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Cruise Liners / Aircraft Charges

darrengf
Level 28: Ingenious
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I see many posts on here regarding the cost of Cruise Liners or Aircraft charges when using phones.

 

Other posts are, well it was a European Network shown on the bill which should be included etc.

 

Let me try to explain and put myths to sleep.

 

When you are connecting to a Maritime or Aircraft Network, you are connecting to a satellite-based system network.

there are no Mobile masts in the middle or the sea or air,  but the networks you connect to is normally an extension of another network. Normally an EU one, so you may see Iceland appear on your bill for example. (but you was never near Iceland.)

 

But because you are using a Satelite network, you will be charged differently,  this is not O2 or any other Uk network fault.

 

you can not expect the same charges or free roaming when there is a huge cost to place equipment on ships and planes.  So the cost is passed partly to you when you use data, calls and SMS.

 

I was connected to Onair with Virgin Atlantic.  This is a Swiz based network, but because I'm in the air, it's not covered by EU roaming or travelling. It's covered by the Satelite system so charges are a lot more.

 

if you don't want to have charges on sea or air, then turn the phone off or place it in flight mode.  If you need to make calls or send SMS, then make sure data roaming is off.

 

but all charges will be high no matter what, so don't expect free or cheap anything when on ships or in the air.

9 Comments
madasaf1sh
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I would add @darrengf that OfCom and the EU Regulations speciffically call out Aircraft and Cruise Ship / Ferry networks as not been covered by the regulations,

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/telecoms-internet/mobile-roaming-costs/index_en.htm

"When travelling by ship or plane in the EU you can roam like at home as long as you are connected to a terrestrial (land-based) mobile network. If mobile services are provided via satellite systems, roam like at home no longer applies and you will be charged for non-regulated roaming services (no price caps)."

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/costs-and-billing/using-y...

"Mobile phones used in coastal areas or at sea may not be able to connect to landbased 2G, 3G or 4G networks and may instead seek out the ship’s satellite connection. The ‘roam like at home’ tariff and worldwide data limits do not apply to these and charges can therefore be high.

If you think you will need to use your phone at sea, check with your provider before you travel how much it will cost to use your phone via a satellite connection. You could consider manually selecting a preferred network on your handset while you are on the boat/ship to avoid satellite connections but signals can vary and this will mean you wouldn't receive calls or texts when out of range of the selected network."
Anonymous
Not applicable

hi i am currently in disute with o2 in regards to this as i was travelling for a week before i went on the cruise and had all data turned off and used the free hotels wifi and have been charged 02 travel for the 6 days is this correct?? also i turned the mobile data on once when on bioard ship and as i logged in to my o2 account seen a few of the 4.99 charges for travelling in canad n usa and qyueried them as i used the free\ wifi and went through tu app for calls etc so i beleive i should not have been charged i was told i would nt be charged and costs reimbursed i has an o2 guru cht and asked time n time again regarding this and as i was travelling from florida to port canaveral asked regarding the charges for that day as it was my birthday i didnt mind paying 4.99 was told that was fine 4.99!!! have now been charged over 90.00 for that day as well as the other days 4.99 x 6 i am furious i have raised a dispute and am awaiting a call back but was laos told that the chats should have been sent to me i did ask BEFORE i went and again on 18/6/ and 20/6 when in bahamas i ma furious as i beleive i should have been told in regards to this NOW they are saying i didnt tell them i was travelling by ship ( it was NCL so is coming up as norway) but when i rang them when in bahamas they were aware it was a ship so how come they didnt know that days previous as i have now clocked all these charges up i WAS NOT sent any of my chats and now they cant find the critical one form 18/6/ were i specifically asked re charges any advice please jay demo

Anonymous
Not applicable

i want to leave 02 because of this but i dont know wether to ;pay SOME of the bill or dispute and leave and take it further HELP

MI5
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You really need to ask customer service to investigate these charges.
You should also put your bill into dispute so you don't need to pay whilst it is being looked at.
http://www.o2.co.uk/contactus
mavericke
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@Anonymous

 

I agree with @MI5's suggestion. Don't just leave o2 without an answer. You need to clarify your doubts. Maybe then, you will change your mind and stay with O2. Honestly I don't work for O2 but I have utmost confidence that they will try their best to rectify any problems.

dgilbert2
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My goodness, you have to be so careful on cruise ships. P&O / Cunard for example use MCP which allows an Edge data connection. If you have don't switch off roaming, the iPhone for example, soon starts to nibble at some data. Read an email (or 2) (or have them pushed) and you can quickly run up large bills when its +£5 for a single MB.

 

Its so easy to forget to turn off roaming, you arrive in port and if in Europe you can of course now use data and calls out your monthly allowance. BUT, when you leave port in the evening, it's easy after a few sailaway beers to forget to turn off roaming again. MCP will quite quickly kick in when not too far away from the coast and WHAM - big bill upside_down

 

I now set a daily reminder in my calendar "Turn off roaming"!

Andy4
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So I used £35.00 of data, without even touching my phone, just failed to turn off data roaming?
MI5
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Yes, very possible.

Data used by background app refresh, polling for email etc.

Andy4
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Okay thanks, i should be grateful for the £20.00 refund then.
They obviously know lots of people are falling foul of it