international iMessaging question

[SDNikki]

in the past, I have had problems with the other party getting charged for international texting rates for iPhone-to-iPhone iMessaging. I did not think this would be a issue. Could this be because one party had their phone # listed as one of the "reached at" or "start new conversations from" rather than just an email address?

I am traveling soon, and I want the option to use iMessage without any complications or additional charges. Any insight is much appreciated. Thank you!

 

[eelw]

As long as you have Send as SMS turned off, it won't matter if you send iMessage via number or email. You won't get dinged with any international texting charges.

 

[SDNikki]

As long as you have Send as SMS turned off, it won't matter if you send iMessage via number or email. You won't get dinged with any international texting charges.

Except that my friend did get charged and messages were only sent/recieved as iMessage (blue) and never via SMS (green).

Does anyone have any experience with this happening?

 

[eelw]

Except that my friend did get charged and messages were only sent/recieved as iMessage (blue) and never via SMS (green).

Does anyone have any experience with this happening?

I haven't. I regularly iMessage friends in US, UK, China and Brazil and never been hit with international text charge.