T-Mobile European messaging loophole; half price international messages

skinnyrunt

grumpydad wrote: »

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.

If you plan on using your phone quite a bit and you have an old unlocked handset lying around doing nothing, it can sometimes pay to buy an Aus PAYG sim. I know it saved me lots

E.g on a Vodafone payg it's AUS$3 (roughly £1.50) for a 10min call back to the U.K. International SMS are abouts 12p each. HTH

DJFearRoss

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):

I've got an O2 'Bolt on for Spain' (cost £5 for the month) and it means i pay nothing to receive call's when in Spain, I believe it is discounted to call the UK as well but can't remember the cost, but for them to call me as if i was in the UK, why would i call them?

It's an excellent idea when you go abroad. Maybe they have one for oz but I guess the discount won't be that much.

satrianez

I just checked Virgin Mobile on Pay As You Go:
http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/callCostsSpecial.do?isoCountryCode=it&paymentPlan=PAYG
Texts:
Send -> 35p per message
Receive -> Free

Picture messages:
Send -> 30p per message
Receive -> Free (Picture messaging requires GPRS coverage)

So make sure you are able to send MMS and forget about SMS when abroad.

Here's a link to have your phone set for MMS:
http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/setup3gAndGprs.do?contentId=setting.up.3g.gprs.howdoi.sm101

Follow the procedure for GPRS then MMS and test it with a friend's number or your own email address.

girona002

Hi all!

I work for Carphone Warehouse and a few months ago, the T-Mobile rep came in and she told us that if you're roaming (using your UK mobile abroad) on T-Mobile, to NEVER send a text and ALWAYS send a Picture Message (MMS). She said that the reason for this was that, not only does T-Mobile officially have a cheaper roaming MMS rate, they actually have not managed to find a way of billing for it! In effect, this means that EVERY MMS IS FREE!!!!! :j

Geordietom

girona002 wrote: »

Hi all!

I work for Carphone Warehouse and a few months ago, the T-Mobile rep came in and she told us that if you're roaming (using your UK mobile abroad) on T-Mobile, to NEVER send a text and ALWAYS send a Picture Message (MMS). She said that the reason for this was that, not only does T-Mobile officially have a cheaper roaming MMS rate, they actually have not managed to find a way of billing for it! In effect, this means that EVERY MMS IS FREE!!!!! :j

Sorry but the T-Mobile rep was giving wrong info, all MMS are not free whilst abroad on T-Mobile, they do come out of allowance on Flext plans at the UK rate of 20p per MMS but they are not free,
If you are on any other plan they will be charged at 20p per picture and not taken from allowance (although still cheaper than sms as per original post) and much better value as up to 1000 characters not the 160 for sms.
It is true that this is not a special offer, it's because T-Mobile have never worked out how to charge differently for international mms.

System

Good Find! :T

If someone is not setup for picture messaging, then they do get a text message, but it will not contain any info other than the senders number - it gives them login details to read the message on the phone operator's website, which is a bit of a pain.

Also, even if a phone is correctly set-up and fully compatible, I've noticed that they don't always get the picture message, and it sometimes comes through as above.

MMS seem much less stable than text messages.

MSE_Lawrence wrote: »

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

Scary_

I posted about this a week or so ago.

The MMS instead of SMS thing worked for me great with a Flext plan while in the US.

It's handy to know in the UK too if you send long text messages, MMS costs twice as much as an SMS so if you send a message that's more than 320 characters... use an MMS

Scary_

RichyS wrote: »

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.

Not strictly true, when I was MMSing on T-mobile from the US it was sending it via Edge rather than GPRS - the (G) icon on my phone was an (E) instead.

Not that it makes much diffrence, although it did seem a bit more reliable and quicker than sendingone in the UK

meg01_2

This thread has been really helpful - can I just clarify however, that this also applies to me texting a foreign phone? Firstly if I text my brother in Australia from the UK - and I am going to visit him soon and HK, and if I text my friends (on foreign phones) in those places, that will also be 20p out of my flext allowance!!?

Thanks so much!! (-:

gaming_guy

Rare_Plant wrote: »

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).

in the messaging section of the menu, there should be an option to send either a MMS (or picture message, same thing) or SMS (normal text). most phones that support MMS messages have colour screens but may not have a camera/video recorder for example