There is no global chat, as that is often open to abuse with people shouting into the crowd, sending endless adverts and solicitations. In order to communicate you have to make contact with people.
Chat
By pressing ENTER a chat box will appear. If you type something into the chat box other players that are close to you will hear it. If you type in CAPITALS other players who are slightly further away will hear you, this is SHOUTING. You will only hear them if they shout back, or come close to you.
If you are inside your house then a chat will be heard by everyone in the same room, and a SHOUT will be heard by everyone in the house.
Messaging
You will be issued with a basic phone when you join the game. This can send and receive messages. As you interact with companies and people in the game their contact details will be added to your phone’s contacts (e.g. your bank, your landlord, the estate agent, your employer, anyone you have a contract with). The police can send you a message. Some messages will send a notification email to your external email (configurable in the settings).
If you send a message to someone it will cost €0.05c. You need to connect your phone to a bank account to send messages.
Some organisations will have automated information systems.
If you send #help to any company or organisation it will respond with a list of commands it can accept
Bank – #balance <current, deposit, investment> #list <accounts> #statement
Police (free) – #report (for burglaries) #999 (come immediately)
Taxi (free) – #taxi now #taxi 0900 (it will send your location)