iMessage on Basic Plan

[AncientMobUser]

I was offered a 4GB plan on chat for £6 a month, but I wasn’t told that it was a Basic Plan. I suppose it was too good to be true. I moved over from BT Mobile.

My immediate problem was I could not activate iMessage (and FaceTime). Apple very quickly told me, that was probably because I was on a Basic Plan (UK only). The network cannot reach the international activation servers. I subsequently moved to a Red 5GB Plan obviously paying more than I had expected. After 24 hours both iMessage and FaceTime activated.

My question is, have I been had? Does iMessage activate on a Basic Plan. If I had waited would it have activated eventually by itself or have both Vodafone and Apple fooled me into paying more! 

[AnnS]

The only things as far as data is concerned @AncientMobUser is you won't have access to the 5G network.  

i message is sent and received over a data connection and you will still have access to the 4G network.   There is no reason for being unable to use i message on a Basics plan when in the UK.

Please see this link for what's not included Basics 

Reply edited due to incorrect information 

[simax]

Roaming is actually available on Basics plans now Ann…

[AnnS]

 Thanks @simax didn't know it had changed.  My fault I should have checked.

I have edited my reply and removed the incorrect information. 

[BandOfBrothers]

@AncientMobUser 

I'm not sure why Apple Support have advised you of this.

As long as you have a good stable data connection imessage can be sent and received from other iPhone users no matter which tariff plan your on.

It can occasionally take a short while for imessage to activate.

[simax]

iMessage is actually activated/deactivated by sending an “invisible” text message to a UK number that Apple use as a gateway. This number is whitelisted by nearly all UK networks and is zero-rated and won’t show on bills/usage. When I worked for another networks CS desk, we could see if iMessages were being set up properly by Apple by looking for the message that was sent (as we could see it on the backend systems)….

[JaylaCarson]

If you're using iMessage on a basic plan, the main thing to keep in mind is how your data plan is set up. iMessage is super convenient because it works over the internet—so instead of using SMS, like regular texts, it sends messages through Wi-Fi or mobile data. As long as you're connected to Wi-Fi, you're good to go, and it won't eat into your data allowance at all.

However, if you're out and about without Wi-Fi, iMessage will use your cellular data to send and receive messages, photos, videos, etc. If you’re on a basic plan with limited data, this can add up if you’re texting a lot of photos or videos. One thing you can do is keep an eye on your data usage or just switch to regular SMS when you know you're not on Wi-Fi—there's a setting for that in the iMessage settings, where you can let iMessages fall back to SMS when you don’t have internet.

But yeah, as long as you have a decent Wi-Fi connection most of the time, iMessage shouldn't cause any major issues, even with a basic plan. Plus, it's always handy to message other iPhone users, and you get those fun features like read receipts, reactions, and those cool message effects!

[AnnS]

A further A.I generated reply from @JaylaCarson