Phone connectivity when traveling international

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by Sea-TechSystems

Just to clarify a few things..

Advantages of Google Voice:
You can attach it to a live cell phone to intercept calls without having to port a number
You can alternatively port your old number to it and keep that number alive
Google voice can record and transcribe voicemail messages and forward the transcription
Google Voice can forward calls to multiple external numbers simultaneously
It's free

Disadvantages of Google Voice
It can only forward calls to +1 USA numbers
It doesn't really help you with outbound calling

One error and a few additional clarifications.


GV gets fussy if you don't keep up with voicemail. Somewhere around 250 vm messages it just stops sending you the voice-to-text transcriptions. Most people won't find this a problem.



GV seems to forward to Canada numbers (+1) but not Bahamas numbers (+1)


Regardless of where you are you can log on to the GV website (http://voice.google.com) or use the GV app on a smart phone to check texts and voicemail.



Where I have used it (UK, Western EU, Bahamas, much of the Caribbean, Canada) you can make outbound calls through the GV website or using the GV app even with a local SIM or indeed no SIM at all with local WiFi.



I've been on GV since the first round of invite-only and my account seems to be different sometimes. I'm not sure they ever got all the early adopters up to "standard" configurations so YMMV. For similar reasons I'm not giving up my legacy AT&T account; true unlimited data but no hotspot. I'm okay with that. It does add the two-bar line (tm) to navigational considerations on delivery. *grin*

[svmobert]

Working for Canada makes some sense, the point I was trying to make was just that forwarding to International numbers is generally not supported by GV.

I certainly cleaned out my GV voicemail periodically, and sometimes had to listen to the audio due to a bad transcription, but overall it worked well. The smartphone app certainly helps.

My own GV account has features that you can't manage in the new GV web GUI, so I have to switch over to the "Legacy" view to change certain settings. Also, when I started there was no voice calling features in GV, but more recently they have added them. However, I have used T-Mobile WiFi Calling, Google Fi WiFi calling, Whatsapp, Facebook, Skype, and a number of other IP based calling services and the only combination that was consistently good was Skype over cell data (slow 256kbps T-Mobile limited international data included). Every other service had trouble on bad WiFi (which most wifi you find on a boat is) and even on good cellular service many would have audio quality issues. Skype was nearly 100% rock-solid. I used it as my business line and 99% of callers had no idea I was using Skype. As with anything YMMV but it's the only one I will actually recommend to people to use.

Nice to hear some observations from another power user though!

Richard

Originally Posted by Auspicious

One error and a few additional clarifications.


GV gets fussy if you don't keep up with voicemail. Somewhere around 250 vm messages it just stops sending you the voice-to-text transcriptions. Most people won't find this a problem.



GV seems to forward to Canada numbers (+1) but not Bahamas numbers (+1)


Regardless of where you are you can log on to the GV website (http://voice.google.com) or use the GV app on a smart phone to check texts and voicemail.



Where I have used it (UK, Western EU, Bahamas, much of the Caribbean, Canada) you can make outbound calls through the GV website or using the GV app even with a local SIM or indeed no SIM at all with local WiFi.



I've been on GV since the first round of invite-only and my account seems to be different sometimes. I'm not sure they ever got all the early adopters up to "standard" configurations so YMMV. For similar reasons I'm not giving up my legacy AT&T account; true unlimited data but no hotspot. I'm okay with that. It does add the two-bar line (tm) to navigational considerations on delivery. *grin*

[garychurch]

Love Google FI. Travelled all over the world. One US number, no SIM with Pixel 3, uses virtual SIM but has SIM slot for 2nd SIM in case you want a local SIM number.

Stay with original plan.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by Sea-TechSystems

Working for Canada makes some sense, the point I was trying to make was just that forwarding to International numbers is generally not supported by GV.

Agree. It's odd since both Canada and Bahamas have +1 country code like the US. I don't claim to understand it, just reporting. I decided not to pursue the issue with Google to avoid screwing things up for others.

Originally Posted by Sea-TechSystems

I certainly cleaned out my GV voicemail periodically, and sometimes had to listen to the audio due to a bad transcription, but overall it worked well. The smartphone app certainly helps.

I really like GV and as I said have used it for years.



The voice-to-text voicemail was the initial swinger for me vice Skype.



Microsoft (who now own Skype) made me cranky when they closed the external API. I used to be able to support eight VOIP and IM media in a single client. That was great. Those days are gone.



We left out Hangouts which has some nice features. I also have some customers with Viber and Signal.



I really think the big deal is not which is best but which the grandkids use.



No one has to pick one.

Originally Posted by Sea-TechSystems

Every other service had trouble on bad WiFi (which most wifi you find on a boat is) and even on good cellular service many would have audio quality issues.

Interesting. I don't see significant differences between Skype, Whatsapp, and Messenger even with bad cellular or marginal WiFi. They all seem to either work or they don't. Signal with it's privacy overhead gets fussy. I don't use Viber enough to make an assessment.



It seems the Internet connection is a bigger deal than the particular service.



I had an article cross my desk a few months ago...here it is https://www.inc.com/larry-kim/the-to...-in-world.html . Interesting, but for most cruisers the key is what the grandkids are using.

[pjShap]

Originally Posted by wfetter

Have you looked at the Solis Skyroam? We have it and it works very well. It's basically a carrier agnostic hotspot. Since our phones have wifi calling in them, we use that through the Skyroam.

I tried the Skyroam device this summer, in mid-coast Maine. I could never get usable service from the device. After many tech support hours spread over several days they eventually confirmed that a) they do have roaming agreements with AT&T, who had service in my locations, but b) they did not have agreements in that particular area. I returned the device. I'm sure it's serviceable in some locations, but not everywhere that has cell service.

[waterman46]

T-Mobile, we used it all over Europr, Central America, Far East. 2G mostly, so don't count on watching lots of videos, but the data is totally free with our plan. Transparently switches to new carrier as you move.

[Cpt Mark]

Originally Posted by TBW

Have straight up Google fi. Excellent. Sale now. Think ends soon.

Another poster said that Google Fi isn't for Nomads and you need to be in. the U.S. a lot of the time. I have never heard that before. Can you share your experience?

[svmobert]

Originally Posted by Cpt Mark

Another poster said that Google Fi isn't for Nomads and you need to be in. the U.S. a lot of the time. I have never heard that before. Can you share your experience?

Google Fi, like all other US cellular carriers state that their service is for US customers and not permanent out of country use. They have the right to cancel your service if you abuse it. And you need to activate the service in the US before leaving the country.

That said, I am not aware of Google ever cutting someone off for excessive roaming as of yet, and they are far more liberal with their international roaming services than any other carrier, ie: no difference in speed, usable GBs, or cost for data between US and international roaming.

You do technically pay more for data than if you used in country SIMs everywhere but you are paying for massive convenience.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by Sea-TechSystems

That said, I am not aware of Google ever cutting someone off for excessive roaming as of yet, and they are far more liberal with their international roaming services than any other carrier, ie: no difference in speed, usable GBs, or cost for data between US and international roaming.

I have seen reports, mostly from the South Pacific, of suspended accounts. The reports seemed credible. I didn't write them down so I'm working from memory. T-Mobile is apparently much more on the ball suspending accounts but Google does it also. For East and West Coast snowbirds and for Loopers those plans are fine. If you'll be out of the US for more than a year you should have a back-up plan.



My solution is a combination of AT&T (works everywhere, roaming can get expensive), local SIM, and GV (works everywhere you have an Internet connection). Offshore I still prefer HF/SSB/Pactor over satellite but the gap is closing. Iridium NEXT may deal with data and possible improvements to the GO! (or its replacement) may deal with voice.

[svmobert]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

I have seen reports, mostly from the South Pacific, of suspended accounts. The reports seemed credible. I didn't write them down so I'm working from memory. T-Mobile is apparently much more on the ball suspending accounts but Google does it also. For East and West Coast snowbirds and for Loopers those plans are fine. If you'll be out of the US for more than a year you should have a back-up plan.



My solution is a combination of AT&T (works everywhere, roaming can get expensive), local SIM, and GV (works everywhere you have an Internet connection). Offshore I still prefer HF/SSB/Pactor over satellite but the gap is closing. Iridium NEXT may deal with data and possible improvements to the GO! (or its replacement) may deal with voice.

The existing Go! is what it is.. But a new device that provides faster data speeds and likely better voice is going to come out. I suspect we will see 80-100kbps speed and SIP/VOIP like audio.. which is what the already released Iridium Certus terminals from Thales and Cobham use, as does KVH. The hard part will be whether Iridium can deliver the faster data speeds at a reasonable cost and/or provide an unlimited data plan like Go! has today. I hope so. Certus terminals are about half the cost per minute of voice compared to older Iridium devices and the audio quality is miles better.

Iridium Certus terminals are working well already and data can be relatively inexpensive if you are committing to high amounts of data per month...

For example. At 0MB per month data plan, the cost is over $10/megabyte of usage, which is about 1000X more expensive than cellular data. However at 10GB per month, the cost is under $0.25/megabyte.. Which is only 25X times more than cellular. If you limit your systems to only allow critical data over satellite, and prefer cellular when available, you can minimize your costs quite effectively. For a low-budget cruising boat it may still be out of reach, but lots of boats are getting larger, have larger budgets, and may or may not need to communicate with a business back home, which makes satellite comms more important and easier to justify.

KVH mini-VSAT if you amortize the upfront hardware cost over time, has fairly inexpensive data and high speeds... though congestion on the network can be a problem. If you can support the V7 antenna you can actually get an unlimited data channel that is 60X faster than an Iridium Go! plus at least 2GB of high speed satellite data per month for under $1k/month. Not an insignificant amount of money but quite reasonable for satellite data.

One of my customers has a KVH V3 as a primary satellite system, plus Iridium Certus as a secondary (since KVH has coverage gaps), and then a Global cell router managing it all. Seamless failover using the best of all options.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by Sea-TechSystems

Not an insignificant amount of money but quite reasonable for satellite data.

Had to pick something from your good post. *grin*


The biggest problem I have is customers who simply don't get the numbers. Often they need support just to dig out from their current service providers how much data they historically use. With one or two cellular providers and a cable company it wouldn't seem hard would it? The issue for many who insist they don't use much data are O/S and app updates. Two phones and a tablet? You'll download the same stuff three times. Windows 10? Just jeepers. MacOS? Nearly as bad.



Chart updates.



A lot of that can be managed, but you have to 1. know you need to, 2. know how, and 3. stay on top of updates so you don't end up with a big security hole. Then you have driver issues for niche products, including pretty much anything marine.



This is where WiFi continues to play a role.



Then you start running into IoT devices that need updates as well. Remember the old Raymarine black screen problem? There is a firmware update for that. The Garmin spontaneous reboot problem? One for that also. Pactor modem? GO!? Your bloody Dometic WiFi freezer? Your spiffy AIS transponder. Firmware, firmware, firmware. Some of that is big. Some of it just adds up.


It isn't just pictures of grandchildren and cute cats.



Is it any wonder that the nice lady who owns Colors by the Sea in Marsh Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas viewed blindingly fast Internet as a business investment? Cruisers haul as many devices in as they can and snarf up her outstanding pasta Alfredo. Seriously good food. Digressing, trying to reach her to help her rebuild after Dorian.

[wingssail]

Very simply: we set up a Skype-in number (Seattle) for our friends and family, or anybody actually, to use to call us. It is a local number so no tolls for our Seattle based family. We use this number whenever asked for a phone number.

We set up Skype forward the calls to whatever cell phone we happened to be using anywhere around the world. Calls to us are free if we are on Skype on the computer or the Skype App. If not it rolls to the cell phone. People call us and our cell phone rings, anywhere. We also pay Skype for outgoing calls we make to numbers outside of the Skype world from Skype on the computer or the app. Normally, however, we just call out on the local cell phone we have. Those calls are cheap anyway.

We've set up Skype to show our Seattle number when we make an outgoing call.

This has worked flawlessly everywhere in the world for 15 years. We pay, in total, about $10/month.

One note: Often when we arrive in a new country it takes a few days to get set-up with a local phone and sim card. For this reason we keep one cell phone number active which has world-wide roaming. It is this number to which we are generally forwarding our Skype calls as it is working as soon as we arrive in a country with cell service. The minute we arrive we have phone coverage and people can call us. For many years we maintained a phone number in Hong Kong for that reason. Whenever we were leaving for passage to a new country we switch our forwarding to the HK phone, and turned it on. The Hong Kong phone worked anywhere and whenever we had no local phone we used the HK one. Callers to us had no idea they were reaching us in Papua New Guinea via Hong Kong.

Once we get a local phone we change Skype to forward to the local number.

I am thinking that you could forward Skype to the Satellite phone which would work for you even at sea. Just change it when you get a local phone to save satellite costs. We have never had a satellite phone.