Can't send/receive texts without data turned "on"

I turned my data off manually to avoid going over. And I have tried turning iMessage and MMS off as well, while my data was off, and no luck. That's why I turned iMessage back on, because that at least allows my messages to come through when I enter a wifi connection. I simply cannot receive text messages, period. My phone SHOWS that I have sent text messages, but not a single person that I have sent them to has received one. Also, if I leave my data ON and turn iMessage off, the texts have no problem sending or receiving. Like I said, my phone is literally useless without data.

I had a similar issue. What I came to find was that the reason iMessages, that were sent to me, were not being converted to standard text messages, was because my iMac was receiving the iMessages successfully. I believe that because the iMac was able to receive an iMessage, there was no reason for it to convert the iMessage to a standard text message for my phone because it had already been received by a device - it just wasn't being received by the device that I wanted - my iPhone.

The fix was to disable my iMac from receiving iMessages. To do so, go to:

• Finder --> Applications --> Messages
• Then click the Messages drop down in the upper left part of your monitor (next to the apple logo)

  Preferences

  • Select the Accounts tab
  • Then uncheck the enable this account box

That fixed it for me (after many headaches) and hopefully it will for you as well!

If you cannot send/receive text messages at all to anyone on any phone of any make or model, on any carrier, then it is your wireles carrier that is at fault. Call AT&T again and ask for a supervisor.

I have noticed a problem with my iPhone messaging too.. I usually like to keep the cellular data on my iPhone turned off until i need it because i dont have much data i can use on my plan

If a friend with an iPhone sends me a message when either their cellular data or WiFi is turned on, i will not recieve the message until i turn my cellular data or WiFi on.

So i guess the friends iPhone is not smart enough to tell that my iPhone is not "online" and still opts to send the message using cellular data / "imessage"

This will be a real problem for me because i cant afford the risk of leaving my cellular data on all the time. If i go over my allowance i in case i could get a huge bill. Especially when i travel overseas.

You definitely cannot send iMessages with data turned off, as iMessage only goes over a data channel. You also cannot send MMS with data turned off for the same reason. However, SMS does not use data so it should work. If you are sending to an iMessage user, however, you need to enable "Send as SMS" in Settings/Messages.

This may sound dumb, but if you can't send or receive any texts at all, someone in another thread mentioned shutting down, taking out the SIM card, reinserting, and rebooting. If that doesn't work try putting the SIM in another phone then putting it back in the iPhone. If it still doesn't work ask the provider for a new SIM.

Also, I don't understand why iPhone doesn't allow MMS without data. MMS was DESIGNED to be sent as a text message and it works on regular "dumb" phones with no data. This is not new technology yet iPhone is purposely blocking it. That is ridiculous. You can see from the following table that this is what Apple wants:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2755

(As a side note, you can also see from the table they are intentionally blocking the ability to send a text to an email address even though that too is not a new feature, and that too works in other phones.)

IncomePitbull wrote:

If you don't, you guys will fizzle out like dialup internet. Cool when it started up, but then others cam in and did it better and knocked them out of their own ring. As much as I love android, you can't have 1 thing dominate the entire market, thats no fun. So I would hate to see you guys go, but if you can't keep up, then you can't expect your customers to keep going through this.

"Us guys?". We're just users, like you. This is a user-to-user technical support forum, not a way to communicate with Apple, who doesn't read posts. If you want to say something to Apple the contact point is http://apple.com/feedback.

Allan, Here's a summary of that post:

1. Support community website is poor
2. Wifi stopped working for this user
3. ATT is sucking data unnecessarily and probably on purpose
4. iPhone camera is ancient technology
5. Offering new colors is not innovation and Apple has dropped the ball
6. People are stampeding away from iPhone for these and other reasons

I can only guess that the latest focus on getting iOS 7 out is the reason Apple is yet to address a lot of common complaints. Maybe they will at least try to eliminate the differentiators next fall.

Exchanging iMessages is similar to exchanging email - an internet connection is required via an avaialble wi-fi network or via your carrier's cellular data or internet network.

Text Messages - SMS are exchanged via the same network as calls. "Dumb" phones or non-smart phones that don't have internet access can exchange SMS.

MMS with an iPhone requires data access with your carrier's cellular data or internet network.

iMessage REQUIRES data, either cell data or WiFi. MMS requires cell data. SMS requires neither, but has to be provisioned on your account.

IF you have no data connections:

Settings > Messages > iMessage > OFF, Send as SMS > ON, MMS messaging > OFF

Since MMS requires cellular data and can't be exchanged via wi-fi, turn MMS off.

Unlless you are connected to an available wi-fi network, you won't be able to send or exchange iMessages either so turn that off.

I'm experiencing the exact same issue. I'm aware that I can't get MMS or iMessage with my data turned off, but I expect to be able to send and receive texts. My "send as text message" is turned on, and still nothing. It absolutely infuriates me that my phone is useless without a data connection. Oh, and I have Verizon, so I don't think it's a carrier issue.

If you think Verizon never has problems, think again. You don't gave a data connection and that has nothing to do with Verizon?

If you have "send as SMS" turned on and this can be seen, this means you have iMessage turned on. If you aren't connected to an available wi-fi network and you don't have a data connection with Verizon, turn iMessage off and turn MMS off as already provided in this thread.

If you can send and receive SMS after that, you need to contact Verizon since the problem lies there.

Or try doing something much more personal and call the person instead.

And photos sent with dumb phones via MMS are significantly reduced in size and quality which are low-quality photos to begin with.

No comparison to the quality and size of photos taken with an iPhone and if you think the iPhone is the only current smart phone that uses data for MMS, think again.