I can indeed sympathise with you, as my partner is currently studying in Portugal and 30p per text was a killer for me also untill we found this:
WhatsApp.
If you both have an Android phone (also available on Iphone) get "WhatsApp" text messaging Application. Totally free for the first year and so long as your on 3g or wifi you can send as many messages as you like for NOTHING.
Just goto the Android market and you will find it easy enough, it has good reviews. For more info go: http://www.whatsapp.com/
It uses hardly any bandwidth and we use it all day and i rarely get over 2mb a day usage on my 3g, which means you wont go over your monthly net amount. It also makes no difference what network she is on so long as she has 3g or wifi connection available.
There are other apps like WhatsApp such as:
Kakaotalk,Viber, Facebook messenger, and ICQ messenger.
We tried many and found whatsapp to be the better of the bunch. Its lightweight on phone system resources, its easy to use and best of all its fast to deliver sent messages (normally instant).
Whats more you dont have to set up an account, as it instantly links to your phone number. We have been using it since December and so far my bills have dropped from £80 a month to practically nothing with no problems at all.
Hope i helped, Jay.
