I just spoke to an AT&T rep because I was curious to see whether an international roaming plan covers any calls, texts, data, etc. sent or received while you're out at sea. Usage on a cruise ship is not covered by a domestic plan, so if you anticipate using your cell phone at sea, sign up for an international roaming plan that will suit your needs.
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Tip: AT&T International Roaming covers usage on cruise ships
- Thread starter moonman239
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It should be.
I went on a cruise last summer and from the time the ship left the cruise terminal in Puerto Rico, I switched my phone to airplane mode. The ship had wifi, so I paid for a small plan so that I could check my email, Facebook and Twitter each morning. The only time I switched off airplane mode is when we docked back in Puerto Rico.
Thank you, captain obvious. Hope the M/V durrr has a smooth sailing.
Their international data plans don't cover cruise ships, unlike Verizon, who does. Hence, rather useless. It does cover a lot of ports cruise ships would go to though...
Their international data plans don't cover cruise ships, unlike Verizon, who does. Hence, rather useless. It does cover a lot of ports cruise ships would go to though...
True. I just didn't know that an international plan would cover it.
Related fact: Information is sent to/from the cruise ship using satellites.
The international data plan doesn't cover it. International text plan probably would, maybe voice, but that would still be sky high.
No ***** sherlock. That why the service sucks hardcore. Turn your phone off and enjoy your cruise. Sheesh.
Tip: Your carrier's website has useful info:
http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/international-roaming.jsp
http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB66571&cv=820#fbid=SEPjjDGVsIb
Not quite so obvious:
Once you select a specific ship you'll get additional details such as this example:
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Wow, you people are pretty harsh. What ever happened to moving along if you don;t find information useful/pertinent?
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Being overly aggressive on a forum likely warrants psychological help. JMO
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Being overly aggressive on a forum likely warrants psychological help. JMO
Why are you defending really, really stupid posts. They're the kind of crap that litters a forum and hides actual useful info.
These be international waters me hearties! Arrr... I mean, durrrr. 
What actually surprises me is that you aren't being charged fees higher than international rates/charges. It would have to use satellites after all for the connection, and satellite charges are a *****.
What actually surprises me is that you aren't being charged fees higher than international rates/charges. It would have to use satellites after all for the connection, and satellite charges are a *****.
These be international waters me hearties! Arrr... I mean, durrrr.
What actually surprises me is that you aren't being charged fees higher than international rates/charges. It would have to use satellites after all for the connection, and satellite charges are a *****.
They're all so marked up already that they don't have to. What's amazing is that AT&T's global data plan doesn't cover cruise ship roaming when AT&T is the one who does Cellular At Sea. It's also amazing that you can't text or call from phone to phone on the ship for free. You'd think routing locally would be pretty easy to do, and in an environment with only ~5k people, the air interface and ship's network should have basically unlimited bandwidth. It's the satellite connection getting back to land that's the difficult part.
If you for some weird reason really wanted to yak on the phone, it would actually be cheaper to have your own sat phone to yak on then use Cellular At Sea.
I don't think the satellite backhaul really costs them that much, but the issue is, if they didn't charge a lot people would yak on the phone, and the thing would get overloaded. Many rural villages in Alaska have cell phone service that's satellite based, but they don't have enough users to swamp it, even with AT&T getting roaming agreements in many of them for voice/sms.
