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I'm currently in Poland, and have cell phone through Sprint in the United States. I know it is no cost for me to send text messages to the people here (My carrier has some deal with a local network that allows me to roam for free with some services), but I cannot find anything online to determine if they will be charged for texting my USA number, even though I am next door to them. Would I count as international texting even though I am on a local network for them?

I've seen some questions that are similar, but for calling, and even then the answers were.... divided. As seen here

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  • What do you mean by "My carrier has some deal with a local network that allows me to roam for free with some services"? what is your carrier and local network? I think it would be difficult to answer without knowing it.
    – Kuba
    May 9, 2017 at 12:59
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    @Kuba My carrier in America is Sprint, and in Poland my carrier is Plus. This is the text Sprint sent me when I arrived: "Sprint: Welcome to Poland! Texts: $0.00, Calls: $0.20/min. Intl data roaming may need to be set to on in phone settings to connect."
    – MadisonCooper
    May 9, 2017 at 13:02

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All charges are based on the locale of the phone number, or the home region of the SIM, not the device itself.

Your friends will be texting/calling an international number and it will be charged at whatever rate plan they have for international texts or calls.

If your friends have included international calls/texts, there would be no incremental charge.

Also be aware that this applies only to carrier SMS. WiFi/Internet messaging such as iMessage or WhatsApp use a data plan or WiFi.

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  • It depends on the roaming protocols too between operators; calls and SMSes often are only slighter more expensive than buying a local card, however roaming when using Internet plans can often have exorbitant prices.
    – Rui F Ribeiro
    May 11, 2017 at 14:11
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Yes, texting you will count as international texting (even if you stay next to a texting person!) and correspondingly charged (if there are different rates for national and international SMS what is not always the case).

It is not your location what counts but your phone number and it remains foreign.

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