Does receiving international SMS cost money?

The Cost of International SMS: What You Need to Know

Receiving international SMS messages and voicemail is often a free service. Your phone typically doesn’t charge for the arrival of these communications. This is true for messages sent from outside your country, and for voicemail messages left by international callers.

However, the scenario changes when you consider sending messages internationally or accessing your voicemail, particularly while traveling. When you’re in a different country than your service provider’s primary coverage area, you enter what’s known as “roaming” mode. This mode can involve significant added costs. Outgoing text messages and voicemail checks, while likely still possible, will be subject to roaming fees imposed by your wireless provider. These fees can quickly add up.

To avoid these extra charges when traveling abroad, a simple precaution can make all the difference. Activating Airplane or Flight mode will effectively disable your cellular data and roaming services. This stops your phone from automatically connecting to any international networks and thus avoids any accidental charges.

In essence, while receiving international SMS and voicemail is usually free, any action involving sending a message or checking voice mail can incur roaming costs, which are not automatically applied to the incoming messages. Therefore, consciously disabling roaming services using Airplane or Flight mode is an essential step to safeguard your mobile spending when venturing outside your home country.