Text Messaging Problems: PATCH IS OUT NOW, SEE STICKY
 

This is a currently known bug in the 700wx that causes SMS not to work for Verizon and T-Mobile.

Please read below and do not create other threads on this issue!

It's been happening since about October 2nd (it worked fine until that point).

Update 11/16 from Palm (thanks to kaiguy for getting this):

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Here is the closest thing to an official explanation (10/25):

Quote:

"I do apologize for the problem with the sms messaging on the Treo 700 wx. Sprint and Palm are actively working on a software update to correct this problem. The issue is that the sms message was not being encoded in a universal format that is recognized by all Carriers. Standard SMS messages are sent using ASCII encoding, not binary. The 700w is sending the message in binary format. Many carriers, such as Sprint, can interpret a message send in either Binary or ASCII, although ASCII is the supported format. Verizon & T-Mobile doesn?t recognize a Binary message as a SMS message. We don?t have an estimated date of the software release as of yet. I do suggest that you reply to the initial response from our customer care group to get the compensation that you deserve for this issue."

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From Shadowmite/Shadowmite.com

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What YOU can do

Write to EngadgetMobile to post a story:
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/tips/

Call Palm directly and complain:

813-313-4913

408-617-7000

Talk to Sprint Advanced Tech Support.

Well .. this would explain so much, as most of my friends are using Verizon and not getting any of my text messages. Way to go Sprint :-p.

I wonder what compensation Sprint thinks we deserve for this issue.

I've heard that Sprint will not be investing $$$ into resolving this until the end of the year. I also have found out that Palm is now involved.

(a) where did you hear this from?

(b) that doesn't make any sense

This is obviously a Palm problem as they did something wrong in the programming of this phone in regards to how it encodes outgoing SMS messages. It's been know for over a week that "Palm was involved"and that is ipso facto necessary due to the nature of the problem.

Because of this, they and only they can fix it. How is Sprint suppose to "invest $$$ into resolving this" when there is nothing they can do but wait for Palm to create a patch that they approve of?

Sorry your statement is somewhat bewildering and nonsensical.

:confused2:

mala he said he heard and u know how those things go....dont be so harsh gosh. :argue: :angry7:

I know, I should've learned my lesson after the Sprint 750 incident. I need to believe everything people post :oops:

Oh wait...I was right. :lol:

Malatesta: bringing the harsh to the geeks & burning down the rumor mills

lol its just reported doest mean its true....I mean look at how many conspiracy theories are out there....so convincing and others not. I mean who was the man on the grassy knoll? Or our presidents and all world leaders some master race from space...lol heck if it aint true oh well we can all get our kicks and giggles out of it. :P

I suggest anyone with Treos sending to another treo or other device on sprint not to send a text over 160 characters or you be getting a duplicate message like crazy!

I heard on FoxNews that the real reason SMS isn't working on the 700wx is because the Democrats want the terrorists to win.

As I stated over at TC, anyone who has this problem (which is pretty much all 700wx owners) should call retentions, explain your frustration, and politely ask for/see if they'll offer any permanent compensation. They gave me 500 texts/mo free for life. I believe someone mentioned they got unlimited for 2 years.

huh? :laughing6:

I second that! :laughing6: :laughing6:

I posted Palm numbers above for people to call and vent.

Anyone have "high up" numbers for Sprint e.g. Retentions? PM me and I'll add to that post.

This answer doesnt make since
 

If its just the encoding then why did it work at one point? I know Verizon and Tmoible didnt decide to simutanously to turn off recieving binary messages. So what changed? We were never issued update so it wasnt the way the phone delivers the message. This seems like a BS answer to me. I know how the text messaging works and our messages are sent to sprint decode and then forwarded to the recieving company in there format. If thats the case it would seem like a sprint issue and there are just being some lazy asses and not fixing the problem. I am going to call sprint and dig real deep and see if I can get a logical answer.

I guess I'm not as funny as I thought. I was playing off the whole rumor mill thing.

Re: This answer doesnt make since
 

According to one rep from Sprint (and this actually makes sense) Sprint was upgrading/fixing their SMS system during the last couple of months, hence why even devices like the 700P were running into days without SMS, others experiencing no messages or repeated messages...

Basically, Sprint's network was patchy and so was/is the 700wx on SMS. Both canceled each other out re: this ASCII/Binary issue. It looks like Sprint's network USED TO convert the messages from binary to ASCII before it went "outside" the system, but that's the "old" way. Almost everyone now uses straight ASCII and guess what the 700wx can't do? Proper conversion.

Sprint fixed their end and low and behold, Palm's method of SMS on the 700wx was 100% incompatible w/the new system (every other phone handled it just fine)

I mean, think about it:

- ONLY the 700wx is affected, therefore is seems odd to say "it's Sprint's network".

- We can send/receive on the Sprint network

- We can receive from anyone with no problems

- ONLY thing we can not do is send to Verizon or T-mobile (presumably Cingular still can read binary)

That to me sounds 100% to do w/ something not coded right on the 700wx. And I don't think Sprint would be keen on nationally rolling back their SMS network upgrade, which was patchy and inefficient just for the 700wx, imo.

From Shadowmite (who is very reputable on these issues)

"Your answer is in my opinion almost perfectly correct. I saw there was a glitch in the treo 700wx's texts which could sometimes lead to a message being left in a encoded base64 state when it shouldn't be, or encoded sometimes when it shouldn't be. Sprint had a minor part of that, they fixed it around the time this new bug began. The problem is palm's side has a equal mistake... It'll require a palm update to fix correctly, though sprint could patch their systems "incorrectly" again to fix it also... It's a matter of perspective."

also

Sprint has had a SMS system in place for quite a while now that had some improperly done parts. WM5 has also been a little flakey on it?s SMS handling. Appearently, at some point someone ?patched? the problems on sprints side I would imagine and as a result, broke the 700wx. So we now have to wait and see if the problem is fixed on the wm5 side, or if it will be re-fixed on the sprint gateway side.

In another interesting bit before this fix happened we appearently had a issue with improper base64 encoding or decoding at the wrong times. This is what was ?fixed? and broke the system as it now is.

I called Advanced Tech Support and the rep I spoke to looked in his "knowledge database"? I think that is what he said. He found the issue with the 700wx right away.

What I found very interesting and a credit to those on this site that have contacted Sprint about this issue is that in his database there is a direct link to the PPCGeeks post for more information which has the details that Malatesta posted as an official explanation.

I thought this was really cool that Sprint is officially linking to this site for more detailed information. :)

Just thought I'd share this info. with everyone.

lol

nice. :P

Hi Sprint! :wink:

I second this! :laughing6:

Well I spoke with Retentions and I got an additional 10% on top of my corporate discount and unlimited text messages for 8 dollars for two years. They offered me the 700p, 6700, and the I 830 (but i would have to pay 50 dollars for the 830). And she also said this would be resolved in 30 days or less

Its already been 39 days..lol

50 bucks for the 830? I may inquire about that...If this IS fixed w/in 30 days I can always come back

I meant to upgrade to the I830 meaning you would have to send them your 700wx

Haha I know, still a good deal. AKU 2.6 too. No wifi or camera though. Decisions, decisions...

id pass...i dont travel outside of the US enough to warrant a dual cdma/gsm device...plus, the battery life must be horrid on it..

ill wait the wait...theres plenty of workarounds to this, but its still annoying

Yea I love my camera I wish the ppc 6800 had been released I would have gotten that

Dont know how credible this is, but on Sprintusers.com someone is claiming they spoke to Palm/Sprint and a patch is said to be released at the end of Nov, which is such an unacceptable timeframe in my point of view.

But in the meantime, has anyone had any luck with putting in the full address of the intended phone you are trying to text? It's working right now with a friend of mine on Verizon.

just add @vtext.com to the phone number (for verizon, duh) or @tmomail.com for tmobile, etc.... in the Text Messages account of the messaging app and it will go through.

Incoming messages are treated like emails, and the double display of the SMS is just the "Subject" and "Message" fields with the same information in them.

ok, so Verizon uses phonenumber@vtext.com
and T-Mo uses phonenumber@tmomail.com

and to ease the pain of typing in all the addresses when i want to send an SMS, i saved my most common texters in contacts (phonenumber@vtext.com) as an email address and then selected under the options, Address tab, In Contacts, get email addresses from - "All email fields"

Then when you type a contact name, select the "@vtext.com" or "@tmomail.com" address and send the text.

The @vtext.com works for sure, just tested it!!!!!

I talked to Palm today and they said they expidited this issue and said to check palm.com often for a downloadable update. They said they hoped for it to be in the next week. We'll see though. In the mean time I'll deal with typing @vtext.com

It's a bookmark here and @ work, and I must check it 40 times/day

http://www.palm.com/us/support/treo/treo700wxsprint/

Engadget Story (finally!)
 

"Is there trouble in paradise? In a story that's been developing for a few weeks now, it seems that at least some of Sprint's Treo 700wx user base has been stripped of its ability to send SMS messages to Verizon and T-Mobile customers. Now, we would never take the conspiracy theorist route (that's not true, by the way) and accuse Sprint of purposefully hosing outbound text messages to its bigger CDMA rival Verizon, but it does seem like a huge, inexplicable, and unacceptable screwup of epic proportions. For its part, Sprint is promising a fix by the end of November (feel free to take your time, fellas) but in the meantime, rumor has it that affected customers can call up Sprint and get some sort of compensation for their troubles."

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

(source)

i perfer this link as it shows software updates

http://www.palm.com/us/support/treo/...downloads.html

Ah, I just saw this thread. I posted my theories on this over at TC. They match up pretty well with what was said here.

http://discussion.treocentral.com/sh...&postcount=726

Does the MMS still work with VZW anc Tmobile

i've tried the @tmomail and the texts dont seem to go thru. i keep getting a mailer daemon type reply.

I think it's tmomail.net.

http://freesms.1888usa.com/

tmomail.net
that is possible... I got the sms addresses from another message board, maybe an error of habit with putting ''.com'' after any domain name.

only 1 way to tell.. trial and error

Update:

it IS @tmomail.net

good looking out on that one. got it working fine. if only it would choose that address when I reply in the threaded messaging app. it sends the text out to that email address but the replies are from just the cell number. anyway to fix that?

Updated 1st post with RESPONSE from Palm.

Are people still having problems sending text messages to other carriers? I ask because my text messages to my co-worker, who is on Verizon, have been working again for quite some time (month+) but my text messages to AIM users is still broken.

yes, it's still a problem for the majority of users.

the are a tiny subset of people where it works but in those cases it is suspected that the towers relaying may not have the Sprint update. who knows.

it certainly won't fix itself and obviously requires a software patch.

TreoCentral got an answer too... http://www.treocentral.com/content/Stories/979-1.htm