What happens when someone texts you when you have no service?
Will the text message be delivered or probably not since you have no service in your cell phone.
Mostly when we talk about having no network service we literally mean having no cellular network service in our phone as you know when it comes to sending a cellular text message cellular network service is pretty much compulsory.
But for instant messaging, the case may be different. This bring about the question being asked on;
What happens when someone texts you when you have no service?
If someone texts you when you have no service in your cell phone, the text message won’t get through to your phone and this means the text message won’t be delivered.
Talking about text message i mean to say cellular text message or probably sms text message which is the default messaging service in a given phone. For an sms text message to get delivered to the recipient phone, the phone must be active along with a sim card and a cellular network service.
If you don’t have these active in your mobile phone then any text message sent your phone won’t be delivered to you until your phone is active wit a cellular network service.
However, the case may be different if you are talking about instant messaging service like the iMessage, whatsapp, Skype, Facebook messenger, telegram, viber, Google voice, etc.
These require Wi-Fi or cellular data and even if you don’t have a cellular network service in your phone but has an active Wi-Fi connection, then you are good to go.
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Now let me explain sms text message and instant messaging and why network service is compulsory for sms text message as to the question of the day on what happens when someone texts you when you have no service.
Understanding sms text message
Sms text message is the default messaging service in a given phone as it is sent using the network service connection.
This is the most used means of sending a text message in mobile compared to instant messaging apps and services. You can send sms text message to any phone brand and it will get delivered to the person as long as the recipient didn’t block your phone number.
For example, you can send sms text message from an iPhone to an android phone or a feature phone. You can also send sms text message from a feature phone t an iPhone or android phone and it will get delivered to the recipient.
This is different from instant messaging apps and services as you cannot send iMessage to an android phone user or a feature phone user. You cannot send whatsapp to someone who is not using whatsapp and same goes to Skype, Facebook messenger, telegram, Viber, except for Google voice.
For sms text message to work, you must have a texting plan or an airtime else you won’t be able to send an sms text message.
Remember, the sms text message I’m talking about is usually called the green text message on iPhone. Whenever you see the green text message on your iPhone, kindly note that it is the sms text message.
Requirements:
- An active sim card.
- An active phone.
- A cellular network service.
- A texting plan or airtime.
Talking about what happens when someone texts you when you have no service, if you don’t have a service in your phone, sms text message won’t be delivered until your phone has a network service.
If someone happens to send you an sms text message and which your phone has no active network service , you have a maximum number of 48hrs to receive the sent text message else it won’t get delivered to your phone one after the third day.
Advantage:
- Works on any type of phone or device that support sim card or cellular network service just like the smartwatch.
- You can send sms text message to any phone brand without any restriction unless being blocked by the recipient or when the phone is switched off.
Disadvantage:
- It attracts charges from the network service provider.
- It is limited to text only as you can’t send pictures, videos or audios, documents, etc through sms text message.
- Sending international sms text message is very costly as instant messaging is the best when it comes to contacting someone abroad.
- There are limits to a number of texts though it depends on the network service provider.
- If you don’t have an active sim card in your phone, you can’t send sms text messages and same goes to not having a network service connection.
For sms text message to get sent and delivered to the recipient, both parties involved must have an active phone, sim card and a cellular network service in their respective phones.
Understanding instant messaging
Whenever you hear or see instant messaging apps and services, kindly note that they include iMessage, facetime, whatsapp, Skype, Facebook messenger, telegram, viber, Google voice, Google duo, rcs chat feature, etc as they all require internet connection to send and receive text messages.
Talking about what happens when someone texts you when you have no service, instant messaging may not necessarily be affected if the phone has no active network service. That is possible if the phone has an active Wi-Fi connection.
With an active Wi-Fi connection, you may choose not not have a sim card and a cellular network service in your smartphone. This simply means you only receive instant messages from the likes of iMessage, whatsapp, Skype, Facebook messenger, telegram, viber, Google voice, Google duo, etc on your mobile phone.
With or without cellular network service instant messaging will work as long as there’s an active Wi-Fi connection. Where the problem lies if the user is using a cellular data for it’s internet connection, then instant messaging won’t work if there’s no active network service which means no active cellular data.
Requirements:
- Instant messaging apps
- Wi-Fi or a cellular data.
- A smartphone.
Advantages:
- Uses internet like Wi-Fi or cellular data.
- Very cost effective compared to sms text message
- Easy to send international text messages compared to sms text messages.
- Being able to know if the recipient has received and opened the sent message which read receipts is lacking in sms text message.
- Being able to send pictures, videos, audios, documents and other files, etc.
Disadvantages:
- Only work with the same instant messaging apps and services. For example, iMessage will only work with another iMessage, whatsapp text messages only work on whatsapp, same goes to Skype, Facebook messenger and other excluding Google voice that acts similar to sms text message and phone app.
You can’t send iMessage to an android phone user, you can’t send whatsapp to someone not using whatsapp, you can’t send Skype messages to someone who doesn’t have a Skype account. This is one big disadvantage of using an instant messaging apps and services.
The question of what happens when someone texts you when you have no service majorly affect the sms text message and not the instant messaging apps and services.
Can you receive texts if you have no service?
The simple answer is no. You can’t receive sms texts if you have no service in your phone, but you can receive texts if you have a Wi-Fi on your phone and this is for instant messaging.
As long as it is sms text message, the answer is a big no as you can’t receive texts if you have no service in your phone as sms text messages requires a network service.
For instant messaging, you can receive a text message if you have no service as long as you have an active Wi-Fi connection on your smartphone unless you are using a cellular data for your internet activity.
How can you tell if someone has no service on their phone?
To tell if someone has no service on their phone, simply send a text message or call the number and if the text message or call didn’t go through, then it is a strong indication that the recipient phone has no service.
However, there is no difference when the phone is switched off, offline or has no service as it will be deemed that the phone is switched off.
When you have no service in your cell phone, it is the same with your phone being in offline mode because calls and text messages won’t get through to your phone. On the callers end it will look as if your phone is switched off but it is caused due to no network service.
Why I’m saying this is because someone phone might be switched off and you may think that because of the fact that your text message didn’t say delivered simply means the recipient phone has no service while in the real sense the recipient phone is switched off or offline.
If a text message never say delivered but rather only sent, it may be due to the fact that the recipient phone has no network service.
How do you check if a number is still in service?
To check if a number is still in service, call the phone number or send a text message and if the calls goes through or the text message says delivered, then it simply means that the number is still in service.
If the call didn’t go through or the text message never say delivered, it may mean the recipient phone is not in service, has been disconnected, switched off or in offline mode.
Does a phone go straight to voicemail if there is no service?
A phone will go straight to voicemail if there’s no service in the recipient phone and also if the recipient has an active voicemail.
At first I thought this will not possible as voicemail involves cellular network service but to my surprised it went through irrespective of the fact that the phone has no service.
Will a phone still ring if it has no service?
A phone will not ring if it has no service as cellular calls requires the phone to have a network service.
I’m talking about cellular calls as the likes of facetime, whatsapp, Skype, Google voice is quite different. These services requires internet connection and if you don’t have a network service in your phone but Wi-Fi is active, you can receive calls from facetime, whatsapp, Skype and others.
But for cellular calls, the answer is a big no as it requires a network service connection.
Lastly before I go, what happens when someone texts you when you have no service? If someone texts you when you have no service in your cell phone, the text message won’t get through to your phone and this means the text message won’t be delivered.
