HTC One X converting SMS to multi-media messages

[Anonymous]

I have just changed my phone to an HTC One X and getting used to it.  I have never sent a multi-media message on there yet a few days ago I replied to a text from a friend who has a Galaxy Note and in my text (which was a short one) I used a smiley face.  I checked my bill the other day and I have been charged 0.29p for this text !!!  My HTC seems to have recognised it wrongly as an Multimedia message.  I checked my friends phone and it appears as a 'picture' message yet she was unable to open it.

I contacted o2 and they are looking into it.  in the meantime, I wonder  if this

happened to anyone else?  I am now wary of using emoticon characters.  Any advice would be very helpful.

Update:  I guess I will have to wait and see what o2 have to say.  If in the meantime there is anyone out there who has an HTC One X mobile, I would be interested to hear if they have encountered any problems with SMS texts converting to MMS when inserting a smiley, even if the text is a short one.

Many thanks

Rozzie

[MI5]

Download whatsapp off Google Play and get your friends to do so also. You can send as many pictures as you like over your data connection free (assuming you have data included in your contract)...

[Anonymous]

i don't think this issue is exclusive to HTC, I have heard about it happening with the iphone too. 

[Anonymous]

I have spent nearly 30 mins on live chat today asking why I had been charged 4 x 29p and was told that i had used picture messaging, which i don't use because it's not included in my package.  They said it was emoticons and that i can  only use 160 characters in a text.  Difficult to know when you've used them!  I had no idea about these charges.

[Anonymous]

There has been a recent software change. On your keyboard you will see a link or button that gives you a wide range of colourful smiley faces. Clicking on one of these and adding it to a text converts your message to mms and so chargeable.

[perksie]

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@Anonymous wrote:

 They said it was emoticons and that i can  only use 160 characters in a text.  Difficult to know when you've used them!  I had no idea about these charges.

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More on this and what is happening here:

http://service.o2.co.uk/IQ/srvs/cgi-bin/webcgi.exe?New,KB=Companion,T=guruCase,VARSET_COBJID=52283,Problem=Obj%2852283%29,question=ref%28User%29:str%28Mobile%29

[Phian]

I don't think it is anything to do with HTC or Android, I have a Samsung using Phone 8 and this has happened to me. I queried this with O2 and was assured it is normal. I have since been advised to try the app from  http://www.whatsapp.com/  as it will let me send pictures free of charge to other usesr who have the same app but will no longer put emoticons on other text messages.

[Anonymous]

I have the HTC One X, when you write a long text message it converts it into an MMS.  It comes up on the screen "converting message to Multi Media Message" or something like that, you have to be quick to notice it.

I think its the equivalent of around 6 text messages (918 characters) at which point it converts into an MMS.  One way to check is to look at the used characters, it changes into KB's.

Hope that helps explain it a little.

[Phian]

Oh yes, it certainly explains matters. I had wondered about the length of messages as some just won't go and I noticed they were rather wordy. I suspected there was a limit but didn't know for sure and customer service had never told me. On a previous (non smartphone) instrument a long text was broken into one or two but always ordinary, not the extortionate picture version.
Funny thing, with my current phone such texts are not converted - they just don't go. I seem to be able to send long ones from my computer using Tu-Go but will now keep an eye on that.

Thanks for you kindness.

[Anonymous]

Hi all and welcome to the Community.

This is a fairly common issue on here now. I believe if you go to your message program then go to settings then go to something like "convert to mms" or similar you should be able to set the phone to vibrate when it converts. Gives you more of a clear warning.