<p>I know there have been numerous threads on cells phones while at sea but here's another. My son will be leaving next week for his first leg of sea year and I just found about the Mobal World Phone. It's $49 and the phone is yours. Your calls as billed based on usage. No monthly fees. The rates for calling depend on the country but as an example, it may be $3.95/minute for him to place a call but for us to call him it's only $1.95/minute. He has verizon which has no options for international calls so we are thinking about this. He will be in Italy, Oman, UAE, Pakistan and India. Anybody have any thoughts or comments on this?</p>
<p>We have Verizon, and when we went to Europe last year there was a international option. Did they change?</p>
<p>I spoke with a salesperson at a Verizon Store and they told me that there were no international options but I just went on the website and they certainly do have that capability although it looks like I may have to upgrade my son's phone. Guess that will be my job today. After the plebe year excitement, sea year follows and I'll be learning those ropes now!</p>
<p>BTW, my son is in 2nd co (2010) and actually liked the group he was with so hopefully your son will find the same! Good luck to you and your son! It's actually a very exciting time for the "plebe" parents :-)</p>
<p>Which cellular service works best on campus? When can they have their cell phones and use them?</p>
<p>nextels are the only one with consistant service, everything else is hit or miss.</p>
<p>Michael's verizon worked just fine from his room. I know you'll often see kids walking around outside trying to get a better signal but Michael's seemed to work fine from his 2nd co. room (facing the water) I know there are old threads about cell phones but with the constant upgrading of towers, I'm guessing that all companies may have updated their service since that thread. From what I remember Verizon seemed to be the popular choice and all who mentioned it said they had good reception. It might be a good idea to go to the website of the phone service that you already have an check their coverage in the Great Neck area. As far as when they can use it, we sent the phone to Michael after indoc was over but he was limited to when he could use it but at least he had it with him.</p>
<p>Thanks Ballstamom! I share the same theory about the ever changing landscape of cell towers. The last time we were at KP was a couple years ago and our TMobile coverage was extremely weak. I am really hoping that a new tower has sprung up since that time that would give my son's TMobile phone a boost.</p>
<p>Thanks to is2day4him for the info on Nextel.</p>
<p>For what it's worth.... We have used Alltel, which shares towers with verizon. He has had good coverage in his room. Our experience overseas has been to utilize the ships emails and he would call when in a port that had coverage. Depending on the ship(msc especially) your son/daughter may get to call once a week or more.</p>
<p>Thanks ET...Mom. Just curious what msc stands for. Is it Maersk? Our son will be on a Maersk ship so any info on that company would be great.</p>
<p>Sorry about that, Military Sealift Command, I believe. My source of double checking is sleeping!! yes Jamzmom I have been watching all I can while I can! It has taken him about 4 weeks to get out of the habit of getting up at 6am ready to go.
MSC ships carry troops, supplies etc to all parts of the world safe and not so safe, but the troops get phone call time occasionnally (times to call or if they call could be different depending on where on what they are doing). We did do a run with Maersk(the Intrepid) and he would call when in port about once a month (usually in port for a few days), but we got emails everyday or so. So communication is pretty good for the most part, at least it has been for us.</p>
<p>Son called us 2 days ago from Guam (US Territory) with Verizon, it worked but he said the phone was roaming. Said as soon as he gets back he's going with probably AT&T for international calling, Verizon just isn't good enough internationally, although it does seem to work in all US territories including Hawaii, Virgin islands, etc. He's graduated (06) and working, so buying out his plan will be on his own dime! However, Verizon was excellent while at KP, best reception around. When he was at sea for Sea Year, he used his cell when he could and I got him an international phone card for foreign ports, so that worked well while on our family cell plan. But I know that international cell phones have come a long way just in 3 years.</p>
<p>Verizon offers 2 global phones and 1 global PDA. I got mine back in October. Basically it's a regular cell phone but with the CDMA (US Network) and GSM (foreign networks, except Japan and maybe S. Korea) combined into one simcard that's always in the phone. When I am in the USA its like a regular cell phone, regular rates, etc. When I go overseas I go into the menu and change from CDMA to GSM. If I use it overseas the rate goes up. It's like 1.29 in modern countries (france, england, italy, etc.) 2.29 in o.k. countries , and like 4.39 in 3rd world countries. It worked really well for me, and I racked up quite the bill...oh well</p>
<p>That being said all you have to do is go to a Verizon store and order it, it's not kept in stock. Mine is the Motorola flip phone version. They also have a small samsung and the PDA. I liked the motorola, construction and ease of use seemed best to me. The phone only cost $200 because my two years with my old phone had already occurred so I was due for an upgrade anyway. It's nice, it's my normal phone here, but also works when I'm im France. Simple and easy to use. Anyway...</p>
<p>oh ya my verizon phone works fine on campus. The only one that works AMAZINGLY is nextel because there is a tower on the fulton gibbs stack. And when I say amazing I mean in a basement too.</p>