T-Mobile European messaging loophole; half price international messages

Former_MSE_Lawrence

What's the deal?

Simply send your message as a picture message (MMS) rather than a text (SMS) when you're in Europe, and it's half price. And you don't actually need to include a picture!

How does it work?

A logic-defying peculiarity in T-Mobile's terms means it costs 40p to send an SMS text from a Zone 2 country (see list below), yet just 20p to send an MMS message.

You needn't actually send a picture to take advantage of this price (though it's nice to have the option when on holiday); the cost is fixed regardless.

This has other benefits too; you can write up to 1,000 characters in an MMS message, making SMS's 160 character limit look rather miserly.

Where does it work?

Here are T-Mobile's 'Zone 2' countries:

Austria, Azores (Portugal), Balaeric Islands (Spain), Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Islands (Spain), Cyprus (excluding North Cyprus), Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, French Guyana, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madeira (Portugal), Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Reunion, Romania, San Marino, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Vatican City

Anything else?

Update Note 27th Feb: This works (to a slightly lesser extent) for O2 PAYG customers too, since its MMS messages carry a flat cost of 25p, regardless of where they're sent from, while SMS messages cost up to 49p from some countries.

You can also add short video clips and sounds to MMS messages if you so desire, and send them to email addresses rather than phones at no extra cost (replete with pics etc.)

If you send to a phone which isn't MMS-capable, the message text will still be delivered, but without the multimedia content.

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Geordietom

In addition to this way of cutting the cost of messaging abroad on T-Mobile, if you are on a Flext priceplan MMS sent whilst abroad come out of your allowance at the rate of 20p per MMS, be aware though that normal text messages do not, hope this helps.

:T

mdj1

I can't believe this has only just been posted. T-Mobile themselves actually told me this when I phoned to check that i could use my phone in spain last year. The gentleman said, if you send text's home then use picture messaging as its cheaper / free.

He also told me to turn off my answerphone as you actually get charged for about 4 or 5 calls to receive and then collect it!

I think it worked like this.

Someone calls you. (charged) you don't answer and it goes to answerphone (you are charged for the return call to the message center) you then get a text or call to tell you you have a message (charged again) you then call the uk to receive the message (charged again)!

Something like that anyway.

inmypocketnottheirs

mdj1 wrote: »

I can't believe this has only just been posted

Why did you not post about it before then?!?!?:rotfl:

dawgwalker

I was told by T mobile that this would work in Australia. It didn't, I always have trouble in Aus thou this is not their fault. text get stuck in loop & then they try to charge you for it, so check your bill & complain when you get home.

Rare_Plant

My Nokia doesn't have a camera, can I use this facility? If I can, please tell me how. (From a rather mobile phone illeterate granny soon to be great granny).

tbassett

Geordietom wrote: »

In addition to this way of cutting the cost of messaging abroad on T-Mobile, if you are on a Flext priceplan MMS sent whilst abroad come out of your allowance at the rate of 20p per MMS, be aware though that normal text messages do not, hope this helps.

:T

Hi - Am I just being blonde or what this morning (maybe as its just that I havent had the necessary 3 cups of coffee to kick start the brain yet) but I am on a Flext plan and I am off to G.Canaria in August. Do you mean that if I send a message normally it will just come off my allowance even though I am sending it from abroad but if I send a picture message I will be charged 20p per picture message? Or have I got this the wrong way round? Duhhhh!!

RichyS

The T-Mobile website tells you this is how you can save money:

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/going-abroad/know-the-costs/more-ways-to-save/

Amusingly, this is described as a 'special offer'; which is presumably marketing speak for 'we don't know how to charge differently for this'.

Basically, the backend rating & billing systems at T-Mobile don't know where you were when you sent the message, so can't charge you roaming rates. So, this wheeze will work anywhere; not just Europe.

One thing to be aware of -- you need GPRS coverage to send an MMS, so it tends to be a bit less reliable (particularly in more far flung places) than SMS. There may also be a faint possibility that you'll be charged the data roaming too (but, since MMS can't generally be above 100KB, this shouldn't be that high).

Geordietom

No worries, it can seem complicated, used to work for T-Mobile so here goes - If you send text's whilst abroad back to the UK you will be charged 40p per text and this does not come out of your allowance, whichever plan you are on,
However if you send a MMS message back to the UK and you are on a Flext plan (only Flext plans) this does come out of your allowance, at the rate of 20p per picture, used this when in Turkey as calls were £1.40 per minute and had to be avoided!!
With regards to the person who asked whether they could send MMS from a phone without a camera, it can be done but depends on the model of phone, have a look in the messages menu, if Multimedia is in there use that option,
Enjoy your hol!

grumpydad_2

I was looking at what I'll be paying when in Australia on my O2 PAYG and this is what it says on the O2 site (for calling to UK or Aus when in Aus): -

Making a call 99p/min (landlines min 99p)
Receiving a call 99p/min (min 5p)
Sending an SMS 49p
Receiving an SMS FREE
Sending an MMS 25p
Receiving an MMS 20p
Voicemail call 99p
Receiving a Voicemail call 99p
Data usage £15 per Mb

So I'll be sending picture messages and asking for replies as text messages -fingers crossed it actually works.

Also worth looking at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/free-text-messages though I'm not having much luck with Vyke or SMSBug at the moment and £15 per Mb is a lot!

Sid_Harper

This whole thing has been talked about on this forum for a good 6 months if not more. Come on MSE - get with it! And give the credit to the people who posted about it in the first place!

yes - T-mobile's anomaly applies everywhere, not just Europe. Also, if you have access to the web on a PC whilst abroad and have a My T-mobile login you can send a text from that and it'll cost you standard rates/come from your allowance.

For the Flext question, yes MMS messages will also come out of your allowance, not be charged in addition like an SMS from abroad. BUT of course, you will be charged for SMS/MMS to a foreign number.

Make sure you set up MMS properly before you go abroad (you can do this on T-mobile's website - they can send a config message to your phone for Picture Messaging which is what MMS is) and test it by sending someone a message.

Also, MMS doesn't work reliably in all countries, and in some cases, it can cost you in data charges to receive an MMS if someone actually includes a picture or other attachment (sending an MMS means 'reply' on many phones will return an MMS and if the person thinks it's a great opportunity to send you a piccie or something, then they can easily do this!)

Oh, and I think T-mobile's wording "special promotion" basically means they will make it chargeable as soon as they figure out how...