Receiving texts out of country with Wifi Calling on and Cellular Roaming off

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Receiving texts out of country with Wifi Calling on and Cellular Roaming off

I am going to Japan (from US) and will set up my phone for Wifi Calls. I am fine with making and receiving calls when in Wifi only so I don't have to pay for an expensive Verizon International plan (Japan plan is outrageous). I do not want to connect to the local cellular companies to incur any phone call charges there.

But I do need to still receive texts on my phone from the US. Specifically for the 2-step verification setups for various web sites that require that when I log on I receive and then enter the code just texted me into the log in page.

My question is, when I set up WiFi Calls and also turn off my Cellular roaming options, will I still be able to receive the texts? (Verizon will send me texts at 5 cents each to Japan, which is fine).

iPhone 6s, iOS 10.0.2

Posted on Mar 9, 2017 9:20 AM

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Answer 1

slobizman Author

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Mar 9, 2017 2:55 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Awesome thanks.

You're a whiz at this, so if you don't mind, one related question. If someone sends me a text message when I am not in wifi, it will come through at my nickel a text price. But what happens if that message has a photo or video? Does it gets blocked and the sender notified? Does the text come through without the photo or video? Does the text and picture/video show up later when I get in wifi?

For example, my kids (iphone users also) often send photos. I still want to see them when I get into wifi, but I don't need to see them when not in wifi. What happens to those texts?

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Answer 2

slobizman Author

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Mar 9, 2017 1:30 PM in response to slobizman

That makes sense, thanks. So, I won't turn off voice roaming then.

So, that being said, would also having my phone set to Phone > WiFi Calling set to ON, cause any texts messages from coming in (not imessages, but standard SMS messages for 2-factor authorizations)?

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Answer 3

Mar 9, 2017 7:55 PM in response to slobizman

First, text messages (that is, SMS) will always come with a charge, whether you have WiFi or not, as SMS always uses the cellular voice side-channel. iMessages will be delivered when you have WiFi if you have Cellular Data turned off.

If your kids have iPhones or other iOS devices the pictures will be delivered when you have WiFi available. However, tell them to turn off "Send as SMS" in Settings/Messages, otherwise they will revert to MMS, which requires cellular data (MMS cannot use WiFi).

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Answer 4

slobizman Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 10, 2017 7:29 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

If your kids have iPhones or other iOS devices the pictures will be delivered when you have WiFi available. However, tell them to turn off "Send as SMS" in Settings/Messages, otherwise they will revert to MMS, which requires cellular data (MMS cannot use WiFi).

I was talking to Verizon and was told that if they send a text message to me, and I am not currently in Wifi, (again with data turned off), then 1) if has photo in it message will fail, and 2) if it does not have photo in it, it "may or may not" be in my Messages when I get to wifi.

I don't think I want to tell them to turn off "Send as SMS" since they will require this for their other texts to non-phone users. So, I'll forget about worrying about texts with photos coming in (I'll tell them to email any photos), but I would like to receive their iMessage texts when I get to wifi. So my question boils down to this: if they send an iMessage (no media in it) to me while I am not on wifi, will it be there later in Messages when I get to wifi?

P.S. I am very sorry about all the new questions, but this is just so confusing and a pain.

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Answer 5

Mar 9, 2017 9:25 AM in response to slobizman

SMS uses the cellular voice side-channel, so you can turn off cellular data and still receive texts, but you cannot turn off voice roaming if you want to receive texts.

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Answer 6

Mar 9, 2017 7:55 PM in response to slobizman

For SMS the WiFi calling setting doesn't matter.

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Answer 7

slobizman Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 10, 2017 7:41 AM in response to slobizman

You know, we've all decided to just use WhatsApp. 🙂 So much easier.

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