My friend, who is on vodafone, recently went on a holiday to Singapore but he didn't enable international roaming for his phone. I thought he enabled international roaming because he sent me a text message and so I sent some back. I ended up sending around 50 text messages and found out he was charged $300. We both stopped sending text messages now but I wanted to know whether the $300 bill was mainly caused by me. I'd like to know what's the rates for international texts when international roaming isn't enabled. I'd appreciate any information from you guys. Thanks
Receive texts overseas without enabling international roaming.
Lqwerty123 on 22/01/2013 - 20:41
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So if he didn't turn international roaming on, he shouldn't be able to receive texts from me? Thanks
correct. He may have disabled data roaming on his phone but he had international roaming enabled on his account (otherwise he wouldn't have been able to send/receive SMSs/texts while overseas). Depending whether your friend is on a plan or prepaid, he can check the overseas (roaming) pricing here:
http://www.vodafone.com.au/personal/international-roaming and in particular, here: http://www.vodafone.com.au/personal/international-roaming/ro…Just confirmed it with him. He has international roaming on but data roaming off. He said he's on vodafone world and not vodafone traveller. I've been searching for the cost for receiving a text for vodafone world but couldn't find it. Does anyone know the cost to receive a text on vodafone world? Thank you greenpossum and bdl.
As I said, generally receiving while roaming is free. It's sending that's expensive.
The other awful possibility is that he had both voice/SMS and data roaming turned on. Data roaming charges like a mad elephant.
SMS is a voice service, not data (yeah, it is counter intuitive, but it is sent in the voice control channel). So if he had voice roaming on, he could send and receive SMS, at the applicable rates.
There is something else called data roaming, which is a different thing from SMS, which rides on the mobile voice channel. I know what the differences are.
Some tips for traveler going to Singapore: there's FREE wifi in the whole country. So instead of sending SMS it'll be better to just use one of the online apps to chat (like WhatsApp, Line, even iMessages, etc.), it's free :)
I don't see how he could have received SMSes from you without roaming on his "normal" number. With some carriers it's already enabled and you don't have to do anything to enable it. SMSes are free to receive while roaming but cost more than normal to send, 75¢ is a typical rate. Maybe he ran up the bill sending to you and other people. So you are slightly implicated. This is where web SMS comes in handy.