iPhone 5 can't send SMS - gets an error when sending SMS

guys, after all the testing done, its only fair to conclude that no matter what you do to jig around with this problem, the solutions lies only with apple and only when they get in touch with you, can you escalate your problem, and they should be able to solve it for you....

so once apple contacts you, let them handle it from there!

Hello Fabio,

Here's my case id: <edited by host>

Hopefully this will help!

hey guyssssssssss!!! GREAT NEWS....my phone was unlocked as well

i can finally send messages, and imessages.........

when i did the restore i did get the congratulations message that your iphone has been unlocked :-)

dont loose faith guys......apple will resolve your issues as well! APPLE DOES CARE!!!!

all the best to you guys.

Hi Avi India, that's really great news!!!

Just to confirm, your case number is <edited by host>, right?

hey fabio!

yes indeed my case number is <edited by host>

however just a heads up, when i spoke to the apple care person, he did say that they are not in a position to cross reference other cases as they refer these cases back to apple care.

however to answer your question, my case number is <edited by host>, and please feel free to use it if it helps.....

all the best guys!!!!!!!!

Last night i spent over an hour in negotiations with Apple care. I insisted that the issue is well-known, i showed them case numbers that is already solved, however there was no luck.

1. Solved cases was followed by some superior management, that was unavailable by the time i called, however i spoke with a senior manager, not a regular tech support guy.

2. If the solved case is not directly related to me, they can't officialy use it, but if fact they have an access to take a look in it.

3. During the first call they said that my phone is locked by my local Russian carrier Vympelcom (Beeline), i called them right away and they said that they never lock any kind of phones, they have no agreements about it and they have no tecnical possibility to do that.

4. I called Apple care again and now they said my phone is locked by Sprint (seriously, how many different data bases they have?), and it's on Sprint to unlock it, not on Apple. I said 10 times that tere are a lot of people who has this problem solved by Apple, but they refuse to help me even with obvious facts and case ID's.

5. The worst thing is that i'm from Russia and they said that Apple care doesn't really care about customers in Russia, so i need to call my local carrier to force them to deal with it (which is totally useless) and i have no chance of my emails being replied by any Apple person ever.

6. They said that if any person bought an iPhone at Sprint, it supposed to work with Sprint only, even it's full price. How nice is that?

So in the end, i'm confused about whom my phone is actually locked to, i'm tired and frustrated. Today i'm sending USD 160 to some shady guys in internet to let them unlock my phone. This situation makes me mad. I already paid USD 1500 (!!!) to buy a factory unlocked 16gb iPhone in Russia from someone who went to US to buy it and now it's another USD 160 to unlock it. I feel helpless...

hey sergey

its sad to know your encounters, however please wait before you spend any money on unlocking your phone as i have been on this forum and other forums for a while and i am not sure if anyone has unlocked their phone unofficially or paying any amount to anyone.

the mention that apple doesn’t care is not true coz, as you mentioned, there are cases that have been solved and it is ONLY apple that we need to thank coz they are the ones who solved this issue.

the phone that you are using is indeed locked to sprint but if you use the correct protocol which has been mentioned a couple of times, however has been modified by the moderators, is the way that has helped as of now, so you need to send mails to the biggies who in turn send it to apple support who get in touch with you.

Once apple contacts you, you are home from there coz then you are in auto mode, just wait a day or two and they will call you back to simply restore your phone and should be smooth sailing from there.

there is nothing you can do at your end, please use the protocol mentioned and its just a matter of time.

please dont loose heart, apple does care and wont let you down.

you spent a fortune on your phone, just make sure you send the all details of your phone to help them know that you are a genuine case and bought the phone at full price.

the only issue you may face is if the phone was actually bought under contract, coz if that is true and someone sold you a piece that was bought under contract then they may not be able to assist you, coz then the phone may be under contract. You said you bought your phone for 1500 dollars, but to the best of my knowledge the 64 GB iphone doesn’t cost more than 950 USD.

you may wanna check if the phone you bought, was it originally bought at full price or contract? coz on this forum everyone who bought this phone, bought it at the full price.

if you do have a receipt then that should definitely help

I buyed two full price iPhones and bring them to Mexico. I hired a person who unlock the phones doing a Factory Unlock. I have nothing to do in the phone, just waited for him and then, I get the Unlock of both iPhones. I went to my carrier offices (Telcel that is one of the biggest carries in LatinAmerica) and they provide me the services, they checked in IMEI databases and they told me the iPhones were unlocked and ready to activate with them.

I waited for them to put the nano sims and do the activation. They worked on the iPhones for 10 minutes, no more and everything infron of me. They put the sims and I get signal and service in both phones. In that moment, they sent an SMS to both phones just as a welcome message. I try to sent an SMS but it not worked so I ask them "What´s happened?" They took the iPhone to the support people and I wait almost 30 minutes. They do everything Apple trained them to support the phone, and the chief engineer come out and talk with me, He explained me he talked with Apple in that spare of time I waited but the Apple Engineers DON'T HAVE ANY ANSWER about the problem. Obviously all the people there told me that it was important for them I can text (and help me to fix the problem) as that's a part of the iPhone business for them (a carrier) due the cost of every text so they were allowed to help me all the way.

He asked me to wait more time and as I have it, I said yes. I waited 30 more minutes and then a complete engineering team came out and explain me that everything they try, from calling Sprint directly from being with apple support and do what ever they already know about iPhones but nothing worked. At the end, the only answer I got was to WAIT UNTIL APPLE RELEASES MORE INFORMATION ABOUR FIXES, BUGS AND TROBLESHOOTING DUE THE PROBLEM OS SMS IS NOT LISTED IN THE "EXPECTED PROBLEMS FOR iPHONE 5".

They told me that the problem is not on the G3, G4, CDMA, and the problem is not in the IOS, they believe the problem is in the IMEI and the way the Sprint Server unlock the phones as they talked with them and they were hidden something from them.

That's what I got after an hour and a half there and I do believe on that because they were sincere saying that the need to fix it as the sms is a big income revenue for them using smartphones due everyone preffers to text than voice calls, so in México a SMS cost 10 cents (usd) and in a single conversation you may spend 2 or 3 dollars, SO I BELIEVE THEY TRY everything to get me texting all day long...

Telcel is the biggest Apple partner at Mexico so I do believe they try and get nothing. What they lost trying to help me??????

Guys, Apple suport really *****.

After having emailed first and that outstanding for more than a week,

I called 3 days ago, the guys said "Apple knows about this problem. Leave it to us and we will sort it out."

Still 3 days later no help, If the problem is so well known, why dont they just help people quickly.

I am still waiting for that magic unlock that Apple does but doesnt want to tell people openly about.

Meanwhile have tried to restore, hoping that it was done but not communicated, but NO its not done yet.

C'mon Apple.

If I really had a better choice for an Droid phone, would have really gone for that.

Repenting my decision to buy i5.

have blasted my patience on this small stupid issue.

I know that the solution is there (and congrats again to those who got it), but why is Apple so dumb to not learn from it quickly? Or they think we are dumb to believe that the solution is some intricate matter. Just find my Serial Number and press the unlock in your system.

I have till 11 November to return my phone and I will be doing just that if I cant find solution in next 2 days.

Hi everyone

Well, you can thankfully add me to the list :-) I can send SMS yay! So, I did what you all said and emailed support, cook, etc last week and I got a call yesterday from the executive offices and then got a call from a Apple care guy that was assigned to me.

He knew exactly what the problem was, had me install some imessage profile on my phone, did some tests, and then had me send over some log files. Today he called me and said they had fixed it but couldn't tell me what they did not have he just had me reset my phone and that was it!

After that I was able to send SMS messages! Hang in there guys and apple will get to you too. Do the steps, explain in your email your problem, put a link to this message board and add some of the case numbers and just wait a week.

I still can't use my face time or imessage with the local number here in Mexico, but they are working on it and said they would get back to me. I send out the activation SMS and I get a reply from Apple but it goes to my messaging app like if it was a txt from a contact and it looks like the iphone can't see that it's the activation reply... Really crazy, but I now have more confidence in apple.

Oh as a side note, when I was trying to troubleshoot the face time imessage activation problem today, I decided to do a full restore from iTunes just to see if that helped and right as it finished I got the "your iphone has been unlocked" message, so it looks like the answer is the unlock and apple didn't want to admit to it.

Maybe so they don't get in legal trouble with sprint...

I'll update as soon as I get face time and imessage working with the local Mexico number and how it was fixed, just I case anyone else has the same problem after the unlock

-WilliePlas

Hi Avi!

I was clearly told by apple that customers in Russia are not supposed to be treated by Apple Care. All my problems i should send to my local carrier, which refused to help me, because iPhone 5 sales are not officialy started in Russia.

Only way you can buy this phone is from shady dealers, that are taking a trip to US or Europe and purchasing it for further reselling in Russia. That's why it's USD 1500 for 16gb instead of much lower original price. That dealers won't provide you an original invoice, so at this point i'm totaly forceless.

However i'm a legitimate customer, i always pay for my stuff full price, not using any of jailbreaks or anything. But who cares...

As i said, i spend over an hour on the phone with Apple Care US, and they told me that there is no-one working on my case, and no-one will be.

hey WilliePlas.....

please help me understand that inspite getting the unlock message you still cant use imessage and facetime?

thats strange coz after my unlock message i can use everything.......

hey Sergey01

when apple said that they cant treat russian clients, i do believe what they meant is that the support was for only user who have bought the iphone under the 3 contract prividers (sprint/at&t/verzen)...i dont think they meant it in a condesending manner.

in regards with the invoice, dont sweat about it, coz not all people have invoices.

your serial number and IMEI all of which can be found in your mobile itself are more than sufficient to help them address your problem

if you followed the steps prescribed in this forum and also in WilliePlas latest post (first paragraph) you will soon relaise that its only a matter of time before you get your phone unlocked...AT NO ADDITIONAL COST.

if you have the patience then that would be your best bet (and for me its a 100% guarantee and you have reason to have faith in it) rather then spending additional money and getting it unlocked through XYZ sources!

i do realise that you may be running out of patience, however with patience your problem will be solved!

please remember: my problem is solved, i have no reason to still be on this forum, my reason is only to instill confidence in you guys that i vouch for APPLE and APPLE WILL HELP YOU! have faith...

I followed the same prositure as other people here bye sending the email to apple. But after 4 days i havent get any answer. I live in Norway btw, havent heard of other people around here that has the same problem yet.

unlocking service ill not help you. you will pay 160 USD for nothing. this is the problem with apple database. so now only call to apple may help. or we can wait ios updating but there is no any confirmation that this bug will be solved.