Calling vs Data on Fantasy...

[psimon]

If I wanted to contact family back home while on the Fantasy, which would be a better solution....

A 5-10 minute standard voice call?
-or-
A 5-10 minute Facetime of Skype call using data?

thanks...

---Paul in Southern NJ

 

[mmouse37]

If I wanted to contact family back home while on the Fantasy, which would be a better solution....

A 5-10 minute standard voice call?
-or-
A 5-10 minute Facetime of Skype call using data?

thanks...

---Paul in Southern NJ

I believe phone calls from your cabin (not cell phone) can cost up to $8.00 per minute. Cell phone minutes would be based on your cell plan roaming or international rates. To buy internet time is only $.75 per minute and they have multi-minute packages available. Connection times can be very slow, though.

MJ

 

[JohnDS]

Check with your cell carrier but the rate I see a lot is $2.50 a minute for service. There is internet available, but I've seen at least one report that it wasn't reliable enough to use skype. You might also consider checking international rates and calling while in a port. If you call from a port prepaid calling cards could be an option also.

 

[hardis5]

We bought a block time on the Fantasy last spring and it would was nowhere near fast or reliable enough for Facetime or any type of VoIP calling (i.e Skype). I prefer to use VoIP wherever fast enough access is available (always a bonus if free) but the speeds on-board were frustratingly slow....like a fast dial-up connection at times (when it was good).

Maybe the speeds and connection reliability have improved since. It was good enough for email to keep in touch (if not sending/receiving any sizable attachments) but forget planning for intensive surfing or any type of voice/video chat.

 

[SuperDry]

Whether VoIP (such as Skype) will work acceptably or not is very dependent on how many people are using the satellite internet at the time. Sometimes it work wonderfully, and at other times, it's too rough to carry on a conversation.

You can usually estimate VoIP usability by making an educated guess as to what the average guest is doing. For example, afternoons on sea days during the weekday are especially rough, especially toward the end of a cruise, as that's when a great many people are using the Internet to get caught up on email and other work activities. VoIP performance late at night, or during show/dinner times, is much better.

As to the cost, I like to look at it on an hourly basis: $18/hour for WiFi (assuming you buy the largest package), or $150/hour for cellular roaming (assuming your rate is $2.50/minute). So, I think it's always wise to try VoIP over WiFi first.

 

[holula]

We bought a block time on the Fantasy last spring and it would was nowhere near fast or reliable enough for Facetime or any type of VoIP calling (i.e Skype). I prefer to use VoIP wherever fast enough access is available (always a bonus if free) but the speeds on-board were frustratingly slow....like a fast dial-up connection at times (when it was good).

We didn't even try and use Skype but the internet was painfully slow at times. It was basically like using dial up again. I don't think it would even be able to support Facetime, Skype etc.

If you are doing an Eastern, USVI and Puerto Rico shouldn't have extra charges to call from those ports.