iMessage and Text Message Confusion

[bostonman]

I have an iPhone X, and, while at work (along with various places) connected to WiFi; with WiFi calling enabled.

At work I get terrible cell service and usually dependent on WiFI. Usually iMessages go through without a problem while text messages may fail several times. Also, sometimes I can send photos within a iMessage (or text messages) without an issue, but other times they'll fail several times.

My understanding is when connected to WiFi, the text messages (and I assume attachments) go through WiFI, therefore I shouldn't have failures.

Does anyone know why the phone sporadically decides to not send either iMessages, text messages, or attachments?

[tautech]

Plain SMS (text) messages won't go through on a WiFi connection, only iMessages.

A little trick we use when overseas and not wanting the additional cost of Roaming is to leave our iPhones in Flight mode but with WiFi ON.
All those that have their iMessage turned ON and those that email have no issues connecting with us. 

[bostonman]

Plain SMS (text) messages won't go through on a WiFi connection, only iMessages.

So why do attachments sometimes fail to send when they are an iMessage?

Also, why can't SMS (text) messages go through WiFi?

[tautech]

Plain SMS (text) messages won't go through on a WiFi connection, only iMessages.

So why do attachments sometimes fail to send when they are an iMessage?

Dunno, do you have the latest IOS installed ? Never tried that as I normally attach them to mail.

Also, why can't SMS (text) messages go through WiFi?

Because they're for the cellular network.

There are cellular network boosters available AFAIK for locales where reception is marginal.

[bostonman]

Dunno, do you have the latest IOS installed ? Never tried that as I normally attach them to mail.

Yes, I have the latest. I'm assuming maybe poor WiFi signal causes this at times, but currently I have almost full strength and can't send an attachment.

Other times an attachment goes through immediately when using standard text messages event though I'm at work with poor reception.

[tautech]

Dunno, do you have the latest IOS installed ? Never tried that as I normally attach them to mail.

Yes, I have the latest. I'm assuming maybe poor WiFi signal causes this at times, but currently I have almost full strength and can't send an attachment.

Other times an attachment goes through immediately when using standard text messages event though I'm at work with poor reception.

Dunno about the X....6S here but check in settings just in case something is turned OFF.

Oh and don't discount Apple haven't broken something in a recent IOS update.....they do from time to time. 

[bostonman]

This has been ongoing since day one of owning the X.

I work in the sticks and prior I owned a 3GS. Ironically, the reception at work was better than the X, however, I couldn't use WiFi calling and would hold my breath while using it.

Sadly, I hold my breath more with the X in general because I still think the 3GS had better reception everywhere else.

[tooki]

Plain SMS (text) messages won't go through on a WiFi connection, only iMessages.

They will if the carrier supports WiFi Calling, and IIRC, the setting won’t even show up unless the carrier supports it. With WiFi calling, ALL carrier functions go over WiFi, just as if you had a nanocell or were on the cell network. (Both my Swiss carrier and my US T-Mo support it, even when abroad, saving on roaming charges.)

Some carriers, like T-Mo, even allow WiFi calling from alternate Apple devices using the same iCloud login, even when not on the same LAN. (For example, you can place a telephone call or SMS from an iPad with no SIM card, or a Mac, even if the iPhone with the SIM card is somewhere else or turned off.)


OP, does the carrier shown in the status bar change from <Carrier> to <Carrier WiFi> when on WiFi? Then, and only then, is WiFi calling actually active.

[tooki]

Oh and don't discount Apple haven't broken something in a recent IOS update.....they do from time to time. 

Also, sometimes, an iOS update can uncover bugs in the carrier’s Carrier Settings file which hadn’t caused trouble before. One time, my Swiss carrier’s carrier settings file got a buggy update that caused the iPhone to chew through its battery in about 2h of standby if WiFi calling was enabled on a particular version of iOS. The same settings file worked fine on older iOS versions, but it was a bug in the settings, as a fix to those allowed it to work fine in all iOS versions.

(For those who don’t know, though iOS can work without them using defaults, nearly all carriers provide a carrier settings file, which the iPhone automatically downloads and updates as needed. It configures the phone for the network’s features correctly, from optimizing radio and codec settings, providing carrier logos, to providing the server names for visual voicemail, VoLTE, and WiFi calling, to enabling or disabling tethering (or making it dependent on a paid option), to even integrating billing information into the phone's settings menus. I’m sure it does even more, those are just things I know off the top of my head.)

[bostonman]

the setting won’t even show up unless the carrier supports it

My carrier does support WiFi calling. When my iPhone X is locked, and have a WiFi connection, it shows AT&T WiFI top left corner. When unlocked, it only shows the time. At certain times it may show a bar or two for cell reception, but most of the time full WiFi bars.

During this period, iMessages usually are sent without a problem, but regular text messages to non iPhones may fail. When sending pictures within Imessages, usually they go through without a problem, but periodically may fail. This is usually the case with sending a picture within a text message to non iPhones, however, it will fail more often than successfully sending.

I can't figure out why the anomalies occur. I don't know if the phone is going in and out of cell reception, so it can't decide how to send the attachments, or if WiFi reception degrades (usually it's always sent from my office). Sometimes I go to a place in the building where I shouldn't get any WiFi or cell reception, and the attachments go through without an issue. Usually this is the case with sending to non iPhones as attachments within iMessages don't always have a problem.

[tooki]

See what happens if you disable WiFi calling when the problem occurs. This will help narrow down where the problem is.

[bostonman]

It's still hard to tell because sometimes an iMessage will go through while a regular one will not and vice versa.

My other friend who doesn't have an iPhone claims sporadically my text messages will arrive as duplicates. After searching the Internet, I've concluded it must be his phone since everything I've read states it's usually 3rd party software running in the background. He claims I'm the only one that causes duplicate text message to arrive on his phone.

He's also complains my phone sounds muffled when we talk, but he's the only one I hear these complaints from.

He owns a business and uses his phone often, so he's pointing fingers at my phone since he never has issues when talking/text to others whereas he's the only one to complain to me about these issues. Keep in mind, I have an iPhone X and he has a Galaxy 9S plus, so our phones are relatively new.

[bostonman]

Wow, I posted this question some time ago.

Over the years I've tried most (or probably all) the steps below. I'm actually no longer at that job and my new job has much better WiFi, however, sometimes sending pictures or whatever is still quirky regardless if I'm on WiFi, 5G, or between both. At this point, sending pictures seems to have improved (unless I have poor reception while on 5G), so I haven't worried about it much.

My friend hasn't complained about duplicate text messages for some time. Maybe once or twice, but think he had an app running in the background because he's the only person to ever complain about this.

In any case, my iPhone X has been doing weird things lately and sense it's time for an upgrade soon. First thing is I've noticed the battery level drops quickly. Usually it's fine all day, get in my car, drive home, and it drops like a rock during my commute. I attributed this to cold weather, but this is new (unless I left the phone in the cold garage while doing work on my car). When the battery was dying quickly with my iPhone 3GS, I replaced the battery myself thanks to Ifixit, but believe this phone is much more difficult and just not worth it since it's old.

The latest quirk has been my email notifications haven't been dinging or showing. The phone did an update early last summer, and, without changing any settings, no more email alerts. I tried all the tricks I found online, restarted the phone, etc...  Some suggestions have been to reset the phone (not happening since I'll lose everything) or deleting my email account and reactivating it (also probably not happening since I may lose all my emails).

In any case, most of these quirks haven't been an issue and confirms what I've said for years: Apple devices does what they want to do when they want to.

[tooki]

Wow, I posted this question some time ago.

The necropost was just a spammer hawking their fixit channel, the kind that lists vapid, nonspecific fixes…