Does it cost me to receive international calls?

[language_learne…]

I have a friend living in the United Arab Emirates who wants to call me directly from his cell phone.  My AT&T Motorola razor phone is part of a family/business phone plan here in the U.S.A. that is not in my name, so I never see the bill.  I hae a large bucket of free minutes per month nationwde.  Will it cost me anything beyond those monthly bucket of free nationwide minutes to receive a phone call directly from my friend's cell phone from the United Arab Emirates while I'm still in the U.S. with my U.S. based AT&T phone (without roaming on my part)?  Is the answer the same with all AT&T wireless /cell phone plans or just certain ones?  I read a post on here back from 2008 that says that all received calls in the U.S. (not roaming out of the U.S.) on AT&T phones based in the U.S. from anywhere are treated the same, but I want to make sure that this is still true in 2010.  Should I ask my friend to use a prepaid calling card to avoid extra fees on my end, or would that even made a difference for me on my end?  Any advice on this is greatly appreciated. 

Thanks.

[Virtual]

Only the outgoing international calls are charged the international fee. If you receive calls from the outside then it will only use the minutes of your plan.

[language_learne…]

Thanks a bunch for your reply. I would also like to know whether international texting is similar in that only outgoing international text messages are charged the international texting fee, but incoming texts from overseas will only use the texts of my texting plan.  Is that true?  Again thanks for your assistance.

[Virtual]

Yes, it's the same. You only get charged for outgoing messages, $0.25 for SMS and $0.50 for MMS. Incoming messages are charged as a regular pay per use SMS or MMS or it's discounted from your messaging feature if you have one in your line.

You can also add a 100 international outgoing messaging feature for $10.00 that includes SMS and MMS.

[stufried]

I used to live in the UAE and get calls from there all the time. I have never been surcharged.

[ezalocusky]

What about the opposite? If someone in the US calls me and I am in a different country receiving that call, what happens?

[erichamion]

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ezalocusky wrote:

What about the opposite? If someone in the US calls me and I am in a different country receiving that call, what happens?

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http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/faq.jsp

If you're roaming internationally, then all calls, regardless of source or destination, are billed based on the international roaming rates, which depend on your location and whether you have a World Traveler feature on your line.

[Debbiec75]

What if you have unlimited texting with AT&T?  Do you pay for texting to Afghanistan?

[DWC1 ACE - Professor]

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Debbiec75 wrote:

What if you have unlimited texting with AT&T?  Do you pay for texting to Afghanistan?

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International texting is not included.  Received texts are no extra charges but sending will cost.

[stufried]

Does your friend in Afghanistan have a smartphone and do you?  I use Whatsapp to message with my friends abroad.  It is just like texting but only uses a few bytes of data.  It supports Blackberry, Nokia (Symbian), iPhone, and Android. 

[kngiraffe]

how much does it cost for international texting?

[DeeReynolds]

AT&T offers an international texting plan for a flat fee (can't remember if it's 10 or $20...) with that you get 100 international outgoing texts. My problem is that I go way over the 100 limit and then I get charged per text. I tried to increase my plan to 200 and AT&T doesn't offer it. Anyone managed to get around this? I have an iphone 4 so maybe a free texting app or something? How can we get AT&T to offer unlimited international texting plans?

[epipa]

when calls are received from abroad, i'm aware that minutes will just be deducted and not charges are made correct? ..

but will those deducted minutes show on the bill?

[dmapr ACE - Champion]

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epipa wrote:

when calls are received from abroad, i'm aware that minutes will just be deducted and not charges are made correct? ..

but will those deducted minutes show on the bill?

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Yes, these will show up in the same voice call details section as everything else. The calls are listed chronologically.

[BadBadLeroyBrown ACE - Warrior]

I wouldn't count of that happening, especially with the proliferation of things like iMessage and WhatsApp. AT&T doesn't really have any incentive to offer an unlimited international texting plan, since the people who would use such a plan are the types who would use it to the point where it wouldn't be profitable for AT&T. 

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DeeReynolds wrote:

AT&T offers an international texting plan for a flat fee (can't remember if it's 10 or $20...) with that you get 100 international outgoing texts. My problem is that I go way over the 100 limit and then I get charged per text. I tried to increase my plan to 200 and AT&T doesn't offer it. Anyone managed to get around this? I have an iphone 4 so maybe a free texting app or something? How can we get AT&T to offer unlimited international texting plans?

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[willyin93]

so if i want to receive an international call from taiwan or china then it won't cost me extra international fees and deduct minutes from my current plan? also, it won't matter how long the call is right?

[wilcre ACE - Expert]

That is correct, it will be treated as a normal local incoming call for you.

[Lola888]

I just got off the phone with At&t wireless customer service and I was told that any international call that I receive will be charged to my account at an international rate. They told me "you can see that this is international incoming call on caller ID, so you have a choice not to pick up. But once you pick up, you will be paying our international rate." So be careful and double-check with AT&T before accepting international calls. I got charged, for example (that is why I am on this forum and why I called At&t).

The only instance when you won't get charged is if someone sends you an international SMS - then you have no choice to decline receiving it.

[wilcre ACE - Expert]

Unfortunately the rep was wrong, incoming calls no matter where they are from are treated a domestic and applied to day time or night time or weekend calling, the only time a incoming call would be charged is if you go over your plan minutes and if you are on a unlimited plan then there is no charge.