topic Re: Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help in Mobile Services

Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help

Biba59 — Sat, 03 Feb 2024 10:09:13 GMT

I too have realised that I am being charged for picture messages, explanation was if wi fi signal not strong enough will be charged. I've only just noticed this and my home wi fi is EE why is this happening, as on whatsapp supposed to be free. I am having a refund when Bill produced. Not happy

Re: Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help

bristolian — Sat, 03 Feb 2024 11:08:40 GMT

Any pictures or videos that you send via your phone's messaging app will be sent as MMS and are chargeable. Anything you send via a third-party app such as Messenger or WhatsApp will be sent as data and charged accordingly - be it either via WiFi or your data allowance.

The choice of which facility you use, has nothing to do with how your phone is connected to the internet at the time.

Re: Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help

Teeolu — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 14:23:46 GMT

How does one cancel/stop this from happening? It makes no sense to me.

Re: Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help

Katie_B — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 16:08:16 GMT

Hi @Teeolu.

Should you not send a text containing a picture you will not be charged this amount.

What phone are you using?

Katie

Re: Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help

bristolian — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 16:16:20 GMT

@Teeolu wrote:

How does one cancel/stop this from happening? It makes no sense to me.

How do you stop what from happening? What doesn't make sense?

Re: Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help

Dode_ — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 17:23:21 GMT

Turn off Cellular data on your phone until the image is sent.

Re: Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help

bristolian — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 17:30:10 GMT

@Dode_ wrote:

Turn off Cellular data on your phone until the image is sent.

This won't help. For starters, if you have a WiFi-connection, the phone will use this in the exact same way as a text message would use WiFi-calling.

If the phone is correctly configured to use unicode, the message shouldn't be converted from SMS > MMS.

Re: Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help

Jenkins1 — Sun, 17 Mar 2024 11:19:17 GMT

Me Too ! Been with ee for ten yrs and am 20 months into a sim only contract - not had this before! What has changed ? It’s only 83p but what with this and Annual Increase looming I’m not happy either! As an 80yr old pensioner, I’ll have to be looking elsewhere when contract ends. Hat the website too - Soooo slow and I have a lge blank square in centre of screen that took ages to get rid of !!

Re: Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help

Katie_B — Sun, 17 Mar 2024 11:57:54 GMT

Hi @Jenkins1.

There has been no recent changes with picture messages being chargeable actions.

Are you aware if your last contract had an add-on that covered picture messages?

Katie

Re: Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help

Jenkins1 — Sun, 17 Mar 2024 12:13:34 GMT

It just seems strange that after all my time with ee I have not come across this charge previously. I do not understand what I have done differently to attract this charge and although it is only 83p I do not want repeat whatever has caused this.
Sent from my iPhone

Re: Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help

bristolian — Sun, 17 Mar 2024 12:16:30 GMT

It's the use of particular content in a message that triggers an MMS rather than SMS, and is therefore a phone function not a network one.

Most Android phones can be configured to use the Unicode alphabet which reduces the use of MMS, but your phone should always give an on-screen warning of "converting to MMS" or similar.

This applies to all networks, not just EE.

Re: Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help

Jenkins1 — Sun, 17 Mar 2024 13:00:13 GMT

Thank you for your reply. I use Apple devises, and haven’t come across pop up warnings, but will be sure to look out for them in the future. Never too old to learn!
Sent from my iPad

Re: Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help

Chris_B — Sun, 17 Mar 2024 14:17:08 GMT

@Jenkins1 if your sending to a iPhone user and you have iMessage enabled ( blue text bubble ) it’ll go via data and is not charged if it’s a green text bubble it’s a text or MMS so can be chargeable. On the iPhone you can switch off MMS is settings/messages.

Re: Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help

XRaySpeX — Sun, 17 Mar 2024 20:56:36 GMT

@Jenkins1 It's quite likely that in the past you only sent pure texts. Once you start inserting emotions in them or attaching files they become MMS or Picture Msgs which are chargeable.

Re: Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help

rockridge — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 12:49:25 GMT

Hi, I'm late to this thread so not sure if this will help - but, changed from i-phone to a new android phone contract a few months ago, both with EE, and have noticed these same charges appearing - so, I have a Motorola Razr 40 and have gone into Settings; gone into Network & Internet; gone into Calls & SMS and switched on Wi-Fi calling.

That should then make calls (and possibly texts/images ??) via Wi-Fi when it's available rather than EE network (apparently?!) - so should work through home Wi-Fi automatically, at least to test the theory (automatic connection is switched on to home Wi-Fi) - and might work generally through other available 'free' Wi-Fi when it's available too.

The phone's MMS was already switched off - so no messages can be sent by MMS now (Please Note: turning off the MMS will stop text messages being sent or received in the event that there's no network signal that would otherwise send them by SMS - so if MMS may be needed for emergency text messages please be aware of this situation)

So, will send some picture messages and see if I still get charged next month - If there's no charge then they have been sent via Wi-Fi calling (which has just been switched on via the process above) - and if there is a charge then the above process didn't work !

Thanks, Happy Days !

Re: Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help

XRaySpeX — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 12:56:40 GMT

@rockridge : Calls, SMS & MMS sent by WiFI Calling cost exactly the same as if they were sent over the mobile network. WiFi Calling is just a routing method employed when the mobile signal is weak or non-existent. It is not a cost saver!

Re: Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help

bristolian — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 13:03:59 GMT

To add, WiFi-calling does not replace EE's network, it complements it.

The access bearer - how your phone makes the initial connection - is changed from mobile to WiFi.

The onward connection is then to EE's core network, for connectivity to other operators and suchlike. WiFi itself does not have those onward connections, it's merely an alternate radio access technology.

Re: Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help

Rky — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 13:17:49 GMT

WhatsApp and other messaging apps typically use data for sending messages, not traditional SMS or MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service).

- Even though your home Wi-Fi is provided by EE, if the Wi-Fi signal is weak or intermittent, your phone might switch to mobile data for sending messages, including MMS. Please ensure both numbers are on iMessage if you don’t want to use WhatsApp and data is connected. If you are not on iPhone please check your outbox to verify if pictures are sent via sms which is called MMS when it sends multimedia like images etc

Contact EE Customer Support:

- Reach out to EE customer support to clarify why you're being charged for picture messages despite using WhatsApp, which should typically use data rather than MMS.

- To avoid future charges, continue using messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, or Signal that utilize data for messaging.

Re: Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help

bristolian — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 13:12:21 GMT

EE have never, to my knowledge, advertised WiFi or WiFi-calling as a means of avoiding call, text or messaging charges.

It is promoted as an alternative means of getting signal in poor indoor locations.

If you can show evidence to the contrary, you may have an argument.

Re: Re: Charged for picture messages-it's costing me 83p a time,please help

XRaySpeX — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 13:15:56 GMT

@Rky wrote:

- Ensure that your phone's Wi-Fi calling feature is enabled, as this can help maintain free or lower-cost messaging over Wi-Fi.

No, it doesn't! It costs exactly the same as over the mobile network.

You're confusing WiFi Calling with the use of data-based apps like WhatsApp over WiFi. . An MMS is chargeable even when using WiFi Calling. Data-based apps like WhatsApp don't involve MMS; they have their own (data-based) messaging mechanisms.