Problems receiving SMS or MMS messages on cellphones?

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Written by Ahmed
Updated 3 years ago

If a mobile number is unable to receive messages from the system, here are some guidelines to track down the problem.

  1. Can you receive SMS messages from other sources? Have a friend send you an SMS message today to make sure your SMS service on your cell phone is *still* working. If it's not working, please follow up with your cell carrier
  2. Not all cell carriers deliver all SMS messages reliably, sometimes the messages simply don't arrive on the handset. It needs to be determined whether the problem is a one-time fluke, or if it happens consistently every time our SMS service tries to send a message to your phone. Try texting in the keyword to the short code again or opt-in via a web form to receive a new message.
  3. If you have verified that messages sent this way do *not* arrive, while messages you receive from other sources still *do* arrive, check with your cell phone carrier to verify that you do not have any SMS blocks in place. Some carriers may block messages from all non-cell-phone sources unless explicitly told to do otherwise.
  4. Do you have any links in your message? Sometimes a link in a text message sent from a 10-Digit Long Code or Text Enabled Toll-Free Number may be regarded as spam by an upstream partner and rejected.  If you are using 10-Digit Long Codes or Toll Free Numbers, try your message again without the link to see if that resolves the issue. (Please note that issues pertaining to links are limited to 10-DLCs and Toll Free #s and do not impact messaging on short codes.)
  5. In particular, you must ask specifically about "short code" or "premium" SMS blocks. Many cell phone plans setup these blocks automatically. A "short code" is a 5 digit number, as opposed to a full 10 digit number you'd get from another cell phone. Our SMS provider sends from a short code, so having such a block in place will prevent messages from getting to you. When checking with the support staff of your carrier, you should note the exact time you tried to send a test message so that they can look in their logs. Also you should tell them that the messages are coming from the specific short code (e.g. ""). That is the "short code" we use to send out the SMS messages, so it will appear as the source of the message in their logs.
  6. Finally,if your carrier insists that they never got the message, and
     if they have verified that there are no blocks in place.

Then please email support so that we can look into the problem. Please reply with as many details from your carrier's support staff as possible. If they gave you a case number, please provide us with that as well.

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