TCL Flip 3 does not receive SMS & microSD cards not recognised

[John5710]

I bought the TCL Flip 3 from https://ee.co.uk/products/tcl-flip-3-sim-free a couple weeks ago - it arrived on Feb 11th and I've been using it since. It did a quick software update as soon as I turned it on and has the features I want out of a phone and more (like Internet radio). The phone works generally okay except:

1. It does not receive SMS messages. I called 150 and was given the SMS sending centre as +447958879879 but I can't find anywhere to set this configuration on the phone. Neither could the gentleman on the phone. I can send SMS just fine - they get received instantly by my friends and family. But I do not receive any responses (which I know have been sent by friends and family). I sent a text with just the word NUMBER in it to 150. Did not receive a response.

2. The microSD card port appears to be dead - the manual says it supports microSD cards of up to 512GB - I've tried with three different cards of capacities up to 64GB and none are recognised by the phone.

I don't mind the microSD fault so much as I don't plan on exhausting the 1GB built-in storage, but inability to receive SMS is a dealbreaker due to MFA requirements - including on EE's website!

Does anyone know how to resolve this issue? This is a brand new phone sold by EE so surely there is a solution.

Thanks!

Alex

[Chris_B]

@John5710  click HERE  to see the user manual 

[John5710]

Thank you. I have already checked out the manual and can't see anything that addresses my issues.

[Chris_B]

@John5710  You might find this useful 

Tap on “Phone Information” or “Device Information.” Find the “SMSC” field and tap to edit. Enter the new SMSC number provided by your operator. Tap “Update” or “Set” and restart your device.

[John5710]

Thank you, but I can't find the SMSC field anywhere. As per p.43 of the manual, the closest configuration menu I can find is Settings ->  Device -> Device Information but there is no SMSC or similar field there, or in either of the submenus ("More Information" and "Legal Information").

[Rach_H]

Hi @John5710 

Welcome to the Community!

Are you able to take your phone into your local EE store, so the team can take a look into this, and see what they can do to get your texts working?

Rach

[bristolian]

If you can send SMS, then your message settings are self-evidently correct - it's only sending where these matter.

Receiving SMS is a push-service from network-side, rather than pushing from device-end. A good test would be to send an SMS to yourself, the hindrance on sending is the SMSC, while the network pushes the "receipt" to your phone. If you're able to try your SIM in a known working phone, repeat the test - to eliminate the phone. An EE store should be able to assist with this, if necessary.

The SD card issue sounds like a faulty reader, but just try those same cards in another known working device to prove it.

[John5710]

Hello! I took the phone to my local EE store on Monday. The lady there had no idea what to do about the SMS delivery issue as "this is not a smartphone". Similarly unable to help with the MicroSD issue, although in the process of powering the phone off and on again to swap MicroSD cards, the phone suddenly received all ~20 SMS messages I had not been receiving. So it appears they had been queued somewhere, patiently awaiting delivery. The lady at the shop recommended I go to a "we fix any phone/tablet/laptop" corner shop for someone to look at the phone as "they are more technical". Hummm, okay. Not the level of assistance I expected at the EE store.

I was content with the situation because since Monday I have been receiving text messages (so, main problem solved, yay), but then again today I was expecting text messages from a few folks that never arrived, so I restarted the phone again and lo! A minute later, 5 messages arrived all at once.

So there is definitely some issue that is preventing delivery of SMS messages to my phone, which is not happening all the time. @Rach_H - does this give you a hint regarding what could possibly be going on here?

[John5710]

Hi, and thanks for the troubleshooting ideas. The same SIM card works flawlessly in an iPhone - SMS delivery works right every time. Therefore, this is either an issue on the phone itself or with the way the phone talks to the GSM network or something like that.

I agree on the MicroSD card issue - as I've tried the same cards (using a MicroSD to SD card adaptor) on my computer and they're recognised as expected.

[Leanne_T]

Hi there @John5710 

Thanks for coming back to us and for the extra details. 

If the SIM card is receiving texts in another device, the SIM is working as it should.

I would advise getting back in touch with our technical support guides on 150, they will run some further troubleshooting to see if they can suggest anything else for you to try or any updates that are needed at our end. 

Let us know how you get on. 

Leanne.