Can I iMessage other iPhones outside Canada without out-of-country texting rates?

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Level 1

4 points

Can I iMessage other iPhones outside Canada without out-of-country texting rates?

Ok. My cell phone plan does not include texting outside of Canada, without insane rates. I was wondering how iMessage worked, and if I could use this to talk to my friends in the US (who have iPhones as well). If I enter their email as their contact info, will it be free, or will it still be treated as out of country texting? (I realize I would use iMessage not connected to wifi, but that would just be using 3G/LTE data the same way as in-Canada iMessaging is, right?)

iPhone 6, iOS 8.2

Posted on Mar 30, 2015 3:26 PM

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Answer 1

JimHdk

Level 7

28,898 points

Mar 30, 2015 3:28 PM in response to scleghorn

It will be free.

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Answer 2

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

236,285 points

Mar 30, 2015 3:29 PM in response to scleghorn

iMessage uses data, not SMS. To make sure that you are not using SMS, turn that option off in Settings>Messages. That way if for some reason the iMessage fails, you would not be charged for an international SMS. If you are on Wi-Fi, then it wouldn't matter, but if on cellular, you would be paying cellular data rate.

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Answer 3

ckuan

Level 10

120,914 points

Mar 30, 2015 3:31 PM in response to scleghorn

iMessage uses Wi-Fi/Cellular data for communication. it has nothing to do with international SMS.

Yes, you can iMessage anywhere if your recipient also has iMessage configured.

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