iPhone 8 messaging intermitent

[raybarrow]

Hi Folks,
Mrs B and I have iphone 8s. The last few day her text messaging send and receive have been very intermitent. My phone, sat next to her, is fine. Calls and WhatsApp on her phone are ok.
Where to start?
Ray.

[elkay]

First question would be - are they both with the same network provider?

[raybarrow]

Hi,
Yes, both with GiffGaff (O2), and we buy refurbished phones from them with no problems, so far. Failed send & receives are from different people or companies, doesn't appear to be any common denominator.
Dug out the iphone 6 it replaced and transferred the SIM card over to it. So far the iphone 6 has been fine. I'll give it a few days to make sure and then send the iphone 8 for GiffGaff to have a look and yes I will back it up. It's still under warranty. It's just a nuisance to lose the phone for a few days
Traded up to the iphone 8 as a number of apps won't work with the iphone 6 can't use the later IOS system.
Ray.

[elkay]

Same phone and same network, the only other thing I can think of to check - are they on the same version of IOS?

[raybarrow]

Hi,
Yes, same IOS version. They are identical. I even swapped the sims over between my an Mrs B's iphone 8. The problem stayed with her phone. The iphone 6 has not flagged up any problems so the iphone 8 is going back under warranty.
Ray

[raybarrow]

Hi Folks,
Just an update. I never thought about the SIM card 'failing', but one of the symptoms is messages failing but not being a catstrophic enough fault to trigger a 'No SIM' or SIM fault warning. Long story short GiffGaff are sending a new SIM and can do a 'Replace SIM' action which will retain the monthly rolling contract details, any credit etc without having to go through the PAC route.
We shall see.
Ray.

[Steveam]

Hi Folks,
Just an update. I never thought about the SIM card 'failing', but one of the symptoms is messages failing but not being a catstrophic enough fault to trigger a 'No SIM' or SIM fault warning. Long story short GiffGaff are sending a new SIM and can do a 'Replace SIM' action which will retain the monthly rolling contract details, any credit etc without having to go through the PAC route.
We shall see.
Ray.

But surely this contradicts your earlier test results when you swapped the SIM cards.

Best wishes, Steve

[raybarrow]

Hi Steve,

But surely this contradicts your earlier test results when you swapped the SIM cards.

I may have got a bit mixed up with that, brain not as sharp as it used to be, these three phones look almost identical, but the old iphone 6 is now showing similar signs to the 'faulty' iphone 8.

I'll try the replacment SIM and see what happens.
Ray.

[raybarrow]

Hi Folks,
Appears to be sorted. Replacement SIM arrived from GiffGaff. Just log in, activate new SIM and choose the 'Replace existing' option, wait for a bit, when the old SIM stops, put in the new one and thats' it. So far so good. Also the phone signal is better. Might do mine as well.
Cheers,
Ray.

[Infrasonic]

Hi Folks,
Appears to be sorted. Replacement SIM arrived from GiffGaff. Just log in, activate new SIM and choose the 'Replace existing' option, wait for a bit, when the old SIM stops, put in the new one and thats' it. So far so good. Also the phone signal is better. Might do mine as well.
Cheers,
Ray.

Interesting, I wonder where the degradation lies? Heat maybe?

[servodude]

Hi Folks,
Appears to be sorted. Replacement SIM arrived from GiffGaff. Just log in, activate new SIM and choose the 'Replace existing' option, wait for a bit, when the old SIM stops, put in the new one and thats' it. So far so good. Also the phone signal is better. Might do mine as well.
Cheers,
Ray.

Interesting, I wonder where the degradation lies? Heat maybe?

On a SIM?
Problems are normally to do with the contacts.
Electrically they're pretty resilient but mechanically it is quite a big area that needs to be "correct"
The error stack up includes the spring force of the contact, surface condition (finger grease, oxidisation, dust etc) and the thickness of the cardboard backing (and how even it is)
- the actual surface area of each contact is a decent size (though it can wear with the contact pressure)
you can consider the interface as being two planes with a bunch of wee springs between them