Being charged for using emoticons in my text messages!

[Anonymous]

I have only recently been using emoticons in messages to my partner, and just found out from my monthly bill being charged 33p for the priviledge! My partner is on Vodafone contract, no charge on hers, so why are O2? Actually I thought there was some bad publicity recently for phone companies charging for this, and it was gong to be stopped.  

[Bambino]

It's a bit of a grey area, as some emoticons on certain phones aren't charged, but others are. O2 considers them an MMS, and charges. To be honest, I don't know which ones aren't chargeable on which phones, as I don't use them, so someone else is going to have to clarify that for you.

[Cleoriff · Accepted solution]

Have a look at this help thread @Anonymous It gives you all the info you need..

http://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Other-Products-Services/Accidental-MMS-Sending-and-How-to-Avoid-it/td-p/689503

This is the part that will explain more..

Adding an emoticon by itself won’t, in many cases, force the message into MMS format, but, what it will do, is eat up your character count.

A simple smiley face or wink will use 90 characters.

With this in mind it is easy to see how just by adding 3 emoticons actually reduces your character count to only 210 letters (that’s not much!)

You can avoid this by inserting a smiley using keyboard characters rather than hitting the emoticon key and choosing a picture. A smile can be written as : ) or a wink as ; ) 

On some phones you will find 2 versions of emoticons (pretty ones and basic ones).

The basic ones will use less characters but you should always keep your eye on character count and auto MMS conversion.

[jonsie]

Most modern Android smartphones give you a warning when converting to mms if you tick the appropriate box in message settings. 

[MI5]

Keep it below 480 characters per text and you won't have a problem.

[Anonymous]

if you are both on android and have each others gmail address then use hangouts it sends message's via date either wifi or 3/4g 

you can also use hangouts as a std sms/mms app aswell 

[Anonymous]

I was charged for a 'picture' when I sent this text

Thank you for you good wishes. Followed by a smily face emoticon.

That is nowhere near 450 characters but I was still charged 33p!!!!!

[MI5]

It could have been depending on the text input method set on your phone.
You need to be careful with character count always if using smilies.