iphone on cruise to Alaska

In Canada, you'll be on international roaming so you'll want to call ATT and enable international roaming. The Alaska portion should be just like roaming in the continental US.

I am going in August and have a little investigating... ATT offer cruise roaming on most ships- not cheap but cheaper than in the past (check with your cruise line website) The ships also offer wireless packages ($50, $100 etc) for the week. I would also put the $3.99/mo. Canada roaming on for the month.

lostsol,

AT&T accounts include free domestic roaming. International has additional rates that apply. GSM base stations on cruise ships count as international as well.

AT&T's page about International rates, charges, etc is at this link:
http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/index.jsp

There is a link on that page specifically about cruise ship rates as well.

Hope this helps,

Nathan C.

Canada and Mexico are free domestic roaming. The cruise line can charge you whatever rates they want for voice, data, and (I think) SMS. You can also change carriers when roaming and, whatever carriers you use, the rate for that country will be the same. Just make sure that Data Roaming is turned off in the settings app. and make sure that if you connect to the ATT network in another country that you watch your data! Quit out of Mail, weather, and stocks to avoid recurring charges from those apps. accessing the GPRS or EDGE network!

Canada and Mexico are not free domestic roaming. You pay international rates when roaming in Canada or Mexico.

DanielMyst787,

I would recommend double checking with AT&T. My personal understanding, based on conversations with AT&T over the last year or so is that Canada and Mexico are international rates, and that is why they have rates specified on the AT&T International info.

Domestic roaming refers to roaming within the same or home country. Canada and Mexico are not part of the United States the last time I checked.

Hope this helps,

Nathan C.

Yo man. It is considered "domestic roaming" if you have an iPhone plan in the U.S. with ATT. Now I'm not 100% sure if it's free but I'm 93% sure it is. If it is not free, then you pay "domestic roaming" rates. Not "international roaming" rates.

I have to agree with Nathan.

Canada is international roaming but you don't need to do anything special to enable international roaming. You will pay $.79/minute for calls though. I'm not sure what the charge would be for data roaming.

If you go to Mexico, you do need to call ATT and enable international roaming.

All the iphone ATT info here for international:
http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/travel-guide.jsp?WT.svl= calltoaction

"Purchasing an international data package can significantly reduce the cost of using data abroad. AT&T now offers two discount international data packages.
$24.99 - 20 MB package
$59.99 - 50 MB package"

"AT&T® Canada™ $3.99 per month
With AT&T Canada, get our lowest rates when you travel to or call Canada.*
Call 1-800-331-0500 to sign up now.
59¢ per minute while roaming in Canada
19¢ per minute when calling from the U.S.
*Outside this destination, standard rates apply."

Alright... here is the answer to your question.

An AT&T iPhone Data Plan will NOT cover your data usage ONBOARD. It will cover the data usage if you are at port on a local tower. You will get voice service onboard, for $2.49/min (last time i checked) as well as SMS messages. I recommend you turn off data while onboard or else you'll get ripped another ..hole by AT&T when you get your bill.


Roaming... you will be paying canadian roaming rates for telephone calls. They are NOT FREE! Once you reach Alaska, however, it will be just like you are home because you are back in the United States.

Hope this answers your question.
-Zach