topic Re: Text works from USA without a plan! in Get Support

Text works from USA without a plan!

Frank_M — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 22:29:43 GMT

My family drove from Waterloo Ontario to South Carolina and before we left my wife and I got the new USA plans. It took about 10 minutes when we got across the border to activate and then we were connected to T- Mobile. It works great, virtually no difference to our service in Canada.

But...

My son has the regular $39 dollar 20 gig plan and he has been texting back and forth to his girlfriend all week. So he is texting and receiving texts without a US plan.

However...

My daughter with the $15 dollar 250mb plan is not able to text or receive texts.

I am baffled how my son is texting in the car, on the road, without a US plan.

Re: Text works from USA without a plan!

softech — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 22:32:23 GMT

@Frank_M

receive text is free without add-on. Your son, I wonder if he is using Wifi and doing iMessage or RCS and hence is sending and receiving

your daughter should still be able to receive text but not send Make sure her phone connected to T-Mobile first

Re: Text works from USA without a plan!

Chalupa_Batman — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 22:36:33 GMT

Is he using your phone as a personal hot spot? If so, that could explain why he's not being charged. However he may wish to check the app at some point to see if he's being charged, do it on WiFi of course. Better NOT to be surprised when he comes back to Canada.

EDIT: Like @softech mentioned, if he's using an iPhone to message his gf using iMessage, that uses data so he must be using a free WiFi service somewhere or once again, hot spotting off of you and maybe you just don't notice. 🙂 Kids are sneakier that we were back in our days.

Re: Text works from USA without a plan!

dust2dust — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 22:38:15 GMT

@Frank_M- Try connecting the daughters phone to AT&T. But either way she should have been able to receive.

Adding - and make sure the phone is set to 4G LTE.

Adding more - @Chalupa_Batman - There are no surprise charges here.

Re: Text works from USA without a plan!

Chalupa_Batman — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 22:38:48 GMT

@dust2dust your opinion sir? If @Frank_M 's daughter hotspot to his phone and she has an iPhone that uses iMessages, she should be able to send messages back and forth to Canada still if her father has a US traveling on his phone? But she'd have to turn off her Cellular Data? What are your thoughts?

Re: Text works from USA without a plan!

dust2dust — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 22:45:46 GMT

@Chalupa_Batman- I'm no Apple guy. The whole old timey instant messaging thing in imessage drives me nuts. And then that if using it to IM with other Apple phones and don't have internet then it won't work.
So to answer, I would think she should be able to use his hotspot. It's just an internet connection.
But I'd be very curious to hear of any luck with connecting to AT&T on that phone. For real sms texting that is.

Re: Text works from USA without a plan!

Frank_M — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 22:47:26 GMT

He has no WiFi, no hotspot nothing but is still freely texting and receiving texts.

When I call his phone it says "The client you are trying to reach is not available" so calls don't work.

It's prepaid service so he cannot be charged, I checked his account, he has no addons.

Re: Text works from USA without a plan!

Frank_M — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 22:49:11 GMT

He has a Pixel 6 and I assure you he only has the $39 40gb plan with loyalty plus pre pay discounts.

How he is texting is a mystery, we just logged into his account, it is exactly how I specified.

Re: Text works from USA without a plan!

Handy1 — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 22:52:28 GMT

@Frank_M 20GB for $39 perhaps . If there’s a 40GB plan for $39 I missed the boat and want on it

Re: Text works from USA without a plan!

Frank_M — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 22:52:34 GMT

No Apple, google phones, we all have pixels, no hotspots are turned on, he is using the built in Google SMS texting app. There is no internet in the car, trust me there is nothing and he is texting, been working for 4 days now.

Re: Text works from USA without a plan!

dust2dust — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 22:54:07 GMT

We might not want to talk too much about all this but I would be curious to hear if your daughters phone can connect to AT&T and on 4G LTE. ~~I suppose also to set her imessage options to send as sms. It might still be a problem real sms texting with her other iphone contacts.~~ Let us know.

Maybe even with your parent phones you could try out AT&T and see if talk, text and data all work. Again, 4G LTE ~~and send as sms~~.

Re: Text works from USA without a plan!

Frank_M — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 22:54:40 GMT

Just found out he is using RCS to his girlfriend and to us, it only works for him using RCS and not regular SMS text.

It has to be RCS on both ends.

Re: Text works from USA without a plan!

dust2dust — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 22:55:56 GMT

But he still needs an internet connection. Can you tell us what network he's connected to? T-Mobile or AT&T? Does he have mobile data on?

Re: Text works from USA without a plan!

Frank_M — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 23:21:44 GMT

It shows he is hooked into AT&T and my wife and I are hooked into T-Mobile.

Again he has no internet, he cannot make calls nor surf, no site loads and he cannot text unless the other person also has RCS turned on. It is the standard google messaging app and it works in the car. If he had any sort of plan he could surf or call but nothing like that works. I pay his bill and it is the standard $39 plan which was $40 before.

Re: Text works from USA without a plan!

hairbag1 — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 23:25:08 GMT

@Frank_M

this phenomenon has been known to happen... occasionally. You or he won't be charged anything extra for this benefit. Enjoy it while it's available to him. Have daughter manually select AT&T to see if she can text back and forth as well.

Re: Text works from USA without a plan!

softech — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 23:27:19 GMT

@Frank_M so, maybe AT&T finslly a roaming partner again. aof you need the data or text, check out the US roaming options

Re: Text works from USA without a plan!

DennyCrane — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 23:30:30 GMT

This thread is a bit misleading.

Yes, incoming SMS is free in the US. No US add-on or US plan required.

However, you can only send a text with a US add-on or a US plan. If texting worked without one, it's because it was over iMessage or RCS like @softech mentioned. I can guarantee you if your son tried this between iPhone and Android or vice versa, it wouldn't have worked (because that is guaranteed to require SMS, as iMessage and RCS are not compatible).

Re: Text works from USA without a plan!

dust2dust — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 23:33:22 GMT

Yes we had an enthusiastic thread a little earlier, in Alaska even, that got connected and using talk and text on AT&T. A few days ago we had the hint of an AT&T connection. So now it seems pretty definite.

But it's interesting in this case that maybe somehow RCS is getting through. I'd like to know from @Frank_M if his son has mobile data on.

Re: Text works from USA without a plan!

Frank_M — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 23:52:55 GMT

@ddus

I just checked his Pixel 6 phone and mobile data is off, roaming is off and his wifi logo in the top bar has an explanation mark on it. It seems he is texting through the voice/text portion of his plan without data.

Since we all use Android phones I cannot answer any questions about Apple/iMessages, I can just say that he can text to anyone that has RCS turned on.

We just confirmed, I called my mom and asked her to turn on RCS for my sons texts and bingo he got through wheras the test message without RCS did not go through.

All this is done with data turned off, my son was paranoid he would be charged for something so everything is off.

Re: Text works from USA without a plan!

DennyCrane — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 23:55:40 GMT

That makes sense that it started working once RCS was turned on. It's not actually using your carriers SMS, RCS is more like WhatsApp.

What's still not making sense to me is that you need some sort of data connection for RCS to work. You must be on wifi if you're don't have cell data.