On 2012-01-14, tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlLvEp@att.net> wrote:
> A week w/o response ==> I'll ask again: a 20th century Motorola StarTAC
> on VZW (a Page Plus activation) - receives SMS, and then displays:
>
> +------------------
>| No Call Back
>| Number Rec'd
> +------------------
>
> 'Zat typical of VZW? or of Page Plus? or of that antique StarTAC handset?
> (an ST-7868-W) How to reply to those SMSes, or to learn their origin?
>
> TIA; and cheers, -- tlvp
I'll guess. Carriers send SMS messages to customer phones to
configure stuff. Normally the phone is supposed to just eat
these, doing whatever the carrier told the phone to do, without
telling you this happened. Sometimes, however, maybe when the
phone is too old to understand the configuration being sent or
when using a phone in a different market than its software was
programmed for, the phone won't recognize the message as a magic
configuration message that it isn't supposed to tell you about
and will instead treat it as a regular SMS message.
I've never seen this on a CDMA phone, I guess because I've only
ever used fairly new phones on the carrier the phone's software
is branded to. I've seen it a lot with GSM phones, though,
particularly with unbranded phones bought in Asia that I've taken
to Europe or the US. You can't reply to the messages or do anything
with them, you weren't meant to see them in the first place. All
you can do is delete them.
On 1/13/2012 11:05 PM, tlvp wrote:
> A week w/o response ==> I'll ask again: a 20th century Motorola StarTAC
> on VZW (a Page Plus activation) - receives SMS, and then displays:
>
> +------------------
> | No Call Back
> | Number Rec'd
> +------------------
>
> 'Zat typical of VZW? or of Page Plus? or of that antique StarTAC handset?
> (an ST-7868-W) How to reply to those SMSes, or to learn their origin?
>
> TIA; and cheers, -- tlvp
Shouldn't you be asking VZW and/or Page Plus? You might even consider
repeating your Ancient History course! The last time I saw a phone
labeled "StarTAC" was about 1999. It was an analog phone, looked like a
malnourished grey brick, and was okay for its day. Today, it belongs in
a museum! IFF you can find a museum that will take it!
On Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:45:09 -0600, Dennis Ferguson wrote:
> On 2012-01-14, tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlLvEp@att.net> wrote:
>> A week w/o response ==> I'll ask again: a 20th century Motorola StarTAC
>> on VZW (a Page Plus activation) - receives SMS, and then displays:
>>
>> +------------------
>>| No Call Back
>>| Number Rec'd
>> +------------------
>>
>> 'Zat typical of VZW? or of Page Plus? or of that antique StarTAC handset?
>> (an ST-7868-W) How to reply to those SMSes, or to learn their origin?
>>
>> TIA; and cheers, -- tlvp
>
> I'll guess. Carriers send SMS messages to customer phones to
> configure stuff. Normally the phone is supposed to just eat
> these, doing whatever the carrier told the phone to do, ...
Ah, but these were honest-to-goodness SMS messages. I'll quote three:
: 01/04/12 yo its theo
: 01/03/12 SAVE NOW ! If you would ike to receive discount off your Gas & Electric bills ? Reply "LOWER" Reply "STOP" to opt out
: 11/18/11 Wat happened
all without recorded Sender. (I fear "theo" is unaware the friend who
previously held my number is no longer reachable through it :-) .)
And no, nothing like GSM phone's carrier-sent OTA ever came in, afaik :-) .
Thanks though, Dennis, for the thoughts. As R.B.G. suggests elsewhere in
this thread, it may just be the antiquity of the StarTAC handset that is to
blame.
Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.
On Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:30:11 -0500, Richard B. Gilbert wrote:
> On 1/13/2012 11:05 PM, tlvp wrote:
>> A week w/o response ==> I'll ask again: a 20th century Motorola StarTAC
>> on VZW (a Page Plus activation) - receives SMS, and then displays:
>>
>> +------------------
>>| No Call Back
>>| Number Rec'd
>> +------------------
>>
>> 'Zat typical of VZW? or of Page Plus? or of that antique StarTAC handset?
>> (an ST-7868-W) How to reply to those SMSes, or to learn their origin?
>>
>> TIA; and cheers, -- tlvp
>
> Shouldn't you be asking VZW ...
I doubt VZW would take responsibility for a PP customer's questions.
> ... and/or Page Plus? ...
I doubt PP would take responsibility for a non-PP-branded handset.
> You might even consider
> repeating your Ancient History course! ...
Well, I'll agree to attribute the problem to the StarTAC's antiquity :-) .
> ... The last time I saw a phone
> labeled "StarTAC" was about 1999. It was an analog phone, looked like a
> malnourished grey brick, and was okay for its day.
This StarTAC is a 3-band, 2-technology device, doing both AMPS and both
CDMA bands.
Looks like a smaller, less rounded, more angular Jitterbug flip phone. Cf.:
Repost: "No Call Back Number Rec'd" 
Linear Mode
