Mobile phone does not receive text messages

[bamusbigus]

I upgraded my phone on 4th February to Samsung A42 5G.

I soon realised that I was not receiving texts, some not at all, some intermittently and some after a long delay.

I soon realised that the text messages I did receive arrived when I was out of WiFi coverage.

I spoke with a chap in Virgin Mobile Customer Services and after much head scratching  and dianostics his solution was to send me a new SIM Card.

I received this at the weekend  and having installed it I am still experiencing the same issue.

Today, I did some experimenting.

First I disabled WifI and sent a text message to my friend, asking him to respond by text if/when he received the message.

The system told me the text had been delivered, my friend received it, he responded to me and I received his response.

I then enabled WiFi and sent another text to my friend, again asking him to respond by text if/when he received the message.

The system again told me the text had been delivered, he responded to me, but this time I received no response.

Later on, when I was away from home and out of WiFi coverage, his response to message number 2 arrived.

I spoke with another chap in Virgin Mobile Customer Services who was very helpful and tried various diagnostics including resetting Network Services. All to no avail. He eventually said he would need to pass the issue to the Fault Management Team and I am awaiting a call from them.

I have become aware that other people are having the same issue and that the finger is pointing at WiFi Calling as the culprit. I thought I would turn off WiFi Calling, but can't find out how to do that.

However, that is potentially adequate (if it works) as a workaround but it is not a solution and is unsatisfactory. I am paying for a service that is not being delivered.

Whilst some of this is inconvenient, a lot of it is not.

My GP Surgery, like many others, uses text messaging to alert me to things I need to know, including issues like getting a COVID-19 vaccinatiion. Not receiving one of those texts is certainly more than an inconvenience.

Many apps nowadays use text messaging to issue security codes to enable secure access. I have not been able to receive any of those messages until after their expiry time. That is not an inconvenience.

Much as I would like to use the Text Messaging Service 07533016422 advertised above, it would be pointless because I have no faith that I would receive a text message  sent to me by it!

Does anyone know of a solution to this issue?

[enlli]

The none receiving of Text Messages when on WiFi Calling is a very long standing issue that seems to affect some phones. I have not seen a fix to date.

[Properjob]

Same problem and spent hours on it but this solved it for me.   Method 7: Performing a network registration reset

If no method worked so far, let’s try resetting the network registration. The solution is to insert the SIM card into another phone which will override the network registration on your number. Here’s a quick walkthrough:

1. Take out your SIM card and insert it in another phone.
2. Turn it ON and wait 2-3 minutes.
3. Make sure it has a cellular signal before you turn it OFF.
4. Take out the SIM card again and insert it in the phone that was causing problems.
5. Turn it on again and wait 2-3 minutes. It should automatically reconfigure the network registration.

[Robert_P]

Hello Properjob

Thanks for taking the time to post your work around for the text's not being received issue. Welcome to the forum.

The issues around sms messages not being received whilst Wi-Fi calling is active is being looked into but as yet we don't have an update on this.

Rob

[HughJarsse]

'The issues around sms messages not being received whilst Wi-Fi calling is active is being looked into but as yet we don't have an update on this.'

Don't hold your breath on this one, This time NEXT year, you will STILL be waiting for it to be 'sorted' 

VM are STILL 'looking into' the ongoing problem of users not receiving OTP and 2FA messages, THAT HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR A YEAR!!! and is STILL ''being looked into' with absolutely  NO further action, apart from the 'cut and paste' message that 'we are looking into this, and hope to update you in the near future' a YEAR after VM first knew about it.....

VM are not even bothered about solving these problems, because they have your money each month to pay their wages, so why should they care?? All you get from them is the  usual 'cut and paste' this is being looked into but as yet we don't have an update on this.' add infinitum...

You WILL NOT get a 'fix for this, EVER...the only solution is to move supplier....FACT!!!

[Tilson]

Have you tried changing Network Mode? VM support suggested this and mine now receives texts. Settings, Connections, Mobile Network, Network Mode. Try setting this to 3G/2G and see if it makes a difference. Good luck.

[kobesmoby]

I too am having the same problem, as is my wife. I upgraded both of our phones from S8+ and Note 8 to S21+ on a 5G contract with the same sim card. 

I initially thought it was down to wifi calling and tests appeared to support that however I know don't actually use WiFi at home as I've got decent 4G signal and I can receive calls. I still do not receive text messages.

I'm of the thinking that it's down to the network changing from EE to Voda and it's quite simply not working right. If anyone has a fix I'd be extremely grateful.

😁😁

[Tom_F]

Hi kobesmoby, sorry to hear you've encountered this issue. 

As far as I'm aware there's still no update on this & it's still being looked into by the relevant teams, we've been asked to collect examples of impacted customers that we can pass on for investigation. I'll get in touch via PM to confirm a few details, just look out for the purple envelope and get back to me when you can.

Tom 

[enlli]

This happened well before the network changes. Originally turning off WiFi Calling worked, however VoLTE causes problems in some cases. 

If that is true for you I hope they get a fix before 3G is turned off next year as your phone will have to use 2G to make calls. 

[kobesmoby]

Small update on the text messaging. I was sent a text yesterday morning around 9am which was delivered at 3.05am this morning. My wife has tried to do some tax stuff online and can't complete it as the texts just won't come through. She also needs to change her banking apps over to her new phone but can't as it's all done on text message to verify the device.

Starting to get somewhat frustrated that this is an issue that's ongoing and appears that Virgin are clueless as to when or how it will be fixed. Rather pointless having unlimited texts when you can't use them.

WiFi calling off, volte off, reboot, manual network scan. 5g, 4g, 3g all tried manually and still texts do not come through or send instantly, always appears to be hours or days later.