For the past two weeks or so, nearly all of my messages to vtext fail, SMTP code 4.4.7, "delivery time expired". This is all but certainly due to Verizon not having sufficient capacity to handle the volume of messages. Not from me; I send about 10 per day, maybe 20 on a very busy day. I mean the overall vtext volume.
This is a recurring problem. Verizon support personnel rarely even know what vtext.com is, resolutely ignore any information given, and make irrelevant suggestions from their playbook.
Rumors abound, in these forums and elsewhere, that Verizon is sunsetting vtext, and deliberately avoiding any investment. But the Verizon marketing pages, help pages, and support pages all present it as a useful feature, and give no hint of sunsetting.
To recap many endless and unproductive sessions with support people:
I send the emails from a program running in my desktop computer (they alert me to various conditions and events). The messages are invariably sent successfully, but not received; the error occurs after FIVE DAYS (today I am receiving errors for messages sent on 8/24), and is reported by my ISP, Optimum/Altice:
"Final-Recipient: rfc822; [number]@vtext.com
Action: Failed
Status: 4.4.7 (delivery time expired)"
I am NOT using a browser or a web page. Do not suggest that I reboot my machine, clear my cookies and cache, or consult the manufacturer, which is also me (I built the machine and wrote the program. It has been running successfully for years). And preferably do not suggest these steps for the fifth or tenth time in a hour-long conversation where all of the above has been reiterated MANY times.
All of the messages are to the same cell number (mine). Occasionally (less than one per day recently) a message succeeds and is received on my phone, usually delayed several house, but demonstrating that it is not the wrong number, not a non-Verizon number, and not a wrong domain, all of which the support people suggest, again, and again, and again.
The messages are always short, about 70 characters, and all very similar in form. THEY ARE NOT TOO LONG, AND DO NOT CONTAIN PICTURES. Please do not ask me that again.
I did, once, reach a higher level of tech support, and then an even higher level, and they at least understood the issue, and promised to look into it, but I never heard anything back (that was months ago), and the problem keeps recurring.
Is anybody out there? Does anybody give a [redacted]? Should I call Mr. Vestberg?