Texts From the USA

If I receive a text from someone on a US network, will I get any sort of charge for it, or are they free to me ?

I know in the past I got charged for texts sent to me from France/Spain, but that was a few years ago now.

[Stephen]

No its on the sender that will be charged.

[qasdfdsaq]

UK mobiles, as a rule, basically never get charged for receiving any texts from anyone anywhere, with the exception of premium-rate/reverse charge texts which you cannot send from normal phones.

---------- Post added at 23:04 ---------- Previous post was at 23:04 ----------

Originally Posted by Paul M

I know in the past I got charged for texts sent to me from France/Spain, but that was a few years ago now.

That shouldn't be possible. I suspect you're mistaken. You get charged for sending texts from your phone to France/Spain, never the other way round.

[Kymmy]

The only other time you may of got charged for receiving texts and calls is of you are away from your home network (i.e..roaming), not sure if that still happens but it was common with most networks.

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

That shouldn't be possible. I suspect you're mistaken. You get charged for sending texts from your phone to France/Spain, never the other way round.

I am not mistaken, they were from a friend of mine and I did get charged.

It may well not be possible now, but like I said, this was a few years ago (about 2007). I dont think I was on Virgin back then either.

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

The only other time you may of got charged for receiving texts and calls is of you are away from your home network (i.e..roaming), not sure if that still happens but it was common with most networks.

No networks have charged for receiving text messages while roaming since at least 2000, again exception being "special" satellite networks that cost £6 a minute anyway...

---------- Post added at 19:08 ---------- Previous post was at 19:06 ----------

Originally Posted by Paul M

I am not mistaken, they were from a friend of mine and I did get charged.

It may well not be possible now, but like I said, this was a few years ago (about 2007). I dont think I was on Virgin back then either.

As above, it's not happened for at least 15 years, possibly longer, at least on all the main networks including Virgin.

[Kymmy]

A euroSMS is fixed so yes you will not get charged and it has been that way for a bit but if an SMS is received outside of Europe or originated from outside Europe then a company can still charge you without problems from ofcom

Less than 5 years ago some UK companies were charging about 25cents to receive a text but these days it's rare to be charged.

[djmagnifique]

Several years ago while in Tenerife my son fell ill and was taken into hospital on the 2nd day of the holiday. At the time me and my wife were on Virgin pay as you go and I remember recieving a message from them about roaming charges which stated that there were extra charges for sending and recieving texts and calls. we spent over £100 on phone top-ups in a week keeping in touch. This was back in 2009.

[Hom3r]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

The only other time you may of got charged for receiving texts and calls is of you are away from your home network (i.e..roaming), not sure if that still happens but it was common with most networks.

Originally Posted by Paul M

I am not mistaken, they were from a friend of mine and I did get charged.

It may well not be possible now, but like I said, this was a few years ago (about 2007). I dont think I was on Virgin back then either.

Many years when I got my first PAYG phone a Nokia 1620, I was charged to send and receive texts when I was in Northern Europe, but it was around 10p each.

---------- Post added at 11:10 ---------- Previous post was at 11:08 ----------

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

No networks have charged for receiving text messages while roaming since at least 2000, again exception being "special" satellite networks that cost £6 a minute anyway...

---------- Post added at 19:08 ---------- Previous post was at 19:06 ----------


As above, it's not happened for at least 15 years, possibly longer, at least on all the main networks including Virgin.

Well I was charged and this happened within the last 15 years.

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

A euroSMS is fixed so yes you will not get charged and it has been that way for a bit but if an SMS is received outside of Europe or originated from outside Europe then a company can still charge you without problems from ofcom

They can, but don't. None of the major providers have done so since at least 2000.

Less than 5 years ago some UK companies were charging about 25cents to receive a text but these days it's rare to be charged.

Name one? Orange, Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile, 3, and Virgin Mobile have had no charges to receive texts practically anywhere in the world except satellite networks (and even then most were free).

---------- Post added at 12:31 ---------- Previous post was at 12:18 ----------

Originally Posted by djmagnifique

Several years ago while in Tenerife my son fell ill and was taken into hospital on the 2nd day of the holiday. At the time me and my wife were on Virgin pay as you go and I remember recieving a message from them about roaming charges which stated that there were extra charges for sending and recieving texts and calls. we spent over £100 on phone top-ups in a week keeping in touch. This was back in 2009.

There have always been charges for making and receiving calls and sending texts. There were no charges on any network for receiving texts in Tenerife in 2009.

Virgin's PAYG roaming charges as of 25th December 2008 are listed here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20081225...ymentPlan=PAYG

showing that receiving texts anywhere in the world was completely free at end of 2008.

Virgin's PAYG roaming charges as of 9th July 2010 are listed here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20100709...=PAYG&x=17&y=3

Showing that receiving texts anywhere in the world was still free in 2010.

In fact, they've been free since 2001:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!to...le/RD_fWhHpHRw

---------- Post added at 14:12 ---------- Previous post was at 12:32 ----------

Originally Posted by Paul M

I am not mistaken, they were from a friend of mine and I did get charged.

It may well not be possible now, but like I said, this was a few years ago (about 2007). I dont think I was on Virgin back then either.

I suspect you're mistaken.

O2 had no charges for receiving text messages in any country in 2007:

https://web.archive.org/web/20070212...d/textmessages

3 had no charges for receiving text messages in any country in 2007:

https://web.archive.org/web/20070315...l_charging.omp

Orange had no charges for receiving text messages in any country in 2007:

https://web.archive.org/web/20080416...=1144404029946

Virgin had no charges for receiving text messages in any country in 2007:

https://web.archive.org/web/20071010...ymentPlan=PAYG

Vodafone & T-Mobile had no charges for receiving text messages in 2007 but their websites either only quote charges for sending (because there is no charge for receiving) or are just too retarded to navigate via archive.org.

Anyway, if you think about it it's obvious. The underlying reason no major network charges for receiving text messages are abroad is because you have absolutely no control over it at all. You can reject or block calls, turn off data, disable MMS retrieval and choose not to send messages. It is impossible to not receive text messages besides turning off your phone. There is no mechanism in the GSM standard to bar, forward, reject, or disable receiving text messages as can be done with calls. Your phone can ignore them once they're received, or decline reception during transmission for various reasons but only once the tower actively tries to deliver the message to your handset - by which time it has already been transmitted over the foreign network.

If it were chargeable, anybody with a grudge or spammy marketers can easily run up hundreds your bill or drain your credit without your consent with their unlimited free messages allowance, and there would be nothing you can do about it.

Which obviously doesn't happen.