Carnival Cruise Line cell phone rollout moving right along

Thought you were safe on a ship from having your cell phone ring? Well, those days are numbered.

Communication at sea has come a long way from the days (not too long ago) when you had to request a connection from the ship's operator and wait sometimes hours for the call to go through.

Carnival Cruise Lines, for example, which operates twenty cruise liners in the Caribbean, Mexico, and worldwide, is enabling cell phone access onboard its entire fleet. The system enables passengers with GSM-based cell phones (Cingular and T-Mobile customers, for example) to send and receive calls, emails, and other services of their personal cell phones while at sea.

Carnival's new wireless service has been implemented on the Carnival Conquest, Carnival Triumph, and Imagination. The line plans to add three new ships to the system each month, with the entire fleet completed by early 2007.

Wireless Maritime Services, a joint venture of Cingular Wireless and Maritime Communications Network, handles the deployment and offers low-cost roaming coverage for most of the world's cellular providers. Plans are in the works to upgrade that system to support higher-speed EV-DO services sometime in 2007.