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Voom or Cell Phone Provider Cruise Internet


MadKru

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Hello! My wife and I are going on Oasis this Sunday, October 23. I want to see if people have used Voom internet package before - on Oasis possibly as I've heard different ships have different/ spotty/ or more reliable coverage. Also, have people ever just used their cell phone provider for their international/ cruise coverage plans? We have AT&T and am wondering if that's worth it more so than Voom. Seems like Voom is super expensive and I can get the AT&T for a fraction of the Voom cost. Just seems like I'm missing something here?

Thanks for all your help!

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i mean your wireless provider can explain more about international costs, and roaming fees (if you don't remember to turn roaming it off) but even with as spotty as our internet has ever been on any RCCL ship -- it's still faster than hotspotting from a cell phone.

we have tmobile and we have 5G/LTE but once we got down to certain ports and would get messages of local international partners, we were fortunate if we even had 3G at times. our coverage was very spotty. i did much better and could have calls using wifi when i was onboard, using voom.

even if your internet coverage was only for 5 days, and you didn't buy a package -- you probably don't need it on the first "day" since you're near shore for most of the day and you don't need it for the final day -- let's say it's around $20-22 a day. so that's about $100-110 ish for the week.

we had friends who didn't have international coverage or thought they did and forgot to turn off data roaming/cellular entirely and their phone bill ratcheted up to the hundreds. 🙃

again, only you can accurately gauge whether this is reasonable or exorbitant -- and what your needs are to stay connected (for work, for family members at home needing medical care/emergencies, etc). voom is maybe not always the fastest, but it is usually always available. and if it's not in your cabin due to location, you can typically go elsewhere on the ship and find a stronger signal.

there were times when we were at sea and our internet package hadn't kicked in and we had zero connectivity. or if you're swapping devices (for us, between a kindle and a phone), you could see there were zero bars of coverage. again, we turned data roaming off so this meant that we didn't have any local partners to pick up on. but without voom, we would have been in trouble if we didn't have another option.

so maybe just do some checking with AT+T and see what their plan will kick in. sometimes providers will allow you to purchase temporary coverage or just for a period of time, and that may be more feasible for you.

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The two tend to be mutually exclusive.  

One addresses connectivity while on board away from land where there are no land cell towers to leverage.  This is ship WiFi and ship internet plans (Voom).

One addresses connectivity once you reach a port of call and you are off the ship wandering around.   This is cellular international options and coverage (AT&T).

Don't confuse AT&T international data passes that work once you are wandering around on land in a foreign country with their cruise ships plans.  

AT&T has some cruise ship plans that can include some connectivity from the on board cell tower when away from land.  This is a roaming relationship with a company called Cellular@Sea.  Cellular@Sea has a niche market where they can charge outrageous sums that results in hundreds of dollars of charges on unsuspecting victims.    The problem with AT&T cruise ship plans that include a fraction of what a smartphone typically consumes in a week while on Cellular@Sea is just that - it only includes a fraction of what a smartphone consumes in a week.  Most users typically consume the small bucket of data quickly and then they are either without coverage or face outrageous fees charged by Cellular@Sea.  It's also very slow, less than 2G rates often. 

Generally speaking people who want to be connected 24 x 7 much like they are at home will typically come to the conclusion that Voom is the way to go, despite the high fees for it.  Satellite internet isn't cheap, yet.  

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If you have the right AT&T plan with AT&T International Day Pass activated, the international fee is $10/day for the primary phone number and $5 per day for subsequent phone numbers on the same account - this doesn't count in US territories but will hit you on each day you are in a non-US port.  Some higher tier AT&T plans (i.e. Unlimited) have Mexico included as well.  So depending on Eastern or Western itineraries, you may have a day or two of included services (St Thomas and Puerto Rico on Eastern and Cozumel and Costa Maya on Western).   Coco Cay and the Bahamas are part of the $10/day coverage and you will likely connect to BTC for service once in port for a little bit (I suspect cell coverage in Coco Cay is turned on around 8A as it doesn't seem to work when we dock around 7A for some reason for me).  International does NOT include being on the ship!

DO NOT use Cellular@Sea.  Turn off roaming when on the ship and keep it in airplane mode!  Using Voom may let you make calls through WhatsApp or other Messaging apps but will be very YMMV depending on the bandwidth constraints at any given time.

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I have Verizon with Travel Pass set up.  I don’t need internet access, just a quick call/text home to check on everybody.  It’s a 24 hour activation so if I activate late in the day at one covered country, I believe I can get 2 days worth of check ins.  We port 3 days in a row so I think this will work,

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Are there any difference to purchase just 1 Voom package and select 2 devices to share between me and my partner, comparing to 2 Voom packages with a single device each? Couldn't find any difference on RC site, but the price for 1 Voom package for 2 devices is cheaper.

Thanks for any insights!

 

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Difference is the 2 device package there will be a single login that lets 2 devices be online at once. Any one can use the login if you share the password and you can use as many different devices as you like, but you can only have 2 online. Signing in more devices will knock other devices offline.

Buying 2 single device packages you will have 2 separate logins that can each only have 1 device signed in.

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3 hours ago, Dreamy said:

Are there any difference to purchase just 1 Voom package and select 2 devices to share between me and my partner, comparing to 2 Voom packages with a single device each? Couldn't find any difference on RC site, but the price for 1 Voom package for 2 devices is cheaper.

Thanks for any insights!

 

Cheaper to get the 1 Voom 2 device package for sure! I do this all the time

if you both don’t need internet all the time you could buy the package for one device and knock each other off the device to log into yours since it’s a code that only allows one device to be logged in at any gurney time. 
 

also, fyi, if you get onboard and decide Voom alone  does not meet your needs you can go to the Voom desk and pay $5 per each remaining day to upgrade to surf and stream, (the charge goes to your seapass card). 

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