Is iMessage driving anyone else crazy ?

[miffed]

I have just turned it off and don't intend ever turning it on again !

Just been having a text (iMessage) conversation with a friend , I thought she was just being a bit slow with 10 minutes or so between messages .... then I realised every time I sent one it sat "undelivered" for 10 mins , then eventually sends as text message! ( a 10 minute lesson that iMessage has to learn each time a message is sent - surely it should have the brains to stop trying to send the iMessages ?

Load of crap ! it just doesn't work !

[Hands0n]

Blimey! It works 100% for me. Several of my family have iPhones and the system knows when they are on-line and sends as an iMessage. If they're not on data for any reason the message goes out as a regular SMS. I don't think that I've seen the issue you're reporting yet.

[miffed]

Thing is you don't (or at least , I didn't !) realise whats going on , I just thought my friend was taking a while to reply , its only after I noticed the "message sent" sound go off around ten minutes after sending a message that I clocked on and paid attention. she confirmed that she had replied to my texts as a soon as she got them , and the same was happening to her , i.e. the were starting as blue , then turning green , with the occasional one "slipping through the net" and getting through as an iMessage.
Turned iMessage off and suddenly the conversations was brought into a more instant fashion !

[blush]

I turned off iMessage too a few weeks ago. Messages to my wife used to go through as an iMessage but this started failing and sending as a text. More messages went through as text messages than iMessages so I gave up. My wife insists on turning off 3G on her iPhone so maybe that had something to do with the messages failing.

[DBMandrake]

Almost certainly the problem is poor data connection at one end or the other, (slow or intermittent no throughput) causing one or both phones to be unable to contact Apple's iMessage servers, and if so is out of Apple's control.

Was either phone on 2G at the time ? What networks are you and your correspondant on ?

I would imagine that iMessage would not be very reliable on any 2G data connection and require a 3G connection at minimum to be fast and reliable. (My 3GS has iMessage support but I don't text anyone else who has an iOS 5 iPhone so I haven't used iMessage) Same thing applies to push notifications which I tend to find aren't very reliable at all on 2G connections, simply because the data connection is too slow and unreliable.

If you consistently have problems while both of you are on 3G connections and normal internet browsing is fine on 3G on both phones then perhaps there is an issue with Apples servers, but my money is on dodgy 2G/3G data connections...

[DBMandrake]

I turned off iMessage too a few weeks ago. Messages to my wife used to go through as an iMessage but this started failing and sending as a text. More messages went through as text messages than iMessages so I gave up. My wife insists on turning off 3G on her iPhone so maybe that had something to do with the messages failing.
Very likely, see my previous post aimed at miffed ;)

iMessage requires a usable internet data connection to work, and I wouldn't classify 2G (GPRS or EDGE for that matter) as a usable data connection. Most likely iMessage is just revealing the general unreliability of persistent data connections on mobile phones on anything other than 3G.

[Ben]

iMessage does get crappy when the connection isn't good, but the automatic resending catches almost anything so it doesn't bother me. If I'm having a text-convo with someone and something is up, I just tap the blue bubble and select "Send as Text Message" to push it through right away.

[miffed]

See it worked like that for me initially , and but then went to pot. I totally get what you are saying about data, but when I noticed the problem I had a full HDSPA signal & a full wifi signal , both connections were working flawlessly - and I got two of my friends to check their end, and they pretty much confirmed the same, data appeared to be free flowing everywhere except iMessage.

[DaveC]

Can't see what the fuss is about iMessenger. I've been using Google talk for over a year with no problems. And it is cross platform!

So what advantages are there to Apple's offering

[Ben]

So what advantages are there to Apple's offering
I don't use Google Talk on mobile devices, but iMessage advantages are:
- Push
- Shows when other party is typing
- Has delivered and read reports
- Is seamlessly integrated into the SMS app
- Resends as SMS/MMS if the other party becomes unavailable to receive an iMessage
- Senses iMessage capability from mobile number without having to do anything
- Can also be used to iMessage email addresses if they're enrolled (i.e. on an iPad/iPod Touch)

[gorilla]

I use WhatsApp as a cross platform messaging system and works fine on 2G.

My GF has problems with iMessage - it doesn't always work and it displays the wrong user name. iMessage from my iPad works ok but I just don't know enough iPeople to make more use of it.

[Ben]

it doesn't always work and it displays the wrong user name
That probably means Settings > Messages > Receive At is wrong, or there's a problem with the contact record at the other end.

It'd be nice if contacts were identified in real-time as to whether they are accepting iMessages or not. When I open a contact I see the blue bubble next to the relevant contact information, but an easy way to get a complete overview of which contacts have it would be great and be a big help to, for example, iPad users.

[DaveC]

I don't use Google Talk on mobile devices, but iMessage advantages are:
- Push Got that
- Shows when other party is typing That too
- Has delivered and read reports No read reports but colour of text changes when delivered
- Is seamlessly integrated into the SMS app I don't need that
- Resends as SMS/MMS if the other party becomes unavailable to receive an iMessage Message is held until it can be delivered
- Senses iMessage capability from mobile number without having to do anything I suppose that is needed on a closed ecosystem
- Can also be used to iMessage email addresses if they're enrolled (i.e. on an iPad/iPod Touch)

Does it do video?

[DBMandrake]

Does it do video?
If you mean video attachments like MMS then the answer is yes.

You can attach images and video to iMessages the same as you can with an MMS, except the quality is much higher as the file size is not dramatically compressed like it usually is for MMS. (And not charged by the network, except for general data usage)

If you mean live video, then there's Facetime...

[DBMandrake]

See it worked like that for me initially , and but then went to pot. I totally get what you are saying about data, but when I noticed the problem I had a full HDSPA signal & a full wifi signal , both connections were working flawlessly - and I got two of my friends to check their end, and they pretty much confirmed the same, data appeared to be free flowing everywhere except iMessage.
Interesting.

I have to wonder whether the networks are losing a fortune on lost SMS revenues due to iMessage (since sending a message via SMS instead of iMessage is thousands of times more expensive than the raw data that iMessage uses) and I get the impression that some networks were very unhappy about Apple springing iMessage on the world at their developer conference before informing the networks of it...

The cynic in me wonders whether there could be a bit of deliberate "neglect" by the carriers when it comes to iMessage notification traffic.... "we wouldn't want anything to 'appen to your iMessage data, guv" :D The networks know the port numbers used by iMessage, so if a bit of "accidental" packet loss were to happen to data on that port, well, that's all good right ? Messages will fall back to expensive SMS's ;)

One point to note regarding Wifi - its not generally known unless you look at a packet sniffer or network monitor app, but even if you are connected on a Wifi network an iPhone will still keep all its push notification connections (iMessage, application notifications, push email) open on the 3G connection exclusively.

This is done to prevent the push connections from being constantly swapped back and forth between 3G and Wifi every time you wake and sleep the phone - something which used to happen back in the 2.x days, and consumed a lot of unnecessary power and 3G data use. Now it just keeps them active and idle on 3G all the time.

If you're on Wifi the contents of the iMessages are sent and received by Wifi but the incoming notification is still received over 3G, thus any 3G data problems will cause delays in incoming notifications and messages and potentially cause fall back to SMS.

The only time push notifications come in over Wifi is if you disable cellular data completely - for example turn Airplane mode on but then re-enable Wifi. Then the push notification connection will establish over Wifi. (Same as a Wifi only iPod or iPad)

If you set the phones at both ends to airplane mode with wifi enabled and messages go through instantly, that's a bit of a giveaway that something is not right with the push notification data connection over cellular data.

I wouldn't put a bit of "foul play" above some of the networks, in the same way that Skype traffic is deliberately hobbled over 3G by some of the networks (Three are the only one I know for sure Skype works over 3G data) it would be interesting to know which networks people are having iMessage problems with to see if there is a pattern.

[gorilla]

@Ben - thanks, will take a look at that.

@DaveC - if you mean video chat, then yes the latest version of GTalk allows both video and audio calls between handsets > handsets & handsets > Computer.

[DaveC]

Yep I know about video chat on GTalk, just wondered whether it was included in Apple's offering or if you had to use facetime (or whatever it is called)

Can't think I would every use something that is a closed shop as I've friends and family on Android, iPhone, Blackberry and Symbian, so whatever I use has to be cross platform

[blush]

I wouldn't put a bit of "foul play" above some of the networks, in the same way that Skype traffic is deliberately hobbled over 3G by some of the networks (Three are the only one I know for sure Skype works over 3G data) it would be interesting to know which networks people are having iMessage problems with to see if there is a pattern.
My failing iMessages were between two phones both on O2. To be fair my wife is usually in a very poor signal area when I sent the iMessages.