International Texting

Thank you very much.

I am going to be traveling to a country that is on the list, so apparently my texts will be free.  What about the person I am texting and that is texting me?  If they are on another carrier, will they be free?

they have unlimited texting on thier carrier, I was just wondering if my phone being outside the US would somehow trigger extra charges on thier phone.  I probably did not word that very well

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@Wild Banchi wrote:

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@notoryous wrote:

Hi:

 

I would like to know if I would get charged by recieving international text messages if I have a Pay as You Go $2/per day plan which includes unlimited international texting. It does not specify if the received texts are included here.

 

Thank you very much in advance.

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The charges would depend on the country the person you would like to send/receive text messages to is located in. You can send international text messages free of charge under your $2/Daily Unlimited Talk & Text plan to Mexico and over 100 countries. The list of countries free of charge can be seen here:
http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/popups/gophone-international-texting.jsp

If the person you are wanting to exchange text messages with is located in one of those countries on the list, all messages would be free of charge and no extra cost to you. 🙂

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Actually incoming messages from international locations are billed just like a domestically sent incoming SMS - regardless of the country the sender is located in.  So if you have the $2/day plan with unlimited talk and text, the incoming messages will be a no charge.  (If you didn't have messaging included in your voice rate plan, the messages would be charged at the domestic PPU rate or deducted from an add-on messaging plan.)   The list of international countries included in the Talk & Text plan is referring to messages *sent* to a cell phone number local to one of those countries. 🙂 

(It helps to understand that in the rest of the world, incoming messages are free.  The sender of the message is the only one charged.)

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@bule84 wrote:

they have unlimited texting on thier carrier, I was just wondering if my phone being outside the US would somehow trigger extra charges on thier phone.  I probably did not word that very well

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Unless you are traveling to Mexico and if you have prepaid service with at&t (which I presume you do since this post is on the prepaid board), you won't be able to use your phone internationally. 😞  At&t's GoPhone service does not allow for international roaming outside of Mexico.

If you will be roaming in Mexico (so that your GoPhone is usable), you will incur additional roaming fees for any usage while outside of the US.  And as Wild Banchi indicates, charges to the other person would depend on their carrier's plan, but if they are located in the US then typically the messages sent to/from your phone will be charged at their normal domestic rate since they are still communicating with a US based cell phone number.  (The "list" of 100 other countries that is included in the Talk & Text plan is referring to a domestically located cell phone sending messages *to* cell phone numbers local to these designated countries.  It does not address usage while you are physically in another country. 🙂 )