I have been having problems with the SMS text messaging service for about 3 months now, affecting the sending and receiving of SMS text messages (sometimes sending texts is ok, sometimes not; often I receive texts several hours later, or the next day, or several days later, some texts have never arrived). I have now had around 5 or 6 frustrating phone calls with Virgin customer services tech support over a period of weeks, each one lasting anything up to 1-1.5 hours (including waiting times to speak to someone). Eventually and vey grudgingly they sent me a new SIM card 3 weeks ago which has improved things a bit re sending texts (people are at least receiving them more often than not), but I am still not getting other people's texts when I should (they still arrive at best several hours later, or the next day, or never). Today I tried Virgin again, and we have now figured out that texting works fine and instantly (both sending and receiving) as long as I turn my WIFI off on my phone. As soon as I turn my WIFI on, it stops working again.
Our broadband/ phone/ TV etc at home is from Virgin. My mobile phone contract is with Virgin. Virgin told me that I shouldn't have my WIFI on (my mobile phone) all day anyway, as that "depletes the battery life over time" and that I should keep the WIFI on my phone off (despite the fact I mostly use my mobile phone all day for internet/ email/ WhatsApp, for work and personal use), OR that I could keep my WIFI on and just turn it off when I am expecting a SMS text message (because I am obviously psychic and know when one is due!). When I said that that it was not a workable solution to have a smart phone where I could EITHER text OR use WIFI-based functions, and that they were therefore not fulfilling their contract to me, I received only a dismissive reply "just see how it goes for a while".
Interestingly I had the same thing happen with my previous phone (unlocked handset but Virgin SIM only contract), towards the end of the handset's life. Everything was fine for about a year when I got my new/ current phone (Virgin contract phone) but then the same problems with texting (as described above) started up again.
Has anyone found a satisfactory solution to this (and I don't mean turning WIFI on and off all the time)?
