Can't receive text messages from most sources, including T-Mobile verification

Hi there, I'm writing just to say my situation was very similar to "blaine_the_train". I wrote about my experience aquí, but your recounting is more detailed. Some spots I missed in my recounting, but also happened during my process:

I asked why everyone keeps asking that and how a tower being updated/out of service has anything to do with a móvil phone line. He explained that depending on when the actual tower was taken offline and the status of what my phone was connected to, the networking components can get stuck thinking it only wants to connect to that particular tower. Resetting the location on the network *should* clear it out which he did.

So this was also my experience. An engineer told me the tower closest to my home was under repair of some kind. In the course of my interaction with T-Mobile, my physical SIM was swapped at least twice for a new one, and we also tried activating an eSIM. During the first two swaps, it was at a location away from my home and when more than a couple network resets had been performed.

When I spoke to an engineer some time later-and he was also very nice-I asked specifically if it was possible in a VPN sort of way that my phone may still be connecting to the single tower that had broken down, even when I was traveling around the city or outside of it. In that moment, I had offered to walk somewhere else than my home location to see if my phone would connect to another tower, and if texting would be restored. He said no, it probably wouldn't make a difference and that I had essentially tried that already by texting elsewhere in the city.

To try to fix, we finally traded in the iPhone for a new one - but even without restoring from back-up the same problem continued. We had stumped both the troubleshooting team members. We then tried switching our plan to Magenta to basically reset the entire phone number - no luck.

I basically declined steps like this because they seemed fraudulent, scammy, and a waste of time. I convinced myself that switching to Magenta was T Mobile's way of trying to get me off their "One" plan, which was more unlimited in its contract language than Magenta. I declined all attempts to replace my phone or factory wipe it because nothing happened to its software at any point leading up to the malfunction that would have led to a user-side glitch. Once we put a new SIM into a different device and had the same issues with texting, it seemed abundantly clear this was not a problem with my phone.

I'll add at this point that since writing this, I've already jumped to Verizon. And the texting issue immediately resolved. No software changes or factory resets were made to my phone. My phone is an S22 Ultra.

Overall, while being a frustrating situation - this particular employee (and the store staff) were superb customer service and made a frustrating situation more tolerable and I was satisfied the issue was fixed and how to make noise in the future if it happened again. 

I did not wait for my issue to "magically fix itself." I also thought the engineers-I spoke to two, and the second one was especially nice-went out of their way for a good customer service experience, and didn't speak to me basically in a dumbed-down sort of way. However, I did not have "superb customer service" from anyone, including the nice engineers. Because kindness is basically all they offered. Several times my calls routed to India. No one had any solutions that worked. The first engineer resolved the ticket even though he acknowledged the problem was ongoing when he hung up. The second engineer just apologized a clean dozen times and did everything possible. And I'm grateful for that, but honestly, how defunct is a service where you basically wipe out everything from the phone number, do all the network resets, put the SIM in a new device, and there is STILL a problem, and the engineer's reaction is, "I just don't know what's happening"?

Not to belabor this, but I actually asked for free months of service if they insisted I switch to Magenta. He said no but that they really wanted to give such things to longtime customers like me. (I was with T-Mobile 8 years.) He said those meetings are on the table but have yet to be implemented. I told him good luck with that. And honestly, this would have changed a lot for me. I've never experienced nearly an issue as I did this past week with T Mobile. But in years past, I feel like customer service had a lot more leeway to offer comps or help make right the situation in another way.

Additionally, I don't think they have enough qualified experts to manage this issue, which is why this complaint zipped to so many lower-level agents who had little ability to address it. So while I'm happy the engineers at least brought more expert eyes to the situation, it sure seems like they should have been on it before 5+ days transpired.

I had same issue, just with T-Mobile when upgrading phone.  Did chat with service rep and they had no answer. I cleared cache, checked for blocked number, turned airplane icon on then off.  Nothing worked.  I just happened to have my "Phone Link" app up on laptop, and boom there were all the codes I had requested under messages.  No idea why my messaging app on phone didn't get them.  So I was finally able to upgrade without going to store it calling.  

lknets130 wrote:

@Madrone77  Did you ever get your issue resolved?   I have having the same issue.  ¡Gracias!

Yes, I think it resolved itself.  I was on the phone for about 1 hour with Verizon people who couldn't help me any further but they were very, very helpful.  And then I was on the phone again with someone at T-Mobile who didn't know what it was.  However, by the next day I started to receive some text messages and, as far as I know, I am receiving all messages now.

@Madrone77  Did you ever get your issue resolved?   I have having the same issue.  ¡Gracias!

Blaine_the_train wrote:

I'm having the same issue with iPhone. Texts will send but stopped receiving suddenly mid-conversation and has been blackout since. It's been nearly 36 hours since last message received. They get my messages but I get nothing. Tech support confirmed short codes on account were OK. I was able to receive texts from wife (android) until earlier today but even that doesn't work. Have an engineering ticket in but ready to just cancel T-Mobile after 20 years at this point. 

Update to my particular scenario. We went to a T-Mobile store to swap SIM cards and did the same type of troubleshooting as the helpdesk agents - and ultimately had no resolution on the current device. To try to fix, we finally traded in the iPhone for a new one - but even without restoring from back-up the same problem continued. We had stumped both the troubleshooting team members. We then tried switching our plan to Magenta to basically reset the entire phone number - no luck. After about 2.5 hours we left and the issue continued. I then filed an informal complaint with the FCC to start the 30 day clock for a written response (more on that later). I called in later that evening to try and get an update on the engineering ticket, but didn't get anywhere. All the agents kept mentioning was that there was some type of outage in the tower near my home location - which… being a mobile device and the issue travelling everywhere with me (even through multiple states) didn't make a lick of sense to me and seemed like a convenient way to get me to hang up. 

I finally resorted to sending a message (i could send, not receive) letting them know I was unable to get texts of any kind and will let them know once resolved. (embarassing). 

Fast forward to 2 more textless days (was actually getting kind of used to not having texts) and suddenly I got a shortcode asking to confirm my account. I tested texting back and forth with other people and the issue magically resolved itself! However, I did not get any of the texts from the previous 5 days. 😑 However, I have continued to receive text messages. 

Later that day, I called the support line again just to see if there was any actual activity or if it was happenstance. I FINALLY was transferred to the actual engineering guys in Atlanta and talked to the nicest guy ever. He looked everything up and confirmed my physical home address. I asked why everyone keeps asking that and how a tower being updated/out of service has anything to do with a móvil phone line. He explained that depending on when the actual tower was taken offline and the status of what my phone was connected to, the networking components can get stuck thinking it only wants to connect to that particular tower. Resetting the location on the network *should* clear it out which he did. Did the agents prior to him do this? Possible… but they didn't really give any details on what all they tinkered with on their end. After a full reset again we were hoping to get a barrage of the old texts - but when that didn't happen, he said there was nothing really more he could do as SMS is not accessible even to engineers. Possibly doing all of the resets, swapping SIMS, phones, and even the phone plan probably didn't help the situation. He also said that if you are a long-time customer (20+ years) to immediately just ask for a manager if you don't get your issue resolved right away. Overall, while being a frustrating situation - this particular employee (and the store staff) were superb customer service and made a frustrating situation more tolerable and I was satisfied the issue was fixed and how to make noise in the future if it happened again. 

Now for the FCC informal complaint resolution. Similar to a previous post that gave me the idea of even submitting, once you submit - the complaint is forwarded to an executive team for resolution. I didn't hear anything back for nearly 25 days (the deadline is 30 days) but finally did get a call from that team. I gave him a recap of everything that happened and that the issue was fixed and hasn't been an issue since - but was extremely irritating as nearly everything now relies on SMS multi-factor authentication (by default). I didn't ask for anything, but they did comp our bill which was appreciated. The FCC complaint process does give you a step by step update each time any activity happens, so I would recommend filing this if you do encounter a significant problem that appears to be service provider related (after ruling out your device/settings/home network is not the root cause). 

Long story short - if this happens again, or has happened to you my key learnings were: 

• follow the support process and jump through each of the little tech hoops - if only to rule out a specific issue. I factory reset my phone about 10x trying to make sure it wasn't some app or setting on my iPhone. This was aggravating, but I am also in IT and know this is important to rule every checkbox off the list. 
• Go to a physical store and explain what you’ve done and if they have any other tricks - namely swapping out the SIM card or resetting your plan. 
• If you don't get anywhere and they do have an engineering ticket placed- ask to be transferred directly to the engineering team. Not sure if they are only in Atlanta - but it was obvious that i had reached a different team when he answered with something like "hi - this is Bob from T-Mobile Atlanta team… what can i help you with?" 
• If you do have a problem that isn’t being addressed and corporate should know about it - file an informal FCC Complaint. 
• As a last resort, and no resolution - i would most likely have tried getting a brand new phone number with T-Mobile before switching. We have been long-time customers and have had zero issues outside of minor annoyances (usually sales people related). 

Apologies for the long update, but wanted to give resolution to my personal story as many times you hear others complain with the same issue, but never how it actually was fixed. It wasn't easy - and still not 100% clear what fixed it - but crazy things happen sometimes. On to the next problem in my life! 

¡Saludos!

I switched from Verizon to T-mobile and got a new Android (Samsung G A 53 G5) - had an Android before this as well.  Now I am receiving text messages except from users who have an iPhone and are with Verizon. 

So far the IT people have not been able to help me but I have another appointment with them tomorrow.

Any clue what I can from my end?

I'm having the same issue with iPhone. Texts will send but stopped receiving suddenly mid-conversation and has been blackout since. It's been nearly 36 hours since last message received. They get my messages but I get nothing. Tech support confirmed short codes on account were OK. I was able to receive texts from wife (android) until earlier today but even that doesn't work. Have an engineering ticket in but ready to just cancel T-Mobile after 20 years at this point. 

I have the same problem. I have a Pixel 6 that does not receive sms messages but can send them. The issue is not handset specific because I swapped Sim cards with another pixel 6 and the issue transferred to the other phone.  It also only occurs with standard sms messages, not enhanced rich messages. 

I am able to resolve the issue temporarily by putting my Sim card into a different model phone. The texts come through, then I can transfer the Sim card back to the pixel 6 phone. 

The last response is  correct. I was not getting many texts.  Reason, for some reason i had the Tmobile blacklist feature turned on, which was blocking texts from unknown sources.  Very strange feature, considering i was unable to get the verification codes from doctors, banks, businesses.  All about shortcodes.  Simple resolution is to call Tmobile and have them turn blacklisting off. 

SOLVED: Verification codes come through as what's called "short code". This is an add on feature that must be manually added/turned on by each customer by calling customer service to turn this feature on for their line. Most cell phone providers already have this feature turned on but in an effort to reduce spam being sent to your phone number, T-Mobile has it turned off automatically. So the customer must call in and specifically ask for "short code" to be turned on.