Using iMessage on iPhone to text people outside the country. Problems?

Has anyone on here used iMessage to text a friend in another country? I ask because sometimes iMessage doesn't send using data, and sends via text. This would be a problem when texting people outside the country. The person would have to pay $.25 for that text. Do you think it's a good idea to text a friend who lives in another country using iMessage? Both of us have an iPhone 4S.

fullojellybeans said:

Educated guess here: if you just put in their email and not the phone number you might be good to go with using iMessages internationally but I'm not 100% sure.

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That sounds logical. Can anyone confirm this???

EDIT: I bit the bullet and texted my friend via his email and it worked. We're using data/wi-fi and not SMS.