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4 Messages
passport plan in Austria - not receiving texts from Austrians
A family member is in Vienna Austria for several months. We purchased a passport plan for her. It is working fine for her texting back and forth with us in the states and friends in the states. But, when Austrians try to text her no messages go through. She needs to be able to communicate with people in Austria.
Does the passport plan allow for texting between US phones and Austrian phones? If yes, is there some setting that needs to be changed?
Does she just need Austrians to put the country code in front of her cell number for the texting to work? If that is all it takes, will that involve her and those texting her with international phone charges?
Thanks.
Accepted Solution
Official Solution
sandblaster
ACE - Expert
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64.7K Messages
7 years ago
Yes, the passport plan includes texting Austrian phones. This comes from the passport FAQ:
To call or send a text to another country, dial +, followed by the country code and local number.
With most devices, the + sign will appear if you press and hold the 0 key.
I'm sure that means the Austrian senders also need to include the country code when they send a text. Easiest method would be have your daughter text them first and they can just reply. Texts to other countries is included, so no additional charges for your daughter. Whether or not the Austrian phones incur charges depends on their carrier.
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bobinnova
Tutor
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4 Messages
7 years ago
Unfortunately your solution does not in fact work. I was on a text chat for an hour this morning and then another hour this afternoon. The tech folks were friendly and patient and very willing to help but none of the propsed solutions worked. She has an iphone6. She turned off iMessage and turned on SMS. At the direction of the tech people she tried a number of ways of entering the austrian phone numbers and had people with Austrian phones try to enter her phone number in several ways. She tried 4 carriers that were available at her location. Nothing worked. She got error messages saying she needed a valid 10-digit phone number or a valid short code. She got messages saying her text was sent but it never arrived. People who tried to text her from Austrian phones experienced the same. She can text with us - on AT&T fine - in the states and other phones in the states. But NOTHING inside Austria to other Austrian phone numbers. One would think that something as standard as dialing a phone number to text a message would be pretty straight forward. But that is not the case apparently. So, please do not rate this an issue "Solved". It isn't.
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bobinnova
Tutor
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4 Messages
7 years ago
Sorry if that reply sounded too snarky. I do appreciate the help. Sadly I have not been able to get what should be a straightforward problem solved wih the at&t tech chat support. But, thanks again for advice.
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sandblaster
ACE - Expert
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64.7K Messages
7 years ago
No worries, didn't take it that way. I'm rather stumped as to what's going on. Can I presume your daughter tried just the 10 digit Austrian number? The iPhone's supposed to have a setting to automatically add the appropriate country codes.
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bobinnova
Tutor
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4 Messages
7 years ago
Yes she did try just the Austrian phone number. (I was on chat tech with AT&T while texting her. Not exactly efficient but she was trying to get some homework done. 🙂 )
She tried various combinations of the just the Austrian number or the Austrian number plus country code. I gave the tech chat the austrian phone number she wanted to send a text too. the tech person sent back exactly what she should type. It did not go through. At this point she will probably just unlock the phone and get a local sim card. She needs a number she can be reached at right away. I am puzzled this is so difficult too. And frustrated. But another two hours on tech chat is more than I or she will have time for tomorrow.
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