USS George Washington Sailors
For family members of sailors who are on the USS GW on their way to be stationed in Japan
Cell Phones/Communication
Hello GW Moms...my son is currently home on leave and heading to the GW in a couple weeks. He has an I-phone 5 that is on our personal cell plan. Trying to decide if he will be able to use it in Japan?? From Sprint we were told it would be an additional charge of $5 a month PLUS $1.70 or something a minute - ouch!! OR he could just text from it for $10 a month? He does have a laptop so, I'm assuming we can set up Skype or facetime? Any assistance or guidance would be greatly appreciated!! I want to be able to communicate but at the most affordable (and smart) plan available. HELP!! TIA!!
TNmomof8
So glad I joined this group today. This question was why I got on here. My son is home on leave and will be heading to Japan and the GW in a couple of weeks. @ taptap22 he was pir 9/6
Sep 29, 2013
MrsBis06 Shp12 Div031
My son had trouble with the cellphone. He even went out and tried to get one there. He usually uses his tablet to skype us when he's in port or calling cards (really wierd numbers show up when he does call). Emails mostly.
Oct 2, 2013
Patricia - Navy mom x2 :)
We had ATT family plan. Its not the international calls that gets you... it is the data charges. $19 per mb of data pulled off an international tower. If you google "cell phone bill horror stories" you will find all sorts of folks who got thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollar charges on their cell phone bills unknowingly. We faxed our daughters PCS papers to ATT and were able to cancel her phone early with no fine. She will be getting her own plan as soon as they get back from their cruise. My son is on the Nimitz... we were able to put him into military suspense and he can reactivate when they return to the states. I have read there are several text message apps that work fairly well... Pinger and Voxer among a few. While in Singapore, I think she signed up with Magic Jack... I have no clue how that works. Someone in her shop must have suggested it. I have realized that the lag when she calls home is Horrible. It can take over a minute of me saying "hello" for us to be connected!! I had been hanging up :-( now I just wait patiently until I can hear her.
Nov 1, 2013