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Roaming Abroad, using your phone while Abroad: A Comprehensive Guide

My first question is "Anyone know if any provider includes what is maritime roaming"

Asked as a regular cruise holiday taker.
It's where the ship you're on provides a mobile network you can roam onto while it's at sea.

As you can imagine, all traffic is relayed via satellite, so it's expensive to use.
 
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So you are using the wifi of the ship - fed by satellite internet.

Can someone tell me where a sim card is involved?
 
There are also some 4g networks in the North sea such as Tampnet but their prices are high
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"No, you are not using WiFi. You're using a cellular network which originates from the ship itself."

I have never been offered it on the cruises I have done over the last ten years.

Can you elaborate how and when it works, please.
 
"No, you are not using WiFi. You're using a cellular network which originates from the ship itself."

I have never been offered it on the cruises I have done over the last ten years.

Can you elaborate how and when it works, please.
I believe it is only active when the ship is out at sea - not when it's docked. I've never been on a cruise, but they had it on a ferry I got from Hull to Rotterdam about 7 years ago. From memory, I think the network was called something like 'Cellular At Sea'. The first I knew of it was when I noticed my phone was roaming on that network.
 
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It's where the ship you're on provides a mobile network you can roam onto while it's at sea.

As you can imagine, all traffic is relayed via satellite, so it's expensive to use.

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On a ferry back over from Ireland to Holyhead, I tried to manually select 3UK again while out on the deck (3Irelands signal stretched pretty much until the end, sometimes giving 50/10 speeds way closer to the UK) and saw this network, connected and was just about to run a Speedtest when I was saved by this text. I tried the onboard Wi-Fi which was 15-20mbps down and like 5 up with crazy high ping but only covered central areas of the ship
 
There are also some 4g networks in the North sea such as Tampnet but their prices are highView attachment 6287
View attachment 6288

This looks like a full on cellular network out in the North Sea. I assume the cells must be on the rigs and provide a service for North Sea oil workers. They must charge these prices because most people using it a) have no other choice and b) they must definitely have people using them because oil rig workers will most likely have their expenses paid for them (including access to the Internet) when they’re working out on the rigs.
 
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On a ferry back over from Ireland to Holyhead, I tried to manually select 3UK again while out on the deck (3Irelands signal stretched pretty much until the end, sometimes giving 50/10 speeds way closer to the UK) and saw this network, connected and was just about to run a Speedtest when I was saved by this text. I tried the onboard Wi-Fi which was 15-20mbps down and like 5 up with crazy high ping but only covered central areas of the ship
I can't remember whether I got a text like that, but luckily, because it was before free EU roaming was a thing, I'm pretty sure I'll have had data roaming switched off on my phone at the time. But I can see how people could easily get stung these days if the phone connects to the ship's network and starts using data in the background before they've even had a chance to read the text. A good reason to set a spend cap of £0 on your account, or use a pre-pay service like Smarty, where there's no chance of racking up additional charges.
 
I connected to one of these networks on a StenaLine ship to Ireland.
Interesting however that if I turned on airplane mode and connected to the WiFi, my Three SIM did WiFi calling and showed "3 UK" on the status bar, even on the slow, high ping ship WiFi.
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I connected to one of these networks on a StenaLine ship to Ireland.
Interesting however that if I turned on airplane mode and connected to the WiFi, my Three SIM did WiFi calling and showed "3 UK" on the status bar, even on the slow, high ping ship WiFi.
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Yea, was the same as me, StenaLine from Ireland to UK
I didn't have strong signal indicated though, so I assumed the masts are out at sea? or are they on the boat
 
Yea, was the same as me, StenaLine from Ireland to UK
I didn't have strong signal indicated though, so I assumed the masts are out at sea? or are they on the boat
It's a femtocell on the boat. I was on the top deck however in the Stena+ bit so that might have been why. It was a single B3 10MHz cell from what I remember cellmapper saying, but my silly ass didn't get a screenshot 🙈. I do remember the network only showing up once we'd fully left mainland too, it was undetectable until that point.
 
I am currently in the USA.

I very quickly realised that 10GB of mobile data wasn’t going to cut it for me. I roamed onto AT&T with my Three SIM which did indeed work and it works incredibly well. There is a massive improvement in data load times compared to the old days when mobile data would be incredibly slow and unusable. Problem is i forgot to turn off Photo uploads on mobile data so my data allowance got very quickly eaten.

So I ended up buying a SIM while I was here. I bought an unlimited sim for 50usd with Verizon so I can get a feel of what it’s like to use the network.

If you don’t hate mmWave Verizon’s 5G network is utter pants. I have not once hit 100mbit/s on 5G.

I’ve mostly been on Bands 66 and N66 while here. The Verizon network uses DSS on non mmWave connections. I’ve yet to see mid band 5G but I know it exists.


5G within the loop in Downtown Chicago.
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4G within the loop in downtown Chicago
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"So I ended up buying a SIM while I was here. I bought an unlimited sim for 50usd with Verizon so I can get a feel of what it’s like to use the network."

Do you have a dual sim phone?

If not how did you manage to deal with the number your contacts use?

T
 
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"So I ended up buying a SIM while I was here. I bought an unlimited sim for 50usd with Verizon so I can get a feel of what it’s like to use the network."

Do you have a dual sim phone?

If not how did you manage to deal with the number your contacts use?

T
I use telegram. It’s very rare that I have to text or phone anyone and if I do need to be contactable back home I’ll just put my other SIM back in my device.
 
I am currently in the USA.

I very quickly realised that 10GB of mobile data wasn’t going to cut it for me. I roamed onto AT&T with my Three SIM which did indeed work and it works incredibly well. There is a massive improvement in data load times compared to the old days when mobile data would be incredibly slow and unusable. Problem is i forgot to turn off Photo uploads on mobile data so my data allowance got very quickly eaten.

So I ended up buying a SIM while I was here. I bought an unlimited sim for 50usd with Verizon so I can get a feel of what it’s like to use the network.

If you don’t hate mmWave Verizon’s 5G network is utter pants. I have not once hit 100mbit/s on 5G.

I’ve mostly been on Bands 66 and N66 while here. The Verizon network uses DSS on non mmWave connections. I’ve yet to see mid band 5G but I know it exists.


5G within the loop in Downtown Chicago.
View attachment 6349

4G within the loop in downtown Chicago
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Looks like your on a modern iPhone (12+), if it supports eSIM im suprised they didn't offer it to you, i'd imagine they would've.. I thought TFW was an MVNO though, do they have access to Verizon's mmWave?
 
" and if I do need to be contactable back home I’ll just put my other SIM back in my device."

I understand now and that is how we differ.

So much seems to fall back on a phone number supporting voice and/or text these days. An airline wanting to change a flight detail. A housekeeper spotting a leak or break in. A booking of some sort where the phone number has an asterix showing it is compulsory information.

OK these folk may have your email but they may also assume that having tried to contact you with the phone number they hold that is enough.

Just a feeling....but if it does not worry you you hardly need to take your UK sim card with you.
 
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