Forum Discussion
Receiving someone else's text messages
Oh my goodness! First T-Mobile is having problems porting in my daughters number. We need her to have her phone with her at school so we told her to put in the sim card and use the temporary phone number. Now, she is getting someone else's text messages on her phone. When I call customer service there is a 1 hour to 2 hour wait to talk to a representative. I can't go into the store right now. It will take another 2 days before I can address this situation. Has this ever happened to someone else? I am thinking we made a huge mistake switching to T-Mobile.
The temporary number she received can obviously receive texts for that number. If the person who previously had the number didn't let their contacts know that they their number changed. Then this might be why that is happening. Once the port is complete, she will stop receiving texts for the temporary number. For now, she might want to block those numbers or just send them a curtesy text saying like, "I'm not sure who you are trying to reach, but I just got this number. Please stop texting me.".
The temporary number she received can obviously receive texts for that number. If the person who previously had the number didn't let their contacts know that they their number changed. Then this might be why that is happening. Once the port is complete, she will stop receiving texts for the temporary number. For now, she might want to block those numbers or just send them a curtesy text saying like, "I'm not sure who you are trying to reach, but I just got this number. Please stop texting me.".
Thanks Syaoran. I had no idea they would give out a number that was not deactivated first. This phone had text messages with emojis and information in them that that referenced this month It looked like we were looking at an active conversation. I recently moved back to the US after many years. My European phone was deactivated and stayed that way for at least 6-8 months. But anyway, we sent a message to one of the text senders telling him we were strangers receiving his text messages. This morning we received a message from T-Mobile that the port in was successful. So all is good.
All numbers are deactivated before being recycled. How long they stay deactivated, really depends on the demand for that area code and locale. Being close to the holidays, people tend to message more of their contacts that they don't keep up with as often.
