We upgraded our cell phones a little over a week ago. My wife from iPhone XR to 16, me from Galaxy S10 to S24. My daughters have a Google Pixel 8 and a iPhone 16.
The two of us with Android phones are having text messaging problems.
It started on the Pixel when she would receive a text and it would display a "spinning clrcle around X". A message was not able to be received.
I noticed texting problems when after several hours following the switch to the new phone most of my text messages were lost.
To make the story short, the problem is on Android when a message is an MMS class message - either to a group chat or a text with a picture or other attachment. Simple one-to-one text messages, SMS messages, have no issues. The problem is not 100%, and in our family we've been trying to characterize it.
All told since 27-Dec I have spent over 50 hours on the phone with Verizon tech support, not kidding. Don't get me started but the basic issue is that every time you call you have to start the basic reset reboot clear cache (remember, Windows always starts off with "did you reboot"? Verizon has a similar cookbook). The problem is you must go through this drill every time to get to the next step.
Up until yesterday we thought it was isolated to our phones but I went to the store to talk about our trade in time window and found that an in-store sales rep has the same problem. A call to the sales group got a person on the phone that had two of her friends asking her to help fix it. So now I know the problem is not local nor geographically local.
Here is what you will see:
In a group chat some, especially iphones, may receive the message only to have the distribution stuck when it gets to an Android. Depending on your Message app you will see either:
Android (Galaxy) with Samsung Messages
Android (Pixel) with Google Messages
<image will be added when I get a screen shot>
In both cases there is an animated dots or circle for an in-progress message or the download button for ones that have timed out (and if you download will change to the animation and time out in about 5 minutes)
So far we have seen the reception hang occur only on Android platforms. There is "fleeting" evidence on iPhone but none stick
Other platforms and apps may look different but will indicate a stalled message
So in order to see how widespread this might be I'd like to ask the group:
Are you having trouble receiving group chats or picture texts?
What phone and provider
Verizon has been told it is not limited to our phones and yet their tech support has not created a "known problem" alert in their knowledge base. Additionally while the real time tech support are willing to stay on the phone for hours going through the cookbook the group that handles the escalation will only "throw something over the wall" after a two day lag and close the ticket. If that doesn't work (three times so far) you start all over again with a two or three day lag between each. Not my model of tech support.
It is asserted that this is not a phone specific problem - too many units and at least two platforms - but instead a routing problem in the Verizon switch. Resolution requires access to the switch to see what is causing the message to freeze...
Any reports would be greatly appreciated and if it is happening, please contact Verizon and refer to the "spinning circle x" problem.
Thanks!
The two of us with Android phones are having text messaging problems.
It started on the Pixel when she would receive a text and it would display a "spinning clrcle around X". A message was not able to be received.
I noticed texting problems when after several hours following the switch to the new phone most of my text messages were lost.
To make the story short, the problem is on Android when a message is an MMS class message - either to a group chat or a text with a picture or other attachment. Simple one-to-one text messages, SMS messages, have no issues. The problem is not 100%, and in our family we've been trying to characterize it.
All told since 27-Dec I have spent over 50 hours on the phone with Verizon tech support, not kidding. Don't get me started but the basic issue is that every time you call you have to start the basic reset reboot clear cache (remember, Windows always starts off with "did you reboot"? Verizon has a similar cookbook). The problem is you must go through this drill every time to get to the next step.
Up until yesterday we thought it was isolated to our phones but I went to the store to talk about our trade in time window and found that an in-store sales rep has the same problem. A call to the sales group got a person on the phone that had two of her friends asking her to help fix it. So now I know the problem is not local nor geographically local.
Here is what you will see:
In a group chat some, especially iphones, may receive the message only to have the distribution stuck when it gets to an Android. Depending on your Message app you will see either:
Android (Galaxy) with Samsung Messages
Android (Pixel) with Google Messages
<image will be added when I get a screen shot>
In both cases there is an animated dots or circle for an in-progress message or the download button for ones that have timed out (and if you download will change to the animation and time out in about 5 minutes)
So far we have seen the reception hang occur only on Android platforms. There is "fleeting" evidence on iPhone but none stick
Other platforms and apps may look different but will indicate a stalled message
So in order to see how widespread this might be I'd like to ask the group:
Are you having trouble receiving group chats or picture texts?
What phone and provider
Verizon has been told it is not limited to our phones and yet their tech support has not created a "known problem" alert in their knowledge base. Additionally while the real time tech support are willing to stay on the phone for hours going through the cookbook the group that handles the escalation will only "throw something over the wall" after a two day lag and close the ticket. If that doesn't work (three times so far) you start all over again with a two or three day lag between each. Not my model of tech support.
It is asserted that this is not a phone specific problem - too many units and at least two platforms - but instead a routing problem in the Verizon switch. Resolution requires access to the switch to see what is causing the message to freeze...
Any reports would be greatly appreciated and if it is happening, please contact Verizon and refer to the "spinning circle x" problem.
Thanks!
Last edited:
