Problem sending Group SMS-received individually

BluePlanet

Sending an SMS message to a Group and the others (all overseas) receive the message individually and cannot reply to the group.

Had a look in the settings of the message app (Huawei y6p) but didn't see anything about group texts.

What do you think?

L1011

SMS isn't Whatsapp, they will always be received individually as its a single to single method of comms. You are just creating a group to send the same text to, it doesn't let the receiver know who else received it or set them up to reply to all.

BluePlanet

I guess i misspoke.
Sending a Group MMS not SMS.
Recipients need to see the group and respond to the group.

But it seems this isn't working as some ppl receive the text individually and don't see the group.
Responses come to my phone individually and not part of the group.

banie01

BluePlanet wrote: »

I guess i misspoke.
Sending a Group MMS not SMS.
Recipients need to see the group and respond to the group.

But it seems this isn't working as some ppl receive the text individually and don't see the group.
Responses come to my phone individually and not part of the group.

That's the same thing as group SMS.

SMS/MMS allow the sender to send a message to multiple recipients.
It does not allow for all recipients to see each others response or for the responses of multiple recipients to be presented as a threaded conversation.
Each different recipient can only reply to the sender, and that reply will generate a separate conversation solely between the sender and the recipient.

If you want to share messages and data in the manner you seem to think a group SMS/MMS works?

You need to use a messaging app such as WhatsApp or similar.

Del2005

BluePlanet wrote: »

I guess i misspoke.
Sending a Group MMS not SMS.
Recipients need to see the group and respond to the group.

But it seems this isn't working as some ppl receive the text individually and don't see the group.
Responses come to my phone individually and not part of the group.

It's probably the settings on the recipients phone. You can now get a lot of features using some messaging apps but not a lot of people are aware of this so won't have it enabled. I only found out recently and have it enabled. I don't know how many of my friends have it enabled because we mainly use WhatsApp and I doubt they look at the settings of their messaging app, I only did because I'd seen it here.

Why can't you setup a WhatsApp group?

BluePlanet

Del2005 wrote: »

Why can't you setup a WhatsApp group?

Because the other ppl don't use WhatsApp as that app doesn't enjoy the same popularity as it does here.
They are field service technicians for heating boilers, often not very techy.

BluePlanet

banie01 wrote: »

That's the same thing as group SMS.

SMS/MMS allow the sender to send a message to multiple recipients.
It does not allow for all recipients to see each others response or for the responses of multiple recipients to be presented as a threaded conversation.
Each different recipient can only reply to the sender, and that reply will generate a separate conversation solely between the sender and the recipient.

If you want to share messages and data in the manner you seem to think a group SMS/MMS works?

You need to use a messaging app such as WhatsApp or similar.

I don't find that to be true.
I can do my own test here with a couple people in Ireland and they see the group. The phone i'm using for this test doesn't have WhatsApp installed either, but theirs do.

The experience that the group i'm sending to are used to, was exactly as i have outlined: Sender sends a group text, the others see it as a group contact/group message and respond and everybody sees each others response.
That's the expectation.

I'm wrong, the phone i'm testing with DOES have WhatsApp

GBX

Whatsapp is not a very techy app to endure. Install, verify phone number, add contacts, create a group and away you go. Same could be said for the Telegram and others.

Kolido

This can be dependent on the phone service carrier also. You say they are in another country, that might be why it is not working.

The only reason I can see for using this type of messaging is if they don't have internet where they are. Otherwise, you might be better setting up with an IM app

ongarite

I'm going to guess the other users have iPhones.
iMessage is SMS/MMS with built in data messaging too, like WhatsApp, which supports group chat.
To a non tech user it may appear that it's all being done through SMS texts.

banie01

ongarite wrote: »

I'm going to guess the other users have iPhones.
iMessage is SMS/MMS with built in data messaging too, like WhatsApp, which supports group chat.
To a non tech user it may appear that it's all being done through SMS texts.

If the OP's previous phone was an Apple that could very well be it.
I think they are on a Huawei now but certainly if iMessage was used previously then we have a runner.

In any event, even if not.
Sending a group SMS/MMS to multiple OS, on multiple networks will result in different reply and threading experience.

If it's an MMS group, check the settings on your phone as follows.
Messages>settings>MMS/Multimedia>Group.
Then set that to on.

The above is for generic android, manufacturers individual settings may label each heading differently.
Even at that, it will likely only ensure that you see a threaded reply view and that every other user will need to take the same steps on their device.

I do appreciate that MMS may be a necessary evil for your group to others perhaps having older or feature handsets.
It is however, a horrendously expensive and inefficient means of having a group share info.
MMS are expensive, average cost in Ireland is 0.25c per recipient.
Versus numerous messaging apps allowing free and above all easy group chat

seamus

Even if WhatsApp is not popular, get the whole team to sign up for something like Signal so for them it's a "work app". It's also considerably more secure and works with any smartphone.

listermint

seamus wrote: »

Even if WhatsApp is not popular, get the whole team to sign up for something like Signal so for them it's a "work app". It's also considerably more secure and works with any smartphone.

Plus MMS and SMS carry a premium price on most networks.

Having worked in software providing field based solutions to exactly the people you are talking about OP.

Whatsapp is better than SMS or MMS and I'd advice you to move to that. It's not going to be a jump for any of these guys at all.

coylemj

ongarite wrote: »

I'm going to guess the other users have iPhones.

Was this the giveaway?

BluePlanet wrote: »

They are field service technicians for heating boilers, often not very techy.