[Smellyape]

Morning all, apologies if this is in the wrong thread I couldnt find one specific to this query.

We have noticed an issue with our firm issued Blackberry's. All of our Blackberry's can send texts to US based mobile numbers but when anyone replies to these texts they go missing. We have performed some extensive troubleshooting (See below) but essentially these messages exit the UK Carrier, are recieved by the device in the US but the reply doesnt even make it back to the UK carrier (they have been checking their SMS logging software and see no failed or queued texts).

Troubleshooting so far:
Sent a text to same US number by iPhone....reply came back immediately.
Used a different (but still firm issued) Blackberry....no reply, but was received.
Tried sending a text to mobiles on Verizon/AT&T and Cingular networks in US via Blackberry...all sent, all replied to, none received a reply.
Tried sending a text to mobiles on Verizon/AT&T and Cingular networks in US via iPhone...all sent, all replied to, all received a reply.
Tried using the iPhone sim in the 2 blackberry's, all texts sent were recevied and successfully replied to.
Checked the two SMS filtering options on the blackberry's, neither were checked.
Checked the BES policy, no filters or SMS restrictions were in place.
Tried a brand new, out of the box Blackberry with current Blackberry sim/number, all sent okay, no replies received.
Configured a fresh sim, used this in both a BES blackberry and a brand new blackberry, same issue, all sent no replies.
Used a consumer device from a Blackberry store with our sim, all sent, no replies.

Our UK carrier (im unsure as to whether it's bad form to name our carrier or not) tells me that I will probnably have to go to the 3 US carriers and tell them that we have a problem ?? This seems odd to me, firstly because these are corporate devices so shouldnt our carrier be investigating (even if the texts arent coming to their network ? it's surely a network handover issue) and secondly, its only our Blackberry's, iPhones (we have no droids) are not having this problem.

So my questions to you in the know are:
1) Do SMS messages have anything by the way of a message header that could be blocked from a US carrier ?
2) Has anyone seen this behaviour before ?
3) Anyone have any troubleshooting tips ?

I appreciate its not necessarily a BES or BIS issue but I cant see why it would only be our Blackberry numbers that do this ? To my mind it has to lie somewhere with the Numbers or our UK carrier....though I'll be more than happy to be proven otherwise.

Thanks

[Branta]

Troubleshooting so far:
Sent a text to same US number by iPhone....reply came back immediately.
Used a different (but still firm issued) Blackberry....no reply, but was received.
Tried sending a text to mobiles on Verizon/AT&T and Cingular networks in US via Blackberry...all sent, all replied to, none received a reply.
Tried sending a text to mobiles on Verizon/AT&T and Cingular networks in US via iPhone...all sent, all replied to, all received a reply.
Tried using the iPhone sim in the 2 blackberry's, all texts sent were recevied and successfully replied to.
Checked the two SMS filtering options on the blackberry's, neither were checked.
Checked the BES policy, no filters or SMS restrictions were in place.
Tried a brand new, out of the box Blackberry with current Blackberry sim/number, all sent okay, no replies received.
Configured a fresh sim, used this in both a BES blackberry and a brand new blackberry, same issue, all sent no replies.
Used a consumer device from a Blackberry store with our sim, all sent, no replies.

For the record, I have just tested between my 9700 (O2/UK) and a Verizon hosted 9930. Both are on BIS but I don't see BIS-v-BES as a probable factor because your carrier reports no incoming traffic, before it gets to any BES imposed filtering.

The points highlighted above in your list of tests all point to a problem with the SIM. Either it is blocking incoming international SMS, or the outgoing identity is not being transmitted correctly to be used for a reply. The most likely cause would be SIM permissions or return addressing applied by your carrier - although I can't see why this would apply only for a SIM which has BB data access permissions applied.

You don't mention explicitly but it might be worth checking, what happens if you take a suspect SIM and use it in a non-BlackBerry?

Do you have any foreign-non-US contacts (anywhere except USA) who may be able to prove this is a problem only with US networks? My gut feeling is you might find it applies also with other foreign networks, maybe even all networks (including UK) except your home carrier - but this probably needs proving either way.

[Smellyape]

Thanks for the response, we did try (this morning) putting the BB sim into an iphone via reprovisioning to a micro sim and the same text issue applied, could send but not receive, and again the reply texts arent even making it to the UK carrier.

Haven't tried abroad other than the US but other UK carriers work fine.

It only seems to be texts from this number, but that number isnt rejecting the texts, they just dont seem to be shoing up on our UK carrier network. To apply my logic to this, it has to be some outbound signature that is blocking the reply from the US carrier(s). But I thought the standard SMS structure/header was mobile number only.

we tried getting our US friends to send texts using 01144 and +44. +44 seems to send okay, but wont be received, 01144 states "action blocked" or some such restriction. Does this point to an international texting restriction ? but then, why would the +44 texts reach uk numbers without issue?

My mind is boggled

[Smellyape]

I thought I replied to this already, apologies if there is any duplication.
Thanks for your reply, much appreciated.

We have tried a BB sim in an iPhone (the one used in other testing) by way of re-provisiong a Micro sim, when we tried to text using the problematic sim/number the error stayed so it does look as though the error is following the number. Our carrier cant see any difference between the two numbers but to their credit they are investigating.

We have tried cross carrier texts in the UK with no problem at all, its only when these problematic numbers text the US that the issue arises. As for trying abroad we have had recent issues with various voice/Data functions not working correctly in the eurozone but I dont want to muddy the waters. I'll see if I can try it.

The only thing I can thnk of is some message header akin to email but my knowledge of SMS is such that I only think it relays the recipient phone number how or why this would suddenly stop a message leaving a US network is beyond me. to put it bluntly im stumped. If you can come up with anything else ill happily try it, and if our carrier come up with a solution ill be sure to post it.