Where do text messages go?

rosecott

I never thought about this before.

I have just been abroad without setting up for roaming. When I got back to UK and switched on, there were no text messages although I am certain messages were sent while I was away. At what point do text messages disappear into the ether? - after my phone is switched off for 1 hour, 2 hours, 12 hours? Or does a message disappear as soon as it's sent if your phone is switched off? Can anyone tell me? - and what happens if you have no signal when someone sends you a text?

redux

I think that by default they can stay on the server for up to a week

Curr946

they sit one the network sms centre and are removed after 72 hours IIRC

Rusty!

I believe 4 days is the default life for an unreceived SMS.

ZhugeEX

redux wrote: »

up to a week

Curr946 wrote: »

removed after 72 hours

Rusty! wrote: »

I believe 4 days .

Glad that's been cleared up then....

Cycrow

i wouldn't be surprised if its different for each network

d123

The GSM standard was for a week, but it isn't mandatory and networks can choose a timescale between 1 and 7 days.

macman

How many days is it before they forward them to GCHQ or the CIA then?

d123

macman wrote: »

How many days is it before they forward them to GCHQ or the CIA then?

I thought they went there first .

ariba10

Probably to the same place as the posts that dissappear from MSE?

Techhead_2

ZhugeEX wrote: »

Glad that's been cleared up then....

Those of us who have been using mobiles for a while will remember when there was a setting on the phone for how long the message centre held onto the message before discarding it.

For its the sending phone that decides.

You could select from 0 (the message centre immediately discards an undeliverable text) through to Maximum (which is the maximum time the message centre is programmed to hold a message -it should be seven days but often varies)

What happened was that operators saved money by ignoring that and leaving messages for a default time. (an awful lot of messages are sent which takes up lot of storage)

Nowadays, phones just send a message marked as maximum, and its up to the operator how long they are kept.