Saw an interesting consumer affairs programme about Roaming Data charges when going on a cruise. (Personally disagree with cruises as Shipping is one of the biggest polluters in the world and ships using diesel are churning out carcinogenic waste products from the funnels, but hey ho!).
Before you get to the sea port, turn on Airplane mode. If not you will be charged heavy data roaming fee as ships can’t access mobile masts, they rely on satellite communication. Someone in the UK came back from a cruise and faced a bill of £480. The advice is to only access the ship’s wifi and not telecomms!
Suspect this is where Linphone excels.
Well, think about it. A ship at sea. Where is the nearest land mast? Too far. Hence the use of satellite communications. I suppose if you had a satellite phone it wouldn’t be a problem, but rare and expensive!
I am well aware. Mind the irony tags (which are invisible, as usual).
To spell it out for whom it may concern (whining about those roaming fees): Keep the volume down when whining, please.
This is where you want WiFi calling working 100%. I just tried a Signal Call in airplane mode no go. But with Mobile data off and WiFi on I could make the call. A phone call also worked.
Not only applicable to cruiseships I’m afraid. I’ve experienced this first hand when I ferried from Frderikshavn to Gotheborg and from Helsinki to Hamburg…
Yes, that’s good to know beforehand.
As the last line of defence, there should be an info SMS when you leave mainland coverage and your phone connects to a maritime network treated as (expensive) international roaming, but naturally not everybody will pay attention. This can hurt when you feel you are just getting yourself transported from A to B.
