Some of my contacts not receiving my text messages

Hi,

I recently switched from Tmobile to Verizon, going from a droid to the new iphone. For some reason, there are a handful of contacts who are not able to receive test messages from me. I receive theirs and I respond without error, however the text message reply I made never shows up on their phone.

I called Verizon and their advice was to tell the people who are not getting my replies to call their own service provider to find out why this is happening?

I am able to sent text messages to several people on my phone. It is strange that it is only happening with some of my contacts.

Both tmo and verizon said that the port was successful...

Has this ever happened to anyone? Advice? Do I need to go to an APPLE store to have them look at my phone?

I never had text messaging problems before I made this move (not saying that to be rude/verizon and apple are way better than tmo and droid IMHO) so I am just at a loss as to where to go from here.

Accepted answers

carmenflora

Hi! This is the original poster. So after three factory resets (which were unsuccessful) I finally got someone at verizon who knew what to do! She walked me through a reset/restore via itunes. Originally I was frustrated because it seemed she was having me do what I had done three times previous. But it was different.

I recommend logging a technical ticket with verizon and telling them that you need them to walk you through a system restore via itunes.

She recommended that I do load everything that I had on my phone because it is possible that something was corrupt causing the issue. That part is kind of annoying but I will take being able to text and having to start new than what I was dealing with before.

Good luck all. I know how frustrating it is.

One other thing you can try is to delete the message thread completely with the person who is not receiving your replies. Then delete their contact also completely. Then send them a new test entering their phone number in with the area code first. That worked for my husband for a couple of the folks he was having trouble with. Ultimately he will be contacting verizon to do the restore as well.

All comments

jplev23

My wife and I both have an iPhone 5. Sometimes our texts work and other times they don't even though we are in full coverage areas. I even will sometimes send messages from my Mac - again sometimes they work, but not all of the time. Anyone fixes for this?

kaebfly

I doubt it's a hardware issue exactly...but it's hard to say if it's a VZW or T-Mobile issue. I have always had issues with T-Mobile friends regardless of what phone I have. What I noticed over the years was an issue with texts that went over a certain character count. This doesn't help you at all but I don't know what the exact issue is (as to why it has happened with me). Is it every message you send to the people in question that they don't receive or only some of them? If it's not every one try seeing if shorter ones (less than 140 characters perhaps) are received. Then test if longer ones are the ones that are the problem.

carmenflora

It is every message I send them, and the messages I have sent have all been small, like test, testing 123 (haha)... I turned off imessage thinking that was the problem and sent them test messages again with no responses. frustrated

Tmobile was no help, saying that since I am no longer with them they can not help me any further, just said that the port was successful. Verizon was no help either and like I said, told me to tell the people who are not receiving my messages to contact their carrier to see what they can do (if anything). Should I go to the apple store and see if they can help?

Thanks thanks thanks! :smileyhappy:

Verizon_Support

Hi there Carmenflora!

First, welcome to the VZW family! I want everyone to get your messages quickly & easily. I'm so sorry that's not happening. Have you noticed any particular similarities?

For example are they all in one area code? Is it only one provider? We have the opportunity to file a resolution ticket to our engineers to ensure your messaging profile is set up. The more information we have, the better!

Keep me updated.

Thanks,

MelissaM_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @vzwsupport

Mvbc

I'm having the same issue, only I've been with Verizon for over six years. Got my iPhone 5 last friday, and yesterday I couldn't text some of my contacts. Not all, just some. They're on verizon Droids, and one is with another carrier, but so are some other people that I CAN text. They're also in the same area code, but so are others that I CAN text. This is out of the blue since it worked fine for a week. Very disappointing. They're not even showing up on my My Verizon usage details. Their texts to ME are, but I get those just fine.

carmenflora

no similarities. Sounds like Mvbc and I have the same issue. I did a factory reset and that seemed to fix the problem, but only temporarily.

kteal

I have been having the same issue. There is no similarities between the phones and phone numbers that aren't getting the texts. The people are on different carries and on different types of phones. Most of the people not getting my texts are on Verizon with some sort of droid phone, but some people on Verizon with droid phones are getting my texts. I called and spoke to Verizon and got the engineering department working on it. They started a resolution ticket for me on Friday and acted like I would hear something back soon, but I haven't as of yet.

christydawncrt

I, too, am having this issue. I have found 4 friends that do not receive my texts. I receive their texts and I respond and it appears to have sent but they never receive it. Again there is no connection between these 4 people as they are on different networks and one is even verizon. Its becoming a hassle to have to get into facebook and message someone that I talk to on a regular basis. Is there going to be a fix for this anytime soon or do we need to switch providers?

ErnieTsMom

I had the same problem. Verizon customer support on this forum helped me...

make sure your contact is set up with the 10 digit phone number, even if they are in the same area code with you.

It worked for me... hope it works for you too!

kteal

Unfortunately making sure everyone had the 10 digit phone number didn't work for me. We tried every version of the number we could think of and certain people still don't receive my texts.

carmenflora

still having the problem, none of the advice on here has helped. I am really frustrated and might just switch to ATT.

Libertino85

I'm having the same problem... However, when I send them a picture via text, they receive it. It's only written text that they can't receive.

Any fixes or solutions that work? Please...

carmenflora

I recommend logging a technical ticket with verizon and telling them that you need them to walk you through a system restore via itunes.

Good luck all. I know how frustrating it is.

bxrslobber

Im having the same issue; some of my contacts are not receiving my texts. I think it has something to do with the Facebook app & it may be sending messages to their FB email instead? But honestly I have no clue & it's seriously frustrating! I removed the FB app & their fb info still shows in contact info. How do I get rid of all that junk so I can send a regular old text? lol

jasminraven

Similar thing happening to my wifes phone. She has had Verizon for years. A couple of years ago, I dropped ATT to get on her Verizon as a second user to save money. All worked well even after she updated her phone in the first of August. The last few days, she started not getting my texts.

kai29

i am having the same problem. I already posted but no one answered my post :smileysad:. Hope this can be resolved if so many of us are having this problem.

Libertino85

What has worked for me (not sure if this solution has been posted already): Delete the contact of the person who is not receiving your text. Also delete any previous texts from that person. Then re-enter the contact's information. or better yet, text that person by punching in their phone number before saving their contact information... Anyway, this worked for me. I think that person's contact information was somehow corrupted or something. Anyway, give it a try.

bxrslobber

That seems like a lot of work & I dont want to do that for every contact. I've been researching online today & I think it may have something to do with SMS and MMS messages...maybe? Anyone, Anyone??

LCHRN

I'm experiencing the same problem. I have the iphone 5, my husband has a simple LG phone, he is able to receive phone calls from my iphone and texts that contain photos, but not simple text messages, even if we are standing in the same house. It's very strange and frustrating, not so happy, I have no idea how many other people aren't getting my texts.

smileyboy

I have a Verizon iPhone 5, I just ported my number from att and I am having the same problem.

smileyboy

What apps did you leave off?

carmenflora

all of them, it sucked but that seemed to keep the "fix".

carmenflora

I should add, I loaded them back on but as new not from any back ups...

makiah_parris

Even if you file a ticket and they say they will contact you..They are lying I filed my ticket and no one haven't called me back yet.. My service been dropping for 6 days now...Don't go with verizon, your better off using t-mobile...and if they giving you a ahard time, just put them in small claims court and get your money back...(deleted duplicate post as per VZW ToS..same information was added on this discussion https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/785489)

Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator (M)

Verizon_Support

Thanks for all the great tips and information everyone.

Apple has a great article at http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1414 for help with the iPhone restore that carmenflora mentioned resolved her posted trouble. But before you complete a whole restore, I would definitely suggest trying to simply delete the contact and any messages between that person, and then re-enter it like Libertino85 suggested first. Just make sure when you enter the contact, only use 10 digits (for example, use 8009220204 instead of 9220204 or 18009220204).

Also, keep in mind that the first 72 hours after you port your number in from another carrier can occasionally have messaging trouble because it takes time for all of the carriers to process the notification that your number has been relocated to a new provider.

Thank you

JenniferH_VZW

Please follow us on Twitter @vzwsupport

bobzawalich

I have tried all the above with no success, including restoring from iTunes and removing all apps. All my contacts have 10 digit phone numbers.

I am trying to send text messages to 2 other phones on my same Verizon family plan (and my old phone was on Verizon), and they never get them. They can send texts to each other. I can receive them fine. I talked to someone at Verizon and we did a reset and then she could get my texts, but now I am thinking that she may have been on an iPhone.

It is a nice phone, but one reason I got it was to do texting.

Is there any point in talking to Verizon directly again, or should I just give up and get an Android phone?

(EDIT): I just tried deleting the contact and all conversations to that contact and sending a message to the phone number rather than to a contact, and that seems to be working (yayyy) for at least the one phone I could not contact.

I will try this with the other numbers and see if that makes a difference. Thanks for the suggestion!

(Edit again). This process has worked for all the other numbers I tried as well. Thanks again.

bob

DC3400

I am having the same problem and it is turning into a big issue for me at work. There is one contact that I am in constant communication thru texting. One minute they were able to receive my texts, the next they weren't. I have called customer care/tech support twice and the issue is not resolved. I have deleted the contact info, deleted the thread and entered their 10 digit number. I've restored my iPhone 5 back to the factory setting. Nothing has worked. The original customer service agent did confirm that my device was not sending the text bc it wasn't registering on the VW system. I can receive their texts, they just don't get mine. They have a Blackberry but I find it odd that after two years of texting, this would happen randomly. I'm so frustrated. I have not experienced this problem after years of being a VW customer. Although my company has an agreement w/ATT, I fought hard to get switched over to VW. I'm afraid I will have to go back to ATT and I rather not.

gong_master

I have had the same problems discussed in this Forum. My main problem is that i cannot receive texts on my Droid Razr Maxx from my wife's IPhone 5. Others she has texted, who have "dumb phones" are also not receiving her texts. Here is what I have tried...

1. I have tried EVERYTHING mentioned in this forum. (restore, deleted contact and conversation, texted to the 10 digit number, etc)

2. Our IPhone 5 had a few other issues and Verizon actually replaced the IPhone 5. The new IPhone 5 has arrived and the text issue still exists!!!!

3. Interestingly enough, after reading this forum last night, I tried to send a picture through a text from Iphone 5 to Droid and it worked. However, a text that says "test" did not go through!!!

In thinking about this... I can almost trace this issue back to when the IPhone was updated to IOS 6.0.1. Coincidence?

This issue is NOT solved for me yet. any more ideas?

schwabbay

Gong_master, I am still having issues.

1. I visited an apple store. They were no help. They insisted that it was a carrier problem (T-Mobile) which it is not since one of my contacts is a verizon customer.

2. I made sure all contacts had 10 digit phone numbers

3. I did a system reset/restore via iTunes.

Verizon/Apple, get this right. This issue HAS NOT BEEN RESOLVED.

jsbrown

My wife is having the very same problem. She has a Verizon Wireless iPhone 5 and many times, her text messages are not received by others. I also have a VW iPhone 5, purchased and activated the same day/time and VW store. I have no problems with my messages being received by anyone on any phone, on any carrier.

The only difference between the two devices is that on her phone, somehow the Facebook Contact Sync got turned on and she has many garbage Facebook email address now stuck in her contacts. These seem to be the people she has the most trouble sending to. I have yet to figure out how to remove them but I'm betting that when I do, the messaging problem will disappear.

Facebook is a dangerous parasite that wants to wrap its creepy tentacles around everything in your life.

echo52

I am having the same issue as you are. I do not have FB installed on my iPhone.

echo52

gong_master, I believe you are correct with your theory about this behavior happening in conjunction with the last Apple update. I am experiencing your same issues with my iPhone 5.

KReyes

I am having the very same issue as all of you. It seems this ALL BEGAN last evening after a required update to the phone. Afterwards when I text message contacts, some receive the message like normal and others do not and ALL are verizon customers. I have tried everything, deleted my entire contact list and started ALL over only to still have this most frustrating problem. NO ONE from Verizon has helped to resolve the issue and I've phone 5 times already going through the same steps over and over and over again with no resolution. Everything was fine until that update. The contacts that are unable to receive text messages from me, oddly I'm able to receive a text message from them but when I reply they never receive my reply. This is SO SO SO SO FRUSTRATING!!!!

echo52

I have found shutting of iMessage in the settings resolved my problem. I hope this will help some of you folks.

PJob

I don't have an apple I have a Maxx. Same story.