<p>I'm sure this question has been posted before but for all of the parents whose kids are now at sea and could offer some assistance, I thought it would be a good time to ask.</p>
<p>I know that most of the cell phones work just fine at KP. Does anyone have any recommendations on which companies and/or specific plans work better once aboard ship. I know Verizon told me that they don't have any international capabilities. Cingular has an international calling option but I've yet to find out what the cost is for that. One of my son's friends at KP has a Nextel which supposedly has a plan that will allow him to make calls while at sea. Right now we have Verizon but I have to add a new line soon and I don't want to get stuck with another 24 month contract if it makes more sense to switch now.</p>
<p>Well my verizon rep was incorrect. I was just on their website and they actually have international calling options. I guess my real question to those with the experience, is whether or not it makes sense to worry about using the cell phone will at sea and what the best options are. Thanks.</p>
<p>I wouldn't recommend a cell phone at sea unless they are in the US often. For overseas I recommend Cingular from personal experience. Their GSM network works all over the world. I placed calls from Israel, Gibraltar, and Morrocco with no problems. Average cost was probably about $2 a minute. Email communication I think is best when at sea, if an emergency arises there is always the satellite phone on the ship. Now if your m/n is truly smart they can get the GSM phone and then start a business on the ship selling minutes to the crewmembers :)</p>
<p>The problem is that you don't know if they will be in the Seas between the US and Europe, Asia or Antarctica. And there aren't any cell towers in the middle of an ocean. Thus, unless you get a satellite phone ($$$$), go with phone cards, text email and use the tracking system (sailx) to see where they might be. And know that merchant ship schedules tend to "slide." So don't panic if they don't contact you from xxxx that they were "scheduled" to visit on a particular day. And they do pull duty when in port - not all the time, but it happens.</p>
<p>The Jamz bought at phone card at the PX in Guam. Haven't had a phone call yet because he said the card he bought doesn't give the country code for Tiawan, where he'd tried to use it, when it gave the automated instructions. Will have to look it up for him for the next visit he makes. Hitting Tacoma WA in another week & will be so glad to hear a voice on his cell. His cell worked fine in Hawaii. I hear I have a tea pot from an actual native potter coming! YAY!!</p>
<p>If you Verizon to work internationally, you need to make sure you get one of their 'international capable' (GSM in addition to their normal CDMA) phone. </p>
<p>Cingular and T-Mobile both use GSM and should work okay in Europe and other places that use GSM but keep in mind that using the phone in Europe for example, can be expensive - around a dollar a minute. If you were to be there for a while or talk a lot on the phone, you could get a repaid SIM and lower the cost (assumes your phone is 'unlocked').</p>
<p>When my D went to Europe, she just brought her T-Mobile phone and it worked fine without having to do anything special other than contact T-Mobile and have them allow international calls on the account - we just kept the conversations very short.</p>