Do people get charged receiving SMS when traveling to other EU countries?

Hi,
A friend of mine having an ERA number is now traveling in France recently.
I can send her SMS either directly or through SkypeOut without much cost.
However, I am not sure whether she get charged for receiving my SMS or not.
I only remembered I didn't get charged for checking for remaining credits when I was roaming in France. (eg. *101#) Some of my friends scared me saying I would get charged even if I didn't make any call or send any SMS while roaming.

I read a similar discussion in Skype forum(please refer to the link below) in which someone said it's free to receive SMS even abroad. Though the posts there dated back to 2006. I am not sure it was true or is still true right now?

forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=53675

In addition, how much would cost her to reply a SMS back to Poland? I guess it's probably not much, but I am just curious to know.

Does anybody know the roaming policy of Polish mobile operators? (I can not read Polish though)

Thanks a lot

Hi,

Yes, the roaming service is quite costly no matter where you are traveling. Sending a text message is going to be cheaper than making a phone call. I'm with ERA when in Poland or traveling in Europe. Depending on the destination country, you'll get different rates per minute and a text message. I went to Egypt last year and my phone bill was astronomical after I got back although I used my phone only a few times.

What about a calling card? I would think they are available in France. Maybe your friend can get one of those?

I thought the roaming charges were supposed to be brought down 70%?
I use skype as much as possible.

I'm not sure about that. One should contact their service provider.

you don't get charged for recieving sms when you go abroad, but you do get charged for incoming phonecalls (if you pick them up that is ;)

That would be a great news for my friend. Thank you very much.

thats your welcome, but your friend must remember that sending txts from abroad to your home country or wherever else will be signficantly expensive. but you may feel free to txt them 100 times a day lol