Question

Not receiving texts from MTS number

  • 25 September 2021
  • 22 replies
  • 640 views
RichardWatt7
Rank
Userlevel 1

My wife is currently in Russia due to a family emergency (we’re both iD customers in the UK), and she’s using a SIM card from a Russian network called MTS (“MTC” in Russian) as the second SIM in her Huawei phone.

 

We keep in touch by text and email: however, I’m not receiving texts that she sends to me but she receives the ones that I send to her (but MTS are still charging her for replies) and I was wondering if there’s a known issue between Russian networks and iD Mobile?

 

(I know there are sanctions against Russia from the international community, but this shouldn’t be affecting communications networks as we can email each other fine.)

This topic has been closed for comments

22 replies

andewhite
Rank
Userlevel 8
Badge +9

Hello @RichardWatt7,

That’s annoying.

You could try using WhatsApp for your messaging - anyway, good luck! 

Mohammed
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +10

Hey @RichardWatt7,

How is she sending the messages, are they via iMessage or Android Messaging?

Has she spoken to MTS to confirm that the texts are being sent to 3UK (the network we use for coverage)?

It’s also likely an issue with the SMSC number.

You can only have one message centre number and if she’s using a dual SIM phone then it may be set to the iD one.

She’ll need to take out the iD SIM and update it to the new message centre number.

 

Mohammed

I hope I was able to help you with your question. If my answer resolved your issue, then please mark my answer as ‘Most Helpful’ using the button below the message with the answer.
RichardWatt7
Rank
Userlevel 1

Hi @Mohammed - I’m pretty sure she’s taken the iD Mobile SIM out of the phone as she only uses it when back in the UK, so the MTS one is her only (and default) SIM.

 

When I send texts to her MTS number from my iD Mobile number, she receives them, but when she replies, they’re not coming through to me anymore (but MTS, being cheeky Russians, are still charging her and their network says the message is sent).

 

Also, @andewhite - she won’t use data on her phone, even when it’s included in the contract package, it took me until about 2020 to get her to connect her phone to our home WiFi when she’s here since it’s unlimited, so WhatsApp is out (and I refused to put any app from a Facebook-owned company on my phone as I don’t like Facebook).

andewhite
Rank
Userlevel 8
Badge +9

Okay @RichardWatt7, not a Facebook fan - perfectly understandable.

You could try the Telegram app or Viber app for messaging, or even good old Skype; you can even send an SMS from Skype (assuming you have mobile data or Wi-Fi connection) if you have Skype credit.

Anyway, I hope you find a solution.

RichardWatt7
Rank
Userlevel 1

@andewhite I’ve got no probs using data on my phone, but she absolutely refuses to use data on hers as she’s worried about going over the allowance and being hit with a massive bill (for context: there was someone in Russia a few years ago who went on holiday, they were sure they’d turned off mobile roaming and got a massive bill from their network (which was MTS or Beeline, iirc), so she’s scared of that happening to her as the networks there have no rules on billing for roaming.

 

@Mohammed she’s sent me screenshots from her phone that show me that her MTS SIM is number 2 and the messages are showing as being sent successfully (there’s a green tick against them on the screen).

 

I did change my phone around the end of August 2021 from a Moto G with Android 5.1 to Moto G10 with using Android 11 I didn’t have a problem receiving her texts on the old phone: I know the message app on Android 11 is very different to Android 5.1 - texts sent within the UK are fine, so could it be something on my phone, some setting I’ve missed that I need to change?

Will
Rank
Userlevel 6
Badge +8

Hi @RichardWatt7,

 

If you put the SIM in the old handset now, do the messages come through then?

 

Will

I hope I was able to help you with your question. If my answer resolved your issue, then please mark my answer as ‘Most Helpful’ using the button below the message with the answer.
andewhite
Rank
Userlevel 8
Badge +9

Hello @RichardWatt7, I think latest versions of Android messaging app come with an automatic mechanism to block so called untrusted SMS messages - no doubt powered by Google.

You can probably override this behaviour, or a least remove a number from any block-list. I’m not an Android user these days so I’m not exactly sure how this is done; this is likely to be reasonably straight-forward once you’re in the Settings part of the stock messaging app.

Anyway, hopefully this might be helpful.
 

andewhite
Rank
Userlevel 8
Badge +9

Okay @RichardWatt7, Android now has an in-built feature to block SMS considered to be SPAM.

Is Russia a big source of SMS SPAM?

Anyway, apparently Google knows we're tired of receiving spam messages; hence, they've included the Spam Filter in the in-built (stock) Messages app.
Perhaps you’ve inadvertently enabled the in-built Spam Filter, and it’s automatically filtering things you actually want to receive.
 

RichardWatt7
Rank
Userlevel 1

@andewhite Yeah, my phone does have a Business Sender Verify function in the Messaging app that’s enabled by default - I’ll check for the Spam Filter one.

 

My wife’s numbers are in my Contacts, so I’d be surprised if the Message app thinks a known contact is a spammer.

RichardWatt7
Rank
Userlevel 1

Hi @RichardWatt7,

 

If you put the SIM in the old handset now, do the messages come through then?

 

Will

Hi @Will - my new phone uses a nano SIM and my old one uses a micro SIM - I was able to pop out the iD mobile nano SIM to fit into my new phone, so I’d have to dig out the micro surround to try it in my old phone, which I’ll have to try later.

Will
Rank
Userlevel 6
Badge +8

Thanks @RichardWatt7,

 

Please let us know how you get on with that. It will let us know for sure if it’s a network or handset issue for sure then.

 

Will

I hope I was able to help you with your question. If my answer resolved your issue, then please mark my answer as ‘Most Helpful’ using the button below the message with the answer.
RichardWatt7
Rank
Userlevel 1

Okay, so I tried putting my SIM into my old phone and the new replies didn’t come through on it either.

So we’re left with either 1) my phone’s got some setting blocking her messages or 2) there’s a network issue.

Incidentally, I’m receiving texts sent within the UK no problem (two-factor authentications are working fine).

Ryan
Rank
Userlevel 6
Badge +10

Hi @RichardWatt7,

Thanks for trying that. What we’ll need to do is liaise with our Technical Team to see if they can spot anything wrong on our side. 

We’ll shortly send you a Private Message to your Community account so we can discuss your issue further. To access your messages, click your profile picture in the top right hand corner and then click ‘Private Messages’. Alternatively, if you are currently logged in, you can use the following link: https://community.idmobile.co.uk/inbox/overview

Ryan

I hope I was able to help you with your question. If you found my answer helpful or if I was able to answer your question, please mark my answer as ‘Most Helpful’ and 'Like' my message using the button below the answer.
RichardWatt7
Rank
Userlevel 1

Okay, we’ve still got this issue, but we’ve found that if my wife puts her iD Mobile SIM into a phone and sends me a text while roaming, that message gets through even though it’s the UK number sending using the international network.

 

I noticed in the Dashboard that I can turn the International option on or off (it’s currently on), and the description mentions calling and texting to international numbers but not receiving calls/texts from international numbers: am I correct to assume that with this option enabled on my account, I can receive as well as send?

 

(As a reminder, I can send texts to her MTS number, it’s just the other way round that they’re not coming through on - and she’s blaming my Moto G10 that I bought back in August rather than the Russian network.)

Kash
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +7

@RichardWatt7,

You should be able to receive messages regardless of the option being on or off.

Would you like us to raise this to our Tech Team? If so let us know here and we’ll send you a Private Message.

Are the relevant settings enabled from her side, are messages showing as sent?

Kash

I hope I was able to help you with your question. If my answer resolved your issue, then please mark my answer as ‘Most Helpful’ using the button below the message with the answer.
RichardWatt7
Rank
Userlevel 1

@RichardWatt7,

You should be able to receive messages regardless of the option being on or off.

Would you like us to raise this to our Tech Team? If so let us know here and we’ll send you a Private Message.

Are the relevant settings enabled from her side, are messages showing as sent?

Kash

Hi Kash, We’ve already had the tech team check if the messages from her end are coming through and they weren’t - she can put her iD SIM card in a phone and send a text to me via roaming (which will be over a Russian carrier network anyway), but when she uses a Russian network (MTS or Tele2), she can receive SMS from me but her replies don’t make it.

Kash
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +7

@RichardWatt7,

I would advise that she double checks this with her network to ensure that the messages are coming through on the back end.

Also is your number definitely saved with the UK +44 or 0044 code?

 

Kash

I hope I was able to help you with your question. If my answer resolved your issue, then please mark my answer as ‘Most Helpful’ using the button below the message with the answer.
RichardWatt7
Rank
Userlevel 1

@Kash - it should be as +44 because 0044 will not work from Russia (they use 810-44), but I will confirm this with her.

Kash
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +7

@RichardWatt7,

Sorry that’s correct the 0044 won’t work from Russia.

However let us know and we’ll assist further.

 

Kash

I hope I was able to help you with your question. If my answer resolved your issue, then please mark my answer as ‘Most Helpful’ using the button below the message with the answer.
RichardWatt7
Rank
Userlevel 1

Okay, I’m sorry for the delay (due to the festive season).

My wife has told me that she stores my number in the +44732 format, and that the iD SIM card uses the Megafon network (she’s put it into an old Nokia phone that they have for emergencies), and this is working.

My guess is that it’s the MTS network that’s the problem (I’ve also asked on the Lenovo/Motorola forum and they suggested restarting my phone in safe mode, which I did, but it made no difference).

WelshPaul
Rank
Userlevel 8
Badge +6

Have you tried sending the text from the Russian network “MTS” to your mobile in the following format “810447123456789” with “7123456789” being your mobile number?

RichardWatt7
Rank
Userlevel 1

@WelshPaul No, we’ve not done that - my wife’s put her iD Mobile SIM into an old Nokia and that’s working by roaming over the Russian Megafon network (different company to MTS).

She’s always had my number in her contacts in the +447432 format, I think I suggested that to her so she wouldn’t have to worry about having to use (or not use) the international codes.

It looks like it’s something to do with MTS (even though her MTS will receive texts from me, she can’t send replies back over MTS).

MTS being a Russian company will probably deny any issues whatsoever (it’s what Russian companies do: people there have a real problem dealing with being billed for roaming data when they had turned it all off on their phones).

Terms & Conditions
Why iD Mobile?