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Sometimes failed messages are received as duplicates

Occasionally my phone will tell me that a text message has failed to send--but the recipient will report receiving multiple copies, in one case as many as 50! This was annoying when it only double-sent the messages, but 50 duplicates is a huge problem for the recipient.

I live in an area where the cell reception isn't always great and so it's not that unusual for a message to fail to send or to have to try a little longer to send. But when the duplicates happen, it's always the same pattern: my phone reports that the message didn't send at all, but the recipient gets multiple copies. There's never any record of multiple copies on my phone. I use the default Messages app on my HTC One M8.

This only happens sporadically so I can't say exactly when it started or how long it's been happening. And it's going to be hard to tell if it's been fixed.

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Verizon_Support

We are unhappy to read of the trouble. We understand how tough this can be. Help is here for you aranel. Let's see if we can isolate this. Have you been able to pinpoint if it's multiple people you message or a specific person? Are they are different networks? Please try settings>App manager>The all tab>Messages>clear data> retest after this has been done.
BobbyNN_VZW
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aranel

I was optimistic that clearing the data cache had fixed it, but it just happened again right now, with a completely different person. Also, it was someone I don't normally text with. And it was not just one duplicate. It was 6-8 times each.

There are at least three people I've confirmed this has happened with, all of whom are on Verizon. One of them has an iphone, one of them has an android phone, and one of them has an an older phone (much older) that isn't a smartphone.

The thing that's consistent is that I usually get a message telling me that the text didn't send, and do I want to retry? And that's when I get a gazillion duplicates, even though as far as my phone is reporting, the message was sent successfully only once or else did not get sent successfully at all. I think what is happening is that it is trying to resend a message that didn't actually fail to send in the first place.

While this was happening this time, I noticed that my phone was also losing and regaining the WiFi connection and the data icon was switching between 1G and 3G, which may or may not be related. I restarted my phone and it seems to have settled down. (I also deleted the pending text message.)

Verizon_Support

@aranel

Thanks for the additional information and for keeping me posted. Let’s take a closer look.

Are you at a specific location when this happens? If so, what is the zip code of the location? How many bars of service does your device display when this happens?

AnthonyTa_VZW
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aranel

Usually I am in zip code 56056 when it happens, but I couldn't say if that's always the case. There can be anywhere from one to five bars, depending on where I happen to be standing. Coverage isn't just bad here--it's very erratic.

I have a network extender (from Verizon) when I'm at the house but I don't think this is happening exclusively when I'm using that.

However I've been using this phone (with the same network extender in the same location) for much longer than I've been having this problem. If anything, coverage in this area is slightly better than it used to be.

aranel

I use the stock texting app.

I am not telling you the exact ZIP codes because that is way too much private information for a public forum like this. One of them was a small town in rural MN (with better reception than the one where I live) and the other was at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.

aranel

Oh! And I just checked my usage records here on the website and there are indeed multiple text messages being sent at the exact same time, so I'm apparently getting billed for the duplicates, and also there is a record (and probably there are locations attached to that somewhere that you could access).

So far this has not resulted in any additional charges, but if it does, I will be asking for them to be removed.

aranel

If you go back to the one starting at 1:00 pm on February 21, it goes for about three pages.

Three. Pages. OI the same text message.

I assume my sister, who also has Verizon, was also billed for all those incoming texts. Which needs to stop.

Verizon_Support

aranel, we want to make sure that we get to the bottom of this issue ASAP. We don't want any one to be billing for any duplicate text messages. I want to be able to get more account specifics. I've requested to follow you and also sent you a Direct Message. Can you please respond back to the Direct Message. I hope to hear back from you soon.

KevinR_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

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