Text messages not working...any help?

[HXGuy]

I'm trying to help my sister out with her new iPhone 4S. It works when you send iMessages but when she tries to send regular text messages to other people that aren't using an iPhone they're not receiving the messages and she's not receiving their messages. Has anybody else run into this?

I've told her to reset network settings and I'm going see if it helps. Anything else that they suggest?

 

[deeddawg]

What carrier is she on? With AT&T, she might try something like dialing *225# from the Phone dialer and see if AT&T sends a reply (it's the balance check thingy). I'd guess other carriers have similar things.

Only other thought is call Apple. The phone comes with 90 days telephone technical support from Apple, if the obvious fixes don't do it then that may be the best option. While this appears like I'm stating the obvious, it seems many people don't realize that support is available, so I mention it just in case.

 

[HXGuy]

So resetting the network settings didn't work, anything else it could be? Maybe something with her AT&T plan? She had an iPhone 3G phone prior to this.

 

[Dubthedankest]

Did she have a text plan previously that she canceled in anticipation of iOS 5's iMessage platform?

I canceled my AT&T text plan and am now in the same boat. Normal text messages aren't working, which doesn't make any sense. I should still be able to send and receive them, just pay for them on an individual basis.

 

[deeddawg]

I believe AT&T in the past has had the ability to set a block on pay-per-use text messaging effectively squelching any texting ability if there wasn't a text plan.

It'd be interesting to see what her Features looked like in the online account management on wireless.att.com -- or make a call to 611 to have a CSR look at it.

 

[HXGuy]

Yea I told her to call AT&T and see what her plan looks like, she has the iPhone 3G since it came out so almost 3 years I think...who knows what text plan she has and maybe it's not compatible.

 

[daftpunkstu]

Mine instantly failed when i pressed send. Took a reboot to fix and it's running fine now

 

[HXGuy]

I had her check the AT&T app and look at features and she said the only thing check marked is the DataPlus 200 and no text plans are selected.

She checked her last bill and she had the 1500 domestic text plan, is that now gone?

 

[deeddawg]

Time to call a CSR and ask that the plan be put back in place. There were some threads here about grandfathered text plans, but I don't have a link handy (should be searchable). I didn't pay them any attention as I have a family messaging unlimited text plan.

 

[TampaDarren]

Same problem. When upgrading to the iPhone 4s (from 3GS), AT&T dropped the text plan completely. A phone call to AT&T prompted the answer to the problem and I had to simply re-add the plan. I'd say it was my fault (when upgrading online) but apparently a lot of people are having this problem. AT&T changed their text plans with the 4s because of the iMessage feature and I think its messing up their upgrade system.