Texting Home

kfc1210

Wondering what other people do to text home...

Had a rash decision at the wk end and got an iPhone 5 on a Telstra bill, 60$ every day connect and didnt realise texts home werent included.

So how do you text home assuming the person at home dosent have a smart phone?

hussey

kfc1210 wrote: »

Wondering what other people do to text home...

Had a rash decision at the wk end and got an iPhone 5 on a Telstra bill, 60$ every day connect and didnt realise texts home werent included.

So how do you text home assuming the person at home dosent have a smart phone?

You just have to cop it, but with that plan you have $600 credit to spend, and international cost .50 each text would cost roughly 0.09% of your credit,which is pretty cheap compared to ireland texting australia!

Mellor

How many texts would you send home in a month?
Even if its 200, which is loads. It's only 1/6 of your cap. You'll be fine.



Also, if the person you are texting has an iphone, it sends an imessage - which is sent as a tiny bit of data not SMS. So there's no fee

Slidey

I use viber all the time to send messages home.

It's free to install the app and anyone on your phone book who has viber on their phone will automatically be added.

It's also very cheap for them to msg you back where as texts are expensive enough to send to aus from Ireland

Xavi6

Mellor wrote: »

Also, if the person you are texting has an iphone

Slidey wrote: »

I use viber all the time to send messages home.

It's free to install the app and anyone on your phone book

Slight issue lads

kfc1210 wrote: »

assuming the person at home dosent have a smart phone?

Mellor

Well spotted

.Longshanks.

Buy the eirtext app. You can send message via your old Irish number - just need to still a few euro on it once and a while to ensure it stays active.
People will either need to reply to your o2 number, or you carry an active irish phone on roaming.

mel.b

hussey wrote: »

You just have to cop it, but with that plan you have $600 credit to spend, and international cost .50 each text would cost roughly 0.09% of your credit,which is pretty cheap compared to ireland texting australia!

Slidey wrote: »

It's also very cheap for them to msg you back where as texts are expensive enough to send to aus from Ireland

Surprised people are saying it is more expensive to text ireland to Oz than the other way around. Texts to oz with vodafone are 15c, 02 and three 25c. Most of the phone companies give you a certain number of free webtexts also which can be used for international texts. I'm with tesco and i get 50 free intational webtexts. I don't know of any phone provider in Oz who provides free international texts (webtext or normal).

hussey

hussey wrote: »

You just have to cop it, but with that plan you have $600 credit to spend, and international cost .50 each text would cost roughly 0.09% of your credit,which is pretty cheap compared to ireland texting australia!

mel.b wrote: »

Surprised people are saying it is more expensive to text ireland to Oz than the other way around. Texts to oz with vodafone are 15c, 02 and three 25c. Most of the phone companies give you a certain number of free webtexts also which can be used for international texts. I'm with tesco and i get 50 free intational webtexts. I don't know of any phone provider in Oz who provides free international texts (webtext or normal).

If his plan costs $60 and each text costs 0.09% at means roughly it costs 5c per text message, so it is cheaper Aus -> Ireland. But you are right no free webtext available here.

*edit* This is just his plan, I'm sure other plans are much more expensive

kfc1210

Well spotted Xavi, problem is texting the parents and older family who dont have viber, imessage, skype

In the $600 it does not include international text or calls and this is the bit i missed at the time of signing up, i just seen $600 a month and thought grand thats loads...

Every text home is 50c, currnetly looking at global gossip and i have a TPG landline maybe they have some deal.

Longshanks that app sounds good will check it out.... can hardly remember my 087 number now!

hussey

kfc1210 wrote: »

Every text home is 50c, currnetly looking at global gossip and i have a TPG landline maybe they have some deal.

If you are really worried about this, then buy a global gossip card, or skype credit and you can ring home for about 2c a minute (assume they have a landline)
50c out of 600 is a lot of texts (e.g. 10per day 10x30x.5) = $150 credit (25% of the total)

Gael23

As far as I know vodafone here in Ireland have an option to pay an extra €1.50 per month to make your texts international. Could you look into something like that?

Batgurl

Just an FYI to anyone reading this who hasn't yet made their mind up.

I went with Vodafone 12 month contract.

Pay $50 a month for the plan and get 750mb data, $500 recharge and free national AND international texts.

kfc1210

Should have went to Vodaphone so!
But i changed from optus because i want the coverage to be better even tho i was in the city i still found it a bit hit and miss and took way to long to get data back when you came out of a tunnel...

Telstra do a $10 add on that gives you 50cent international texts and a value of $40

As i mentioned the $600 does not include international calls and texts.
Thanks for the info

Sidd

Am heading to Perth for a couple of weeks with a gang, I presume it'd be very expensive for us to use our Irish accounts to keep in contact with each other, so any tips on who the best operator is for short term pay as you go sims?

catbear

Sidd wrote: »

Am heading to Perth for a couple of weeks with a gang, I presume it'd be very expensive for us to use our Irish accounts to keep in contact with each other, so any tips on who the best operator is for short term pay as you go sims?

You can get pay as you go sims in woolworths, they're great value. The card cost $2 and topup costs me $29 every 45 days. I use it a lot for browsing the web and texting and I've never used up the credit before the 45 days. All you need is your passport and an address, I used the hotel i was staying in the first few days I was there.

Xavi6

Batgurl wrote: »

Just an FYI to anyone reading this who hasn't yet made their mind up.

I went with Vodafone 12 month contract.

Pay $50 a month for the plan and get 750mb data, $500 recharge and free national AND international texts.

The downside is you're stuck with Vodafone. Absolute joke when it comes to reception.

Sidd

catbear wrote: »

You can get pay as you go sims in woolworths, they're great value. The card cost $2 and topup costs me $29 every 45 days. I use it a lot for browsing the web and texting and I've never used up the credit before the 45 days. All you need is your passport and an address, I used the hotel i was staying in the first few days I was there.

Great, thanks Catbear, sounds much better than coming back to a huge bill!!

catbear

Sidd wrote: »

Great, thanks Catbear, sounds much better than coming back to a huge bill!!

Just to add that I picked the Optus sim and I've never had a problem with it around the city but everyone says the Telstra service is better if you're heading into rural areas.

crazy8

What are the different operators in Australia?
I'm seeing Vodafone, Telstra and Optus. Any others?

Will be in Melbourne city working for 3 months, will need a pay as you go option to stay connected to the web and for local calls.