Do you wish to find out how to activate SMS roaming on Vodacom in South Africa. Putting your phone on roaming means you will be able to make and receive calls while outside the country. We have previously written an article on how to activate international roaming on Vodacom. We noted in that article that roaming tends to be expensive. That’s because you get charged both for incoming and for outgoing calls. That’s the reason why most people tend to only activate SMS roaming, which tends to be cheaper.
How to turn on Vodacom SMS Roamer
To activate Vodacom SMS roaming, you need to send the message Roamon to 123. Alternatively, you can send the SMS to 31050. This has to be done while you are still in South Africa.
How to deactivate Vodacom SMS roaming
When you get back from abroad, the first thing that you need to do is to deactivate Vodacom SMS roaming. That’s because if you keep the feature on, you will not be able to receive and make calls. To turn off SMS roaming, send the message Roamoff to 123 or 31050.
How much does SMS roaming cost?
We noted that cost is the major reason why people prefer SMS roaming. But how much does a message cost? When Vodacom SMS Roamer is turned on, each SMS that you send from abroad currently costs R2.75. You don’t get charged when you receive messages.
What happens when you activate SMS roaming on Vodacom?
That’s how to turn on Vodacom SMS Roamer. But what happens when you activate the feature? You need to note that activating SMS roaming disables voice and data features on your phone. So, you will no longer be able to make and receive calls.
You will also no longer be able to use the internet on your phone. SMS roaming is meant to reduce costs while you are travelling. Hence all other functions on your device are disabled, with the exception of SMS. That’s something to keep in mind before activating this feature.
Summary
In this post we showed you how to activate SMS roaming on Vodacom. We noted that you need to do this while still in the country. If you wish to do it from outside South Africa, you will have to reach out directly to Vodacom. You can use any of their social media handles, including Twitter.
It was also noted in this post that switching SMS roaming on disables data and voice on your phone. So, the moment you arrive back in the country, you will want to disable the feature. That should enable you to start making and receiving calls from you phone.
You may be interested in the Vodacom SIM swap security questions