Help Need help with S4 SMS not auto retrieving

[sbecerra407]

I recently bought a S4 and i have encountered a weird problem. I had a Samsung smartphone before and this has never happened. My phone will not receive texts from certain people unless I manually check the SMS app or until i send a message. For example, my friend will send me a message lets say at around 2 but i wont receive it until 6 unless i check my sms app. I wont get notifications for certain texts.
It is very strange because in the settings of the app, the Auto Retrieve Messages box is checked but it doesnt work. I have tried searching for this issue but i could not find anything except for issues with iphones to s4 but this doesnt seem to be the case for me because my brother has an iphone 5s and his texts are automatically retrieved by my phone. Im on tmobile btw
This is my first post here so any help would be appreciated.

 

[GuitarG20]

Welcome to the forums!

Quick question: are you connected to Wifi when this issue occurs? Reason I am asking is because android phones sometimes have issues receiving messages in a timely manner when on wifi; myself and others have had issues with text messages not coming in until one is sent and the phone connects to the sms server that way.

 

[sbecerra407]

Woah. Thanks, it seems to be working right now. I turned off wifi and my phone seems to be receiving messages on time. But is there any way to avoid this? Like fixing it without having to turn off wifi? Im always on wifi when at home and its really inconvenient having to turn off my wifi every time i want to check for texts.

 

[GuitarG20]

I haven't seen any fixes yet, although it only happens sporadically for me. What version of android are you on?

 

[sbecerra407]

Yeah it doesnt happen all the time, i would say 85-90 percent of the time it happens. Im on 4.2.2

 

[GuitarG20]

Hmm. That's a lot of the time. Let me take a look around- I thought I'd seen a fix a few months back.

 

[sbecerra407]

Alright awesome thanks. The biggest reason i couldnt find anything was that i didnt know what keywords to use to search. I couldnt find anything. And thanks for the prompt replies.

 

[Digital Controller]

Did you used to own an iPhone before the S4?

 

[sdrawkcab25]

seems to be a common problem on tmobile ever since they implimented their "wi-fi calling" features:
https://support.t-mobile.com/thread/39684

a quote from a tmobile rep:

......(what) happens if you switch the Wi-Fi preferred to use both signal types? (this should allow the phone to switch to cellular if needed)

If you're not seeing any improvements with a different wireless network and you've got the device set to Wi-Fi and the cellular network without any luck, you may need a new SIM card.

(a new sim card appears to have fixed sms for that user)

 

[sbecerra407]

Did you used to own an iPhone before the S4?

No i had a Samsung Galaxy S Blaze

 

[sbecerra407]

Wifi calling is off on my phone cuz i never call anyone. Should i turn it on?

 

[sbecerra407]

Yo i just turned on wifi calling and it seems to have fixed it. Im gonna give it a couple days to see if its permanently fixed. Anyone know why this is? If not, thanks to everyone who helped me

 

[sdrawkcab25]

Yo i just turned on wifi calling and it seems to have fixed it. Im gonna give it a couple days to see if its permanently fixed. Anyone know why this is? If not, thanks to everyone who helped me

have no idea (not a tmobile customer) but the issues seems to be the opposite for some people, where turning off wi-fi calling fixes it.

Wi-fi calling is supposed to work in a similar fashion as network extenders, by using your internet connection to keep you connected to tmobile in poor signal areas...

 

[Digital Controller]

Yo i just turned on wifi calling and it seems to have fixed it. Im gonna give it a couple days to see if its permanently fixed. Anyone know why this is? If not, thanks to everyone who helped me

Glad we could help, if you have any other issues feel free to come back to us and we can help you out the best we can