Outgoing texts to #474663

[jignashu]

I am on 10$ plan with only 50 outgoing texts; already exhausted 18 messages to #474663 which was never originated throught my # but somehow it shows that I initiated. Need guidance to stop the outgoing text to this #

[abusure]

my subscription to public mobile does this same. sending outgoing text to #474663 when i did not do it.

what i did was to go to settings then to Do not disturb and finally choose No one to Auto-reply To. So far, this text to #474663 has stop.

[CalgaryBen]

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@atakeda wrote:

This thread is marked as solved but I dont see a solution at all. We are having the same problem after recently downgrading an iphone to a 4S. it has used 30/50 texts this month (so now I am out of texts) and I am worried the same will hapen next month if I cant find a solution.

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This generally happens if/when:

• iMessage and FaceTime are enabled on the iPhone
• SIM card is inserted for the first time into the iPhone

It can often occur if you move a SIM card to another iPhone (typical if you're "testing" it to see if it works in another phone, or verifying whether another phone is compatible with PM, etc.)  It shouldn't keep sending SMS messages to 474663, however.  It typically sends 3-8 at a time, and then stops as long as you don't pull/insert the SIM card or toggle the iMessage/FaceTime setting; are you seeing more?

If you log into your Self-Serve portal and go to the Usage History, take note of the date/time for the outgoing texts, and note that these are in Eastern Time -- maybe you can correlate to some activity you carried out to trigger these?

In any case, to disable this, disable iMessage and FaceTime on the device before you insert the SIM card (you can disable them after/while SIM card is inserted, but then there's no guarantee that some messages won't be suppressed).  If you wish to use iMessage and FaceTime, then there's no way to prevent these phantom messages from being sent, AFAIK.  To disable these: Settings --> Messages --> iMessage (slider to left so background turns white), and also Settings --> Messages --> FaceTime (slider to left so background turns white).

[atakeda]

This thread is marked as solved but I dont see a solution at all. We are having the same problem after recently downgrading an iphone to a 4S. it has used 30/50 texts this month (so now I am out of texts) and I am worried the same will hapen next month if I cant find a solution.

[CalgaryBen]

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@srlawren wrote:

@Anonymous @du5862 yeah that particular # number is iCloud registration texts.  @CalgaryBen do you happen to know any way to prevent that from happening?

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Unfortunately it's pretty deeply embedded in iOS, and I'm not aware of any way to disable/prevent this.  My only recommendation is to leave the SIM cart inserted once things are working.  As long as the iPhone/iPad/iDevice doesn't detect SIM insertion/removal, it won't do the "ET Phone Home" sequence.  Simply "testing" the SIM in various devices will often consume ~6-7 messages per insertion.

It would be nice if carriers would just whitelist the shortcode and not count it as part of SMS usage, but that's another battle...

[srlawren]

@Anonymous @du5862 yeah that particular # number is iCloud registration texts.  @CalgaryBen do you happen to know any way to prevent that from happening?

[Anonymous]

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@du5862 wrote:

I have the same issue, it’s very frustrated since there’s no actual persons in Public Mobile Customer service who you can speak to. I”m on my second month cycle, I just got two more outgoing text to #474663 which has been accounted more 2/3 of my allowable 50 texts per month. Did you find the solution? Thanks for raising the issue. 

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It's not a Public Mobile problem. It's your phone and OS.

Android: turn off SMS permissions in the dialer.

Apple: I'll leave that to Apple experts but it has to do with iMessage and options therein.

[du5862]

I have the same issue, it’s very frustrated since there’s no actual persons in Public Mobile Customer service who you can speak to. I”m on my second month cycle, I just got two more outgoing text to #474663 which has been accounted more 2/3 of my allowable 50 texts per month. Did you find the solution? Thanks for raising the issue. 

[Chanah · Accepted solution]

Both iPhones and Google phones have a nasty habit of setting things up by SMS when you get started with a provider. I don't have an iPhone, so I don't know if there's anything you can do there, but if it's a Google phone, you can revoke texting permission from your phone dialer.

And send a PM to the mods with your phone number, PIN, and an explanation of what happened. Since you're on a limited text plan and you didn't send the texts, they may be able to offset that for you.

[Dunkman]

You likely have an IPhone.  Same thing happened to me.  It usually stops in 1-2 days.

You can contact moderator.  They did credit me back the used texts for the first month.