1. Myveggies's Avatar
    I just recently switched over to AT&T from Verizon and I bought the Blackberry BOLD 9000. The main reason why I switched to AT&T is because 1) I need a GSM phone that I can unlock while I travel out of the country half of the year and 2) Take advantage of AT&T's international text package (the only carrier with this) where I send 100 text messages for $10 (0.10 each) instead of paying .35 per message at Tmobile or .45 per message at Verizon. Not to mention the BOLD is one nice smoking device! I have many clients in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan that I need to stay in communication with so I downloaded the East Asian firmware.

    As soon I got the phone, I called in to AT&T to get an unlock code and unlocked it. Downloaded the Chinese software DIRECTLY from RIM's AT&T site (not from a 3rd party) and was able to view emails and type in Chinese.

    Next, I had to test out to see if my phone is capable of texting Chinese (as this is the #1 reason for me to switch over to AT&T).

    I was able to send a text message in Chinese to other AT&T users as well as receive one in Chinese from them. However, I am NOT able to send or receive one if the end user is on either T-Mobile or Verizon. I don't even get an error message, the messages would indicate going through on my phone but the person on the receiving end gets nothing. I understand Verizon might not get it because it is not GSM and non-alphanumeric characters does not get transferred from GSM to CDMA but I am not sure why T-mobile users are not getting my messages and vice versa. It's not even where they get funny unicodes, they get nothing.

    Next, it was time for me to test out the international side of things. I have no problem sending or receiving Chinese text to/from numbers in Taiwan. HOWEVER, I get the same scenario with any cell phone number in China and Hong Kong.

    I called into AT&T CSR and get transferred to technical support to open up a case. They get back to me saying "your phone does not have problems sending text messages". Obviously they did not understand my request. I tried two more times and they don't know what I am talking about.

    They told me to reset the phone (the usual protocol) but the problem does not lie within my phone because 1)If the problem is with the phone then I wouldn't be able to text anyone at all but messages to AT&T users and numbers in Taiwan were fine. 2)Since the phone is unlocked, I plugged in my friend's T-Mobile sim card and was ABLE to text numbers in China as well as other T-mobile numbers, however a T-mobile number was not able to text another AT&T number in Chinese as well. Which indicates this is clearly an AT&T network problem as AT&T is the only common denominator in all the problems.

    WHICH BRINGS ME TO THIS QUESTION: DID AT&T NOT SIGN AGREEMENTS WITH CERTAIN CARRIERS TO CARRY THROUGH NON ALPHA NUMERIC CHARACTERS?

    So here is the scenario summarized:

    1) I don't have a problem texting English to anyone on any network in any country.

    2) I can text/receive Chinese to/from everyone on AT&T and anyone in Taiwan.

    3) I cannot text/receive Chinese to/from anyone on T-Mobile, Verizon, numbers in China and Hong Kong.

    4) The phone does not have a problem as T-mobile sim cards inserted into my phone are able to text China in Chinese.

    5) I can't chat with other Blackberry users of T-mobile and Verizon in Chinese on blackberry messenger so it's definately not a phone or RIM issue, it's a network problem.


    I am currently still within 30 days of my purchase so I can get out of the contract without an ETF. If I don't get an answer on this then I would have to go to T-mobile (as painful as the triple cost on international texts).

    I am hoping one ATT reps on this forum can go to the bottom of this problem for me and tell me what's going on? If I am wanting AT&T to do something that it cannot do then I will leave. If what I need done can be done but is just having some problems then let me know how/when this problem can be fixed so I might stick around.

    MANY thanks to anyone that can give me a detailed answer.
    Last edited by Myveggies; 09-18-09 at 08:26 AM.
    09-18-09 06:17 AM
  2. Duvi's Avatar
    I do not have an answer for that other than speaking to Tier 2 tech support rather than Tier 1. I can have a friend (privax) look at this and see his take on this and hopefully he knows.
    09-21-09 12:54 PM
  3. Myveggies's Avatar
    Thank you VERY MUCH Duvi for your reply, if Privax can help me that would be excellent. I have until 9/26 to cancel my service w/o ETF.

    I spoke to a "supervisor" over at technical support so I assume/hope that's tier II? They opened up a ticket and I got a call back saying "we do not have a solution to your problem and we are NOT in the process of trying to fix that" due to "lack" of inquiries regarding this issue.

    It seems a bit odd to me if this cannot be done on the AT&T network as China has the largest cell phone user population in the world and a big piece of pie in the cellular business.
    09-22-09 01:37 AM
  4. OtakuGangsta's Avatar
    I would agree, with something like that i would speak to a tier 2 tech or have the rep TT blackberry support as well just encase. BTW i'm a AT&T CSR/CRT rep too!
    09-22-09 03:02 PM
  5. Myveggies's Avatar
    Thanks. I don't think it's a phone problem my with blackberry. It has to be a network problem as I still can't do what I need to do when I plug my sim card into a dumb phone.
    09-22-09 04:57 PM
  6. privax's Avatar
    I just recently switched over to AT&T from Verizon and I bought the Blackberry BOLD 9000. The main reason why I switched to AT&T is because 1) I need a GSM phone that I can unlock while I travel out of the country half of the year and 2) Take advantage of AT&T's international text package (the only carrier with this) where I send 100 text messages for $10 (0.10 each) instead of paying .35 per message at Tmobile or .45 per message at Verizon. Not to mention the BOLD is one nice smoking device! I have many clients in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan that I need to stay in communication with so I downloaded the East Asian firmware.

    As soon I got the phone, I called in to AT&T to get an unlock code and unlocked it. Downloaded the Chinese software DIRECTLY from RIM's AT&T site (not from a 3rd party) and was able to view emails and type in Chinese.

    Next, I had to test out to see if my phone is capable of texting Chinese (as this is the #1 reason for me to switch over to AT&T).

    I was able to send a text message in Chinese to other AT&T users as well as receive one in Chinese from them. However, I am NOT able to send or receive one if the end user is on either T-Mobile or Verizon. I don't even get an error message, the messages would indicate going through on my phone but the person on the receiving end gets nothing. I understand Verizon might not get it because it is not GSM and non-alphanumeric characters does not get transferred from GSM to CDMA but I am not sure why T-mobile users are not getting my messages and vice versa. It's not even where they get funny unicodes, they get nothing.

    Next, it was time for me to test out the international side of things. I have no problem sending or receiving Chinese text to/from numbers in Taiwan. HOWEVER, I get the same scenario with any cell phone number in China and Hong Kong.

    I called into AT&T CSR and get transferred to technical support to open up a case. They get back to me saying "your phone does not have problems sending text messages". Obviously they did not understand my request. I tried two more times and they don't know what I am talking about.

    They told me to reset the phone (the usual protocol) but the problem does not lie within my phone because 1)If the problem is with the phone then I wouldn't be able to text anyone at all but messages to AT&T users and numbers in Taiwan were fine. 2)Since the phone is unlocked, I plugged in my friend's T-Mobile sim card and was ABLE to text numbers in China as well as other T-mobile numbers, however a T-mobile number was not able to text another AT&T number in Chinese as well. Which indicates this is clearly an AT&T network problem as AT&T is the only common denominator in all the problems.

    WHICH BRINGS ME TO THIS QUESTION: DID AT&T NOT SIGN AGREEMENTS WITH CERTAIN CARRIERS TO CARRY THROUGH NON ALPHA NUMERIC CHARACTERS?

    So here is the scenario summarized:

    1) I don't have a problem texting English to anyone on any network in any country.

    2) I can text/receive Chinese to/from everyone on AT&T and anyone in Taiwan.

    3) I cannot text/receive Chinese to/from anyone on T-Mobile, Verizon, numbers in China and Hong Kong.

    4) The phone does not have a problem as T-mobile sim cards inserted into my phone are able to text China in Chinese.

    5) I can't chat with other Blackberry users of T-mobile and Verizon in Chinese on blackberry messenger so it's definately not a phone or RIM issue, it's a network problem.


    I am currently still within 30 days of my purchase so I can get out of the contract without an ETF. If I don't get an answer on this then I would have to go to T-mobile (as painful as the triple cost on international texts).

    I am hoping one ATT reps on this forum can go to the bottom of this problem for me and tell me what's going on? If I am wanting AT&T to do something that it cannot do then I will leave. If what I need done can be done but is just having some problems then let me know how/when this problem can be fixed so I might stick around.

    MANY thanks to anyone that can give me a detailed answer.
    Sorry I haven't had a chance to get to this, I noticed in a few posts down you had until 9/26 to cancel. Did you cancel or is this still an issue?
    09-29-09 07:54 PM
  7. Myveggies's Avatar
    I technically have it until 10/3 but I might be out of town this weekend so I probably have until Thursday 10/1 the latest.

    I would appreciate it if you can look into this ASAP as I am still not getting any answers when I call Tech support.


    Thanks
    09-30-09 12:34 AM
  8. Myveggies's Avatar
    I returned my Bold yesterday as that was the last day for me to return. Tech support elevated my problem to the highest level yet they still don't know what's going on. I am back on Verizon during the mean time but only Month to Month and will switch to ATT once this problem is fixed. If anyone has any idea on what's going on with this issue or when it will be fixed, please let me know. I am still keeping taps on this issue. Thanks.
    10-04-09 10:17 AM
  9. Xiaotsung's Avatar
    I returned my Bold yesterday as that was the last day for me to return. Tech support elevated my problem to the highest level yet they still don't know what's going on. I am back on Verizon during the mean time but only Month to Month and will switch to ATT once this problem is fixed. If anyone has any idea on what's going on with this issue or when it will be fixed, please let me know. I am still keeping taps on this issue. Thanks.
    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    12-09-10 04:52 PM
  10. Xiaotsung's Avatar
    I have the same problem.
    From Nokia 3710-1a bought in Taiwan texed in Chinese from t-mobile SIM prepaid to iPhone, , all characters turned to ****.
    But texted from iPhone to that Nokia is no problem.
    Anyone has a fix?
    Thanks.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    12-09-10 05:03 PM
  11. Mister Xiado's Avatar
    The SMS system doesn't natively support extended character sets, simply because of the 7 bit encoding. It's rather hacky, getting even certain types of punctuation to go through within the 160 character limit. I believe the Wikipedia article would prove to be more illuminating.

    Also, it is cheaper to reply on email for messaging in alternate character sets.

    Not saying it's impossible to use Chinese in text messages, but try making much shorter messages as a test. Some phone CHOKE on multi-segment messages.
    12-11-10 11:31 AM
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