[Q] T-Mobile Z3 MMS issues from VoLTE?

[RockStar2005]

I have the T-Mobile Sony Xperia Z3. Since getting Lollipop, a few of my previous issues SEEMED to have been resolved. But now it seems that the only way for me to ensure I get my MMS (photo and/or group) and even sometimes SMS messages is to disable VoLTE on my phone. VoLTE allows you to make calls using your LTE (digital) line, which means 1) You can get 4G LTE when using internet while ON a call and 2) Your calls will use the LTE line which is supposed to give you better sound quality on your calls and 3) The calls will connect faster as well.

So because I have to disable VoLTE, I no longer can benefit from it. I don't know for sure if disabling it has fixed my MMS/SMS issues b/c I just disabled it last week, but so far it seems to have done the trick.

Does anyone have similar issues happening? Any thoughts on whether this is Sony's fault or T-Mobile's?? The Lollipop update from Sony included VoLTE improvements, and I noticed that it did help with Smart Call Handling. Before Lolli I had to disable that for SCH to work, but now I don't. But VoLTE was causing MMS issues before too, and now it seems it still is?

I want to get the Z5 when it comes out, but issues like these really annoy me b/c I have no idea if they will ever get fixed or not. If not, then the Z5 will have it too. I may just go back to HTC as I didn't have issues with MMS on it besides the stock app on BOTH phones (and even on the Samsung S6 Edge) sucking for various reasons, not just MMS-related (Samsung). But once I switched to Chomp SMS on the M8, everything was fine. Now the same maker of Chomp made Textra and I use that, so will prob continue to. So if Sony doesn't fix this and esp if HTC continues to improve its camera, maybe I will go back?

RockStar2005

 

[abhinav.tella]

VoLTE is enabled on mine and the few MMS's I have sent so far, went through fine.

As for VoLTE I agree it's better to have it working due to the benefits but it will not work across carriers. AT&T and Verizon however I believe are working to enable cross carrier VoLTE across their networks and I believe they are not including TMO or Sprint.

 

[sillieidiot]

your SN is quite familiar lol

iono i honestly think it's like a tmobile problem. i've had this problem with the iphone 6 as well when enabling volte. once disabled, it works fine. i never did quite figure it out though as some phones work fine with it, and others don't.

 

[RockStar2005]

Hey abhinav,

It's not really about them going through, it's about me NOT always getting them that's the issue.

I know that it works on T-Mobile. The issue is that when it's enabled, it seems to be causing issues with me receiving some of my text messages, esp MMS ones.

RockStar2005

 

[RockStar2005]

sillie,

Ok? lol My screen name or abhinav's? I don't recognize yours so not sure.

Yeah I agree, but I don't know that for sure. But like I said, T-Mobile is known for having issues with MMS, esp the stock apps on their phones not being able to display MMS messages properly (i.e., you can only see the sender and yourself in a group MMS message, not the other parties involved). This is why I disabled it and use Textra (aka, the greatest texting app ever! lol) instead.

So you had or currently have an iPhone 6 on T-Mobile, and you had the same MMS issue I described above when VoLTE was enabled, but then it went away when you disabled it? Please confirm.

I dunno man. It just annoys me that I can't use it. I didn't mind pre-Lollipop b/c I didn't get VoLTE in my area (Chicago suburbs) anyway, only in Chicago itself. But right after I got Lollipop I noticed that it was working in my area, so it must've been expanded to my area finally. Which means now I actually am missing out on it. It's not a BIG deal, but it just annoys me b/c I notice my calls take a few seconds longer to connect when I make them when VoLTE's off vs when it's on.

Thanks,

RockStar2005

 

[abhinav.tella]

Hey RockStar2005, we also have an iPhone 6/Galaxy S4/HTC One M8 in the family and MMS works fine on them as well, so I don't know what's going on, I definitely know you aren't the only one as many others also complained about this issue. I suppose it's the network in your area to blame?

 

[RockStar2005]

Abinhav,

Yeah it never seems to be EVERY phone, but a number of phones. And I dunno, it could be the area.

Do you have T-Mobile Abhinav?

Thanks,

RockStar2005

 

[abhinav.tella]

Abinhav,

Yeah it never seems to be EVERY phone, but a number of phones. And I dunno, it could be the area.

Do you have T-Mobile Abhinav?

Thanks,

RockStar2005

Yes I do, in fact I believe you replied to me on the TMO support forums regarding deployment of Lollipop about a month back.

This phone really is great especially after band 12 deployment, now I have full LTE signal vs the rest of the non B12 phones in my family with only 3-4 bars.

 

[RockStar2005]

Oh ok. I know we've talked on here but can't remember in T-Mo forum.

Maybe it is an area thing, though I doubt sillie lives in the Chicago area too (so if it's an area thing, it's NOT just Chicago). Sillie, where do u live? lol Please respond to my other post too.

Yeah in Chicago though, I can't take advantage of Band 12 b/c Channel 50/51 WPWR uses the same frequency as Band 12, so have to wait until T-Mo and WPWR resolve things in multiple cities, including Chicago. It annoys me b/c in some buildings I know I'm not getting a strong signal b/c of this issue. I'm hoping it gets resolved soon.

RockStar2005

 

[abhinav.tella]

I can't speak about outside areas, but for home if you don't like WiFi calling you can get the LTE Signal Booster for free from TMO.

 

[RockStar2005]

abhinav,

I disabled my WiFi Calling feature the day I got my phone. Always have. Even if T-Mobile has fixed the MMS issue it causes, I'd still rarely use it, if ever. I think it's only good if you live in an area with poor reception or if you're traveling overseas and don't wanna have to pay for the call.

You mean the T-Mobile/Asus router? Yeah I got that, for free too! T-Mobile REALLY came through on that one. A $200 router that's very well-rated & powerful as F (it's a BEAST of a router!), for free (free shipping too)?!! Looks really nice too. Since I don't use a landline anymore, I gave back my modem to Comcast so I wouldn't have to pay the $10/mo leasing fee on my Comcast bill, and instead bought this extremely well-rated Motorola/Arris modem which actually pays itself off in no time and saves me money in the long run. I highly recommend doing this esp if you don't use a landline anymore. Setup was pretty easy you get to choose from 2 speeds........ 2.4GHz and 5GHz. The 2.4GHz option is not AS fast as the 5GHz one, but the has a wider range. So if you get them, use 5GHz unless you live in a really big place then maybe 2.4GHz is better.

RockStar2005

 

[abhinav.tella]

Hey Rockstar2005, not the router, I mean the actual LTE booster it has two parts a LTE receiver which takes signal from nearest tower and the booster part which amplifies. You place the receiver near a window in the direction where signal is strongest and the amplifier somewhere towards the center of your home.

I also live in area of great signal, but I told them indoor reception sucked, which it did before band 12 and the rest of my devices don't have band 12 so they gave it to me.

I prefer not to use their Asus cellspot router, as I am a tester for Netgear so I keep getting better high end routers every few months anyway.

 

[RockStar2005]

Oh ok. That's what the Cellspot is supposed to do that........... make everyone's home who uses it a mini cell tower. lol Of course I guess it only really helps other ppl if you don't password-protect it. lol

Nice! I told them it sucked b/c I wanted it free. LOL Now I got a CRAZY fast router. T-Mobile forever!!! lol

Oh nice! If I was you I wouldn't either. But I am VERY happy with my setup. Until Comcast upgrades their network again, which will prob be a while since they just did a few years ago, I'm set. Even when they do I may not necessarily upgrade my plan right away. I get like 120 mbps since they doubled my 50 mbps plan for free a year ago. So I'm actually getting MORE than double the speed. Downloads on laptop or phone go through super fast.

RockStar2005

 

[abhinav.tella]

The cellspot is a good WiFi router with optimized QoS for TMO VoIP while the LTE booster is an actual mini cell tower. I guess it doesn't matter if you already have one or the other.

Either way this is a whole lot better than Sprint, who had great customer service reps who gave discounts to compensate for the bad network and false network upgrade promises. Their maps were very unrealistic as I barely had 2G even though the map said good 3G and even their peak 3G speeds in good areas were slower than TMO 2G and the LTE was like 3G plus the eCSFB switching issue due to triband LTE and no VoLTE support. Messaging was comical, a message would either come repetitively or not come till hours or even a day later. Glad I switched to TMO last Oct.

 

[sillieidiot]

sillie,

Ok? lol My screen name or abhinav's? I don't recognize yours so not sure.

Yeah I agree, but I don't know that for sure. But like I said, T-Mobile is known for having issues with MMS, esp the stock apps on their phones not being able to display MMS messages properly (i.e., you can only see the sender and yourself in a group MMS message, not the other parties involved). This is why I disabled it and use Textra (aka, the greatest texting app ever! lol) instead.

So you had or currently have an iPhone 6 on T-Mobile, and you had the same MMS issue I described above when VoLTE was enabled, but then it went away when you disabled it? Please confirm.

I dunno man. It just annoys me that I can't use it. I didn't mind pre-Lollipop b/c I didn't get VoLTE in my area (Chicago suburbs) anyway, only in Chicago itself. But right after I got Lollipop I noticed that it was working in my area, so it must've been expanded to my area finally. Which means now I actually am missing out on it. It's not a BIG deal, but it just annoys me b/c I notice my calls take a few seconds longer to connect when I make them when VoLTE's off vs when it's on.

Thanks,

RockStar2005

Yours. I think it was from HoFo or something. In the Nokia forum lol If not, my bad, someone else has a similar SN lol

Yeah I used to use textra for a long time. I only recently went to hangouts because of work. I'd rather have just one app that handles it all, although the UI for hangouts sucks.

But yeah, I used to have the iPhone 6 and did that and it went away. I now have the Z3 Compact that doesn't have VoLTE, and it works fine lol The only thing that sucks about this phone is no B12/VoLTE/Wi-Fi Calling.

edit: saw your other post
I live in Socal, they just started rolling out B12 in my area. There's already VoLte though.

 

[RockStar2005]

sillie,

Ahh ok. Not sure what HoFo is and I've never been in any Nokia forums. Pretty much only xda and T-Mobile.

I C. Yeah Hangouts' UI doesn't do it for me. lol But if it was a work thing, I'd use it I guess if it made life easier. I actually prefer to have my IMs and texts separated. Combining them confuses me. lol

Well at least it went away. But did you get rid of the iPhone 6 after getting Lollipop? I just wanna know if you had the same MMS issues I mentioned AFTER getting Lollipop on the iPhone 6?

I C. Yeah not having Band 12 and VoLTE isn't so great, but I mean, I have them, but have issues with both as I mentioned to abinhav (and you). lol

With regards to the Z5 and HTC One M10, I'm gonna have to decide which one is worse, not being able to use VoLTE or not having a great camera. If the M10's camera is up to par with the Z5's, then I may switch using my JUMP option as the M10 won't come out 'til after Z5 (I think lol). But I'd only consider that if the Z5's VoLTE was messing with my texts again. If the M10's camera wasn't as good, I'd just (continue to) put up with VoLTE's BS and keep it disabled. As great as T-Mobile is, it's unfortunately not perfect. Even on the iPhone ppl are having these issues? Geez. That just makes me think it's even more T-Mo's fault. If you're gonna offer up something like WiFi Calling and VoLTE, then they should be tested THOROUGHLY on EACH AND EVERY DEVICE that's labeled as being compatible with them. But this isn't the case it seems. So I dunno. Makes a customer feel helpless but I guess that's just how it is until they fix it. Even if I switch phones it sounds that's no guarantee of anything.

RockStar2005

 

[sillieidiot]

sillie,

Ahh ok. Not sure what HoFo is and I've never been in any Nokia forums. Pretty much only xda and T-Mobile.

I C. Yeah Hangouts' UI doesn't do it for me. lol But if it was a work thing, I'd use it I guess if it made life easier. I actually prefer to have my IMs and texts separated. Combining them confuses me. lol

Well at least it went away. But did you get rid of the iPhone 6 after getting Lollipop? I just wanna know if you had the same MMS issues I mentioned AFTER getting Lollipop on the iPhone 6?

I C. Yeah not having Band 12 and VoLTE isn't so great, but I mean, I have them, but have issues with both as I mentioned to abinhav (and you). lol

With regards to the Z5 and HTC One M10, I'm gonna have to decide which one is worse, not being able to use VoLTE or not having a great camera. If the M10's camera is up to par with the Z5's, then I may switch using my JUMP option as the M10 won't come out 'til after Z5 (I think lol). But I'd only consider that if the Z5's VoLTE was messing with my texts again. If the M10's camera wasn't as good, I'd just (continue to) put up with VoLTE's BS and keep it disabled. As great as T-Mobile is, it's unfortunately not perfect. Even on the iPhone ppl are having these issues? Geez. That just makes me think it's even more T-Mo's fault. If you're gonna offer up something like WiFi Calling and VoLTE, then they should be tested THOROUGHLY on EACH AND EVERY DEVICE that's labeled as being compatible with them. But this isn't the case it seems. So I dunno. Makes a customer feel helpless but I guess that's just how it is until they fix it. Even if I switch phones it sounds that's no guarantee of anything.

RockStar2005

yeah it just makes it easier for me since all the contacts are in one spot.

Well the iPhone 6 runs IOS so there is no Lollipop? I'm running Lollipop on the Z3C right now and it's fine. I just have that mobile radio bug that everyone has but that's it. Yeah I can do without both wifi calling/VoLTE if i had B12 though. I'll just wait for the Z5 and pick that up. Since the Z3+ has B12 already, but plagued with the 810.

When I just do iMessage to other iMessage users, or Hangouts to Hangouts, there are no problems whatsoever with messages/pictures/etc. When I do iMessage with normal SMS/MMS that's when there are problems. If I turn off iMessage and use only SMS/MMS it's even worst LOL Like the receiving party would get like 10% of whatever I sent.

BTW, for textra, did you try using the MMS setting that is specifically for tmobile? I didn't have it set with that when I was using textra on my Z3C, but it seems like it would be useful for your phone

 

[RockStar2005]

Yeah man, that iMessage caused real issues for me too pre-Lollipop. I found a fix (2nd half of my Original Post, #7) for it which I'd posted on multiple spots on here and T-Mobile's forums, but now I think it's really just VoLTE causing it cuz back then I had it disabled but had to do other stuff too. Not sure if the other stuff (#7) is needed now. When ppl I knew with iPhones had it on, I rarely got their picture MMS messages. When it was off, I always got it. My #7 fix and disabling VoLTE and using Textra all helped, but now it seems the issue is only VoLTE, though I still do the #7 thing only when I clear the cache on Textra, which was only once after I got Lolllipop.

Oh yeah, I did use that Textra setting. As you may have seen, my OP mentions it too. lol It's for WiFi Calling, but for me I like it b/c it disables WiFi if I happen to have it on since MMS messages CANNOT be sent/received over WiFi, only using data (i.e. 4G LTE).

RockStar2005

 

[sillieidiot]

Yeah I pretty much didn't have any problems with MMS on the Z3C pre/post lollipop. Sometimes I get SMS jumbled up, but that is totally a Tmobile problem lol

I see, yeah I always have WiFi on. It still just takes cellular data like normal even with WiFi on. It doesn't disconnect from WiFi, but shows activity on the cellular data side rather than WiFi. I guess it's only useful for when you have WiFi Calling enabled.

Hopefully the next iteration of this phone will have be compatibility. And hopefully Tmobile picks this phone up in more colors.

 

[RockStar2005]

I C. I dunno it appears to be disconnecting the WiFi cuz the icon for it disappears whenever I got or send an MMS text.

Yeah I agree. I like black but nice to have a white one maybe?

RockStar2005