Cost of text to spain/VIRGIN

Jake'sGran

I am a mobile phone novice but am very quick at understanding the thing except - my daughter is in Spain and has been texting me. I sent a chatty reply and then discovered that these texts cost 95p per minute. I couldn't believe it!! Can anyone tell me if there is a cheap way to send texts abroad? I only use Pay as u Go (Virgin) and assumed texts were as cheap to send there as to send to a mobile in the UK.

fonesaver

95p per minute?? It depends how many you can send in a minute!!

You will pay 20p per text. It's 20p to text a non-UK mobile from Virgin PAYG (i.e. if your daughter has a spanish mobile number).

If your daughter is using her UK phone number in Spain then you will pay the normal charge i.e. 10p (3p for Virgin or free)

Some phones can send 'long' messages (more than 160 characters) that will increase the cost.

Are you sure you are not using a chat service with a short code??

derrick

Jake'sGran wrote:

Can anyone tell me if there is a cheap way to send texts abroad?

ONE

TWO

THREE
Not to sure about THREE, but have a look

Jake'sGran

fonesaver wrote:

95p per minute?? It depends how many you can send in a minute!!

You will pay 20p per text. It's 20p to text a non-UK mobile from Virgin PAYG (i.e. if your daughter has a spanish mobile number).

If your daughter is using her UK phone number in Spain then you will pay the normal charge i.e. 10p (3p for Virgin or free)

Some phones can send 'long' messages (more than 160 characters) that will increase the cost.

Are you sure you are not using a chat service with a short code??

No, it wasn't a chat service and I was sending to her UK mobile number. The information just appeared on the phone after I had sent the first message. 95p to send and 60p to received (I think). So, maybe you are right and they were not as expensive as I thought i.e. not too long. Pity I can't check how much they actually were. I am slightly anti mobile really and only have one for when I am out in the car on my own. Just don't understand what all these people have to say to one another that could wait before we had these phones.

fonesaver

The 95p and 60p prices refer to VOICE calls while you are abroad not the cost of sending/receiving text messages.

When you are in Spain on Virgin PAYG will be pay 60p/min to receive calls and 95p/min to make calls. The prices are lower if you pay by direct debit.

When you arrive in a country (e.g. Spain) Virgin sends you a free text message informing you of these prices. If you send a text message from Spain it costs 35p. It costs nothing to receive text messages abroad.

Finally if you register on the Virgin website you call see your call/text history although it takes some time for charges from abroad to be included.

Jake'sGran

fonesaver wrote:

The 95p and 60p prices refer to VOICE calls while you are abroad not the cost of sending/receiving text messages.

When you are in Spain on Virgin PAYG will be pay 60p/min to receive calls and 95p/min to make calls. The prices are lower if you pay by direct debit.

When you arrive in a country (e.g. Spain) Virgin sends you a free text message informing you of these prices. If you send a text message from Spain it costs 35p. It costs nothing to receive text messages abroad.

Finally if you register on the Virgin website you call see your call/text history although it takes some time for charges from abroad to be included.

Thank very much for that. I do tend to jump in feet first and not read things properly when I think I am being overcharged. And, to be honest, I could not understand how it could be so expensive when it goes in a flash. One thing I learned was to understand my mobile phone better. My daughter had given it to me and when I started checking the message system I found some interesting old messages they had forgotten to delete;)