A joint venture between Cingular and Maritime Telecommunications Network known as Wireless Maritime Services allows cellular reception on the seas. The service works by using an array of internal antennas to pick up outgoing cellular signals from passengers phones on cruise ships. The antennas inside the ship then send the signals to the ships satellite communications network that then refers the signal to the standard wireless network.

Sounds complicated, but Island cruises from Miramar, Fl is saying it works well. They outfitted a ship with the service and say judging by the amount of calls placed on the cellular network, the service is a big hit. The drawback of cellular service on the cruise ship is that there is virtually no place you can get away from cell phones now. The service costs $2.49 a minute, the same as international roaming, as opposed to the former $15.99 a minute for ship-to-shore calls.

Via The Mercury News