Iphone charges at 35p for 160+ character texts and group texts

[Anonymous]

I've just been sent a bill for £52 for a group text that my daughter sent on her ipHone 4. Having phoned o2 it would appear that the following are considered as MMS and not SMS and charged at 35p:

1) Group texts (4+ people)

2) Texts more than 160 characters. This is ridiculous given that the contract I signed up for was for "Unlimited texts and phone calls" and I was not made aware of this 'scam'.

3) The expected texts with images etc.

O2 have cancelled £50 of the £52 bill, but the contract remains as it is. Is there any way around this? My daughter now has a character count on her texts, but 160 is small and only 4-5 lines. This is worse than her previous simplicity contract!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
So... it would be interesting to check the following points, with everybody that is still active on this thread, because there is something very wrong if some of us are not incurring charges and some are, when all should be equal!
This would only be applicable to those who have NOT opted to have MMS bolt on's or where it was confirmed by O2 to be included in their plan. If you're not sure it would be worth checking with O2 exactly what your allowances are.

We are accepting here that A/ if you include a picture within your message, or B/ send multiple/group texts over 4no = that they will be classed as a MMS & therefore chargeable.

1/ Are you charged for texts over 160 characters (without having bolt on or MMS incl' in your plan) ?
2/ Do you have 'MMS Messaging' turned ON or OFF within your settings/messages ?
3/ Were you made aware by O2, when upgrading, that text messages would be sent as an MMS and therefore chargeable if picture (or smilies) were within the text OR if characters were over 160 ?
4/ When did you last upgrade ?

Hope I have included everything that will make sense of this anomaly?!

NB...Just as a foot note, does anyone know what happens with a text (or how it is sent - if at all) if it's over 160 characters OR a picture is included BUT with 'MMS messaging' turned OFF??!

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1. I haven't been charged for text messages, only picture messages

2. I always have MMS messaging turned off and only turn it on if I want to send a picture

3. No but it's not only O2 - I already knew this from Vodafone but I didn't worry as I had an MMS bundle

4. I changed to O2 fro Vodafone in September.

My texts of over 160 characters are still being sent, presumably as multiple text messages.  If a picture is included and MMS is turned off I found that the text doesn't send.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Tracy. Hopefully we'll get a few more answers! 😏