Texts not sending or receiving when not on wifi

[etang]

My daughter signed up for the $10/month plan in June and only told me now that she doesn't receive texts or her friends don't receive texts when not on wifi?  Not sure what is wrong?  Anyone know what might be happening?

[smp99]

Turn data on for MMS. Many people have reported that MMS does NOT count towards your 50 SMS texts. If you send a regular text msg to multiple people (more than one) your message automatically converts to MMS. So some have created a Fongo account and added that contact to each sent message and it seems to work. I cannot test since I have unlimited text. 

By default iMessage uses data so that is why she has to wait to get into wifi. Make sure MMS message and Group Message is turned on in settings. 

[stonechucker]

Data *must* be turned on to use MMS on any device.  iPhone, Android, Nokia, BlackBerry, etc... it doesn't matter which device, and the data for MMS is zero-rated, so no need to worry about being charged, and your data plan is not touched by MMS data.

[Kathieknox]

I have same issue as the dad posting the questions. I hope you can see my comment to him. 

I have done all you suggest and still there are messages that never get to me and also some of mine do not get to people. It is only a problem with friends who use iPhones and iMessage   All of their settings and all of mine have been checked and double checked and triple checked by Apple support and have followed what u have suggested here. 

[Kathieknox]

Hi. Did you get an answer for this?

i have spent hours and hours on phone with Apple support trying to get help with this. 

I was missing random messages from two fiends in particular and they would randomly not get my messages. I have tried with iMessage on and iMessage off as that seemed to be a problem and also meant i would not see (or receive) their iMessages until I got back into wifi. Their messages could not come to be as text and they had no notification that their messsges were not delivered. So I’m the end with Apple Help I turned  off iMessage so that the iPhone iMessage user friends would have to send only texts to me. Their phone is supposed to figure that out and send as text. But this was inconsistent too. 

So in the end Apple had me turn data on but turn off 99% of toggles in phone. Apparently only a very small amount of data would be used for texts and then maybe fb messsnger messages. There seemed to be no other way to assure I would get texts/ their iMessages 

So now I look at my account and r looks like I have been billed for going over the data limit. I was under impression that once you hit data limit you just had no more data left. Is this incorrect?? I don’t want extra charges. Can it be set to just no longer allow data usage if this is the case? Ugh I can’t seem to add the screenshot here 

it says 1 GB at 3G speed $22 

Can someone help please 

[stonechucker]

The $10 50/50 plan has the following restrictions.

50 outgoing SMS messages and MMS combined

Unlimited incoming SMS and MMS messages.

50 minutes of combined incoming and outgoing Canada Wide calls.

This plan can extend the voice minutes by purchasing the $8 or $15 long distance add-ons, but SMS and MMS will not reset until the plan is renewed.

What I think is happening, is your daughter is using here limited SMS and/or MMS, and is not able to send them at that point.

[mpcdesign]

Go to the Apple store if you can!

[etang]

I've been playing with the setting, and I checked my iphone also. I have now changed my setting to SMS when imessage not available.  I tried to send her a text again when not on wifi and still it is not being received on her end.  

I believe that this could be the reason why her friends may not be able to reach her via text when not on wifi - their iphones are probably not set to send SMS when imessage is not available.  Since there is no data on her plan, she needs to stick to imessage on wifi, or SMS from only those who have phones set to send SMS when imessage not available?

All said, still not sure why I can't send her an SMS now when not on wifi now that I've changed setting?

[mpcdesign · Accepted solution]

hi @etang,

This isn't going to be a moderator issue though. Since your daughter is using iMessage:

Check your device settings

1. Make sure that she is connected to a Wi-Fi network. If you're using an iPhone, you need SMS messaging to activate your phone number with iMessage and FaceTime. 
2. Double check the correct password is being used for the Wi-Fi. How would you know? It will tell you if you are connected or not.
3. Go to Settings > General > Date & Time and make sure that your time zone is set correctly.

Can iMessage work without Wi-Fi?

This requires a DATA connection. Apple assumes every iPhone has a Data connection, and since iMessages is designed to NOT use SMS (saving the user money), it will wait until it gets a data connection before sending the message. A Data connection is either EDGE/3G/4G from the carrier, or Wifi.

Is iMessage free?

If she is texting over WiFi abroad your message will be sent as an iMessage. Or if you purchased a small data plan to text using data (not SMS) you will also only want to text using iMessage to avoid texting charges. ... Turn off “Send as SMS” to avoid carrier messaging rates.

[Anonymous]

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@etang wrote:

Thanks for the detailed response.  She is definitely using imessage and not we chat or any other texting app.

I think that I will have to wait until I get a response froma moderator.

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Settings and apps on your phone have nothing to do with Public Mobile. iMessage is an Apple thing.

[etang]

Thanks for the detailed response.  She is definitely using imessage and not we chat or any other texting app.

I think that I will have to wait until I get a response froma moderator.

[Anonymous]

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@mpcdesign wrote:

You daughter's $10 plan is for 30 days. She gets unlimited incoming texts, but she only gets to send 50 texts messages to her friends, and after that, she gets charged.

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There are no extra charges at Public Mobile. Your statement is incorrect.

[mpcdesign]

You daughter's $10 plan is for 30 days. She gets unlimited incoming texts, but she only gets to send 50 texts messages to her friends, and after that, she gets charged. Check your account if she is indeed sending texts messages on her account (denotes usage type would be SMS) , or Call Type: Either Incoming Text or Outgoing Text.

If nothing shows up on the account as above, then....

Ask your daughter: If she uses wi-fi, to receive her texts, chances are, your daughter is using an app such as WhatsApp, WeChat, Facebook Messenger, Viber, Skype, etc. If she uses an app, then she needs to change her permission for receiving messages on her phone.

App not being used: If she isn't using an app, then it could be a moderator that needs to help you with this. When a moderator from the moderator team posts a message, they want you to send them a private message. You don't need to report the situation/story in the forum. Wondering why they want you to contact them directly? The moderator team will need to ask you some private information that you really don't want the forum and the world know such as your PIN number, account information, phone number and maybe an email address. Unfortunately, the moderators are done for the day, and won't return until later this morning. 

Be advised, at this time, the moderator team is closed for the night. 

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[computergeek541]

Wi-Fi isn't even part of the text messaging SMS specification. Text messaging does not require a Wi-Fi connection, or any internet connection for that matter.

Is your daughter trying to use some instant messaging app instead?   If one of those instant working when using a a cellular data connection, it's possible that the Acess Point settings need to be double checked.  Are other internet activities working when not connected to Wi-Fi?

The other possibility, which was brought up earlier, is the use of Apple's iMessage service. What's puzzling about this is the fact that service should work with any working internet connection (Wi-Fi or cell data), and even if internet wasn't working, I believe that standard text messages would send through the normal SMS protocol that doesn't require an internet connection.

As for not being able to send text messages, what phone model is your daughter using?  Specifically, an incorrect SMSC setting would prevent someone from sending text mesaages, although that would not explain not being able to receive them (as that setting could be incorrect and receiving would still work). 

[MoreYummy]

If it doesnt work only when connected to WIFI, its not text issue, its the app she is using to send message.  It is different idea.

[ShawnC13]

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@etang wrote:

My daughter signed up for the $10/month plan in June and only told me now that she doesn't receive texts or her friends don't receive texts when not on wifi?  Not sure what is wrong?  Anyone know what might be happening?

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So she doesn't receive any texts in  4.5 months?  Her firends only receive messages when she is on wifi?  Is she using an iPhone and is her phone trying to send imessage?  I am not an iPhone user but does iMessage send through data?

[Anonymous]

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@etang wrote:

My daughter signed up for the $10/month plan in June and only told me now that she doesn't receive texts or her friends don't receive texts when not on wifi?  Not sure what is wrong?  Anyone know what might be happening?

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Wifi shouldn't enter into it. Unless she's using an app for texting. If she's using standard SMS texting then it should work fine.

She only gets 50 outgoing so maybe she keeps going over.