Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Travel&Dining > Cruises
Reload this Page >

Conflicts between your iPhone and the ship's wifi:

Conflicts between your iPhone and the ship's wifi:

Old Sep 3, 2018, 9:45 am
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: Mileage Plus
Posts: 186
Conflicts between your iPhone and the ship's wifi:

On a recent cruise I was having a hard time getting my phone to work both as a phone and as a wifi hotspot for my laptop, even though the phone was showing a cellphone signal. After asking a large number of crew I finally found out that my iPhone was being switched by the ship's stronger wifi signal to the ship's wifi rather than the normal cell network. The iPhone has an option to tell it to ignore any particular wifi signal so I blocked out the ship's wifi and was then able to use my phone both as a phone and as a wifi hotspot.
jonsail is offline  
Old Sep 3, 2018, 10:09 am
  #2  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hawai'i Nei
Programs: Au: UA, Marriott, Hilton; GE
Posts: 7,093
Originally Posted by jonsail
On a recent cruise I was having a hard time getting my phone to work both as a phone and as a wifi hotspot for my laptop, even though the phone was showing a cellphone signal. After asking a large number of crew I finally found out that my iPhone was being switched by the ship's stronger wifi signal to the ship's wifi rather than the normal cell network. The iPhone has an option to tell it to ignore any particular wifi signal so I blocked out the ship's wifi and was then able to use my phone both as a phone and as a wifi hotspot.

I assume you were doing this while in port or just offshore. Otherwise, your hotspot would be running off the ships $2.99/ min cell service.
747FC is offline  
Old Sep 3, 2018, 11:17 am
  #3  
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: San Antonio, TX
Programs: AA EXP, DL Silver, Global Entry
Posts: 1,862
Originally Posted by 747FC



I assume you were doing this while in port or just offshore. Otherwise, your hotspot would be running off the ships $2.99/ min cell service.
Exactly my thought. A 15 minute cell phone connection as a Wi-Fi hotspot is going to cost a lot more than just signing up for the ships Wi-Fi.
Randyk47 is offline  
Old Sep 4, 2018, 3:54 pm
  #4  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: Mileage Plus
Posts: 186
Basically, I agree with what you said except on my ship the cruise line says if my phone shows "Cellular at Sea" as the service provider, the cruise line doesn't benefit and the Cellular at Sea company bills me thru my phone company. Called my phone company and they said the Cellular at Sea charges would be $2.99 minute, 50 cents per sent text, and 5 cents per rec'd text, and $2.05 per megabyte of data. Then I got a text from Cellular at Sea reciting all above rates except data and the text said data was unavailable. But, yes, if you are using your phone as a hot spot offshore, you would be wise to make sure it is not running on anything other than a regular cell phone service. So if a regular cell service is not available, (or if roaming is an issue) then a person could use WhatsApp to make calls and do texts off the ship's wifi which can be a lot cheaper.
jonsail is offline  
Old Sep 4, 2018, 9:41 pm
  #5  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hawai'i Nei
Programs: Au: UA, Marriott, Hilton; GE
Posts: 7,093
Originally Posted by jonsail
Basically, I agree with what you said except on my ship the cruise line says if my phone shows "Cellular at Sea" as the service provider, the cruise line doesn't benefit and the Cellular at Sea company bills me thru my phone company. Called my phone company and they said the Cellular at Sea charges would be $2.99 minute, 50 cents per sent text, and 5 cents per rec'd text, and $2.05 per megabyte of data. Then I got a text from Cellular at Sea reciting all above rates except data and the text said data was unavailable. But, yes, if you are using your phone as a hot spot offshore, you would be wise to make sure it is not running on anything other than a regular cell phone service. So if a regular cell service is not available, (or if roaming is an issue) then a person could use WhatsApp to make calls and do texts off the ship's wifi which can be a lot cheaper.
My experience with using wifi-based communication apps while on board (e.g., Skype), is that the ship blocks these.YMMV, but I would not count on them.

On another matter, I cannot imagine a company, cruise ship or not, that provides a service like Cellular at Sea without charging the service provider for the opportunity to make a profit off of its customers.
747FC is offline  
Old Sep 29, 2018, 6:47 pm
  #6  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hawai'i Nei
Programs: Au: UA, Marriott, Hilton; GE
Posts: 7,093
Originally Posted by 747FC
My experience with using wifi-based communication apps while on board (e.g., Skype), is that the ship blocks these.YMMV, but I would not count on them.
Well, what do you know! I was on a Silversea ship, the Silver Shadow, and Skype was not blocked. Thank goodness for that, for I needed to make a phone call that lasted over 45 minutes, and would have set me back $116.00 if I had to use my cell service. Thanks, Silversea!
747FC is offline  
Old Oct 2, 2018, 7:46 pm
  #7  
Moderator: American AAdvantage
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Matre-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Thats an important message shared in above posts. Dont assume every cruise line has similar policies.

Some cruise lines now provide free internet. I hope others will be pressured into doing that by the competition.

Some cruise lines seem to be able to disable VOIP calling when youre using their internet. Fortunately, not all do, and you may find using WhatsApp etc. may work very well.

If using cellular service because youre offshore, etc. be sure youre connected to your provider or its partners and not the company providing onboard cellular service, or you could be in for a rude surprise on your next bill.
JDiver is offline  
Old Oct 3, 2018, 7:13 am
  #8  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: JFK LGA PBI BOI
Posts: 909
And don't forget about network time setting. I've had my phone time off because the network time picked up was not the ship's time. Phones have setting for "time zone" that comes from the mobile network.
Don't want you to miss dinner!
Brighton Line is offline  
Old Oct 3, 2018, 7:18 am
  #9  
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: San Antonio, TX
Programs: AA EXP, DL Silver, Global Entry
Posts: 1,862
Originally Posted by 747FC
On another matter, I cannot imagine a company, cruise ship or not, that provides a service like Cellular at Sea without charging the service provider for the opportunity to make a profit off of its customers.
I agree. It may not be a direct cost like 10% of calls made during a specific cruise or on a ship but the cruise line is getting some reimbursement somewhere. I imagine its a negotiated contract at the corporate level, something along the lines of a company like Cellular at Sea paying Silversea $XXX up front for the right to provide cell service for three to five years. I have no misgivings about every cruise line squeezing every nickel and dime they can out of every service they provide. Go cruise on a mass market line and come back and talk about what was included and what was provided only at an extra charge. Go cruise on an upscale all inclusive line and come back and talk about the up front fare difference. Sure there are variances, way too many to cover here but nothing is free.
747FC likes this.
Randyk47 is offline  
Old Oct 3, 2018, 3:47 pm
  #10  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Programs: American Airlines, Marriott, Hertz, Avis
Posts: 142
Neat little thing we discovered this summer on Regent - even without having internet enabled, we were able to use imessage to text each other as long as we connected to the ship's network. I am not techy enough to understand why this worked as it's certainly not something they advertise, but it was great.
FlyerStef is offline  
Old Oct 12, 2018, 12:43 am
  #11  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: Mileage Plus
Posts: 186
More on ship's wifi vs. local port carrier signal

If you are using the ship's wifi while out of range of land based carrier signals, you may need to turn off your wifi reception when you get into port or close to land to receive the local carrier signal--assuming, for example, that you are willing to pay, for example, Verizon's $10/day travel pass. If you don't turn off wifi, the phone may default to the ship's strong wifi signal, and if you are on a ship that charges for wifi and you haven't signed onto the wifi, you won't get anything. So this is a case of the ship's wifi "blocking" your port's cellular service, but it is blocking that is easily defeated and the reason for this blocking may be that the phone is programmed to default to wifi because in most cases wifi is cheaper.

Also, Seabourn insists that Cellular at Sea is entirely an offering of the cell phone company and not of the ship. I am a Verizon customer and I found Cellular at Sea offered when out of reach of normal phone service on a Canadian maritime cruise but not a Med cruise.
jonsail is offline  
Old Oct 12, 2018, 6:10 am
  #12  
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: San Antonio, TX
Programs: AA EXP, DL Silver, Global Entry
Posts: 1,862
Originally Posted by jonsail
Also, Seabourn insists that Cellular at Sea is entirely an offering of the cell phone company and not of the ship. I am a Verizon customer and I found Cellular at Sea offered when out of reach of normal phone service on a Canadian maritime cruise but not a Med cruise.
I think Seabourn is being technical with you in the sense that they dont directly provide cellular services. You will not see a charge on your onboard account for any cell phone calls. Those charges will be on your regular cell phone bill. Any problems you have, be it billing or whatever, with using celllular service at sea neither the ship or the cruise line is involved. That said cellular providers dont sneak on ships and install their equipment. They have some agreement or contract with the cruise line and again they pay for that. Having not cruised with Seabourn in the Med I cant address why there was no service but we have had service on Silversea throughout our Med cruises.
Randyk47 is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.