Sunday, November 8th, 2009

Why is my T-Mobile phone having trouble with text messaging?

I’ve been having this problem with my T-Mobile phone for about three weeks now, and I’ve never had a problem before. But about once a day, my phone has periods of time where it can’t send/receive text messages from anybody. And sometimes, it also won’t let me send/receive calls.

When I send a text message, my phone (Nokia 5300 Xpress Music) comes back with this error message: "Message sending failed. Check details." And sometimes when I try to make phone calls, an automated voice says I can’t make the call because "a limit has been reached."

The customer service people said it was probably because my parents put a limit on the phone, but my parents didn’t. My mom called T-Mobile, so they sent me a new phone (same model). I still have the same SIM card, battery, and memory card. And I’m still having the same problems.

Is there anyway to fix this issue with my phone, besides switching companies?
I have an unlimited text messaging plan, and 700 minutes a month– but I checked and I had not called over my minutes.

I am having the same exact issues with my Sidekick 2008. We just signed up for our account this past weekend and the first day everything was great. We had total signal coverage in our home (when before with Verizon we were lucky to get 1 bar) and we had no problem sending or receiving texts or picture mail. Then from the next day on we have had issues with texting. We get an "Unable to send message. Please try again later." error. At first it was only when we tried texting each others new T-Mobile phone. Sending messages to others on different networks was no problem. Then shortly after it was to everyone. It’s weird. MSN, AIM and Yahoo! IM programs all work fine and the signal coverage is still good at 3 bars as compared to 5 on the first day so I really cannot complain too much about that.

I am going to call them on my lunch break and if I find out any info I will let you know. Good thing I have 14 days to try it out, because if this is a known issue that keeps happening I can leave with no penalty.

**UPDATE**
I just got off the phone with T-Mobile and apparently this is a pretty common issue they are having. Since the release of the Sidekick 2008, they had to tweak and modify their already existing Data Plans they offer to incorporate the new device. Apparently somewhere they messed up and caused a glitch which caused texting issues with the Sidekick as well as other phones. After a short hold time he went in to my account and made the appropriate changes to fix the error and now I can text again.

Give them a call again and see if they can help. Chances are you probably got a lazy CSR last time who didn’t want to do the research and fix the issue. Sadly they are more common than the issues we come across on a day to day basis. That is the main reason I am no longer with Verizon.

Hope that helps bud.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 8th, 2009 at 7:45 am and is filed under automated modeling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “Why is my T-Mobile phone having trouble with text messaging?”

F_L_A_W Says:
November 8th, 2009 at 1:35 pm

I had a similar problem to this when I was with T-Mobile. I had a Sidekick Slide, and it would constantly not allow me to send or receive text messages, as well as reset itself about once a week. Eventually, the phone would start working again, and I’d get a flood of text messages that were sent anywhere from a minute ago to 20 minutes ago. I ended up switching networks because according to T-Mobile, there was nothing wrong with the phone.

I can’t really explain the limit message on the calls, because I was on a texting-only plan, but I would assume it might be tied to the same issue. I don’t think there’s a way to fix it without either switching phones or networks, but since I had the same problem with a completely different model of phone, switching networks might be your best bet. Good luck though, hope you find a comfortable solution!
References :

Datborikuagurl Says:
November 8th, 2009 at 1:52 pm

you know what i think is not the company i think is the phone like i had the same exact phone and my phone would just freeze out of nowhere and stuff like that so then i changed my phone they sent me the same phone and i still had the same sim card and everything but then with the new phone the same thing happened so i got tired of dealing wit it so i got a different phone and it never happened again so i think you should get a different kind of phone
References :

Conor W Says:
November 8th, 2009 at 2:40 pm

This all depends on two things- Usage and Plans. T-Mobile has a U-Fix plan in the UK where you basically have a set limit of the amount of money you can spend in a month. Let’s say it was £10 (which is about say, 19, 20 dollars). You would be allowed to spend up to £10/$20 in one month using the standard rate and at the end of the month you’d have to top-up with the amount you spent. If you spend all £10/$20 and try and exceed that amount the problems you have can be expected. You’ll then have to Top-Up even more to continue sending calls and texts. It’s like being a contract customer and them switching to Pay and Go/Prepay, so yeah, awkward plan. The U-Fix plan as far as I know is only available on T-Mobile UK network, so if your country of residence is the USA, or you don’t have the U-Fix plan, listen carefully to the following information.

If you are a contract customer on T-Mobile USA, or have a ~normal~ contract on T-Mobile UK then this is also possible. Each contract usually has a fair use policy, so if you sign a contract for say £20/$40 per month, and you are given 200 minutes and 400 free texts every month, if you use those, then you’ll start paying for every minute and text, and if you use lots of paid for minutes and texts, then they’ll put your usage to a stop. So basically, if you spend loads, what’s happening to you is standard practice. My advice is that you choose a plan with more extensive allowances.

If you are a Pay and Go/Prepay you may have used all of your credit and you will have to Top-Up/refill your phone if you want to continue usage. If you haven’t, then this is not normal and the only way to stop the problem is, if T-Mobile can’t do anything, get a new SIM card. You will not have to switch companies, but switch SIMs at least. This applies to both USA and UK customers on Prepay/Pay and Go.

If you use the T-Mobile network in Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Kroatia, Slovakia, Macedonia or Montenegro I am afraid I can’t help you.

Bye

Conor W

References :
General Knowledge.

benjitek Says:
November 8th, 2009 at 2:47 pm

Did you call T-Mobile customer care? I did, as I’ve had similar issues for a couple weeks now. They told me that some problems with text messaging started on 8/20/08 and are still unresolved :(
References :

Kamen Says:
November 8th, 2009 at 3:34 pm

I am having the same exact issues with my Sidekick 2008. We just signed up for our account this past weekend and the first day everything was great. We had total signal coverage in our home (when before with Verizon we were lucky to get 1 bar) and we had no problem sending or receiving texts or picture mail. Then from the next day on we have had issues with texting. We get an "Unable to send message. Please try again later." error. At first it was only when we tried texting each others new T-Mobile phone. Sending messages to others on different networks was no problem. Then shortly after it was to everyone. It’s weird. MSN, AIM and Yahoo! IM programs all work fine and the signal coverage is still good at 3 bars as compared to 5 on the first day so I really cannot complain too much about that.

I am going to call them on my lunch break and if I find out any info I will let you know. Good thing I have 14 days to try it out, because if this is a known issue that keeps happening I can leave with no penalty.

**UPDATE**
I just got off the phone with T-Mobile and apparently this is a pretty common issue they are having. Since the release of the Sidekick 2008, they had to tweak and modify their already existing Data Plans they offer to incorporate the new device. Apparently somewhere they messed up and caused a glitch which caused texting issues with the Sidekick as well as other phones. After a short hold time he went in to my account and made the appropriate changes to fix the error and now I can text again.

Give them a call again and see if they can help. Chances are you probably got a lazy CSR last time who didn’t want to do the research and fix the issue. Sadly they are more common than the issues we come across on a day to day basis. That is the main reason I am no longer with Verizon.

Hope that helps bud.
References :

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