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ics55

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 18, 2010
221
29
During the outage today I successfully connected to the satellite, then when I tried to send a text message, it immediately failed. I tried several times. I’m using a 16 Pro Max on IOS 18.

Anyone else see this?
 

redbeard331

macrumors 68040
Jul 21, 2009
3,030
5,586
During the outage today I successfully connected to the satellite, then when I tried to send a text message, it immediately failed. I tried several times. I’m using a 16 Pro Max on IOS 18.

Anyone else see this?

Where are you located? Maybe the thing is overloaded with the combination of Verizon going down the same time as the floods in the southeast?
 

ics55

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 18, 2010
221
29
Certainly could be an overload but im in California. The phone indicated the connection was good; others have said that the phone indicated that the connection was unavailable. It failed instantly, which is what confuses me.
 

iOSBry

macrumors 6502a
Jan 16, 2013
544
321
iPhone 16 Pro running iOS 18.1 beta 5 with Verizon in the Chicagoland area and successfully used the SOS/Satellite messaging (for the first time) without issue during the outage.

Was intuitive and fast.
 

AbSoluTc

Contributor
Sep 21, 2008
5,254
4,183
During the outage today I successfully connected to the satellite, then when I tried to send a text message, it immediately failed. I tried several times. I’m using a 16 Pro Max on IOS 18.

Anyone else see this?

Pretty sure Satellite messages is intended for emergency situations and not placing your door dash order.
 

redbeard331

macrumors 68040
Jul 21, 2009
3,030
5,586
Certainly could be an overload but im in California. The phone indicated the connection was good; others have said that the phone indicated that the connection was unavailable. It failed instantly, which is what confuses me.

Hmm, were you outside? Clear line of sight to the satellite? I think it only works if you’re outside a cell coverage area, so if you’re in let’s say downtown LA it’s not gonna work if you lose cell service, probably gotta be out in the mountains or some place like that.

Or maybe like the poster above me brought up, it’s possible when you’re message was about to be relayed the operator in the satellite was like “wtf, this dude ordered 4 extra spicy cheesy gorditas from Taco Bell? Nope!”.
 

TyS97

macrumors newbie
Sep 14, 2015
24
18
I have an iPhone 16 Pro with Verizon. I’m on the east coast and was also affected by the outage. I was able to get satellite messaging to work. I sent and received messages with two people.

However, I lost connection from the satellite a few times. Not every attempt at connecting was successful either.
 
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ics55

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 18, 2010
221
29
Hmm, were you outside? Clear line of sight to the satellite? I think it only works if you’re outside a cell coverage area, so if you’re in let’s say downtown LA it’s not gonna work if you lose cell service, probably gotta be out in the mountains or some place like that.

Or maybe like the poster above me brought up, it’s possible when you’re message was about to be relayed the operator in the satellite was like “wtf, this dude ordered 4 extra spicy cheesy gorditas from Taco Bell? Nope!”.
😂😂. Not at Taco Bell, but I was outside and the phone indicated I had a good connection to the satellite. So, a bit of a mystery.
 

adambadamh

macrumors regular
Apr 1, 2011
112
66
During the outage today I successfully connected to the satellite, then when I tried to send a text message, it immediately failed. I tried several times. I’m using a 16 Pro Max on IOS 18.

Anyone else see this?
Do you have multiple SIMs in your phone or another device that uses the same number? I had issues with sending iMessages via Satellite on a secondary device.
 

dallastigers

macrumors regular
Jun 23, 2003
103
20
TX
During the outage today I successfully connected to the satellite, then when I tried to send a text message, it immediately failed. I tried several times. I’m using a 16 Pro Max on IOS 18.

Anyone else see this?

Regular text or iMessage? I read on a support page that sms texting is dependent on carrier support. That support might be tied to network being up and running.
 

ics55

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 18, 2010
221
29
Regular text or iMessage? I read on a support page that sms texting is dependent on carrier support. That support might be tied to network being up and running.
I actually tried both. One to another iPhone and one to an android phone.
 
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