Why can't my NEW Ellipsis 7 use Verizon Messanger to send texts and pictures?

[BobBA]

I have a new Ellipsis 7 to replace my 1st Gen Galaxy Tab. When I try to use Verizon Messenger, I told the device doesn't have permission, and to go online (www.vtext.com) to unblock the device. When I go to My Verizon, My Device,  all text service (send and receive) are blocked (Block Service tab).  I then uncheck the box, and click "Continue".  I'm told it can't be done online, to call Customer Service. Customer Service/Tech Support tried for four days to unblock text services on my Ellipsis, and finally called back and said that the Ellipsis 7 isn't designed to do ANY texting, even though it clearly states in the item description that it can send and receive texts and pictures through Verizon Messenger,  What do I need to do to get the Verizon Messenger to work?

BTW, I went back to the Verizon store where I bought the device, and their solution was to "upgrade" my new upgrade to an iPad for $300 more, then I could text.  Really? Really?

[vzw_customer_support · Accepted solution]

BobBA, I'd love to help you with using messaging on your Ellipsis. You are able to use Verizon Messaging, but it must be signed in using a phone number. Do you have a cell phone with Verizon as well? If you download Verizon Messenger, you can sign in using your My Verizon login for that cell phone number. Once you're signed in under a number that does have a phone, you will be able to send messages from your tablet, and your messages will show that they are from the phone number.

Thank you,
MichelleH_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[Giving_up_on_Verizon]

Totally untrue.  My Ellipsis 7 came with all messaging blocked and I can't even activate Verizon messaging on it.  Which means I cannot associate this unit with a specific Verizon Cloud in my wife's name because to do this she has to register on the device, and in registering they send the temp password by Verizon Messaging directly to the tablet, which can't activate any messaging, and also to her cellphone, which is a basic phone and can't load Verizon Messaging.  So I can't complete the registration.  Despite days on the phone with customer service, and I mean days, nobody at either the customer service or the retail stores can resolve the issue.  Last contact with customer service they told me that tablets cannot receive Verizon messaging! What nonsense. One retail store told me to stop wasting everybody's time and just let her share my Cloud, or use Google Cloud, and what did I need Verizon Wireless for anyway?

So I now have a unit for my wife which;

- Won't activate any messaging, including Verizon messaging.

- Won't let my wife have a Verizon Cloud discreet from mine.

Never mind the worse than useless camera, the 4G only connection which means it's useless between the Mississippi River and the Sierra Nevada Mountains as we travel in our RV (which is the main reason I bought it), and the only 1 GB of App storage, because Apps cannot be stored on the external SD card.  None of which I learned from the salesman before buying it.

And now, after waiting for over an hour for customer service, I received a message "We are having system problems, try again later".  I certainly will, but it won't be with Verizon. 

Goodbye Verizon, hello anybody else; anybody at all.

[BobBA]

I gave up on the Ellipsis 7, and returned it.  I was sold the LG GPad which was better, and even better price.  But guess what?  It has the same issue as the Ellipsis.  It has to be linked to the telephone on the account.  This basically means that once it's linked, per tech support, I'll be able to text.  One catch, people will have to text my wife's phone for the sync'd tablet to get the texts.  So in other words, if someone wants to text me on my tablet, they'll have to text my wife, so I can see my text. When I text them back, she'll get the text as well,  Another catch, if you use a third party text app, it goes against your data account, not the unlimited text account.  This means, the more you text, the more data you use, and thus, when you go over your limit, Verizon makes more money.

[Giving_up_on_Verizon]

Verizon is back in my good books and the nightmare is over.  I  returned the device to the store, the individual I dealt with was very  understanding, and provided what I would call legendary service.  I may  have been able to live with the inability to assign a discrete Verizon  Cloud to my wife, but the lack of backward compatibility on the G4 data  transfer, the "hard" block on messaging, the camera which was worse than  useless in the day, and non-existent at night or indoors because the  unit has no flash feature, the incredibly small free internal memory  with the inability to transfer most apps to the SD card thus making  high-data-storage-needed Apps, like GPS Apps which store the maps on the  device for off-line use, unusable on the device, and the accounts in  the reviews regarding the choppiness of video and movie streaming due to  the bottom end slow processor, were all fatal flaws with respect to my  intended use for the unit.  None of which were told me by the sales  staff, and, with the exception of the lack of backward compatibility of  the G4, I'm quite certain they didn't know any of these issues exist.  All in all, a horrible experience.  Thank you for your efforts, all you Tech Service guys.  I feel  for you as you try to deal with people regarding this device.  It's  pushing on a rope.  Verizon owes you better.

[Technical-Support]

I wish I had read this post before buying my verizon tablet - galaxy tab4.

It turns out that ALL verizon tablets have text messaging functionality blocked.  Yes, you can use anybody elses phone number to send and receive text messages; but not your tablet's phone number!

They recommend you use a 3rd party app which burns up bandwidth instead of the simple cell based text messaging built into the phone/tablet.

Why would this completely artificial functionality block be imposed? 

Even worse, it took me about an hour on the phone to find a tech that knew this simple fact.  A big waste of my time.

I just got my Galaxy tab 4 today.  I wonder what other features I will find that do not work.

[dsa027]

I can't tell if this is answered, but I have a Ellipsis and had the same issue. I finally realized I needed a companion phone to go with it. In other words, when I set up the tablet, I put in my phone number and got an activation code on my phone to enter into the tablet. Now I get all messages on both devices, phone and tablet. Not optimal, but it does work fine.

[faithsphone]

Can you explain it a little bit more.I have tried to understand but for some reason I can't not get it. It not how you explained it , it is me

[fbazbo]

You can't get texts directed to the tablet's phone number, only to another verizon phone number. Essentially you have to pair the tablet to an existing phone. There's no technical reason for this, so there must be a business reason.  Actually there could be a technical block if the built-in phone modem doesn't support texts.