Forum Discussion
Texting issues when connected to WiFi
I've been having an issue for about a week now where as soon as my phone connects to Wifi, I begin having issues sending and receiving text messages. I've been having the same issue as well as my Girlfriend, her Mom, and her Daughter all having the exact same issues when on WiFi. This includes 4 different phones, 3 different Samsung models and an iPhone. All T-Mobile devices. This issue seems to only be with text messaging. No issues with calls or any type of Data or internet related App. Just sending and receiving text messages.
I called support last week because I was certain this was a known issue for many people, but was told it was not. I went through all the trouble shooting steps with the team and nothing they could do seemed to fix the issue. I cleared my cache, checked my data to ensure it was all setup correctly, I'm even now using a brand new Note 9 and still having the same issues. When I called originally I was using my s7 Edge.
I've taken a few photos where you can see the change.
When you're not on WiFi you can see the 4gLTE symbol next to the service indicator and it seems to work fine.
https://postimg.cc/image/xsv6evu2v/
As soon as I connect to WiFi, that 4gLTE symbol goes away. I'm pretty sure it never did this before.
https://postimg.cc/image/r2ep5gemv/
Then when sending I get these errors..
https://postimg.cc/image/nisrfmwhj/
On top of the issue with sending failures, sometimes after taking minutes to send, the person who is receiving the message will get up to 4 copies of the same message. I will also receive up to 4 copies of a message when getting texts. So it's an issue with incoming and outgoing.
This seems to be something that change with an update/service. Not the device or anything. When I got my note 9, the 1st thing it had me do was connect to WiFi and I immediately noticed this same issue (no 4gLTE symbol) before installing a single APP or anything.
I'd like to point out, this is not always an issue. Most time it works pretty well, however it's a daily occurrence for the last week. Happens while I have full cell and 500MB+ WiFi service.
Please advise how this is to be resolved.
Gracias,
Matthew
If the messages are only failing when the phone is using the Wi-Fi calling, this is going to be something that we will need to open an engineering support ticket for. Please gather a few examples/date/time/numbers of the failures and contáctanos so our tech care folks can get a ticket opened up for you.
I have been having issues for a while. I just assumed it was my phone. (not a normal one) interesting to see its not just me. Phone calls and texts both only seem to really come in when I am not on wifi. In order to sign in, I had to take wifi off to get my two-factor authentication to get the text. I can call out no problem, texting out sometimes does not seem to be an issue. It's also not EVERY text. it's strange.
I was able to solve a similar issue. While connected to WiFi, and good 4G LTE signal, and receiving the error message "cellular network not available. Connect to WiFi for messaging?" while attempting to send texted and all other internet functionality seemed to be working. And yes. There was a question mark at the end, even though that's not a question. Pet peeve of mine.
Ih
I'vead the same phone for years, and I've been a T-Mobile customer for almost a decade. Never had this problem, and not sure why someone would leave a great network for such a minor issue. That's like leaving Ford because your car didn't start one day. Anyway, I had called T-Mobile support for an unrelated and during that process they had me reset my network settings. That's when it started happening. I came across this thread and hopefully this helps some folks...
Check Settings>More under Wireless Networks and see if WiFi Calling is disabled. If so, turn it on and change Connection preferences to "Cellular Network Preferred". Texts began to send normally, and I was even able to keep texting after changing Connection preferences back to "WiFi Preferred" and even disabling WiFi Calling entirely.
I tried just about all of the suggestions with not luck. Weird combinations of issues. Could send text over wifi to some iphones not others; could never send text or pictures over wifi to ANY android phone; etc. Finally just reset my network settings and so far so good. I wonder of network setting accumulate changes over months or years and gets confused. Anyway... will let you know if it sticks.
To clarify, I've always had WiFi calling enabled. The change today was to select which network it attempts to use first, WiFi vs. mobile.
I've been having a lot of trouble with this at work. In my office I don't get a good cellular reception but my phone is connected to WiFi. However, I consistently have the problem where SMS won't send (thru Messages). Sometimes they are just really slow and they eventually go thru, though on occasion they get dropped completely (especially pictures). Sometimes turning WiFi on and off helps push them thru, sometimes it doesn't. However, I might have finally found the fix. I switched the WiFi calling preference from mobile network to WiFi. After doing this, when I send an SMS it consistently sends within 1-2 seconds. Prior to the change, they would be in the "sending" state for 5-10 seconds minimum or 30+ minutes in the worst case when they just weren't getting thru. And for reference I have a Pixel 3.
Long time t mobile consumer here. Never experienced this problem before recently getting a new phone. Texts/pictures would not send (msg. Failed), unless I turned off WiFi.
What seemed to work for me was PERMISSIONS.
Device settings---} App.settings/mngmt.---} find the app you use for texting---} Permissions---} give it all the permissions. Save settings. Restart device. Hope that helps someone
I am also experiencing this issue intermittently, but recently much worse.
If I turn off wifi, SMS sends just fine. Turn it back on, no SMS will send. Same problem any any wifi network. Home, office, airport, etc.
Immensely frustrating and makes me really consider dropping T-Mobile.
Same issue here. I have an unlocked AT&T phone on T-Mobile. I don't use or have WiFi calling enabled. I don't seem to have problems sending texts (SMS), but get delayed texts. If I shut off WiFi, bam! , I get the text. Does T-Mobile send text over WiFi even if WiFi calling is off? Could it be I disabled IPv6 on my home internet? I will try to do more tests.
Hi Chris, I already went through this exercise with the engineers and what not, they did whatever they had to do but problem is still happening.
Once I send a message then all the missing messages arrive. This is so intermittent. The problem is that you never know if its happening and you can be missing VERY important incoming communications.
Same issues here. T-Mobile should be embarrassed that the problem has gone on this long with no solution
