Sending SMS / Text Messages inconsistent. Often will not send.

[kodybaker]

Hi there,

I'm having a very frustrating experience with sending SMS/Text messages. They only go through some of the time. Most of the time, I am faced with a "Not sent. Tap to try again." message. 

I'm on an Android phone. It seems the messages don't deliver when I send to an Apple phone? Not totally sure though. 

These are plain text messages, not even MMS. I've confirmed that my APN settings are correct.

I've searched here, but couldn't find anyone with a similar experience. Anyone have any suggestions for me? 

Thanks in advance!

-K

[srlawren]

@kodybaker yes that's very handy!  Actually OxygenOS (a small layer on top of Android 6.0.1) on my OnePlus 3 lets me do the same things, so I've been enjoying that since June too!  🙂

[kodybaker]

Nougat is pretty great. The best change, that you will never be able to move down from, is the "double tap Recents to jump between apps". It's hard to remember a time when I didn't have this feature, and it frustrates me when I use a phone/tablet without it.

[srlawren]

@kodybaker I'm glad that helped!  I'm not sure why that happens, maybe the database for Messenger gets corrupted after a certain amount of usage or something?  Hard to say for sure.  You may enjoy Textra regardless, but there are a ton of alternatives on the play store that you could try if you don't like it.  

How's Nougat?  I'll have to wait a [probably long-] while for N on my OnePlus 3, sadly.  But I didn't see too much in lists of changes that sounded too critical for me personally.

[kodybaker]

For anyone in the future looking this up, I found my SMS Service Centre Number by punching in *#*#4636#*#* in the dialer. Couldn't find it through the route suggested perhaps as I'm on Android Nougat.

[kodybaker]

Gah, as an engineer, I really can't believe this worked, but by moving to Textra over Messenger, my SMS are now getting through.
Thanks for the suggestion!

[srlawren · Accepted solution]

Hi @kodybaker, welcome to the community! Is this new behaviour, or has it been happening since you signed up?  Do you reboot your phone periodically?  Have you tried using a different texting app to see if it makes any difference?  (I've seen stranger things happen.)  You may currently be using Google's Messenger (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.messaging) which probably came as the default on your phone?  Some popular ones include Textra (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.textra) and Chomp (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.p1.chompsms), or even Hangouts (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.talk).  

I'd be curious if another app behaves better for you.  I personally use and wouldn't hesitate to recommend Textra.  I believe it comes with a 30 day free trial (if i remember correctly), so you could try it risk-free.  If you decide to keep it, you can either live with a few ads, or pay a small fee to remove them (as I did).  

[kodybaker]

Confirmed that +16475800172 is the SMSC number.

[imm1304]

Hey @kodybaker,

Please verify +16475800172 is the number for SMS Service Center Number.

In Android MM, its Messaging >> Settings >> More >> Text Messages >> Service center number

[NDesai]

First, try removing the sim and rebooting your phone. 

Then try different apps like Google Messenger or Textra.