Anyone know how to fix problems with sending picture messages?

Boobdole,

This is just a guess but maybe the picture is to big (very large file size). As I remember once when I tried to send a very large photo by "email" it offered to downsized it for me but maybe the messaging system cannot do that and it just "clogs up" the message system.

Or, maybe the photo was in a file format (.extent) that the phone does not like. Everything I have sent is either a .jpg or .png.

JerryF

Have you noticed whether WiFi is enabled when you have these issues? Try disabling WiFi and retrying. MMS uses the mobile network, and sometimes the phone has trouble re-enabling the 3G radio for just one message if WiFi is replacing the mobile data connection.

I know that sometimes on my Charge SMS won't even get through, let alone MMS, if WiFi is on.

kanisueb

I have just the opposite problem, I can send picture messages but for some reason all of the sudden, I cannot receive them. Anyone know what I can do to get this fixed?

It's possible I guess but all I'm doing is taking standard pictures using the phone and it downsizes it for me like it always does. I don't think this particular one is any bigger than any of them in the past but it doesn't mean you're wrong about the file size (maybe they're not downsizing it correctly or something dumb like that . . .).

Thanks for the suggestion, though I'll admit I don't know what else I can do about it apart from decrease the quality and size of my camera pics (which I think is a bad solution).

You know, come to think of it, I usually have wifi on when I'm at home and that could be the issue. I'll pay more attention to what I'm connected to next time.

Do you know if it will send it if I only have wifi on or does it need access to the mobile data to send text messages? Cuz I do occasionally turn off mobile data when I'm at home to save battery but honest truth, I have no idea what I had setup when I had this problem. At least I know where to look. Thanks a lot!

Boobdole and everybody else,

I have two Charge phones so I could run a good test and what I found amazed me!!!

I sent an 867KB picture and a 362 KB picture back and forth and it worked perfectly AFTER I learned the following.

For messaging to work properly with WiFi you MUST leave the 3G/4G data on too. For example if you have 3G/4G DATA turned ON and then put WiFi ON the WiFI "TRUMPS" Data.

By looking at the top of the display screen you will be able to see that the WiFi is doing all the heavy lifting (transmitting) even though DATA is enabled at the same time. Every time I turned DATA off and left only the WiFi on things went South such as pictures were NOT sent. It locked in the pending mode. Furthermore, when you pull down the notification screen you will see that both DATA and WiFi are enabled at the same time but when you slide the notification screen up and look at the top of the display you will see that ONLY WiFi shows.

Try this I think you'll like it.

JerryF

PS, BTW, when I sent the 867KB picture with ONLY 3G/4G DATA on (no WiFi) everything worked perfectly too.

Yes, you definitely need to have mobile data turned on to send/receive picture messages. If you leave it enabled, it should fix the issue you were having.

But like I said, I still sometimes have problems even after I leave mobile data on along with WiFi. This is more of an actual defect with the phone that should not be happening. I could probably have it replaced if I really wanted to, but it's not a big enough issue for me yet.

When someone sends you a picture message, what happens on your Charge? Does it receive the message but not show the attachment? Does it receive the message, show the attachment, but fail to download it when you try? Or does it just not receive any message at all?

I have found that sometimes something just quits like my voice input feature has. I check to see that the settings okay and then re-boot...it's easier than shooting my phone. Then all is well for a couple of months or longer and something else or the same thing quits...try rebooting. I am not suggesting an, every time you want to use it reboot, just a reboot once in a "Blue Moon."

Another thought is sequence such as maybe it's best to first enable DATA and then WiFi or vice versa.

Smart phones are really touchy and often maddening.

JerryF

jco23

with VZW (not sure about others), you can send pic/vid messages ONLY when a mobile data connection is present (will not send via wifi).

regarding voice input, it will only work when a data connection is available (either WiFi or mobile)

for my settings, I leave mobile data on all the time, and turn wifi on/off if I have a known connection - that way, I won't miss out.

hope this helps.

Yeah, I had a message hang last night with 3G and Wifi on. I switched 3G on (so now, both are on) and it wouldn't send. I reset it with both on and it wouldn't send. I turned off Wifi (so only 3G is on) and it wouldn't send. I reset the phone and it wouldn't send. I had queued up another message earlier and it wasn't until I deleted the first message that it seemed to want to send.

I'm not sure what the deal is. I know it doesn't do this everytime (I've sent messages with Wifi on before) and honestly, that's almost more frustrating. Inconsistent and intermittent errors are the most frustrating to troubleshoot. I'm with winnersmw. This phone is maddening sometimes.

Try this...Settings>Applications>Manage Applications and touch the ALL TAB. Then go down to Messaging and touch CLEAR Data.

Now try sending a message.

JerryF

I'll try that next time I get a message stuck in pending mode. Not sure how easy or difficult that will be (maybe someone else will run into that before I do). It might take me a while to respond to this as a result but I'll try it next time it happens.

On a sidenote, not even my old Blackberry Tour had this issue . . . but it was with AT&T. Not sure which is causing more problems, my Charge or Verizon . . .

It's good to note that this will erase all your conversations in the Messaging app.

Well, it was actually pretty easy to recreate. I tried sending a picture message with only wifi on (due to huge battery drain when I'm at home, I usually only have wifi or 3g on since I don't have 4g and 3g is abysmally slow . . .) and it hung again. And like before, the whole phone got very, very slow and laggy (but it has been a while since I restarted it so that's ok).

Anyway, with only wifi, it wouldn't send the picture message. I turned mobile data on in the background. Still wouldn't send. I did Jerry's suggestion (which did not delete all conversations in my messaging app, just for the record. And thank God for that too cuz I read that AFTER I did it . . . ). I then turned off wifi and was solely on 3G. Still won't send. I cleared the data in messaging again with only 3G, still didn't work. I killed all tasks on my phone, just to see if it would at least speed up my phone. Still wouldn't do it.

Finally, I restarted my phone and had it boot with only 3G on (actually had to do it twice cuz llama put it BACK on wifi cuz I have it set to detect me at work . . . the good news is resetting the phone at this point did make it faster, which makes me happy and sad at the same time. but I guess it's to be expected). Still pending. So I have no idea what it's going to take to get it to send (otherwise, it's just sending REALLY slowly but I've never really had that problem before. It usually sends pretty quickly).

The last time I had this issue, it took about 2+ days for it to get around to sending it. If that's what I have to deal with everytime I accidently have it on wifi only when I send a text message, that's going to be a problem. Anyone else been able to recreate this and find a solution? Or are in the same boat as me?