PG Cruiser Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 I have friends sailing in December who have been asking about T-Mobile service while cruising. They have been told that T-Mobile has free roaming service (provided there's coverage at their location) Can anyone share their experience with this? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wordell1 Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 6 minutes ago, PG Cruiser said: I have friends sailing in December who have been asking about T-Mobile service while cruising. They have been told that T-Mobile has free roaming service (provided there's coverage at their location) Can anyone share their experience with this? Thanks! I would call and ask about international coverage. I would be surprised if its free worldwide. On AT&T, they have an add on where you pay $10 per day when you use international - it works in all the ports I have ever been to. You definitely will incur charges on the ship if you use the cellular tower - always make sure your phone is on airplane mode while at sea. DunkelBierJay 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 T-Mobile will have very basic coverage, like 2G maybe in some areas.......but regardless you are still using cellular at sea. I have T-mobile and don't chance it. There is a whole process where you must call and have them block the calling features, so you don't have to pay that $5+ a minute. I have heard of people who did it and got charged for letting a call go to voicemail. Life doesn't often work out how we plan, so it is just better to put your device in airplane mode or turn off. Literally everyone knows I am on a cruise and that doesn't stop them from calling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 Used to have TMo and I might go back to them because of the international roaming. I had TMo for many years and enjoyed the included international roaming in many different countries. The only catch is the international roaming data speed is slow. For a basic plan it's capped at 128Kbps. For the more expensive plans it's double that or 256 Kbps. That's fine for texting and basic general internet use but it's not a normal LTE type experience, however it's included with no additional fees. Canada and Mexico roam at normal LTE data rates. You can buy an international day pass that unlocks faster data speeds (with a limit of something like 500 MB). The day pass is $10. This pass also unlocks unlimited voice calling. The pass is for 24 hours so if you add it at noon on day 3 of a cruise then the ship moves to another island the day pass works until noon on day 4 even though you are now in another country. Most of the time I didn't buy the day pass and just used the 256 Kbps service I had with my TMo "ONE" plan. The international roaming that's included is for use on land, not on the ship. On the ship these are the rates to roam with Cellular@Sea, the onboard cell tower: I'm currently on Spectrum Mobile that claims to offer international roaming with per MB data charges. Spectrum is cheaper so in theory the lower monthly charges offset any international per MB usage charges when I travel. The problem I have with Spectrum isn't the per MB data charges but the fact that it rarely works in other countries without me calling every day I wake up in a foreign country. Voice and text work, but international data never works without calling them, resetting my networking settings, rebooting twelve times and wasting an hour fiddling with it. When the ship moves to another island I get to repeat that the next day. It's very frustrating. TMo just worked. It isn't fast (without buying an international day pass) but it just worked and was enough for my needs most of the time without spending the money to unlock faster data rates. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leesam82 Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 I have tmobile but I have not used it on a cruise. As twangster stated you can check if the ship is covered by the tmobile ship plan. https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/roaming. I personally used the international roaming while docked a lot. Cococay and Nassau I had no problems with the Data at reduced speeds as it allowed me to make VOIP calls using services such as line, whatsapp, google voice, etc. If you are looking to stream netflix that won't work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 I would never trust using cellular data at sea (meaning 12+ miles from land). And there's really no need to do it. Slow and expensive. Baked Alaska 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamp Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 We have T-Mobile - I texted back and forth with them about coverage and this is what I was told (we have the Magenta 1.0 Amplified plan). I was told there is no coverage on the Ship (Allure) but once at our ports - Nassau, St Kitts and St Thomas we will have service - we are to dial #7663 to turn on international roaming. Data and text are free but calls are $0.25/minute. To turn it off #763#. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuttMutt Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 For those traveling and being on shore the best service I can recommend is Google Fi. Texting is included free as is data in any country where a RCCL ship will sail. On the ship there is no service while at sea but also no odd charges that can pop up. Phone calls are about 20 cents per minute while outside of the US. And it's simple enough to get service for a month and use an old unlocked phone or swap sim cards in your regular unlocked phone. On my last trip we picked up onboard data as well and made phone calls and texts over wifi. 3 devices was like 15 dollars per day. As for the security of using the wifi or cell data on a ship anything ran over https should be fine as the data is encrypted before it even leaves the device and the wifi isolates devices anyway so it's not like someone can even sniff the encrypted packets. But if you are really paranoid you can leave a computer on at home and setup a VPN to it and pass all your data over it and pass it on from there or you can pick up a VPN for a month to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 21 minutes ago, MuttMutt said: For those traveling and being on shore the best service I can recommend is Google Fi. Texting is included free as is data in any country where a RCCL ship will sail. On the ship there is no service while at sea but also no odd charges that can pop up. Phone calls are about 20 cents per minute while outside of the US. And it's simple enough to get service for a month and use an old unlocked phone or swap sim cards in your regular unlocked phone. On my last trip we picked up onboard data as well and made phone calls and texts over wifi. 3 devices was like 15 dollars per day. As for the security of using the wifi or cell data on a ship anything ran over https should be fine as the data is encrypted before it even leaves the device and the wifi isolates devices anyway so it's not like someone can even sniff the encrypted packets. But if you are really paranoid you can leave a computer on at home and setup a VPN to it and pass all your data over it and pass it on from there or you can pick up a VPN for a month to use. Does Google Fi support wifi calling on non-Pixel phones now? When I had Fi you could only get wifi calling if you used their phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristiZ Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 4 minutes ago, twangster said: Does Google Fi now support wifi calling on non-Pixel phones now? When I had Fi you could only get wifi calling if you used their phone. On Android yes, on iOS no. We have been super happy with Google Fi for a number of years now, but we buy the Pixels to make sure we can access all the features. On other devices it's just not nearly as good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuttMutt Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 As said yes works on other phones as well. I had a Pixel 3a xl and upgraded to a S21 5G earlier this year and have had zero issues. My girlfriend has an S20 5G and it has mostly worked without issue, other than a small issue with the dialer included with the phone having issues with calls over wifi but it was easily solved by downloading the Google dialer to make calls. Both phones were purchased through Google Fi so that does help some but I previously had an LG V20 from T-mobile and it had no issues with Fi either. The only reason for changing to the Pixel was due to the V20 ending up in the water and dying. I have had Fi service since mid 2019 and honestly have had no major issues with the service anywhere. That includes Mexico, Grand Cayman, Roatan, and Jamaica where I was located for two weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strife Posted December 9, 2021 Report Share Posted December 9, 2021 10 hours ago, Pamp said: We have T-Mobile - I texted back and forth with them about coverage and this is what I was told (we have the Magenta 1.0 Amplified plan). I was told there is no coverage on the Ship (Allure) but once at our ports - Nassau, St Kitts and St Thomas we will have service - we are to dial #7663 to turn on international roaming. Data and text are free but calls are $0.25/minute. To turn it off #763#. That was what I saw too, nice to have a connection though I think I'll stick to data/text as calls are expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jticarruthers Posted December 9, 2021 Report Share Posted December 9, 2021 Onboard ship, TMobile is the same as everyone else, come off airplane mode and you are paying. Throughout the caribbean I get "free" data/text in all the islands but phone calls cost $. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vagolferbob Posted December 15, 2021 Report Share Posted December 15, 2021 Once in port, when is it safe to turn off airplane mode? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted December 15, 2021 Report Share Posted December 15, 2021 39 minutes ago, Vagolferbob said: Once in port, when is it safe to turn off airplane mode? With TMo yes, assuming you are visiting an included country. Cuba for example, wasn't included back in the day. Be aware your phone may switch to local time when you connect to cellular and if the time on the ship is different, your phone may no longer be on ship time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PG Cruiser Posted December 15, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2021 45 minutes ago, twangster said: With TMo yes, assuming you are visiting an included country. Cuba for example, wasn't included back in the day. Be aware your phone may switch to local time when you connect to cellular and if the time on the ship is different, your phone may no longer be on ship time. They need to disable “Set Automatically” in the Date & Time settings and switch to Manual mode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon R Posted March 16, 2023 Report Share Posted March 16, 2023 I have TMobile Magenta Max - I am using their website that is very confusing and not answering if we can text at sea. Anyone have the same plan and text at sea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FSUFAN Posted March 16, 2023 Report Share Posted March 16, 2023 Just use WiFi calling. You need to buy the Wifi package, but it is super easy. We have T-Mobile and had no issues using Wifi calling onboard and then standard calling (we were in Canada). Another option is WhatsApp. It is a Wifi calling app. Again, really easy to use, but you need a wifi package on the ship. You don't need to do anything to your phone with WhatsApp. It is a free download. Most phones have Wifi calling as an option and if you are using T-Mobile it is probably on your phone. I use wifi calling from our house 24/7. We have no cell signal where we live. So, 100% wifi calling from the house and standard cell service when we get about 5 miles away from the house when heading to town. On my Android phone from T-Mobile (Galaxy F20 FE 5G). Put your phone in airplane mode. Then follow below: Settings==> Connections ==> Wifi =on ==> WiFi calling = on. And you are now using a Wifi network to make calls. The phone will automatically flip to the cell network when in network area. whitsmom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted March 16, 2023 Report Share Posted March 16, 2023 4 hours ago, Sharon R said: I have TMobile Magenta Max - I am using their website that is very confusing and not answering if we can text at sea. Anyone have the same plan and text at sea Keep in mind that all carriers charge hefty fees to connect to towers at sea. Best option is the ships internet, I can text no problem on T-Mobile while I cruise as long as my phone is in airplane mode, and I have Wi-Fi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimeRacer Posted March 16, 2023 Report Share Posted March 16, 2023 I must be the oddball, because the fact that I can be completely unreachable for a while is a big part of the appeal of a cruise. That said, T-Mobile works in ports, depending on the country. If you're in Mexico, you don't have to bother with activating your international roaming. It's automatic for Mexico and Canada at no extra charge. The ship-based cell towers seem absurdly expensive for anything other than the most dire of emergencies. Bestcee and FSUFAN 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenTimeHero Posted March 16, 2023 Report Share Posted March 16, 2023 I noticed that when at Coco Cay and Nassau I was able to use T-Mobile to text but not call. It wasn't fast but it worked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimnKathy Posted March 16, 2023 Report Share Posted March 16, 2023 AT&T allows for free calling and texting in Mexico and Canada. Note: Roatan is in Honduras, so be sure to have your phone in Airplane mode when visiting that port. As mentioned in this thread, be sure to use Wi-Fi calling while on the ship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoomSlayer Posted March 16, 2023 Report Share Posted March 16, 2023 I have t mobile and use WiFi for calling and texting with no issues. You do have to have an internet package. I do have their magenta package and am able to roam for free in ports of call that I have visited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyalGreek Posted March 16, 2023 Report Share Posted March 16, 2023 (edited) Ok folks here is how T-Mobile works if you have the Magenta Max plan. DO NOT USE CELLULAR while you are on the ship, UNLESS you are at a port that you can connect to land base cellular. ALWAYS have your phone in airplane mode with WIFI calling turned on. As long as you have a Wifi package on the ship you can make and receive calls, text and data using Wifi only at no additional charges. When you are on land or in port and using land based cellular, The Magenta Maxx plan allows you unlimited Data, Texting and WIFI calling at no charge in 215 Countries World Wide. If you are in Mexico or a US territory it also included Unlimited Calling. Otherwise it is billed at $.25 per minute. The data speeds have been LTE or 5G in all the countries I have been to. If you are going to be gone for an extended trip 10- 30 days you can purchase Unlimited Calling from $10 to $50 per trip, not per day. My wife and I have traveled to 49 Countries and It has worked every time. It is one of the best travel tools you can get from any cellular company. It works so much better that ATT or Verizon if you travel and it cheaper! Also you do not have to activate anything. T-mobile will send you a text message each time you arrive in a different country and let you know what you can use in each country and what your data speed will be. They also provide free WiFi on most domestic and some international flights as well. IF YOU DON'T HAVE T-MOBILE AND YOU TRAVEL, CHANGE AS FAST AS YOU CAN!! Edited March 16, 2023 by RoyalGreek more information DoomSlayer, stevendom57, Marietta Guy and 2 others 3 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villageidiot Posted March 17, 2023 Report Share Posted March 17, 2023 5 hours ago, JimnKathy said: AT&T allows for free calling and texting in Mexico and Canada. Note: Roatan is in Honduras, so be sure to have your phone in Airplane mode when visiting that port. As mentioned in this thread, be sure to use Wi-Fi calling while on the ship. If you have AT&T Unlimited Premium or Unlimited Elite you have call, text and data in 19 Latin American countries. No problems in Roatan on our last cruise. DoomSlayer and JimnKathy 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevendom57 Posted March 17, 2023 Report Share Posted March 17, 2023 15 hours ago, RoyalGreek said: They also provide free WiFi on most domestic and some international flights as well. I have T-Mobile and like it. I agree and can verify everything that you said. But I didn't know about the free wifi on flights. How do I access this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyalGreek Posted March 17, 2023 Report Share Posted March 17, 2023 Go to TMobile website and search for inflight WiFi. They have instructions to print out. Does not work on Southwest but does on most others. stevendom57 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitsmom Posted March 17, 2023 Report Share Posted March 17, 2023 23 hours ago, FSUFAN said: Just use WiFi calling. You need to buy the Wifi package, but it is super easy. We have T-Mobile and had no issues using Wifi calling onboard and then standard calling (we were in Canada). Another option is WhatsApp. It is a Wifi calling app. Again, really easy to use, but you need a wifi package on the ship. You don't need to do anything to your phone with WhatsApp. It is a free download. Most phones have Wifi calling as an option and if you are using T-Mobile it is probably on your phone. I use wifi calling from our house 24/7. We have no cell signal where we live. So, 100% wifi calling from the house and standard cell service when we get about 5 miles away from the house when heading to town. On my Android phone from T-Mobile (Galaxy F20 FE 5G). Put your phone in airplane mode. Then follow below: Settings==> Connections ==> Wifi =on ==> WiFi calling = on. And you are now using a Wifi network to make calls. The phone will automatically flip to the cell network when in network area. Same for me except I have AT&T. I use WiFi calling at home as I don't get good signal at my house (i0S). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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