[bigglybobblyboo]

The other day a friend of mine (on Android I hasten to say) told me about his son getting a load of MMS charges on his phone bill out of seemingly nowhere.

Half an hour of Google searches later the answer became clear, due to the design of how their phone sends Smileys via SMS, many users are getting 'hidden' charges as their phone sends smileys as picture messages.

I ramble on about it here if you want to see the full findings: Are You Burning Money Via SMS? (mods please remove if you feel inappropriate to link to another site).

I couldn't find any evidence of it in BlackBerry land, either way it's worth us all knowing that even with 'Unlimited Text' bundles MMS messages are usually NOT included (and can be found at the bottom of your bill) and may also include smileys in that.

So, tell your friends that to be absolutely safe...

Switch to BBM!!

[Lendo]

I read your blog about this last week I think

[bekkay]

I am on T-Mobile and have unlimited calls, messages (including MMS), web (500mb LTE and then 2g), no contract, and zero overages and hidden fees.

Happy

[KermEd]

I get unlimited calls, mms's and data for 30/m.

I live in a city with wind mobile

Posted via CB from my LE

[qwerty4ever]

My smartphone plan has unlimited Canada-wide calling, unlimited SMS/MMS, 5 GB data, BBM, and a few other items. I rarely use WiFi unless I need to access an internal server.

Posted via the BlackBerry Q5 using CB10.

[ajst222]

I have unlimited texting which includes MMS so I'm covered

Photo a Day: C002B5A07, my amateur photography Channel

[adjdudley21]

You should ditch your phone company…. i mean seriously… I don't know one text messaging bundle in the US anyway, that charges separately for mms… thats crazy

[madcat72]

I also have unlimited sms/mms on my plan, so do my kids, and they have pay go.

Posted via CB10

[TechADD]

I'm in Canada and my plan has unlimited data/sms/mms. I don't worry about anything.

[JMF5017]

You should ditch your phone company�. i mean seriously� I don't know one text messaging bundle in the US anyway, that charges separately for mms� thats crazy

Actually they do. For example, vzw gives you unlimited text for $20/mo or whatever - but only 300 MMS. It's on the bill.

** I've actually removed texting from my plan and forced everyone to BBM. Imagine if you had to subscribe to bbm for $20/mo. Why would you?

Posted via CB10

[bigglybobblyboo]

In the UK, for example, all advertised text bundles are just that, SMS only and people THINK they are covered so don't check.

I'd urge everyone to double and triple check, particularly since smileys can go as MMS.

Posted via CB10

[belfastdispatcher]

In the UK, for example, all advertised text bundles are just that, SMS only and people THINK they are covered so don't check.

I'd urge everyone to double and triple check, particularly since smileys can go as MMS.

Posted via CB10

Also many times replying to an MMS with text only message will send as an MMS too, you you have to set your phone to send text messages as SMS only. I've been caught that way.


Sent from my iPhone using CB Forums

[bigglybobblyboo]

Also many times replying to an MMS with text only message will send as an MMS too, you you have to set your phone to send text messages as SMS only. I've been caught that way.


Sent from my iPhone using CB Forums

That's right, although it has to be said that the problem seems to be more Android and, to a lesser extent iPhones (when dropping from iMessage to SMS) than Blackberries from what I read.

Android Central has some interesting info http://forums.androidcentral.com/sam...erted-mms.html which indicates it's more to do with how the phone sends the message.

Posted via CB10

[belfastdispatcher]

That's right, although it has to be said that the problem seems to be more Android and, to a lesser extent iPhones (when dropping from iMessage to SMS) than Blackberries from what I read.

Android Central has some interesting info http://forums.androidcentral.com/sam...erted-mms.html which indicates it's more to do with how the phone sends the message.

Posted via CB10

It happened to me on Legacy before I caught on to it. I think it's more to do with the default settings rather then platform. I'm not speaking for smilies though, that's a different issue.


Sent from my iPhone using CB Forums

[bigglybobblyboo]

It happened to me on Legacy before I caught on to it. I think it's more to do with the default settings rather then platform. I'm not speaking for smilies though, that's a different issue.


Sent from my iPhone using CB Forums

Sorry, I should have said 'the wider problem '

Realised after I posted!

Posted via CB10

[enik]

If his plan does not include mms he must be on an old texting plan. Every plan I've ever sold over the years has mms bundled

Posted via CB10

[belfastdispatcher]

If his plan does not include mms he must be on an old texting plan. Every plan I've ever sold over the years has mms bundled

Posted via CB10

Not in UK unfortunately.


Sent from my iPhone using CB Forums

[bigglybobblyboo]

I read your blog about this last week I think

Thanks Lendo, btw!

Did you like my joker pic?

Posted via CB10

[Ray III]

The only limitation on my Sprint plan is 450 minutes of calling landlines during the day. Not even any of those data throttling gimmicks.