How I fixed iPhone not receiving or sending SMS. YMMV

A lot of people been posting about their new iPhone 14 Pro Max's and iPhone 14 Pro and other eSIM only devices, even older iOS devices having problems sending or receiving regular SMS.

First of all, let me tell you, it's not you, it's not your phone, so don't think about returning it for a refund.

It's a network issue, and it's one that is plaguing all of the major carriers. T-Mobiles forum is abuzz with users having problems as is AT&T and Verizons. There is no escaping provisioning errors.

There is fixing them though. It's time consuming but it works.

1. Make sure your iPhone is fully up to date before doing anything else. Support staff have a hard time working on old software. (Don't use Beta software either! Carriers & Apple have very limited ability to support such software)

2. Perform some self troubleshooting first.

 2a. Reset your network settings (General, reset / transfer phone, NETWORK SETTINGS (Don't hit any of the others or you could lose data!)

 2b. Deactivate and reactivate your phone (if it has an eSIM, delete the eSIM, power it off, wait five minutes then power it on again and download a new eSIM from xFinity)

 2c. Turn off iMessage and turn it back on to reactivate it with Apple

3. Call Comcast, you'll want to speak to them politely but get the message across simply and clearly. If you muddle things up with a lot of side questions they won't be able to work on the specific thing. The specific words to use if you can't receive texts but can send them are "I am able to send SMS messages but inbound SMS messaging isn't working, there is likely a network configuration issue with the inbound SMS channel, please reprovision my device" Another good phrase is "Deactivate, and reactivate my line" a hot reactivation can often flip the pipes around the right way if they been flipped the wrong way by a system error.

4. When calling fails, call the Executive Response Team (215) 286-1700 (Option 2) and get a ticket created, once you have your ticket number call the regular support number again and reference it. Often an ERT ticket can give technicians more abilities because it supposedly unlocks more options in their support computer to manipulate things about the network pipes.

5. When all else fails, go to an xFinity retail store and show your problem to a physical service agent.

I was one step short of going step 5 but I did the phone calls, called ERT, got my ticket number, called support, and lo' and behold, my phone was working within a half hour phone call mostly spent with the technician trying different configurations.

New technology creates new problems and unfortunately for us all even the technicians are still learning their way around 5G and eSIM.

This is how I fixed my issue, Your milage may vary.