I was just wondering if you do not open a text message, will you not be charged/ deducted a text? I think I heard this a long time ago. There are times where It appears on the home screen and I can read a short little message, but then I go into the SMS and it says it is unread, so I just end up deleting that. My friends get bored at work and send some dumb stuff, so a lot of the times I don't bother.
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Not getting charged for SMS
- Thread starter timimbo85
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it is true, but i find it very hard not to open a text on the iphone. Everytime i tap SMS it goes straight to the text.
we sure do. and for incoming calls. any time we access the network, we get a charge. i was just listening to the most recent TWiT podcast and there was an English guy on that was stunned to learn that we get these charges in the US.
Go Sox
There are a couple very small carriers in the US that don't charge for incoming calls. But as a standard process, yup, we pay.
And I too believe the OP is mistaken. You get charged whenever someone sends you a message, regardless of whether you open it or not, so you might as well read away!
But in the case of calls, at least you have the ability to choose not to answer the phone.Go Sox
There are a couple very small carriers in the US that don't charge for incoming calls. But as a standard process, yup, we pay.
Yep, and I believe that with any of AT&T's texting packages, any monthly limits in the plan apply to the sum of both incoming and outgoing messages, and once the sum of incoming + outgoing exceeds the monthly limit, you start paying the 20¢-per-message fee for both incoming and outgoing.
I think the only way to guarantee that you'll never be at risk of potentially facing an involuntary charge for an incoming message is to either totally shut off all text messaging entirely, or to opt for an unlimited texting package.
what i find weird about most US carriers, is that they charge for both parties, the one making the call and the one receiving the calls, back home, the person making the call or sending the message is the only one that gets charged, if you are receiving a call or message you do not get charged which makes alot more sense to me.
I live abroad most of the year, but one thing i love about most foreign markets is free incoming everything. Hell we get HBO, Showtime, CineMax and Zee Tv (indian channel) standard with our cable. Boy is it going to be hard when I move back to the US full time.
Iphone, I just use the internet to send my txt msgs for free.
Iphone, I just use the internet to send my txt msgs for free.
Whereas I personally like the concept that a cell phone's number is effectively integrated into the local exchange just like any conventional landline, so that from the originator's perspective, there is no need to stop and think ahead about whether the number you're calling happens to be hooked up to a cell phone, or a fax machine, or a regular landline phone. You only have to keep track of whether it will require a long distance connection for your call to reach from your local exchange to the local exchange where the destination number is registered. Any additional costs that are incurred to complete the connection from the receiver's registered local exchange to actually reach the receiver's phone, are rightly up to the receiver.
Under a totally sender-pay system, the sender is left responsible for having to cover the full cost of the receiver's choice to use a more expensive communication medium.
I can't believe you guys in the US get charged for RECEIVING a text message!
That's so weird, I'm amazed you lot are ok with it!
What about receiving a phone call? Surely you don't get charged for that as well??
Edit: never mind just read that you do. That's crazy!
That's so weird, I'm amazed you lot are ok with it!
What about receiving a phone call? Surely you don't get charged for that as well??
Edit: never mind just read that you do. That's crazy!
I can't believe you guys in the US get charged for RECEIVING a text message!
That's so weird, I'm amazed you lot are ok with it!
What about receiving a phone call? Surely you don't get charged for that as well??
Edit: never mind just read that you do. That's crazy!
This comes up now and again, and it's funny how freaked out people get about it.
It doesn't really matter. What's better:
1 - A plan where I have 1,000 minutes and get charged for incoming and outgoing.
or
2 - A plan where I have 500 minutes and get charge only for outgoing.
Because I can promise you that AT&T would charge the same for those 2 things if they were ever forced to do it. And the answer, of course, is that it doesn't really matter at all which of those systems they use because they both end up the same at the end of the month (with a few exceptions, I'm sure some people only call out or visa versa, but most of us aren't like that).
So the bottom line is, I'm gonna get charged the same no matter which system they use. You can be sure of that. So who cares?
I can't believe you guys in the US get charged for RECEIVING a text message!
That's so weird, I'm amazed you lot are ok with it!
What about receiving a phone call? Surely you don't get charged for that as well??
Edit: never mind just read that you do. That's crazy!
It's not really that we're OK with it, we just don't really have any options.
I can't believe you guys in the US get charged for RECEIVING a text message!
That's so weird, I'm amazed you lot are ok with it!
What about receiving a phone call? Surely you don't get charged for that as well??
Edit: never mind just read that you do. That's crazy!
If you answer the phone, you're charged. If you push an "ignore" (or equivalent) button to reject the call, you are not charged.
If the call goes through to voicemail, then different carriers will have different policies about whether or not you'll be charged, especially in cases where your phone is roaming internationally at the time it receives the call.