Hi there. This is an image set on a white background, and in the bottom left corner is a mobile phone with the messaging screen open. Coming out from the top of the phone are lots of images which are disappearing into the ether, and this is represented by a few blue and green wavy lines which gives the impression that the images are being sent off somewhere. In the bottom right of the image are the words Multimedia Messaging Service, and in the very bottom right corner is the blue Simpatico Logo.

DON’T SEND PHOTOS IN TEXT MESSAGES!

If you send a photo or other image through ordinary text messaging, you can incur extra charges. Use WhatsApp or other apps where it is free to send images instead.

Do you still use SMS (standard text messaging) and have you ever noticed an unexpected extra charge on your bill, labelled as MMS?  It stands for Multimedia Messaging Service, and it allows you to send more than just text in a message, the most common things sent are images, gifs, and videos.  Depending on your network provider, SMS services are usually free or included in your plan, whereas MMS are normally chargeable.

If you think of the high resolution of photos on your phone now, you will understand that the text MMS has to transmit way more little packets of information than if it were just a written message, hence the extra charges.

MMS messages are sent using the same platform as SMS, and sometimes (depending on the age and model of your phone) an SMS will automatically convert to an MMS if you go over the 160-character limit of a standard text ,or include emojis, but this is usually older phones.  The main culprit of MMS charges is when images or videos are included when sending a normal text message.

If you are an iPhone business user, sending a fancy iMessage to an Android device will also be classed as MMS, because the Android device will not accept any of the special effects used in an iMessage. You can of course just send just text through iMessage to an Android device without incurring any extra charges.

The easiest way to avoid MMS charges on your bill is to use a messaging service such as WhatsApp that can be used over WiFi to send long text messages, images, videos, attachments etc… and can be used across different phone models.  And limit sending elaborate iMessages to other iPhone users only.

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