Media Messages and Roaming on O2

[TW]Fox · 16 Feb 2009 at 17:17

Hi guys,

For roaming in the rest of the world, O2 charge 50p to send a text message but only 25p to send a media message. This seems very odd.

Can media messages be used to 'cheat' the system and send text messages? What are the downsides? How much text can you send in a media message?

Thanks!

Frapple · 16 Feb 2009 at 18:04

Take a photo of a letter and send that...lots!

Isn't MMS 100kb/unlimited for text, more than you'll need anyway? Ring them up, probably know off hand.

Cobertizo · 16 Feb 2009 at 23:27

Looks like you can indeed 'cheat' the system like this: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=765207

And as long as the message is below 300k, you're fine:
http://www.o2.co.uk/services/messaging/mediamessaging/wheredoesmmswork

Amp34 · 17 Feb 2009 at 12:25

Which is pretty much an essay.

You might also find it takes it out of your message allowance instead of charging you. I know it does that in europe and i'm also pretty certain I wasn't charged for texting from the US either.

jhmaeng · 17 Feb 2009 at 16:30

For most current tariffs, any international SMS sent from abroad (whether EU or rest of world) is simply charged at 4x UK allowance, if you have remaining SMS allowance.

[TW]Fox · 19 Feb 2009 at 23:10

jhmaeng said:
For most current tariffs, any international SMS sent from abroad (whether EU or rest of world) is simply charged at 4x UK allowance, if you have remaining SMS allowance.

This explains why she has sent me 2 now and they've not cost her a penny. At least i dont think they have - the credit on the phone has not changed.

She has 300 messages free a month in the UK. Is it really taking this out of her allowance instead of billing her? If so, that is absolutely awesome. She was being billed 25p an SMS when she was in Europe last week and I was watching the credit go down as she sent them, so it seems to be only MMS which this applies to.

thecremeegg · 20 Feb 2009 at 00:40

Yup it comes out of your 300, well it did when I had that sim anyways

[TW]Fox · 20 Feb 2009 at 00:52

How utterly brilliant.

knip · 22 Feb 2009 at 15:05

Yup im on O2, and whenever ive sent text messages from abroad it just takes 4 at a time off your allowance. So if you have 1000 inclusive texts, you can send 250 messages etc.

[TW]Fox · 23 Feb 2009 at 09:32

This is working nicely. If you top up £30, you get unlimited messages. Is this £30 in one go or £30 in any cycle? I put 20 quid on last week, if I put another tenner on before the 25th will it give unlimited texts next month?

Why cant people just use contract

jhmaeng · 23 Feb 2009 at 18:57

The unlimited bundles are only for use within the UK. You need the "limited" bundles in order to use abroad for free.

[TW]Fox · 23 Feb 2009 at 20:50

jhmaeng said:
The unlimited bundles are only for use within the UK. You need the "limited" bundles in order to use abroad for free.

Wrong - read the thread

Thats how it works for SMS, but MMS is the same all over the world. Been sending them for about 5 days now, and not a single one has been charged for. They are all being taken from the inclusive allowance. It's a limitation of the billing system and the reason why the official price of an MMS from Rest of World is half that of an SMS.