Roaming charges for texting

[tproko]

I'm going to Vegas in a week, and I'm going to bring my iPhone to keep in contact with the others that are going. We are going to use the 'What's App' messaging system so that we can just all be in a chat room and not have to individually text. I don't plan on texting or calling anyone other than these guys through the app, so I got the US Data Plan 10 from Telus to get cheaper data rates in the US.

My main question is this: If someone in Canada decides to send me a regular text message, will I be charged for receiving it? Telus' website seems to indicate 20 cents for each text received in the US. Is there a way to disable text messaging for the time I am down there, either via Telus or through the iPhone? Thanks!

[themobilekid]

It's 60 cents per text received in the US. You can call in and restrict inbound SMS or disable it with your online account.

[tproko]

I can't find any option in my Online Account to disable incoming SMS. Where would I find this online, and can it be toggled on/off easily? Thanks for the help!

[Que_Ball]

Go into Your Account
Choose the phone (If you have more than one)
Click on Applications
Choose Manage Text messages
Click on Preferences
On the right side are checkboxes you can use to disable things.

Warning though, this page often screws up. It's very sensitive to your security and cookie blocking settings. Often it doesn't work unless you are using Firefox or Internet Explorer.
Often it just doesn't work period because of something on the Telus server is screwed up.
It doesn't work late at night
It doesn't work most of the morning on Sundays.


I haven't actually had it work for me in some time.

[Meestor_X]

I've been told that they only guarantee texts will be blocked while in Canada. In the US, some carriers will honour the block, some will not, and the ones that will may not update their settings before you travel. I argued with Telus for a long time on the phone about this very subject and even took it up to the next tier. There's nothing they can do, they say. Even if you have no text package at all, you can still receive texts in the USA at $0.60 per item. Ridiculous, but that's the way it is, so say Telus.

[Que_Ball]

You should not have to pay for receiving texts if you have disabled the feature but they get delivered anyhow.

It's not your responsibility to fix or keep track of the functionality of the Telus back end systems. It's up to Telus to make sure that the blocking you have enabled is effective. If it's not you should not be responsible for the charges as long as you took the proper steps to disable SMS in your text messaging preferences online. Telus tech support can easily verify you have disabled the test messaging and credit you back for any incorrect charges. You just email them when you get the bill through the contact us link on the telusmobility website if there are incorrect charges.

[Meestor_X]

You should not have to pay for receiving texts if you have disabled the feature but they get delivered anyhow.

It's not your responsibility to fix or keep track of the functionality of the Telus back end systems. It's up to Telus to make sure that the blocking you have enabled is effective. If it's not you should not be responsible for the charges as long as you took the proper steps to disable SMS in your text messaging preferences online. Telus tech support can easily verify you have disabled the test messaging and credit you back for any incorrect charges. You just email them when you get the bill through the contact us link on the telusmobility website if there are incorrect charges.

Good luck with that.

[Que_Ball]

Good luck with that.

So far so good. It has actually worked fine and I did not get any text messages when it was disabled.

Any time there has been an error on the part of Telus I have zero problems getting them to credit the incorrect charge.

So yeah, I would say my luck so far has been great.

[Meestor_X]

Well, you're luckier than me, it seems!

I would love to see something in writing from Telus regarding this. As I mentioned earlier, I had a long discussion with a Telus CSR and then their manager about this very subject and the final word from them is "no guarantees".
I would encourage anyone wondering about this to call Telus and ask them about what happens if SMS is blocked and you receive a text while in the USA. What I was told was not encouraging.

[Meestor_X]

I had a look at the Preferences. I'm not sure how this would work. I can send and receive texts even though the settings show "disabled"... Or maybe these settings are just for web/e-mail send/receive? It's not clear that you can set preferences to block texts from this page. See here:

[Que_Ball]

Yes, if receive messages and send mobile originated messages is not checked your phone should not be able to receive or send text messages.

If it's not working that's a problem you should tell Telus about. It works for me. When I remove those check boxes and hit apply my phone no longer gets any SMS messages.

[WorldIRC]

Never had a CS issue with Telus either; especially with email support.

[polkaroo]

Even worse internationally! Sure, the Telus txts are free, but carriers like PCCW in Hong Kong send you a 'welcome' text (two actually) and guess what? you're dinged for international SMS for that!! I called before to restrict texts and the Telus CSR credited me for over $10 of 'free' text messages that I racked up.

[stufried]

My understanding is that those welcome messages don't go through your home carrier's switch and aren't billed. They sort of do a legal 'man in the middle' infusion of the text.

[polkaroo]

In the US I haven't gotten billed yet for the welcome messages. However, in China and Hong Kong everytime I crossed borders (China Mobile in China, PCCW in Hong Kong) I got four welcome messages - two from Telus about roaming packages, two from the carrier. And I got billed for ALL FOUR. I racked up $40 in charges for 'welcome messages' alone. But thankfully the CSR from Telus saw they were all "receive" and came in clumps of four and credited me back for them