New iPhone and AT&T subscriber (Have Questions)

[cecoleman]

I can't seem to find the answer to this question...

My wife and I just got iPhone's this week, and we love them. However I'm a little unsure how the texting plan works. We have a the 250 text plan I believe. Question 1: Each line is charged $5.00 a month for this, does that mean we have 500 total texts?

Question 2: (The bigger question) We have lots of family on Verizon, do we get charged anything for texting them? Does this still count towards our plan? Do our friends and family get charged for text they receive from us? And lastly do they get charged for texting us?

I'm confused by the all the network crossing stuff.

Thanks in advance.

 

[eawmp1]

If you have the 250 plan for each phone, then each phone has 250 texts. But remember, any text sent OR received counts as one. So if you text your wife you both lose one. Often, if you text alot teh umbrella $30 unlimited plan makes sense.

 

[labman]

Yes

AT&T will count text to family on verizon aganst you! Also FYI SMS and mms are both equal. Just so that question doesn't come up.

 

[Small White Car]

Go on the App store and download the AT&T application.

Search for "My AT&T" and you'll find it.

Put it on both phones. It lets you see how many minutes and texts you have left for the month. It's a good idea to check in every few days to see how your month is going. It will show your minutes, your wife's minutes, or both combined.

Texts are seperate from each other, you can only see 1 person at a time when looking at them.

 

[cecoleman]

Okay so someone says we pay additional for texts to those on other networks like Verizon and Sprint? Anyone confirm? What does it charge you?

 

[Knowlege Bomb]

Okay so someone says we pay additional for texts to those on other networks like Verizon and Sprint? Anyone confirm? What does it charge you?

You don't pay "extra" to text out of network. You'll be charged one text every time you send a text or MMS whether it's to someone on AT&T or any other network.

 

[cecoleman]

I'm not quite fluent in what MMS is or some of these other acronyms. This is my first smart phone in general. So fill me in you would.

Also do those in other networks get charged for receiving my text?

 

[Knowlege Bomb]

I'm not quite fluent in what MMS is or some of these other acronyms. This is my first smart phone in general. So fill me in you would.

Also do those in other networks get charged for receiving my text?

Sorry. An MMS is a message with some sort of data attached (picture, voice memo, v-card). They cost you the same as one standard text message.

As for those out of network, it really depends on their plan but as far as I know there's no providers that give free texting/data so it'll cost them one way or another. Either it'll be deducted from their monthly alotment or they'll pay a per-use rate.