Hi! My husband is in China and we got a small int'l texting plan (AT&T) to use while he's there, but he's unable to send or receive texts. He gets the red exclamation point when he tries. Data roaming is turned off and so is cellular data. It's an iPhone 4. AT&T has been no help.
iPhone 4, iOS 5.1
I would assume that you would have to have either cellular data or data roaming set to on in order to send and receive sms messages. (iMessage uses wi-fi so doesn't require this.) Call AT&T back and ask them which data setting he should be using based on the international texting plan you purchased.
Edit: deleted, meant for another post.
Thanks for your response! I have called them several times asking if these things need to be on for the texting to work. They have all said "no" because texting service doesn't rely on a data plan or a voice/cellular plan. It is separate. We were trying to save money by not incurring hidden charges from the iPhone by not using a data plan or calling plan. Very frustrating.
Sorry for my last post, it was meant for someone else. I guess I'm confused as to why they would say that since messaging, other than iMessage, does rely on a data plan. If it isn't sent over the cellular data network, how else would it be sent? The data has to be sent somehow; either over celluar data or wi-fi. Are they telling you that their plan relies on wi-fi like iMessage? Maybe you need to talk to someone else at AT&T.
If he is trying to send a picture Text (MMS) data has to be on. It is possible that the voice connection at his location is to weak for texting or is being blocked. If you both have iDevices running iOS 5 why not set up iMessage and use it?
This made me laugh a little, because it is sad, but true, that different reps give you completely different info. I've talked to several in preparation for this trip and they have all said this definitively. I would've thought at least cellular data had to be turned on. How else do the texts get sent?
SMS texts are sent over cellular voice networks, not cell data.
He's just using texts, not multimedia. There is no wi-fi at his location, so iMessage will not work. When I try to text him, iMessage just converts it to regular texting. I also wondered if there was some restriction in China on texting, but I cannot find any info on that.
You can call AT&T back and ask them specifically to check the provisioning on his phone for international texting. If necessary ask for a supervisor.
You would have to use cell data for iMessage.
So if he turns cellular data back on, in order to use texting, will he start incurring other charges as well? Sorry to be dense. I think AT&T makes all the plans so hard to understand, it's like trying to understand health insurance coverage or taxes!!
So I just called again and, apparently, the 4th time's a charm. He said that without cellular data being turned on, the phone won't text at all. The other three reps in international customer service have completely contradicted that. Unbelievable. Thanks for the help!
The 4th one is incorrect, cellular data does not have to be on and if you did not arrange a cellular data international plan it is going to be hugely expensive.
But if he has Data Roaming turned off and doesn't take/make any calls or voice mail, won't that work?
Data roaming has no bearing on the ability to send/receive SMS messages. It may impact the ability to send iMessages.
Is iMessage activated on his phone? Yours? If it is, is send as SMS activated on his? yours?
iMessages go over the data network. Cellular or WiFi. SMS messages go over the cellular voice network. MMS messages go over the cellular data network.
Has anyone considered that maybe he can't send them because they're being blocked by the Chinese?
I was just saying that the fact that Data Roaming being turned off should save us from running up a huge bill while cellular data is turned on in order to text. We both use iMessage, but it is not working in this case, simply because iMessage converts straight to text and since he cannot make or receive texts, no luck. I have considered the Chinese angle, but have nowhere to verify this.
Unable to text internationally
