Do you send text messages to a cell phone in India? What does it cost for you in the US? I know in India's its free to receive the message. But are you charged the normal text message rate by your carrier for sending an international text message? I have ATT and the rep wasn't very helpful.

I used to text Ukraine from US with AT&T and it was $.20 per text with $.10 domestic rate (I did not have a text messaging package). Try checking their website to see the rates in the packages. Also our Ukrainian mobile service providers allow to send texts from their websites free of charge, so maybe Indian do the same. Check it out! Hope it helped!

It costs me $.20 to send an international text. I have Verizon and they have a texting plan, but international texts are not included in the plan. So even if I bought the texting plan, they'd still charge me $.20 per text. It gets expensive if you text much, so we tried to limit it to a few per week.

I've used T-Mobil to text india and it was $.15/text. I've tried to use Verizon but keep having problems, had them look into it and they claim it's an issue on Airtel's end. My SO had no problems receiving texts when I was with T-Mobil. I want to say Verizon is $.20/text - but I don't know - even with the messages I tried to get thru I was never billed for them.

So it sounds like standard texting rate, even though its an international number?

Id like to add.. even tho you have international texting available via Verizon.. which I have as well. yes it is 20 cent a international.. that is .. if the server in India is on the list..
For me.. Jan uses Hutch.. which is not on the services for Verizon.. now he is in Hyberdabad.. .. and.. got service via airtel.. but still .. depending on where he is.. he is only getting 50% of what I text.. grrr..
so instead of us getting cost for the texting.. we put our Yahoo messenger to mobile.. this is one of the only way we can text at anytime.. and NEVER get a charge..
We tried MSN.. and it goes some of the time.. .. Yahoo is a bit better..
If you use messenger.. go to your preferences.. set it up to set you at mobile when signed off. and.. SO does the same..
You can dial your yahoo and also sign in from your phone.. sending a message to. 92466 message is . (type) In (space) yourID (space) password /
you will get a message to your mobile saying who is online.

We have tried so many things to make it work for such a long . longdistance relationship... .. .. Hope it helps you too

Hello,

I have ATT as well and I'm charged $.25 per text message to India.

you can send two free sms per day to India using this website below.

http://www.atrochatro.com/send_free_sms_india.html

I tried this site a while back but it seems that the message got there almost 2 days later. What has been your experience? Does it usually take this long or is it instant?

i have T mobile it cost me 15 cents each text...........

My wife has BSNL and it is instantaneous.

I found that you can text through skype a lot cheaper than going directly through a US cell phone provider. You go to www.skype.com and load the program. Once you have the program you can buy credits in $10 & $20 denominations. You can call for pretty cheap and send sms messages for about $ .07 per sms and they get there right away. Its worked for us for about a year now! Check it out!!

Thanks for all the input!

Hi there - I have AT&T and I text to India daily. Mostly I text to Mumbai, but I've texted to Gujarat and Chennai as well. My fiance has Vodafone. I have $9.99 a month plan for 100 international text messages. After that it's $.20 to send and receive......Hope that helps!

If your spouse has a computer at home….download Skype and register it under the U.S Spouse address with a CC. once you purchased the credits..its only .02 cents a min to call PC to phone in U.S ( U.S registered Skype account calling a U.S Phone).…. Local text message is free (I think) …. Who wants to text when you can call for .02 cents a minute … she calls my cell and office phone …for that rate and the call quality is clear ....

I agree that this is a good option. The only obstacle is if you live in an area where DSL or any type of interent access is spotty. Or those dreaded power cuts.

Those are the websites that I use to send free text messages to USA.

free text messaging

txtdrop.com

We use www.twitter.com

It's free to use it from the computer to cell phone and we budget our(my) 250 outside text a month. I pay the $5 extra a month for Verizon unlimited 'in' texting.