Can I get help here for my Verizon flip phone?

[LAS14]

I've spent a half hour trying to get help from MyVerizon support. Hopeless. Why do these companies think AI works???????? Anyway, I've gotten help here for other techy, but non-computer related things.... Here's the question I tried to send Verizon.

I don't receive most of my text messages. Instead I get "Message is not downloaded." When I open it, I see "You received a multimedia message. press Download to retrieve it's content before April 1st." If I go to MyVerizon.com I see that the message was a simple text, not a message with a picture. I've asked the person who has that phone number (as shown in MyVerizon) and they confirmed that the message was a simple text. It so happens that the simple text was part of a group mailing, if that's relevant.

My phone is a flip phone, TCL KaiOS.

I don't mind not getting texts with pictures, but I would like to be sure I get all simple texts. What can I do about this?

[msongs]

1. how old is your phone nt

[LAS14]

2. A year or two. It's crappy. I got it when Verizon switched to 5g.

Didn't have this problem with the previous flip phone.

[Effete Snob]

4. The previous one was probably set up to receive MMS

[LAS14]

5. Is that something under my control? Or is it an attribute of the phone?

And are group texts MMS?

tia
las

[Effete Snob]

10. It's not under your control

It is under the sender's control.

[LAS14]

12. No, I meant whether it is "set up to receive MMS." That must...

... be an attribute of the phone, right? But not under my control.

[Effete Snob]

14. Yes, it might be.

You might try the instructions at this Verizon support link:

https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-239287/

TCL FLIP Pro - Auto Receive Messages

That should set up your phone to automatically do the MMS message retrieval operation.

[LAS14]

15. Another question.

I was able to follow the instructions. I won't know if they worked until the "Mail has arrived" message goes out this afternoon. But I had to choose between "with roaming" or "without roaming" when I turned on autoretrieve. I'm not sure what that means. I chose "without roaming," as I'm only interested in this message when I'm at home. Can you advise?

Thanks,
las

[Effete Snob]

16. How far do you roam

It is difficult to escape the coverage of Verizon if you travel within the United States, so it is hard to imagine that the setting is relevant. Try "without" and see if it works when you are at home.

[LAS14]

17. Ah! OK. I don't need roaming. How do you know...

... if you're roaming. Will it show on your screen? Our summer place in Maine has erratic cell coverage.

Huh. I just now got a beep and saw "MMS message" in my notifications list. I clicked on it, but didn't see a message, and when I exited and re-entered I had no messages. In the past I'd accumulate a lot of "Message was not downloaded" messages. I'm pretty sure the number associated with "MMS message" was that used by the condo to send the mail notification. So something happened, but not enough.

Next I'll tell the management what's going on and will find out what kind of device they use to send the message.

Thank you for spending all this time with me and my problem. Bottom line, I'm learning a lot about terms associated with cell phones.

[Effete Snob]

3. It's not you, it's the sender

It so happens that the simple text was part of a group mailing, if that's relevant.

Bingo.



https://support.sasktel.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/16890/~/understanding-why-a-text-message-may-be-charged-as-a-picture-message



Some wireless devices may convert text messages (SMS) to picture messages (MMS) in certain cases, which can result in you paying the $0.75 pay-per-use Picture Messaging fee for each sent message. This only applies when you don't have unlimited picture/video messaging.

This can happen when you:

Send a text message longer than 160 characters (some devices may split the message into separate 160-character messages and send them as MMS messages; see Text message character limitations)

Have the "Send MMS" option turned on in your phone instead of SMS; or your phone is set to automatically send all messages as MMS by default

Reply to a picture message, even if your reply is text only

Include a subject line in the text message

Send the message to an email address
NOTE: If you're sending a group text message to several people, if even one of them is an email address instead of a phone number, ALL of the group texts could be billed as picture messages


To lower your messaging charges, make sure all of your text-only messages are sent as text messages (SMS). You may find this setting in the Text Messaging or Settings menu of your phone. See your phone’s manual for more instructions.


https://support.three.co.uk/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBISAPI.DLL?Command=New,Kb=Mobile,Ts=Mobile,T=Article,Case=obj(14694)



A text might turn into an MMS because:

one or more of the recipients is being emailed
the message is too long
the message has a subject line
there are pictures or attachments in the message.

On some phones, this simply happens because you are texting multiple people at once. Your phone will usually tell you when it’s converting your message into an MMS.

[intrepidity]

6. Great answer, thanks!

I've wondered about this in the past.

[LAS14]

7. Most of this seems to apply to sending messages.

So is there something the sender can do so I can get these messages? It's a daily message telling condo residents that the mail has arrived.

[Effete Snob]

9. Yeah... so what happens is this

I have the same problem with a group of my family. Some are on iPhones and some are on Android. For whatever reason, when I send a group text to them, everyone gets it as an MMS (multi-media messaging system) instead of an SMS (plain text - short messaging system).

You'll notice that all of the articles on this (and there are a lot) mention that it typically happens with group texts.

https://www.android.com/get-the-message/

Any solution to your problem involves modifying the behavior of the sender. Is that within the realm of likelihood?

If so, what sort of device is the sender using?

[LAS14]

13. Yes, it's in the realm of liklihood. I'll find out what device...

.... they're using. Is there anything else I should ask?

[LAS14]

18. The sender is using a Galaxy S20 FE 5G

[Effete Snob]

11. You *MIGHT* try this

https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-239287/


TCL FLIP Pro - Auto Receive Messages

This will auto-download MMS messages, and you should not have to perform an extra step.

LMK if that works.

You may have to update your OS, but you didn't indicate which version you have:

https://www.reddit.com/r/dumbphones/comments/wuxgt5/tcl_flip_pro_update_now_has_group_messaging/

[leftieNanner]

8. My husband's old phone quit

Recently. Turns out it was 3G and Verizon no longer supports that.