Galaxy S6 Can't Receive MMS From Certain Numbers Only

[stestardi]

Here's a tricky one for you all -- I'd appreciate any help.

My friend Mary has a brand new Galaxy S6 that cannot receive picture messages from her kids' phones, but messages from other phones come through fine. Here are the details:

* Mary's phone is a brand new Samsung Galaxy S6 on the Verizon network.

* Her kids have Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S7 phones on a small local carrier called Inland Wireless.

* MMS messages from her kids' phones are not received on Mary's phone.

* Plain text messages from her kids are received fine.

* MMS messages from her kids are received fine on her friend's Verizon Galaxy S6 Phone.

* Mary can send MMS messages to her kids and to her friend's S6 with no problem.

* Mary can receive messages from her friend's Galaxy S6 phone with no problem.

* Neither Mary nor her kids use Google Hangouts.

* Mary has never used an iPhone so there should be no issues with a still-active iMessage account.

* Finally, Mary's previous phone (a Galaxy S3) had the same problem. She used Samsung SmartSwitch to transfer data to her new phone. (I think there's a clue here.)

I'm stumped and would appreciate any help.

Thanks!

Steve

[deloused]

Good details, it really helps narrow it down! I'd focus on- what is the difference between the verizon galaxy friend that does receive the kid's MMS vs Mary's verizon galaxy.

1) Are both the friend's Verizon galaxy & Mary's galaxy phone numbers in the kids contacts, and have you tested it by entering the phone numbers manually in the messaging app instead of using contacts to message?

2) Do the kids have international/assisted dialing turned on in their phone settings?

3) How many digits is Mary's phone number stored in the kids contacts as? (7/10/11 digits) and are there any symbols like + or a 1 before the number?

4) Was Mary's phone number originally with Verizon, or did she port it in from another carrier? Was the friend's Verizon galaxy number originally with Verizon or was it ported in?

5) Is Mary's area code & exchange the same as her friend's galaxy (first 6 digits of the phone number) or are they different?

[Ann154]

I would suggest resetting the APN to the VZW default and/or comparing the APN on a phone that does work. If it is faulty, it would have been carried over from the old phone or the SIM card. If resetting the APN or replacing the SIM card doesn't help, I would suggest calling customer service at 1-800-922-0204 and request VZW reset the text message feature from their end for her line.

[stestardi]

Thanks, deloused.  Answers in red below.

1) Are both the friend's Verizon galaxy & Mary's galaxy phone numbers in the kids contacts, and have you tested it by entering the phone numbers manually in the messaging app instead of using contacts to message?  She can't send it manually.  Said it automatically reverts to contact once she starts typing.

2) Do the kids have international/assisted dialing turned on in their phone settings? no

3) How many digits is Mary's phone number stored in the kids contacts as? (7/10/11 digits) and are there any symbols like + or a 1 before the number? 10

4) Was Mary's phone number originally with Verizon, or did she port it in from another carrier? It was originally with the same carrier the kids have (Inland Cellular) Was the friend's Verizon galaxy number originally with Verizon or was it ported in?  Angie's number has always been with Verizon

5) I's Mary's area code & exchange the same as her friend's galaxy (first 6 digits of the phone number) or are they different? Different

Mary's research into #4 led her to discover that one of her kids has a friend that has the same phone as hers, also on Verizon, and also with a number transferred from Inland Cellular.  She had the same problem but called Verizon and they were able to fix her phone.  So Mary will do that today - I'll let you know the result.

[deloused]

Awesome, regarding question #4, because Mary ported her number from Inland to Verizon the kids should delete their contact for Mary AND the messaging threads to her, and then re-add the contact. Since the intercarrier SMS and calls are working its clear that Inland did update their systems to have traffic to Mary's number point to Verizon instead of them, since it is only an MMS issue it is likely then that the application for messaging on the kids phones are still 'remembering' the former network settings so when they send the MMS their phones are still addressing them to her number @Inland, instead of @Verizon which is why she is not receiving them.

[Ann154]

I still think having the VZW reset the text message feature from the server side is what fixed the other person's line and should fix this phone. It is possible that the port wasn't fully compete for the number.

[Concblue]

I have the same issue. Had iPhone SE and both Inland and Verizon blamed my phone. I had previously been with Inland cellular and had the issue then. Switched to Verizon and same problem. Several hundred dollars later, I now have a Google Pixel 3 and same issue. 

Verizon said it was Inland. I contacted Inland Tech support. They said start a trouble ticket with Verizon and their technical support team would contact Inland Cellular's tech support. I did. 

After a week of email every day assuring me that they were working on it, I got a generic response like you would get at the store. Poor signal, fringe area, busy towers, etc. I knew better since when I was on the phone with Verizon tech support, the lady had me contact my kids and have them send me a picture text. Never reached Verizon. This indicated it was definitely a problem on Inlands end.

Called Verizon tech support again and this new lady told me that I received the wrong email and their tech support never contacts other carriers with these issues due to privacy concerns. Come on. Really?

Called Inland Cellular's tech support again and talked to same guy that asked me to start a trouble ticket with Verizon. He said they do work together on these types of issues but it is typical for some people just to put all the blame on another carrier.

He took the phone numbers of my children, my number, and said he would work to resolve it on his end, especially since it happened even when I was with Inland cellular. We will see. At least he seemed interested

[Concblue]

After reading a couple replies tonight after posting my issues that were similar, I contacted my son and had him create a new contact with my number. Pictures came right through. He then deleted me out of contacts and put me back in. Sent picture text and I got it. Thanks for suggesting deleting and renaming. It worked. I will be contacting my other children with Inland cellular and having them do the same thing.

Thanks for the suggestion