Text message count wrong?

[ElleBee83]

Hi, I just signed up with PM and when I logged in to my account for the first time and viewed the usage of my texts, it says I used 8 when in actuality I’ve only sent one! 

I have now learned that text messages are limited at 140 characters. I don’t believe I sent a single text containing 981 to 1120 characters... help?

ALSO does anyone have any tips to be able to show how many characters are contained or remaining in a text on an iPhone? I’m running the most current IOS.

Thank you in advance! 

@CS_Agent

[Anonymous]

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@zw wrote:

I just activated my account but got 16 messges in usage. I have PM'ed the moderator via the community email. Not sure why is that and I cannot see details in self serve website.

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I gather you're on the $10 plan. Otherwise one wouldn't care.

This is a phone issue. iPhones like to set things up with iMessage by doing things in the background. Android likes trying to set up visual voicemail doing things in the background.

Both can be switched off to stop doing that.

[zw]

I just activated my account but got 16 messges in usage. I have PM'ed the moderator via the community email. Not sure why is that and I cannot see details in self serve website.

[Dunkman]

Just an update for anybody having similar issue in the future.  When I signed up for my account (iphone 6), I noticed that within one hour 10 outgoing texts were done without my knowledge.  It was to the same number as in this thread.  Probably the phone texting itself as part of initiating with new service?  Anyways, I messaged moderator who was nice enough to add 10 extra text messages for this month.  

[ElleBee83]

@CS_Agent just wondering when/if anyone is going to look at this thread and/or reply to my private message to the mod team sent 05-31-2018 03:55 AM PST. I’ve noticed others getting responses to their questions posted in the boards as most recent as 1 hr ago and I’m still waiting... do you triage issues or is it first come first serve?

[srlawren]

Ugh. PM should never have ventured into metered minutes and texts.  Too much hassle, too many issues like these.  Frustrating.  

[Luddite]

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@ElleBee83 wrote:

Yes I’m eagerly awaiting the moderator’s response.

Everything you say seems to make sense but I don’t have my PC sim and other iPhone which I’m using it with in to double check (I left it at a friend’s in another city yesterday-doh). The only thing that I’m still puzzled with is why it says the called a number I clearly did not. The Usage Type is “minutes” with a duration of 6 minutes total for three “outgoing calls” but the charge is “$0.00”. I tried calling this number from both a landline and my other cell (blocking my call display) and the phone doesn’t even ring, it goes straight to a greeting that sounds automated saying to enter your password.... I am so confused. 

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Well those "funny" calls are not restricted to PM. I have a data only plan from Koodo (to buy a new phone) and my usage shows several calls!  In your situation it's important to discover if they count toward your limited usage.

I have also been wondering how to get the best bang for the buck from this plan and here is my idea for a $15 plan:

- add a $30 data add-on so you can check traffic while on the road (important to me) but be brutally frugal so that it lasts 6 months; can also be used to make Fongo calls

- get a fongo.com account and forward the PM number to it; doesn't count toward your minutes

- give up on sending text messages, or pay $2/month to Fongo for unlimited SMS

- register for autopay to save $2/30 days

- use the phone minutes solely for crisis calls when wifi, or cellular data, not available

- grab free wifi whenever possible

Of course if cellular data has no interest, getting the $15 400 minute long distance add-on adds 133 minutes/30 days for the $5. If your costs creep up to $25 on average then a regular plan is better. 

[will13am]

This is a long standing iPhone behavior.  I googled 474663 and dug up this old thread on Koodo talking about the same issue with outgoing text and some of them appearing as minutes in the usage log. 

https://community.koodomobile.com/koodo/topics/unknown-474663-txt-message-sent-by-me

[ElleBee83]

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@wetcoaster wrote:

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@ElleBee83 wrote:

Yes I’m eagerly awaiting the moderator’s response.

Everything you say seems to make sense but I don’t have my PC sim and other iPhone which I’m using it with in to double check (I left it at a friend’s in another city yesterday-doh). The only thing that I’m still puzzled with is why it says the called a number I clearly did not. The Usage Type is “minutes” with a duration of 6 minutes total for three “outgoing calls” but the charge is “$0.00”. I tried calling this number from both a landline and my other cell (blocking my call display) and the phone doesn’t even ring, it goes straight to a greeting that sounds automated saying to enter your password.... I am so confused. 

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If the number is ending in xxx-xxx-4001 or xxx-xxx-4002 it's the forwarding of calls to your voice mail.

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There are no missed calls though...?

[ElleBee83]

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@Luddite wrote:

@ElleBee83 You are correct it's sent SMS messages that count. Took a while for me to find the $10 plan FAQ but, sadly, it does say:

What is the maximum length of one text message?

A text message contains 160 characters; longer texts are broken down into 160 character segments. Each segment is counted as one text message.

Incoming messages can be MMS, SMS and are free. So this plan is not really suitable for texting in today's environment. 

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Oh I’m sorry I thought I read somewhere it was 140 characters... but great to confirm it’s 160. 

Anyone remember the Nokia 5140 days of sending free worldwide SMS circa 1998?? 😂😂😂

As for the use of this PC sim and my old phone it’s actually just given to my mom when she travels the highways 3 city’s over once a week to care for my elderly grandparents. She doesn’t text much it’s really only for emergencies and contact while away, so it works just fine for her era 👵🏻👴🏻

[wetcoaster]

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@ElleBee83 wrote:

Yes I’m eagerly awaiting the moderator’s response.

Everything you say seems to make sense but I don’t have my PC sim and other iPhone which I’m using it with in to double check (I left it at a friend’s in another city yesterday-doh). The only thing that I’m still puzzled with is why it says the called a number I clearly did not. The Usage Type is “minutes” with a duration of 6 minutes total for three “outgoing calls” but the charge is “$0.00”. I tried calling this number from both a landline and my other cell (blocking my call display) and the phone doesn’t even ring, it goes straight to a greeting that sounds automated saying to enter your password.... I am so confused. 

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If the number is ending in xxx-xxx-4001 or xxx-xxx-4002 it's the forwarding of calls to your voice mail.

[ElleBee83]

Yes I’m eagerly awaiting the moderator’s response.

Everything you say seems to make sense but I don’t have my PC sim and other iPhone which I’m using it with in to double check (I left it at a friend’s in another city yesterday-doh). The only thing that I’m still puzzled with is why it says the called a number I clearly did not. The Usage Type is “minutes” with a duration of 6 minutes total for three “outgoing calls” but the charge is “$0.00”. I tried calling this number from both a landline and my other cell (blocking my call display) and the phone doesn’t even ring, it goes straight to a greeting that sounds automated saying to enter your password.... I am so confused. 

[Luddite]

@ElleBee83 You are correct it's sent SMS messages that count. Took a while for me to find the $10 plan FAQ but, sadly, it does say:

What is the maximum length of one text message?

A text message contains 160 characters; longer texts are broken down into 160 character segments. Each segment is counted as one text message.

Incoming messages can be MMS, SMS and are free. So this plan is not really suitable for texting in today's environment. 

[Luddite]

@ElleBee83 You will need to wait for moderators to respond. My understanding is that the $10 plan is 50 text messages whether SMS or MMS, so the length should not matter. Apple does send messages to/from your phone the moment you activate messages; that is to sync iMessage properly to your phone number. 

The correct message settings are: Settings >> Messages >> iMessage ON, Send as SMS ON, MMS ON >> Send & Receive should show your phone number and iCloud email address.

If you've been charged incorrectly the moderators will reset your message count.

BTW: cellular data/roaming must be turned on for MMS to work properly. There is no charge for the data needed to send/receive MMS.

[ElleBee83]

Ok so this is weird... 

I sent one text message at 5:15 but was sent in two apparent parcels as SMS texts. I then received a SMS text message at 5:16 and then have NOT used the phone since. 

As per this detailed log It shows a text message being sent to 474663 but usage type is “Minutes”...?? Who is 474663??? I didn’t send this text. 

Also I did NOT make calls to 778-580-4001 and I am showing that I have full minute allotment remaining. As per screen shot.

i googled the number and found this Koodo forum... 

https://community.koodomobile.com/koodo/topics/charged-minutes-for-outgoing-call-i-did-not-make

 What the heck is wrong??

[mimmo]

to have aa detailed account of your usage log into selfserve and click view my usage it is right under change plan button in the "Account Status: Active"   

it will show sms calls and mms usage.

[ElleBee83]

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@will13am wrote:

@ElleBee83, could your high SMS consumption be due to some iCloud thing.  I am not a iOS user so I have no clue how iPhones work.  I just recall customers on the limited talk/text plan complaining about how quickly the SMS count was going up and they never sent any text.  It had to do with the phone automatically sending out text.  It is all strange to me but as an iPhone user you might know more about this.  You can always look at the usage log to corroborate the SMS usage count. 

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I currently do not have iCloud set up. I do not use iCloud for backups or automatic iOS downloads/updates. I’m really at a loss as to why this is happening. I’ve contacted the moderators to help troubleshoot. As for automatic sending of text messages that seems very strange to me because this is the first I’ve ever heard of that scenario. I wonder if it’s a server issue??? I wonder if it could be that messages are sent to the PM server and for some reason be sent multiple times to the to the recipient server and then to the recipients actual phone?  I should double check with the recipient to see if the messages were received multiple times... 

As for the usage log I’m not even sure where that is lol This is a second sim for me using one of my older phones. I’m used to unlimited everything and not having to check a usage log to determine if the amount of messages sent relents the charge or tally on my bill. Anyway I guess I’ll goggle it 😁 and see what I can find out. Unless anyone else has any pointers...

[mimmo]

I agree with @will13am I would check teh usage logs and see what numbers the texts are sent to.  

the solution in this thread has some details https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/Texts-are-used-even-though-I-didn-t-text-...

[will13am]

@ElleBee83, could your high SMS consumption be due to some iCloud thing.  I am not a iOS user so I have no clue how iPhones work.  I just recall customers on the limited talk/text plan complaining about how quickly the SMS count was going up and they never sent any text.  It had to do with the phone automatically sending out text.  It is all strange to me but as an iPhone user you might know more about this.  You can always look at the usage log to corroborate the SMS usage count. 

[ElleBee83]

No, actually it was all... text... 😉 But thank you, I didn’t realize that emojis can use up quite a few characters.  : + ) = 🙂 

[jp2]

Were you using emojis? A single one can use 70 characters 

[jp2]

Use this to turn on character count in your phone settings 

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/m.wikihow.com/View-the-Character-Count-for-Texts-on-an-iPhone%3famp=1