If you are in the UK and using a pre-April 2014 manufactured smartphone, particularly from Samsung, you could be at risk of being charged hundreds of pounds for sending emoticons through text messages.
This is exactly what has happened with quite a few Brits who are using a Samsung Galaxy S, S2, S3, Note, Note 2, Note 3 and Galaxy Ace handsets. These handsets are known to have handled emoticons created through simple characters like colons and brackets by turning them into picture messages.
Picture messaging or Multi-Media Messaging Service (MMS) isn’t included as part of the free allowance in monthly tariffs and users who are often using emoticons in their conversations with friends and family are being charged for each of these – as high as 40p per emoticon.
Samsung has given out a statement wherein it has said that if a phone’s setting is set such that it will convert an SMS to MMS, a warning is displayed to the user before being sent and that users need to take notice of this warning.
