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Maybe that is less an android and more an operator policy question, but posting here because it may very well be a bug in Hangouts, the most embarrassing app google ever published.

I have a tmobile SIM from the US. I travelled abroad and i could send free SMS to that country (by sending to plain <phone number> or +<country code><phone number>) and free SMS to the US (by sending to +1<phone number>).

Now back in the US, i can't send international SMS at all. My default app is Hangouts. Using either my google voice account or the lame-excuse-for-a-UI-SMS-account in hangouts, when i try to send a message to +<country code><phone number> i get a message right after with the text:

Sorry, this service is not available.

now via SMS

What is the correct way to send international SMS in the US?

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I'm pretty sure that google hangouts only allows you to receive international text and not send them. Why I don't know its pretty ridiculous if you ask me. Here's their support page. read carefully...

Google Voice Help - Send & receive text messages

You can send and receive text messages using your Google Voice number on the Google Voice website, in the Google Voice app, through your SMS messaging app, or through Hangouts.

International text messages: At this time, Google Voice supports sending text messages to phone numbers in the U.S. and Canada, but you can receive text messages from anywhere in the world. Currently, Google Voice only supports short codes within the U.S.*

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    ah, do not confuse google voice service and hangouts app! google just screwed up when they tried to make hangouts the google voice client when it doesn't have the capabilities or the UI to do so. I'm talking on this questions about SMS client mode of hangouts. I mention i tried sending the message with both voice and plain SMS. and i expected the plain SMS to work. which it doesn't.
    – gcb
    Jan 19, 2016 at 21:56
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To know if it's your operator, try sending an international message via Messenger. If it works, then it's Hangouts. Just change app and you're done.

If it still doesn't work, then it's your operator. Use Google Allo to send international text messages and you'll be fine. You'll need to contact your operator and see if they can help you.

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    Note: Google will stop supporting Allo in March 2019.
    – slayernoah
    Feb 5, 2019 at 17:26

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