Mixed up messages, or messages not received... whose fault is it?

Fizz

Hi all-

I am not sure whether this is a UT (Focal) issue, or a device (Pixel 3a) issue, or a provider (Freedom Mobile Canada) issue, or a combination of the three. So hopefully someone can give some feedback.

1: I'm having instances of messages just not being received. It happened today- i send a question. The recipient sees my message and replies twice. Her messages to me were never received by me. There was nothing special about them- just regular text messages. (I am using Messaging, standard UT app.) From my perspective, it's like she never replied.

2: On other occassions, i get a mixed-up message. The other side sends me a text, but it combines the text with a previous text that had been sent days or even weeks before. The result is something meaningless.
As a simple example, say i receieved a message a week ago "I'm going to order the chile cheeseburger and fries". Then today the same person tries to write me "I am working from tuesday through friday evenings." The message i might get is "I am working from tuesday to cheesburger with fries." I of course question it, and we share screenshots, and realize that what she sent made sense, but somehow what i receive is that combined nonsense.

Neither of these issues happen very often, but enough that i'm concerned about missing messages when it matters. What's the most source of the problem here? Any ideas? Thanks!

-Fizz

lduboeuf

@Fizz said in Mixed up messages, or messages not received... whose fault is it?:

Hi all-

I am not sure whether this is a UT (Focal) issue, or a device (Pixel 3a) issue, or a provider (Freedom Mobile Canada) issue, or a combination of the three. So hopefully someone can give some feedback.

1: I'm having instances of messages just not being received. It happened today- i send a question. The recipient sees my message and replies twice. Her messages to me were never received by me. There was nothing special about them- just regular text messages. (I am using Messaging, standard UT app.) From my perspective, it's like she never replied.

2: On other occassions, i get a mixed-up message. The other side sends me a text, but it combines the text with a previous text that had been sent days or even weeks before. The result is something meaningless.
As a simple example, say i receieved a message a week ago "I'm going to order the chile cheeseburger and fries". Then today the same person tries to write me "I am working from tuesday through friday evenings." The message i might get is "I am working from tuesday to cheesburger with fries." I of course question it, and we share screenshots, and realize that what she sent made sense, but somehow what i receive is that combined nonsense.

Neither of these issues happen very often, but enough that i'm concerned about missing messages when it matters. What's the most source of the problem here? Any ideas? Thanks!

-Fizz

I had that issue at the beginning of the Pixel 3a port on 20.04, but now i never noticed that.
Maybe you can try to test by having a clean database ( just remove all under `.local/share/history-service after backup )

For the second issue, see: https://gitlab.com/ubports/development/core/messaging-app/-/issues/334
but i'm afraid it is a deep issue that is hard to tackle ( also it can happens on Android apparently...)
A clean should fix the issue until it happen again...

Fizz

@lduboeuf
I've cleared out the .local/share/history-service folder and restarted. All seems to be working (so i guess i didn't break anything, lol). But whether this fixes the issues we'll have to see.

It seems weird that this would be an issue that has been around for so long on multiple devices, that someone would have fixed it by now.

I also never had this happen on my Nexus 5 Xenial on Virgin Mobile Canada. But I have seen it several times on my Pixel 3a Focal on Freedom Mobile. That makes me wonder if there is a hardware or software or network factor at play here.

-Fizz

Fizz

@lduboeuf
Well, it only took a couple days for the issue to appear again. I had that history-service file cleared, and last night i got another two instances of getting a combined message. It seems to be happening more often, and it seems to only happen with longer messages.

I still don't get how i never saw this under my android S8, my Nexus 5 Xenial on Virgin, but now it's so common under the Pixel 3a Focal Freedom.

-Fizz

Fizz

@lduboeuf
Looking at the github link you provided, it refers to old fragments and says to do the following:

cd /var/lib/ofono/<tab to select sim>
mv sms_assembly sms_assembly_`date +%F`

But i can't seem to access the ofono directory. Anything i try says i am denied. Any idea how i clear this?

-Fizz

lduboeuf

@Fizz said in Mixed up messages, or messages not received... whose fault is it?:

@lduboeuf
Looking at the github link you provided, it refers to old fragments and says to do the following:
cd /var/lib/ofono/<tab to select sim>
mv sms_assembly sms_assembly_`date +%F`
But i can't seem to access the ofono directory. Anything i try says i am denied. Any idea how i clear this?

-Fizz

/var/lib is write protected, so sudo will be needed and probably the partition should be made writable sudo mount -o remount,rw /

Weird it happens to you often, does the provider have this known issue ?.
I would also guess that if network is unstable, it could happens more frequently

AppLee

Hi @Fizz
I had similar issues with a couple of contacts.
They used an iOS device and when they sent me long SMS more that 128 char I often never received the message.
When the message was very long and converted to MMS, it arrived without issue.

One of those person had similar issue with another one of their contacts who used an older version of iOS.

This behavior happened to me on both android and Ubuntu Touch.

Also the SMS has no delivery guaranty but most providers are reliable enough... but not all the time.
20 years ago on new year's eve, most SMS would not reach their destination.

You can try to narrow it down, but my bet is on specific contacts and compatibility between both of your devices.

Fizz

@lduboeuf
So there is other stuff going on it seems...

Today on the way home i made a call- it went through fine. The person on the other end had to take care of something, and she said she'd call me back.

She tried to, but the call never came through. She texted, and those never came through.

Even after getting home, i could call her, but her calls to me would not come come through. (I should note, this is not the same person with whom i was having the combined-text issues.)

I call the provider, Freedom Mobile. They tried to text me test texts, and those didn't arrive. They then had me remove, reinstall, and then update my sim card, and after a reboot, all the missed texts and phone call notifications came through all at once (like i got 10 texts and notifications simultaneously). Of course the guy at Freedom was clueless about UT, but they said they had updated their network recently, and perhaps an updated sim card would help. If it didn't, they suggested i go to a store and get a replacement sim.

So i'll give this a go for a bit and see what happens... <shrug>

-Fizz

Fizz

@AppLee
Interesting. At least it's not just me. Lol.
We'll see if the updates help with anything (per my previous post), but if not then i think i'll have to switch providers. I can't be missing texts or having them arrive super-late.

-Fizz

AppLee

@Fizz said in Mixed up messages, or messages not received... whose fault is it?:

and after a reboot, all the missed texts and phone call notifications came through all at once

I think trying to reboot if missed calls or unreceived text messages happen might solve things without messing with the SIM card.
But definitely the new SIM card is something to try out.

Fizz

@AppLee
Well, after more missed calls this evening, it seemsd the updated sim didn't do anything.

But what i have noticed is that the issue (for the phone calls at least) seems to be related to being on 4G. When the phone was in 2G/3G/4G mode (mobile settings indicate that, and i see an "L" as my network), i would not get the call or texts. When i switch settings to 2G/3G only, the texts come through a moment later and the phone call comes through. If i switch back to 2G/3G/4G, and on "L" the issue returns.

Now, i've been on the 2G/3G/4G setting for months. I know my provider (Freedom) supports it (or at least they claim they do), but this has only become a serious problem lately.

I think today i need to go to a Freedom store and try getting a new sim; i can't think of anything else to try. If that doesn't work, then it'll be time to change providers i guess.

Any ideas otherwise?

-Fizz

AppLee

@Fizz said in Mixed up messages, or messages not received... whose fault is it?:

Any ideas otherwise?

It seems you found a good explanation.
Normally with 2G/3G/4G the switch to 3G for incoming calls or SMS should be automatic.
So it most probably have something to do with how the provider is doing things, so either a new SIM will fix the issue or I don't know what can.
I'm not an expert on how cell towers work but it would be great if someone with enough knowledge can see what happens.
In my mind that has to do with all the non-standard things that Marius talks about when speaking about VoLTE...
But that's far out of my league

Fizz

@AppLee
Well, i got my new sim today. So far, all seems good. I can receive calls and texts over 4g. So all looks good at the moment.

However, while talking to the company rep, i learned that all (if not most) networks in the US now require calling over 4g / VoLTE, that there is no 3g or 2g to fall back to. Thus, making / receiving a call in the US would not be possible on UT right now.

Perhaps this is for another thread, but i find this surprising- i would have thought we'd have several UT people in the US, and they must be wanting to make phone calls. Is there a workaround? Are people using a separate app?

Otherwise, i will keep people apprised of the original bad behavior i've been seeing, and let everyone know whether the new sim has fixed it or not- probably will take at least a week or two of testing to see.

-Fizz

AppLee

@Fizz said in Mixed up messages, or messages not received... whose fault is it?:

Perhaps this is for another thread, but i find this surprising- i would have thought we'd have several UT people in the US, and they must be wanting to make phone calls. Is there a workaround? Are people using a separate app?

Yes, VoLTE is an issue for people in the US.
And this is becoming a pressing matter in Europe as well.

Right now, the only workaround we've got is to use SIP.

Lately progress has been made, so hopefully VoLTE will be available on Ubuntu Touch in 2024
No promises because it's hard to anticipate what can happen and I'm not working on it, so I don't know the issues at hand.

There are threads dedicated to VoLTE on this forum and even a Telegram channel for Ubuntu Touch users in North America.

Inali

VoLTE is a minimum requirement for all three USA carriers. None of the 3 carriers will activate a phone if it doesn't support VoLTE.
Super sucks for me since I'm in USA and itching to dump Android.

Fizz

@AppLee said in Mixed up messages, or messages not received... whose fault is it?:

Right now, the only workaround we've got is to use SIP.

I will investigate this. What's the recommended way for using SIP on UT?

-Fizz

Fizz

Unfortunately, the new sim has not fixed the problem.

I did a test this morning. I used my house phone to call my own cell phone. While on 4g, the call failed to go through to me and went immediately to voice mail, my cell phone didn't ring at all. I switched to 3g and the call then came through normally.

A bit later in the day though, it did work while i was on 4g. 3g always works, 4g seems spotty.

Would this be the fault of the provider (Freedom Mobile)? Or is there something bigger going on i need to worry about?

-Fizz

Fizz

I don't suppose there are any updates on this are there? I've noticed that at times, even on 3g, that images don't come through. But after i reboot the phone they do. Does this mean there is an issue with UT, or with the Pixel 3a, or with the network?

I am considering changing providers. Does anyone think this might help the issue?

-Fizz

Keneda

@Fizz
I have no problem with MMS on my Nexus 5 (same before with my MX4).
I'm in France with Orange provider, APN set automatically.

Fizz

@Keneda
I never had an issue with MMS on my Nexus 5 either. But when i upgraded to my Pixel 3a, which is roughly the same time as when i changed providers, the issues started.

So i have 3 potential culprits.
1: the OS (MMS was fine on Xenial, not on Focal)
2: the hardware (MMS was fine on Nexus 5, not on Pixel 3a)
3: the network (MMS fine on Virgin Canada, not on Freedom Mobile)

So the first i'm considering changing is #3.

-Fizz