Messaging & Email FAQs

Occasionally phones can run into memory or application errors that can impact services like text messaging. To prevent or resolve these issues, occasionally power your device down for a couple minutes and then power back up and retry your message. Occasionally we will be asked by the account owner to block certain services. Check with your account owner to see whether text message services have been blocked on your handset. Check the signal strength on your phone to make sure you are receiving adequate signal. If not, try moving to an area with a stronger signal. Make sure all messages are being sent using the 10-digit phone number (with the area code). In some phones, whatever is stored in contacts will override what you've manually typed, so it's important to have phone numbers programmed with 10 digits in your phonebook contacts. Try deleting all messages in your inbox/outbox. If your phone has a removable battery, take the battery out. Wait a few seconds and put the battery back in, and power the phone back up. Try sending a brand new message to see if the issue has been resolved. If the problem is with just one person, and you are able to successfully text with other cellular users, the problem may be with the other person's service. Finally, if you are unable to solve the problem, call Customer Care and we will help you further troubleshoot the problem.

​​Occasionally phones can run into memory or application errors that can impact services like text messaging. To prevent or resolve these issues, occasionally power your device down for a couple minutes and then power back up and retry your message. Occasionally we will be asked by the account owner to block certain services. Check with your account owner to see whether data services have been blocked on your handset. In order to receive a picture message (for the first time), you must register your handset for pictures by first sending a message to someone else. If you have sent or received pictures in the past, but now are not able to, check your message in- and out-boxes. If you have a lot of messages and have not cleaned them out, you may not have "room" for new messages. Try deleting the messages in your in- and out-boxes. Try accessing the Internet on your phone. If you are unable to access the Internet, you may not be receiving a strong enough signal or there may be a data outage (which would prevent you from sending picture messages). If possible, try again when you have stronger signal. If none of these things work, call Customer Care and we will help you further troubleshoot the problem.

Send a text message with the word "STOP" to the short code that is sending the messages. If you don't know the short code, contact Cellcom's Customer Care Department and they will help you find this information.

Sometimes when a number has been ported from another carrier, the old carrier has not properly removed your phone number from their system for text messaging. Thus all of your incoming text messages from certain carriers are rejected and get routed back to your old carrier. Contact Cellcom Customer Care. They will open a trouble ticket to have the issue resolved with your old carrier.

Make sure all messages are being sent using the 10-digit phone number (with the area code). In some phones, whatever is stored in contacts will override what you've manually typed, so it's important to have phone numbers programmed with 10 digits in your phonebook contacts. If your phonebook contacts are programmed without the area code, reprogram with the area code. It is also possible that the resolution size of your picture is too large to be displayed on the receiving phone. Prior to taking a picture on your camera phone, look in your owner's manual for instructions on how to reduce the resolution size of the image you have captured If you are still unable to send any messages to specific numbers, please call Customer Care.

It is not abnormal to receive duplicate text messages on occasion. Typically, this occurs when the system doesn't receive proper communication that the message has been received by the phone, so it resends the message again. Turning the phone off and back on a daily basis does help prevent some duplicate text messages. It would be abnormal to receive the same message every minute or so over and over again. Should this occur, try deleting all messages in your inbox/outbox. If your phone has a removable battery, take the battery out of the phone for a few seconds. Replace the battery, and turn the phone back on. Also check to see if there are any additional messaging apps installed on the phone that could be causing a conflict with the default messaging application. If that does not resolve the issue, contact Cellcom Customer Care.

​​Often times, forwarded messages have changed hands several times. Each time a message has changed hands, it gets decoded and recoded. The more times a message gets decoded and recoded, the less likely it is to properly display on a handset. In addition, some file types/formats of forwarded messages may not be supported on certain handsets.

This can occur if you have a special character / symbol (i.e. not a letter or number) in your message or your text messaging signature. Try modifying your signature so that it has only normal (alpha or numeric) characters, or try removing your signature, to see if this fixes the issue. If you don't have a signature, try deleting all messages in your inbox/outbox. If your phone has a removable battery, take the battery out of your phone for a few seconds. Replace the battery, power the phone up, and now try resending a new message to see if that fixes the issue. If the issue is still not resolved, contact Cellcom Customer Care.