Before I say a single thing about our beautiful day in Monaco, I had to show you these texts I’ve received. I’ve posted one before, but looking at them in total is rather fun, kind of like looking at stamps in a passport.
We spent some time at dinner last night helping the two couples at the tables for two near us figure out how to access local cellular and not access the ship’s cellular. They all had the T-Mobile senior plan, two lines of unlimited calls, texts and data in the US and unlimited texts and data and 25 cent a minute calls in over 240 countries for $60 a month including taxes. If you live in the US and have someone to partner up with, and if one of you is over 55 years old, it’s the best deal (by far) around...providing you have decent coverage where you live.
How good is it? So good that, when we switched from AT&T to T-Mobile last year, we kicked my mom off our cellular plan to comply with the two-line maximum (we’re heartless that way). ;-) Luckily, one of my brothers threw her a life line and added her to his plan.
The data speed varies by port. It’s never fast, but, at its best, it’s about the same speed as the ship’s WiFi. However, the texting works perfectly and we’ve sent photos via text and Snapchat and uploaded all the photos to my recent blog posts using it. I’ve talked with Mom several times since we left home using Vonage (For 1 cent per minute! Get the app!!). I know there are free VOIP apps I could use, but I like Vonage (For 1 cent per minute! Get the app!!) because my number appears on mom’s Caller ID, so she knows who’s calling her.
We could never stream video (not even close) or even update apps. But, as I’ve said before, it has totally transformed our days in port. We no longer spend time looking for WiFi. We will need to find high speed WiFi at some point, but it may have to wait until Dubai. Meanwhile, using our free cellular coverage, we’re able to check on things at home, pay bills, stay in touch with friends...and publish blog posts.
It’s the BEST!