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Rant

text messages not going through

Dec 24, 2012 11:45AM PST

Got new galaxy phone with at&t service. Had infuse but it broke. Can text to at&t customers but not Verizon friends. At&t says nothing in contract changed. Has anyone else had problem?

Discussion is locked

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Yes.
Dec 25, 2012 1:33AM PST

About the only thing that works is to use that failure as your break of the contract with ATT. Then you get them to transfer the phone number to another company. It's not a phone setting since the SMS makes it to other ATT customers.

So it's clearly their backend at fault. If there is a phone setting to allow this, again ATT supplies that.

They did change the plan months ago. http://www.technologytell.com/apple/76635/new-att-customers-soon-to-be-limited-in-sms-plan-choices/ and to enforce it, you bet it knows your phone's id.
Bob

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Are you serious ???
Dec 25, 2012 3:11AM PST

Bob, a failure of the SMS wouldn't get the OP out of a contract. That was a very silly statement you made. The article you posted is completely irrelevant to the OP's situation.

It is a technical issue that can be resolved. A Tier II level trouble ticket will need to be submitted by CS to resolve the problem.

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Yes I am.
Dec 25, 2012 3:25AM PST

If the carrier does not supply services they agreed to, you have an out. The carriers hate it when you use such as the out but it works (seen it work!)

As to the link, it's not exactly spot on and I knew that. But the claim that the carrier made is false. They make changes all the time in the backend. However they are not going to reveal that to the clients.

SMS does fail a lot more than folk think. One of our early GPS trackers used SMS and it failed a lot. Later we moved to an IP over cellular solution with SMS used to trigger some specific features. Much better but the carriers are a funny lot. Only after years of working with the same support folk have we reached the point they take our requests and reports seriously. They can't take the usual customer too seriously.
Bob

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We will agree to disagree on this one
Dec 25, 2012 8:41AM PST

Features such as SMS are not part of the contract in the same sense as a voice plan. Similarly, a lack of voice coverage at a consumer's house won't get someone out of a contract.

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I got out of my Sprint over coverage.
Dec 25, 2012 8:47AM PST

But maybe because I'm a developer but I had no problem at all. Tipping my hand a bit here but a few companies I do work for have me all over the place, trade shows like CTIA and I hope it's not who you know that gets you good service.
Bob

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Back to the original issue.
Dec 25, 2012 8:53AM PST

Since we know the carrier gets the SMS, it's pretty clear the fault is with them. It's possible the phone needs something set or changed but the carrier should be able to clear that up eventually.

Sometimes you have folk that pick up a phone and jam in the card and expect it to just work.
Bob

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We don't know anything for certain...
Dec 25, 2012 10:27AM PST

It is impossible to say if the fault is w/ At&t or Verizon at this point. As a former rep for At&t I dealt with this type of issue from time to time. Need to give Tier II technical support a chance to resolve the problem.