International Calls

First off, on the cruise ship they have their own separate cellular system, which is very expensive (e.g. $6/min). You don’t want to use that if you can avoid it. In Italy, cellular calls to most countries (e.g. US, Canada, Europe) are 25¢/min: incoming calls too.  I’ve been told both that you will be and won’t be charged for calls that roll over to voicemail. Calls made over WiFi are charged as if you were calling from the US. Incoming WiFi calls are free. Outgoing WiFi calls to the US are free. International calls over WiFi, including calls to the country you are visiting are made at your international rate. The rack rate to call Italy is $3/min. If you have Stateside International calling, it’s free. Data is free but now goes to slow data (~256 kbps) after 5 GB.

Here’s what I do.

1. Set all incoming calls to forward to voicemail. (Remember to cancel the forward when you return.)
2. Let everyone know you’ll be gone and to text or e-mail if they want to contact you. 
3. Preload Google’s offline maps of the area I plan to visit. 
4. Pick, set up and test a VoIP app (e.g. Skype, Viber, GoogleVoice, Face Time, Signal, etc)  to use to contact friends, family and traveling companions using free data.
5. Get in the habit of using Visual Voicemail to check messages. It uses data, not minutes.
6. Make your calls back to the US when you’re on WiFi but make sure you use WiFi calling by putting the phone in Airplane Mode then turning WiFi back on.
7. Consider getting a Data Pass. It may or may not be worth the cost to you. It’s a personal choice.
8. Read the International Roaming Checklist and keep the international support number (+1-505-998-3793) handy. It’s a free call from any T-Mobile phone.
9. Onboard ship, check into WiFi and if you get unlimited WiFi access, see #6 above.
10. For trips longer than a couple of weeks, find a way to use a lot of cellular data in the two months before the trip.

Have a wonderful trip. I am totally “jelly”. Want to make a Med cruise but it’s not in the cards at the moment.

Your account gets flagged for excessive roaming when more than 50% of your data usage is roaming. If you’re like me, at home you’re on WiFi most of the time and don’t use a lot of cellular data. When you travel, suddenly you need mobile data and your cellular data usage goes way up. Catch-22. To avoid this, turn off WiFi and download some 1 GB or 5 GB test files from test download sites.

The “special rate” 25¢/min for each phone. To avoid this, use a VoIP app like FaceTime, Viber or Signal.