no worries, otherwise, you would be looking at some pretty intensive data usage. I would suggest that package if you are cruising anything past 10 days. hope this helps!:D

[moandbo]

If you have an iPhone, you can use it for international calls if you have international dialing turned on. Rates at various ports are usually less than the "cellular at sea" rate on the ship, so we call to check in with the kids when we're in a port. As far as data, we turn off data roaming before the ship sails to avoid the huge data roaming charges. On your iPhone, go to Settings->General->Network and turn Data Roaming to OFF and that'll do it. We just use the internet coupons in the coupon book to cover most of our usage time for checking email about once a day on the ship's computers. Putting the phone in airplane mode will also avoid data roaming charges, but then you won't be able to use it to make/receive calls..... so we just turn off the data roaming.

[Jacqueline]

The nice thing about ATT and maybe other carriers as well is that PR and ST Thomas are not considered international so those calls are covered under your regular plan. BUT text is about .50 and pictures about 1.50 or so.

If you go to the website, you can see for each country what the rate is. For most of my islands it is $1.99.

[jerseysmom]

Thank you, I never would have guessed how much this could cost! Advice taken!!

[CruiseLover15]

I have international calling and was planning to add international data, but it sounds like I will still get hit with the All GPRS pay per use rates are $.0195/KB and since I get a huge amount of emails my bill woiuld be sky high.