Getting a text message from T-Mobile USA on O2 UK...?

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Level 1

0 points

Getting a text message from T-Mobile USA on O2 UK...?

Hi,

A friend of mine who lives in the US and who has a BlackBerry (on the T-Mobile USA network) has tried several times to send me text messages on my iPhone 3G (on the O2 UK network), but to no avail.

I have contacted O2, but surprise surprise they told me that nothing is wrong at their end. I thought that the problem was maybe related to my upgrading to iOS 4.0.x, but yesterday I reverted to 3.1.3 and I am still not able to get text messages from my friend.

Surely, there has to be something wrong with either my iPhone 3G, the operating system, and/or O2? For information, my friend is able to text to Germany (and the US, obviously) without any problem... so it's not like she can't text to Europe...

Anyway, this is very frustrating, so hopefully someone knows something about this...?

Cheers, Alan.

Posted on Sep 6, 2010 3:25 PM

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Answer 1

ataylor87

Level 2

260 points

Sep 6, 2010 3:30 PM in response to DocFroggy

If your messaging is working fine it's not a issue with your phone. Make sure your friend has your full phone number in the blackberry. Usually they are missing a number like country number like U.S. is 1 and then the area code and phone number.

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Answer 2

DocFroggy Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 6, 2010 3:50 PM in response to ataylor87

Yes, sorry, I should have made myself clearer. I can text without any problem from my phone. In fact, I have been able to text her on several occasions and without any problem whatsoever. However, in her case, whenever she tries to reply to me (by 'simply' replying to my message, i.e. not entering my phone number as such, even though I have double checked that with her and the number is right, no problem there), then her BlackBerry tells her that the message has been sent, except that I never receive anything... She has contacted T-Mobile and they told her that the sole fact that her BlackBerry told her the message was sent means that there is nothing wrong on her end... So, yes, rather puzzling... and frustrating...

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Answer 3

G-M-H

Level 1

15 points

Sep 7, 2010 3:48 PM in response to DocFroggy

I suggest you ask your friend to sent you a message directly (not via a reply). Make sure she manually enters your mobile number (Not using the Contacts list in her phone to enter the number).

ie +447xxxxxxxxx no zero between the 44 for the UK and the 7 which will be the first digit of your mobile.

Can she call your iPhone using the contact info she has stored in her phone?

Message was edited by: G-M-H

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Answer 4

DocFroggy Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 7, 2010 5:37 PM in response to G-M-H

Thanks for the suggestion G-M-H. I am going to suggest those two things to her. Cheers, Alan.

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Answer 5

DocFroggy Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 8, 2010 8:36 AM in response to DocFroggy

For what it is worth, I found an 'old' phone of mine with a still-active Virgin SIM card in it. So, I thought I would ask my friend to text me to that other number and see whether I would get her text message. Well... surprise, surprise, I did get her text message. So, to me, it tells me that there is either something wrong with my iPhone 3G and/or the O2 network. I therefore decided to re-contact O2 and tell them about it, but... surprise, surprise again, they keep telling me there is nothing wrong. Completely useless!

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Answer 6

G-M-H

Level 1

15 points

Sep 8, 2010 3:12 PM in response to DocFroggy

Any feedback on my suggestions?

I still think your friends contact info for you is not 100% correct. Good enough to recognise the message was from you but not correct enough to send a message back to you.

Because of the variation in the way international numbers come across in CLIP (calling line identification presentation) mobiles normally do a match on the last 9, or so, digits against your contact list. When you reply to a message some phones use the contact info they matched to, some use the exact number that came via CLIP.

If they use the contact info and it’s not 100% correct (or it's not in international format and you are aboard, then the reply number will be wrong.

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Answer 7

DocFroggy Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 8, 2010 4:00 PM in response to G-M-H

Sorry, I didn't indeed get back to you on your suggestions. Well, my friend did try to text me directly, i.e. using +447xxx rather than by replying to one of my text messages, but it didn't make any difference: I didn't get her text. Otherwise, she tried to send me both a SMS and a MMS, but no difference.

I am a complete loss as what could be the cause of our problem, and O2 UK are certainly not be helpful at all.

Anyway, tomorrow I am going to Quebec, so it will be interesting to see whether I can get a text message from my friend while not on the O2 UK network...

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