Cheap calls to ship crew is most searched by International seafarers and by their families all over the world. Merchant vessel officers and crew members are looking for ways to make cheaper calls to their homes. This is while they are at sea or while their ships are calling sea ports. Philippine mariners are working as crew members and officers in ships all over the world. Here find some tips good for the seamen to call their back in home at low price. When going near to shores where mobile phone signals are available and if they have enough money in their account can use the roaming method to call home.
Methods to call your home from a ship.
Calling from ships are usually expensive as those calls are made through satellite service. Also many port authorities don’t allow the usage of the ship board communication system while the ships are staying in their territory.
Crew members can use the public phones while thew are on shore leave. Most of the seaman house assist them to make low priced calls to their homes. Also they can use communication centers to call back their home. Also they can buy IDD calling cards from the local shops and use them through the public call booths. The best way is to keep one Tri Band mobile phone or one unlocked Smartphone. When visiting a new country get a pre-paid SIM pack and use it to call your home. If you have installed Skype or Viber App in your device you can use the low priced data plan or paid Wi-Fi to make calls to desired numbers easily with clear sound reception.
Ship’s Communication.
Before you are going to join a ship, buy a good Smartphone from nearest dealer in your home town.
Better to buy a phone with dual SIM card and it should be easy to swap SIM cards as you have to change them from country to country. Other wise every time you have to open the case and to dismantle the battery to change a SIM card.
Always buy International SIM cards for those countries which your ship used to pass regularly.
For example if your ship used to pass Sri Lanka, then buy one SIM card for Sri Lanka. Whenever your ship passes the Dondra head area you will have at least one hour of talk time. The Sri Lanka mobile phone carrier’s signal are very strong in this area. Reload (top up) these SIM cards through websites from any part of the world.
Ship Calls.
Likewise SIM cards belonging to Singapore, Europe, Malaysia, Indonesia, Malta, South Africa and Panama are useful to the marine workers. Their ships used to pass these areas frequently. There are many websites provide services to reload any SIM card belonging to any of mobile phone carrier. Keep record of each SIM card, carrier, country, validity date, available balance and the mobile phone number.
Some country carriers offer free incoming calls, in that case ask your family in Philippines to call back you through a cheap phone connection from their home town. So you won’t loose any money.
Never go to roaming mode as it is very expensive one and can drain your hard earned money very quickly from your account-
Satellite phones are good for communication and you can make calls from middle of the ocean but the call charge will be around US$ 6 per minute.
