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why do some of my incoming texts show up in squares instead of letters?

Two of my friends have text me and I see only a series of rectangles rather than letters. My phone is Verizon LG/ do not have email; only unlimited text/voice/pic messaging on my phone. All other's messages show as letters with emoticons when used, but not all rectangles like these two. Is there a setting I need to change in order to receive these messages?

Comments

Tidbits

Are they on smart phones? If they are using emojis then this will happen.

MarkieD10

No,that's not correct. The entire message is in blocks/rectangles. It has nothing to do with emoticons.

Verizon_Support

MarkieD10,

That is odd. Let's investigate further. What exact model LG device do you have? Are they texting you from smartphones? Are they using the standard text messaging app to send you a message or a 3rd party application?

LindseyT_VZW

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MarkieD10

They both were not using any emoticons. The beginning of each text message was legible, but the second part came through with only these squares.

MarkieD10

Mine is an old LG, I don't have email; it's not a smart phone. Yes, I believe, but have no one of knowing that these two persons have smartphones. One of which I believe utilizes Sprint I think. The other I have no idea who their carrier is...I receive various texts from people. I know they have other carriers, send thru pic messaging at times and or I am asked If I want to accept the message. I can read all other texts from more than 50 people, but these two are the only ones that turn up as blocks. I've received smartphone texts from many people utilizing other carriers like AT&T and Sprint specifically and when they use emoticons they come through as text and when an emoticon is used it shows up where placed.

Tidbits

It still has something to do with an unsupported format. Some emoticons may still cause this error. It may be their provider and not Verizon. Without exactly knowing the message they are trying to send it's a toss up. Also they could be sending scripts which the SMS/MMS/ISM doesn't know how to translate or knows it's a malicious script and had been blacklisted.

MarkieD10

I believe it would be the fact that they are both not Verizon; sending scripts which the sms...ism...doesn't recognize could be untranslatable,too. I told each that I couldn't read their messages -one resent, but it was sent the same and again unreadable. The second just didn't respond. I've had that problem with the latter person and I think they just stopped sending me any messages because of this issue. Is there any way I can correct this issue from my settings? I would like to know that I can receive these messages as one is my sister's. I have the LG basic not the LG 3. I don't qualify for a new one until April 2016

elliew

The senders may have an option to set any text sent to you as plain-text-only. They may be using a font or other formatting that your device is not interpretting correctly.

chipd95613

I have the same problem. I have been told by some pros that the problem lies with my local verizon server system needing fixed. ..don't expect anyone to acknowledge that here, though.

Some people's unicode formatted messages need to be converted to GSM alphabet before it can be read on a normal phone. verizon should take care of that for you on the way to your phone, however. Which is why it will happen suddenly and to messages from multiple but not all sources.

ncbounder

I have the very same issue and it has become more prevalent over the past month or so. With a Samsung Brightside basic phone, most text from iPhones are come through as a jumble of squares and other symbols. I'v done some basic research but cannot find a resolution.

Verizon_Support

Sorry to hear about the messaging issue you have been having ncbounder. I know how critical text messaging is to me, I am sure you feel the same. The reason why some messages contain unreadable or nonsense characters is because your device may not be able to translate certain font types or special features that are included with some messaging clients.

The iPhone uses an application called iMessage that provides users with these options. It works best when communicating with other iMessage users, but can also be used to send and receive regular SMS and Text Messages. I recommend reaching out to one of your contacts if you should get a message like this again to ask that they disable special features (if possible) before sending another message so that you can read it.

RosanneM_VZW

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