Cannot text without data

[KamWest]

My son has the $15 dollar plan which gives him unlimited texting.

He sometimes runs out of data and the texting is very sporatic.

He does get a message to log into public when he is out of data but when he sends a text it shows sending for a long time on his screen and sometimes I get it and sometimes not. Same when I send one to him, it can take ten minutes or not deliver at all.

So I asked him to shut off data and wifi to see if it sends and it did but also sporadically.

What should I be expecting when data runs out?

Technically calling and texting should still work right?

[Zyl]

Thanks.  🙂  Thanks for bravo'ing me.  🙂 

[Anonymous]

 @Zyl : Welcome to the Public Mobile Community. What a great first post. Nice work. Even on a solved thread. All new information. Awesome.

[Zyl]

Hi there, 

If your son is able to upgrade to Android 12, there is a way he can specify how to receive SMS without using data. 

-Tap on "Settings" 

-Tap on "Network and Internet" 

-There should be an item titled "SIMs" and under it, it should state "Public Mobile" with a "+" sign at the far right, tap on it,

-Scroll down to where it says "MMS messages -Send and receive when mobile data is off", slide the button to the right or tap on it to activate it.  By default, it's off. 

Now your son should be able to SMS without using data.  He would still wifi to send any gif's or videos.  

Thanks and enjoy!  

[darlicious]

@Meow 

Lol....I used to have a data block on my flip phone with telus. As a result all I would get were squares instead of emojis.

[Meow]

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@hTideGnow wrote:

They are nice, but use data.

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'Nice'? How nice? What else you need beyond sending plain text - letters and other characters? Emoji? They are so tiny you need magnifying glass to see them. Useless.

[Meow]

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@schultzter wrote:

And we wouldn't be have two friends ..

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Why to keep it simple when it could be made so complicated that even OEM cannot resolve it anymore???

[schultzter]

Any idea when RCS will be included in unlimited SMS/MMS? 

Personally I blame Google! When the first Android phone was released Google Chat (previously Hangouts, originally GTalk) should have been the default for SMS/MMS and chat and then Google wouldn't have been futzing around with their messaging strategy for the last 13 years!!! And we wouldn't be have two friends using RCS, two friends using WhatsApp, two friends on Messenger, two friends on Telegram, two friends who insist on running their own Jabber servers, two friends who think it's been downhill since IRC, etc...

[darlicious]

@KamWest 

It's a team effort around here. A little imput from everyone got your son on his way.

[KamWest]

OK so all that worked, here is what I had to do...

1. Disable the chat feature in the Android text app.

2. Clear the app cache

3. Restart the phone

Nothing worked until I did all of the above for Android 10

He is now receiving pictures and texts even though his data has run out and we disabled the wifi for testing purposes.

Thank you everyone for your valuable insights

[hTideGnow]

hate that myself too.. but iMessage RCS are the cool things these days.  . .and Kids these days doesn't know data cost money. 😂

also, how can we ask those Apple lovers to ditch any iTool.. 

[darlicious]

@KamWest 

I hate chat features.....just disable that setting.

[hTideGnow]

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@KamWest wrote:

So he keeps getting a network message that says to log into public and when I click it the message says he cannot access the web. We are now on wifi and he can surf no issues but when data is done the system message says he needs to log into public which is not possible.

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is his Mobile data on?  he might have a MMS waiting.  Try to turn on Mobile data and see if you can click on it 

If it is MMS, it needs Mobile Data but it WON"T count towards the data bucket

[darlicious]

@KamWest 

SMS texts do not require data. MMS texts use data but go thru a separate server and do not count against plan data nor is any data required on a plan for them to work.

After trying @hTideGnow 's suggestions you may need to clear the messaging apps cache, check for updates, delete the problem contacts and re-enter them and/or uninstall and reinstall the messaging app.

[KamWest]

So he keeps getting a network message that says to log into public and when I click it the message says he cannot access the web. We are now on wifi and he can surf no issues but when data is done the system message says he needs to log into public which is not possible.

[Dunkman · Accepted solution]

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@KamWest wrote:
He is on Android 10 and it does not look like there is that setting. He is using the standard google message app with chat enabled. Maybe I should try disabling chat.

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@KamWest 

Yes, try to disable chat feature from Android (ie. RCS messages).  Chat requires data or Wifi.  

[KamWest]

He is on Android 10 and it does not look like there is that setting. He is using the standard google message app with chat enabled. Maybe I should try disabling chat.

[hTideGnow]

@KamWest  is your son iPhone user or Android?  Do you know if you son is using  iMessage (iPhone) or RCS (Android).    Those are special text system using data instead of the usual SMS which does not use data.  They are nice, but use data.

you can try to ask your son to turn if off and use SMS if you want to save data (except the kids these days like iMessage/RCS more 🙂  )

To Turn off on Apple:

•    click on Settings app
• click messages
• toggle iMessage to turn it off

On Android

• On the messaging app, tape 3 little dots on the top right  and click settings
• under chat settings, scroll to "Select default messaging type"
• swtich from Automatic to Text/Multimedia msg