We rely on networks that are not ours when you're abroad, sdu60 - I can appreciate it can be frustrating and for that I apologise. With the message you received in terms of network capabilities, it doesn't sound like it would work on that network, the SMS it relates to would be mobile data SMS, not a standard SMS this is why that wouldn't be working.
Can you try the following please:
Android
Select Apps from the Home screen or swipe to access
Select the Virgin SIM toolkit option. Depending on the SIM slot the SIM is in this may be ‘Virgin’ or ‘Virgin2’
Select Roaming
Select Select Mode
Select Manual
Select International
Cheers,
Ryan.