Can call, but can’t text.

[Totalnoob 2]

So, I got the Fxtec Pro for accessibility reasons (my fingers can’t screen type clearly enough and autocorrect is often incorrect). For about seven months it’s been working more or less fine- the snapdragon camera stopped taking video, but that wasn’t the end of the world for me. I’m ok with technology to a point, but after today I think i’m a little out of my depth.

Some details: I live in the USA, I have a Verizon SIM card that is frankly ancient- I had it back in my old Droid 4s and my BlackBerry Keyone. When I got the phone, everything booted up just fine but the mobile network wasn’t connecting- I went to the Verizon store, where the tech tried to tell me that the phone wasn’t compatible and tried to sell me one of their models. I said no thank you, took my pro home and found enough help reading some of the posts on this forum to get everything working. (That code with the hashtags you put into the phone app, maybe something I fiddled with in some bootup menu? Is there a bootup menu? Can’t remember anymore)

Fast forward to today, and suddenly my phone wouldn’t call anyone. Later, I found my texts hadn’t gone through either. I’ve managed to get it to call people now, but texts get a ‘invalid destination’ or ‘not sent, tap to try again’. I can receive texts, however.

Things I have tried:

-restarting the phone

-turning airplane mode on and off

-turning mobile data on and off

-removing the SIM card and putting it back in

-going into that hashtag menu and messing with the switches

-power cycling restart

-updating the system (seems to have been a mistake, it’s been hours and it downloaded but hasn’t actually installed anything. Tried to force-quit the app but it’s being weird and insisting it’s installing something.)

I’ve not installed any apps recently. I vaguely remember this being an issue when I got the phone working after the Verizon store visit, but I can’t remember how I solved it. Any ideas? Thanks in advance for any tips.

Edited November 8, 2021 by Totalnoob

[VaZso 1,997]

2 hours ago, Totalnoob said:

Any ideas?

I think there should be a setting somewhere where you may set (or change) the SMS service center (SMSC) number.
You may try to check if that setting is correct.

[EskeRahn 5,427]

SMSC would be my guess too.
(The smsc is not needed for recieving)

I am not sure where it can be set/checked in the normal menues but if you dial 'info'
*#*#4636#*#*
And select "Phone1 information"
You will find a line SMSC with a refresh and update button next to it, press refresh and verify that it is the correct number.

On modern SIMs the number is usually already entered (decades ago we always had to enter it manually)
 

[claude0001 1,323]

8 hours ago, Totalnoob said:

Some details: I live in the USA, I have a Verizon SIM card that is frankly ancient

I am not from the US, so I can only forward what US users have reported here:

https://community.fxtec.com/topic/2133-fxtec-on-verizon/?do=findComment&comment=59026

It seems like some US carriers have started to no longer accept the Pro1 in their networks some time ago. Maybe try to PN the people in the above linked thread for possible solutions.

[EskeRahn 5,427]

26 minutes ago, claude0001 said:

I am not from the US, so I can only forward what US users have reported here:

https://community.fxtec.com/topic/2133-fxtec-on-verizon/?do=findComment&comment=59026

It seems like some US carriers have started to no longer accept the Pro1 in their networks some time ago. Maybe try to PN the people in the above linked thread for possible solutions.

As @Totalnoob is allowed to do calls, it can not be completely locked out of the network. so i would certainly check SMSC as the first thing. Though it is a bit odd if they just changed  that. Verizon support should be able to tell their SMSC

Maybe also try to borrow a SIM from a friend or two with different providers, and see if everything work on other networks (given that the provider has suitable reception where needed). And if so consider changing to that provider.

[claude0001 1,323]

1 hour ago, EskeRahn said:

As @Totalnoob is allowed to do calls [...]

As I say, I have no personal experience here. But scrolling up that other thread I linked, one gets the impression that texting is indeed most sensitively affected by whatever changes in authentication that provider (Verizon) have rolled-out over the last year or so.

The US marked seems to be quite different from the European one when it comes to vendor lock-in/lock-out. See also this thread for more bad news on the topic. I feel like I can give no better advice than to seek help from other US forum users who have gone through the same troubles.

Edit: In fact, if it is true that US customers cannot expect their Pro1/X to work on their network anymore without Fxtec finding agreement with US carriers, they (Fxtec) should make a statement about that. I thought I had read somewhere that they were in discussion with some US provider, but cannot find that thread anymore.

Edited November 8, 2021 by claude0001

[Hook 2,945]

12 hours ago, Totalnoob said:

So, I got the Fxtec Pro for accessibility reasons (my fingers can’t screen type clearly enough and autocorrect is often incorrect). For about seven months it’s been working more or less fine- the snapdragon camera stopped taking video, but that wasn’t the end of the world for me. I’m ok with technology to a point, but after today I think i’m a little out of my depth.

Some details: I live in the USA, I have a Verizon SIM card that is frankly ancient- I had it back in my old Droid 4s and my BlackBerry Keyone. When I got the phone, everything booted up just fine but the mobile network wasn’t connecting- I went to the Verizon store, where the tech tried to tell me that the phone wasn’t compatible and tried to sell me one of their models. I said no thank you, took my pro home and found enough help reading some of the posts on this forum to get everything working. (That code with the hashtags you put into the phone app, maybe something I fiddled with in some bootup menu? Is there a bootup menu? Can’t remember anymore)

Fast forward to today, and suddenly my phone wouldn’t call anyone. Later, I found my texts hadn’t gone through either. I’ve managed to get it to call people now, but texts get a ‘invalid destination’ or ‘not sent, tap to try again’. I can receive texts, however.

Things I have tried:

-restarting the phone

-turning airplane mode on and off

-turning mobile data on and off

-removing the SIM card and putting it back in

-going into that hashtag menu and messing with the switches

-power cycling restart

-updating the system (seems to have been a mistake, it’s been hours and it downloaded but hasn’t actually installed anything. Tried to force-quit the app but it’s being weird and insisting it’s installing something.)

I’ve not installed any apps recently. I vaguely remember this being an issue when I got the phone working after the Verizon store visit, but I can’t remember how I solved it. Any ideas? Thanks in advance for any tips.

This is indeed the most common break-down with Verizon on the Pro 1.  As you'll find from scrolling through the Verizon thread it happened to me twice.  There wasn't n identifiable set of steps that cured it the first time.  The second time, I just gave up.  My Verizon sim is now in a cheap Moto phone and there is a cheap T-Mobile sim in my Pro1.  T-mobile may not be good for you, but if it is, I recommend the change. 

The only thing I can suggest, if you haven't (and I suspect you have) is to repeat the precise steps in this post and see if it restores things. 

Sorry, I'm not much help, but I gave up and am really enjoying the two phone solution.  One;s a phone, the other a pocket computer.  However, with your need to not be using a touch screen much, that's not a very good solution for you.

[Hook 2,945]

2 hours ago, claude0001 said:

Edit: In fact, if it is true that US customers cannot expect their Pro1/X to work on their network anymore without Fxtec finding agreement with US carriers, they (Fxtec) should make a statement about that. I thought I had read somewhere that they were in discussion with some US provider, but cannot find that thread anymore.

I believe they said they were addressing the AT&T problem in the IGG comments, but it's so far back, I'm not going hunting for it to see if I remember right. 😉

[Totalnoob 2]

6 hours ago, EskeRahn said:

SMSC would be my guess too.
(The smsc is not needed for recieving)

I am not sure where it can be set/checked in the normal menues but if you dial 'info'
*#*#4636#*#*
And select "Phone1 information"
You will find a line SMSC with a refresh and update button next to it, press refresh and verify that it is the correct number.

On modern SIMs the number is usually already entered (decades ago we always had to enter it manually)
 

You’re right, I had a lot of garbage numbers there that weren’t my phone number! I still can’t send normal texts to individuals (I think you’re bang on the money, there’s something funky with the SMS), but I can now text groups with MMS’s and text individuals by forcing the SMS into a MMS by attaching a random picture. I’m going to continue prodding it, because i’d like to be able to confirm medical appointments via text.

1 hour ago, Hook said:

This is indeed the most common break-down with Verizon on the Pro 1.  As you'll find from scrolling through the Verizon thread it happened to me twice.  There wasn't n identifiable set of steps that cured it the first time.  The second time, I just gave up.  My Verizon sim is now in a cheap Moto phone and there is a cheap T-Mobile sim in my Pro1.  T-mobile may not be good for you, but if it is, I recommend the change. 

The only thing I can suggest, if you haven't (and I suspect you have) is to repeat the precise steps in this post and see if it restores things. 

Sorry, I'm not much help, but I gave up and am really enjoying the two phone solution.  One;s a phone, the other a pocket computer.  However, with your need to not be using a touch screen much, that's not a very good solution for you.

Thank you so much! Your original posts with the hashtag-asterisk code were how I got the Pro working the first time, so I appreciate your work, even if they didn’t work forever for you. I might try t-mobile if I can’t figure out the SMS issue with Verizon, but yeah, the two phone solution wouldn’t work very well for me, I’m afraid. I might have to grit my teeth and hold onto my pro just long enough to get my preordered Astro Slide.

[Hook 2,945]

9 minutes ago, Totalnoob said:

but I can now text groups with MMS’s and text individuals by forcing the SMS into a MMS by attaching a random picture. I’m going to continue prodding it, because i’d like to be able to confirm medical appointments via text.

Yes, this always happened in my case.  MMS worked. Not SMS.

[EskeRahn 5,427]

7 hours ago, Totalnoob said:

but I can now text groups with MMS’s and text individuals by forcing the SMS into a MMS by attaching a random picture. I’m going to continue prodding it, because i’d like to be able to confirm medical appointments via text.

Two (other) ways to force an sms to an mms:
1) Use e.g Textra, and select that sms, that would split in more than one SMS, is send as MMS, and make sure the text is more than 160 characters long (or about 80 including at the least one not simple unicode char)
2) add any email as a secondary recipient apart from the real number.

(Please note that for some carriers MMS is sent at a higher costs than SMS)

[LikeThis 0]

Is this still a problem for people. I have two verizon phones that I would like to consolidate to this one phone using dual sims in this. But if Verizon won't work and I can't text this might not be an option for me. Just trying to understand if these are ready for prime time usage in the US. 

[claude0001 1,323]

13 hours ago, LikeThis said:

Is this still a problem for people. I have two verizon phones that I would like to consolidate to this one phone using dual sims in this. But if Verizon won't work and I can't text this might not be an option for me. Just trying to understand if these are ready for prime time usage in the US. 

This is a user forum, and the problem seems to be between F(x)tec and US network carriers. While it would indeed be good to read an official statement by F(x)tec on this issue, this is usually not the place they publish such things.

Of the users around here, @Hook seems to be most experienced with the Verizon compatibility problem, and their opinion (which you probably have read already) seems clear to me: No, the (original) Pro1 cannot be expected to work with that carrier. For the (future) Pro1X, we do not know yet. 

[LikeThis 0]

Got it. Thank you. Just what I needed to know.