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Text messages are delayed sending and receiving

  • 3 January 2018
  • 62 replies
  • 3272 views
K
Userlevel 2

When I receive a text message, I often get it and it shows 5+ minutes old. Its even been in excess of a day - this when I have plenty of signal and can make voice calls and use data without issue. I use the standard stock Messaging app. I also have delays sending messages. It spins and spins and a reboot rarely helps.

I'm using a S5. I deleted all the messages, no change. It has been factory reset with no change. I used to have a Note 4 with the same issue.

My zip is 30005. I have been having this problem for over a year. I've ignored it mostly because I got told about service improvements in my area and promised a booster that never arrived.

But now the delays are causing me great pains because more and more websites are using SMS for 2-factor and a message that takes over 4 minutes to arrive DOES NOT WORK for 2-factor as the code expires before I receive the message. So I now need this figured out.

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Best answer by kyferez 10 February 2018, 05:16

It is pointless to talk to support - they have no clue and is a complete waste of time. I have a coworker that has been dealing with support for a year on this and gone through 4 Tmobile provided phones (S5, an LG, something else, and an S7 which is the latest) in that year because of this. I have also been discussing with others who have Tmobile, and everyone I talk to has this issue with delayed text messages. So obviously this is not a device issue but a network issue.

My coworker has also decided to drop Tmobile due to it.

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62 replies

K
Userlevel 2

So no-one has any insight into this?

I've been with T-mobile since 2012 through some good and bad, but I cannot deal with these delayed texts any longer - they are preventing my use of certain sites which is impacting me financially now. I will have to leave if this isn't fixed.

tmo_mike_c
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Userlevel 6
Badge +14

Yikes! Delays are no good and we certainly want to fix this for you. Is this only happen with 2 factor verification messages? If so, does it happen with one or multiple senders? Since this is happening on multiple devices, this may result in the need to file a Trouble Ticket.

K
Userlevel 2

Yes, it is with more than just the 2-factor auth; it's just that is the most important reason I need them not to be delayed.

Yes, it happens with all senders. Occasionally texts will come in without delay, but most of the time it's in excess of 5min.

Delays also happen with me sending to others.

It also happens whether I am on 4G or WiFi.

Also after talking with my family, all 4 phones on my account have the same issue. Seems clear that this is an account issue or T-mobile network problem and not a problem with an individual phone or individual line.

4

Well that sounds frustrating!  Just a thought that may, or may not help.  I recently had a similar issues on one of the devices on my account, a Moto G5 Plus.  Obviously this is not a T-Mobile branded device, but it's compatible.  Usually when the T-Mobile sim card is used there's no need to go in and manually set up the APN, but in my case, doing so resolved the issues.  Instructions are here:  BYOD T-Mobile data & APN settings 

tmo_mike_c
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Userlevel 6
Badge +14

We wanna help turn this around for you and your family. Have you already filed a Trouble Ticket for this? That is the next steps to get our engineers involved to get this taken care of.

tmo_marissa
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Userlevel 6

Hey there, @kyferez​. I'm with Mike on this -- a Trouble Ticket is going to be the way our Tech team can alert the folks in engineering that we need to take a look at the network and try to get to the bottom of this. I know these past few weeks aren't exactly the calmest of the year, so if you haven't had a chance to yet, that's OK! When you are able to reach out -- either by calling Tech Care or by contacting T-Force on Twitter or FB, it might be helpful to already have a few examples ready. Basically, to initiate traces, we'd may need to have you report the number the message is coming from and the time that it arrives vs the time stamp on the message itself. Please let us know how this goes! Thank you. 😊

N

I just switched a month ago, I have a iPhone 7 plus and I'm noticing that my messages, sometimes a group, are not received until the next day. Is there a setting I need to change now that I have the new service, please help!

tmo_mike_c
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Userlevel 6
Badge +14

Are these messages coming from specific numbers or carriers? Have you already tried clearing out unneeded messages from your phone to see if the messages come in more smoothly?

K
Userlevel 2

It is pointless to talk to support - they have no clue and is a complete waste of time. I have a coworker that has been dealing with support for a year on this and gone through 4 Tmobile provided phones (S5, an LG, something else, and an S7 which is the latest) in that year because of this. I have also been discussing with others who have Tmobile, and everyone I talk to has this issue with delayed text messages. So obviously this is not a device issue but a network issue.

My coworker has also decided to drop Tmobile due to it.

dragon1562
Userlevel 6
Badge +12

Did you end up dropping T-mobile or did you still want help. I just now saw the thread and would still like to help if I can.

K
Userlevel 2

I still have mine for now; but I'm certainly looking at my options. If you're help is going to be device related though, I'm not interested as I'm certain it's a network problem now. I've already done everything device related that can be done; including modifying the APN settings to recommended, both by Tmobile and others. The mobile groups recommendations actually work slightly better than Tmobile's recommendations, but it's still a constant problem trying to send/receive.

dragon1562
Userlevel 6
Badge +12

Well I was hoping to narrow down the possibilities by asking a few additional questions. I am sorry but in order for me to be of any use to you info is important. I wanted to ask if you could try using the phone in safe mode. If things work perfectly in safe mode then their is a app on the phone that is not playing nice with your messaging app.

The other thing I want to ask was if this happens on wifi as well. If that is the case it would reaffirm my belief that it is something to do with the device. To be clear you are using a S7?

K
Userlevel 2

No, I'm using an s5 currently. This is most certainly NOT device related. I use VERY FEW apps. No Facebook, no games, no unknown apps. Only a couple very well known apps like Robinhood and Waze. It's not an app causing this because like I said in my original post, I have HARD RESET and the issue STILL occurs. AND it's not just me. It's my ENTIRE family, and my coworker, and everyone else I talk to that has Tmobile in this area.

Forgive my bluntness and annoyance. I've been down this road repeatedly with more than 1 device. IT"S NOT THE DEVICE!

dragon1562
Userlevel 6
Badge +12

I understand your frustration. I was just a bit confused and I have not been there with it all. If it is effecting numerous people then you may be right about it being a network issue. I just find it to be odd for it to go on for so long, since people would rightly so complain. Did you try wifi calling on the device? Like I said wifi is separate from the network and should not be effected. I also want to ask again and sorry in advance but did you say this was in one particular area. Is it effecting you across all bands. IE have you tried dropping off LTE for texting?

K
Userlevel 2

How do you know it's not being complained about? Furthermore, how do you know lots of users aren't just ignoring it as I did for a year before starting this thread? As I stated in an earlier post I didn't complain about it for over a year because it was a minor annoyance, until now when so many sites use SMS for 2-factor auth.

Stating you haven't been here with it is understandble, however you can read the full thread here and see everything that's been discussed. I covered much of what I've re-stated in my last few posts in my original post.

Additionally, your earlier assertion that being on WiFi and having issues with SMS would eliminate the network is incorrect. It could eliminate the Cellular connection, but not the entire Tmobile network. It is obviously something Else with the Tmobile network, not necessarily the cellular connection as I can make calls and use data with no problem.

It seems more like a capacity problem with the SMS servers and or services due to the intermittent nature of the issue and how it occurs despite good cellular connection and also while on WiFi.

dragon1562
Userlevel 6
Badge +12

I know what you mean but I figured people would still make noise. I am very vocal when I have a issue with T-mobile service or any product for that matter. Also I read the thread a few times now but there are still bits of info that were never talked about. Sometimes the issues we face are from the silliest of things. Tech can be odd like that.

As far as my assertion with wifi eliminating the texting issue, it should. Since you are no longer relying on the T-mobile network to send the message. When you get right down to it a text is just a little bit of data following a very old protocol to get your message from you to the receipt. So when texting issues arise due to a capacity issue it should also degrade other services on the network, since texts do not strain the network like normal data.

The only time I have seen SMS services get overloaded was during times of emergency. I would file a ticket again with T-mobile and ask them to see if what you asked could be the case. I'm not saying it is not possible only that I believe with the info in front of me that it is unlikely.

Like I stated in the previous post and for the sake of being clear( and if you answered this I'm sorry I didn't catch it) have you tried using HSPA+ or E(2g) to send the texts. Have you also tried reaching out to John Legere email?

Unrelated to this issue specifically but I wanted to point out that similar issues like this have arose from other carriers like AT&T with my mom. However, again when it did happen it effected both calls and texts. Not just one specific thing.

K
Userlevel 2

Maybe it's not capacity related, but it's definitely some sort of reliability issue. For example, I sent a group chat to all of my immediate family at 2:10pm today. My phone shows it went through. NONE of them have YET to receive it and it's 4:30pm now. Yet they received other texts, my wife even received two other direct texts from me after I sent the group text.

I support worldwide Enterprise IT companies. I analyze data and packet captures and solve these sorts of issues for big companies whose names have been mentioned in this thread and who have fruit based names and Banks and Universities and Hospitals.

I will email John Legere; I hadn't thought of doing that here but it certainly worked when I emailed the NetFlix CEO about an issue I had with them, so I will give that a chance before I switch.

dragon1562
Userlevel 6
Badge +12

Very cool, as a fellow customer I thank you for taking the time and effort to email John. If this is a network issue then it will be good to have fixed for everyone. Also you had me get really excited when you said you do IT work since I'm a IST major at Penn State. So some day in the future I will also be in the field.

tmo_mike_c
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Userlevel 6
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It's a shame this is happening with all your lines and it looks like you done a ton of work already to get this resolved. I appreciate you coming here and answer all the questions and testing various suggestions from our users. I do feel like this is something we'll need to escalate on the network side. I know JL is big on checking his email from folks that send it to them, but I do think there's a way to get you help you're looking for. I do believe reaching out to our T-Force team through our social channels is a very good route. They are available through Facebook and Twitter plus, you can even link them to this page so they have a clear picture of what's going on. I understand you've contacted us before, but I'm sure our T-Force would love to take a shot at getting this taken care of and it's totally worth to reach out. I am very sorry you and your family have been dealing with this, and I do hope you'll give our team a chance at helping.

D

Has there been any updates here since February?

B

People still seeing the delay? Any solution yet?

B

Nope. I have group texts delayed with both iPhone 7 plus and X when there is a non iMessage number in the group text. Messages are delayed for hours and then all coming in at once.

M

My wife and I both have samsung galaxy s5 and have had the same issue for about a year now sending and receiving text messages to eachother and other people on and off the tmobile network. This is so frustrating. Calls are not impacted just texting.  This is really making us not happy...we have deleted messages, taken off the apps...not working keep getting delays...just had one take 4 minutes to go thru just now....ugh!!!!!!

PLEASE get working on this tmobile!!!!!!....

M

My wife and I both have samsung galaxy s5 and have had the same issue for about a year now sending and receiving text messages to eachother and other people on and off the tmobile network. This is so frustrating. Calls are not impacted just texting.  This is really making us not happy...we have deleted messages, taken off the apps...not working keep getting delays...just had one take 4 minutes to go thru just now....ugh!!!!!!

PLEASE get working on this tmobile!!!!!!....

M

Just to confirm that this has been affecting me too. For months.

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