I’m having an intermittent problem where I can’t send some group texts, even in an already-existing string. It just spins and never sends. It seems to be more of an issue with longer (but not exorbitantly long) messages. For example, today it wouldn’t send a two-paragraph message, but then it successfully sent the shorter one I created in the same text string immediately afterward. Similarly, it wouldn’t send a several-paragraph message to three people, but it would let me send the same message to them individually.
When this happens, it’s affects the same messages both in the Samsung messages app on my phone and in the Windows Phone Link app--and it used to happen when I also tried Google Messages--so it’s not an app issue; it’s likely something with T-Mobile.
I was having the same problem about a month ago, then it improved. Now it’s begun again. Help! I need to send group texts for a variety of reasons, and this is a real problem.
Group texts won't send
group texts need data to send/receive. are you by chance running into data issues or by chance have it turned off?
group texts/pic texts need data.
straight to the person uses the voice side and not data unless its a pic or overly long text
Thanks, fireguy, but I don’t think that’s the issue or it would happen more often with group texts. This is intermittent, and I use data all the time so it is turned on.
Sending messages in group message already notifies a lot of people so I can see why you don’t want to send multiple shorter messages and cause phones to ring off the hook. lol
The size limitation for outgoing messages is 1MB. A picture could easily be over that, but I highly doubt two paragraphs of text would get you there, so I doubt that size is the issue here. Since the conversations are ongoing, we know it is not an issue with the phone number or message being blocked by the receiver(s). Good to know that the data is working so we know it is not the multimedia aspect of the message causing the hiccup. I suggest these things from here:
- Make sure that the phone software and all the apps you are using are fully up to date.
- Make sure that you have at least 10% available memory space available on your phone. Once space fills up, everything can start to act funny in different ways.
- Delete old text messages. AS MANY AS YOU CAN. I especially would start with the conversation threads that are having the most issues (delete the conversations completely if you can). Even if you have plenty of available space on your device, when you have too many messages on your phone, sending and receiving can be unreliable and frustrating. I know that a lot of information in texts can be important to save, so explore the different ways to back up the info before you delete it. You can take screenshots and back those up to a cloud, use a third party SMS backup app, or some other idea that I may not even know about. You mention a few different messaging apps, so I encourage you to delete messages from those as well.
Deleting messages can be stressful and time consuming, but in my many years working tech support here at T-Mobile, I have seen it work more times than any other tricks I have tried.
I hope this helps.
Thank you for the suggestions, but I don’t think they’ll help. I’m not sending pictures, I update apps automatically and any time I see updates available--and I keep the phone updated too, my phone is a new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra with almost 2/3 of both memory and storage available, I winnow my texts regularly, and the other messaging app I have tried (Google Messages) is disabled if it’s not the default so there are no messages there.
I do maintain about 10 group text strings because they’re all groups I communicate with regularly, but I delete everything else within a couple of days. (Side note: I wish Samsung Messages would permit naming groups, as Google Messages does--it would be SO much easier to figure out which group I want to communicate with.)
I also have an occasional issue where a reply to a group comes in as an individual text (contrary to my group settings) with a blank subject and hangs on “Downloading.” That plus the problem outlined above really lead me to think this is a T-Mobile problem.
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I don’t have any issues sending MMS messages with my s23 Ultra. I use Pulse though and I have long messages over 3 messages long set to send as an MMS and the picture/video size set to 700kb.
It’s great that you are regularly deleting messages. I have seen some phones that have tens of thousands of messages and it really makes things freak out.
To check the T-Mobile side, you would have to contact customer service with specific examples that include date, time, location, and phone numbers included in the message that fails to send. They can file a ticket so the engineers can review the specific messages that fail and can find when/where the failure occurs.
Also some replies to group texts come in as individual messages with no subject and hang on downloading. Sometimes they then pop back over into the group and sometimes they never load. It's a huge problem for me.
I have the EXACT same problem. Thought it was my related to my old phone (s10 plus) but just got a new s21 and it still happens. Longer texts often get hung up in group messages, and incoming texts come in as an individual text that fail to download. I see that this happens when my cell service is spotty. In areas of good service this doesn't happen. Text over WiFi DOES NOT resolve this problem, seems to still try and use the cellular network for multimedia texting. I am extremely disappointed that it still happens on my me phone, to the point that I think I am going to switch carriers. Good luck, let me know if you ever find a solution.
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Limit long texts to a maximum of 3 messages converted to one MMS.
I have had the new Samsung 23 PLUS for 3 weeks now, when I switched to T-Mobile and was sent the phone as part of the promotion to get me to switch. I’m having terrible issues with Group Texting, I’ve already talked to customer service about it and they insisted on walking me thru “how to send group texts 101,” as if I didn’t know what I was doing. I know very well what I’m doing, and I know how a phone service is supposed to work, and this one is NOT working. Not only do I have a problem with intermittent group txts, but what I receive back isn’t necessarily in the order sent to me, so it’s very confusing at times. I refuse to spend MY time “documenting” the times, the locations, and the phone numbers I’m group sending to, the problem is NOT mine, it’s T-Mobile’s as documented here by everyone else. NEVER, EVER had such problems with my old service, NEVER had to “delete txts” to solve problems, NEVER was told to “restart” to try to solve problems, NEVER had ANY problems with my old service, and I’m regretting now that I left it for this one to save $50 a month.
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Try using a different texting app. If you are using RCS. You could try turning that off first.
I am having the same issue with group text with and without attachments and I don’t feel like I should have to delete any messages because I don’t have that many and I don’t think I should have to do anything special to get them to send. It is also intermittent. I pay good money for my iphone and for the service that I expect to work. I did contact customer service and they replaced my sim card and assured me it would correct the problem but it did not. I have been a customer for a very long time but if it keeps this up I will be changing carriers. The need to resolve this issue.
I have the same issue with group text. I cannot send anything sometimes. I thought it might have been an issue with some of the others in the group blocking my number but I can send a photo or short text sometimes. Very frustrating!
Also, some individual text coming to me in a group takes a while as a download.
Any solutions yet?
usually its a data issue or lack there of. what phone is it? might have to mess with a different texting app to see if its app related and not so much phone related.
Samsung S22 Ultra while using the Samsung message app that came on the phone.
Also the same issue using the Google messaging app.
interesting. anything like battery saver mode turned on?
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Maybe try going to the app developer instead of T-Mobile. I have tried Google Messages and Samsung Messages and these issues don’t exist for me. I do realize that I am not the average user though and understand how to troubleshoot my device. I don’t use these apps regularly though but either app that uses RCS, always says Jibe for me.
interesting. anything like battery saver mode turned on?
No, battery saver is off.
try what syaoran said up there.. i run GM on my V60 with no issues..so it might be something specific to S22 or a fluke and something else is causing it..since it happened on 2 different texting apps it points right back to the phone itself..
purchased from TMO or purchased elsewhere/from another carrier?
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interesting. anything like battery saver mode turned on?
No, battery saver is off.
Not just battery saver. Go into the texting app permissions from the list of your apps and set the battery management for it to unrestricted. One other thing people don't se to understand about RCS, is that a message can't send if the other person is offline. It isn't like a text that floats around on the network for a few days. If the other end of the RCS chat has their device turned off or isn't connected to data. That message will not send. This is one of the many reasons why RCS sucks!
As of 10/3/23, I am still having this problem often, but not every time I sent a group text. To recap since some of the suggestions have covered old ground--it happens in both Google Messages and Samsung Messages. I have a 6-month-old, topline phone (S23 Ultra) with plenty of data storage. I frequently delete old texts. Other posters with the same problem on this thread include both Samsung and iPhone users.
New info: I was out of state a couple of weeks ago and it did not happen there. Interesting….
I’m going to contact T-Mobile to see if they can help, because the problem clearly seems to be theirs. This is obviously an issue for more than just me.
I am having the same problems with my S23! I can see messages in the group text, but I can't message! I am beyond frustrated!
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