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Help SMS sending failure (on ORANGE)

tef89

tef89

Android Enthusiast
Today I've just started having many SMS failures when trying to send via my Desire handset on the Orange UK network.

I've put the sim in another phone and the messages send (and receive) fine. I've done a factory reset and still the problem remains - 'SMS unable to send' notification.

Eventually on a retry it seems they do send (sometimes coming through twice) but it's something that has only just started happening.

As I say I tried a factory reset and the problem remains using either the stock sms client or indeed Handcent.

I also noticed before the reset when I restarted the phone it would take upto 5 minutes to achieve any phone signal at all - after the restart it finds it almost immediately.

Anyone else had this issue ?
 
Had exactly the same problem last week.Then i started having trouble making/recieving calls.It's now in the HTC hospital:).
 
I get a very similar and equally annoying problem. Girlfriend will send me a text (who is in contacts & facebook), i reply and get an unable to send notification (which also comes through as an SMS the next day).

I edit the SMS, cut the text, create a new message, paste text and it send first time.

The notification says it was unable to send to a 44 number, it's missing "+". There is no "+" in contacts, it's 07, there is no number for her in facebook.

WTF?!?!!!
 
I get this a lot too, failed SMS notifications even when I have full signal. Usually have to power down before it will let me send. Also sometimes when people try and call me it goes straight to voicemail and I get an SMS from Orange saying I have a missed call from this person, even though it hasn't actually rung. Very odd, doesn't happen too often but it's annoying none the less, any ideas??
 
d.knight99 said:
I get this a lot too, failed SMS notifications even when I have full signal. Usually have to power down before it will let me send. Also sometimes when people try and call me it goes straight to voicemail and I get an SMS from Orange saying I have a missed call from this person, even though it hasn't actually rung. Very odd, doesn't happen too often but it's annoying none the less, any ideas??
Click to expand...
When on 2G you cant have calls and data at the same time. This is usually the cause.
 
nx1977 said:
Do you have good signal? What can Orange see? Sms or mms?
Click to expand...

Thanks for all your replies :)

Signal was 3/4 bars I believe. Either way the issue seems to have gone away for now as I've been sending texts all evening without issue.

It's something that has only happened today (had a desire for the last 3 weeks) so I'm pinning my hope on a dodgy tower nearby maybe.
 
Mine happens about once in every 20 texts, admittedly, it's only to this one person, that i know of. (Which just happens to be the person i text the most)
 
Done a little more testing:

After a reboot it's taking about 2-3 minutes to find a signal (3 or 4 bars when it does). It's also asking me "Set current time - Unable to detect your current time zone" EVERY time I do a reboot, I'm guessing because it's taking so long to find a signal.

Regarding the failed SMS issue, if I do nothing when I receive a failure notice the msg seems to retry and it does come through correctly by itslef. I've tried turning off the failure notification in the normal Message app but Handcent still gives me the SMS failure notification which is annoying.
 
Ok I think (fingers crossed) I've worked the issues out:

Phone Booting and Unable to detect current time zone - SETTINGS, LOCATION - ticked 'Use Wireless Networks' to determine location = Phone now boots up (albeit slowly) without asking for the time zone.

Unable to send SMS error - After an afternoon searching it seems on any numbers not in the +44 format (e.g 07xxxx) it fails, then eventually works it out and sends, but this generates a failure notification in the meantime. Changed my contacts mobiles to +44 and all seems ok.

Hope this helps anyone else that may have the same issue in the future - not too impressive that it struggles to handle non internationally formatted mobile numbers but oh well ;-)
 
Update:

Nope, still does it :(

I'm working hard to love this phone but it really makes it hard work ...
 
Tried several locations, exchanged the handset today but still had a few failures.
Put the error into Google and it seems the issue is pretty common.

I've logged a call into Orange technical support but I'm beginning to think it's an Android / inherrent handset issue that comes and goes.

It doesn't happen all the time, in fact I can send 20 test messages that are fine but then have 5/10 fail. Today calls also started being sent to my answer-phone around the same time the sms problem returned.

Also it's worth noting a co-worker has an identical phone, same network and he didn't have the sms failure when I did.
 
Thanks for the advice :) I attempted to get a replacement sim sent out when I went through to technical but they insist I speak to 2nd line support, which I guess isn't a bad thing as if nothing works I can still get another sim sent out eventually.
 
Where abouts in the UK are you? I was on Orange previously and had an absolute nightmare sending/receiving texts (with a Galaxy 7500 and a Pixon). My g/f is also on Orange (same area) with a Pixon and has exactly the same issue - No received texts for hours then all of a sudden they come through at once.

I noted that if I turned 3G off all seemed to work a bit better.

I called Orange tech support and took the line that their service had degraded and I wanted out - atthis point their CS drone warned me that Orange are a big company and not to mess with them as they have very expensive lawyers! :mad:

So I wrote to them and after a few weeks they came back and admitted they had lost a 3G cell tower and this was the reason for the texting issues. They offered me a bill reduction, I declined and took my PAC code, ended the 18 month contract 12 months early and without penalty.

This was in the Blackpool area (North Shore)... may be worth looking at this as a possibility....
 
Rung Orange technical again. It seems they think it's an issue with people who have ported their numbers into Orange who's numbers originated with the T-mobile network (as in where they came from in the very fist instance - e.g not the most recent carrier but the original). T-mobile are saying they are working on the problem and hope to have it fixed soon.

I'm not convinced this is what's causing the problem as once I put the Orange sim in another phone the issues disappear.
 
I have this problem too. It's a nightmare when you send a group text to over 10ppl! It is a very random error tho. I ported my number from Vodafone to t-mobile. Only thing u can do is nothing I.e leave it to auto retry/send.
 
Yeh it's the random aspect that makes it so difficult to fathom - and consequently fix.

I do leave them to auto send as you suggest, and in fairness 'most' seem to get through but not being able to trust that messages are getting through makes it a little difficult to be happy with the awesomeness that is the Desire ;-)
 
Orange assigned me a temp number to use until the issue with ported T-mobile originated numbers is fixed - hasn't made any difference still get random 'Unable to send SMS' failures :(
 
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