Erratic receipt of SMS messgs. (LG Optimus Fuel on PPC)

[DewLoop]

Sometimes SMS messages sit undelivered on the server for hours, and sometimes I get multiple copies of the same message.

 

Not with every message but with the occasional message, my phone downloads several copies, at intervals ranging from a few minutes apart to several hours.  I've received the same message as many as five times.  I can't say it happens any more frequently depending on the sender's carrier, or because I already deleted the earlier messages from my phone.

 

And sometimes I get a message delivered several hours after it was sent.  When I reboot the phone, it unfailingly retrieves everything that's available from the SMS server, some of which might have been sitting there since after the last time I rebooted.  Which gives me to think this might be something like a 'polling' problem.  As if, after having been left on for a while, either my phone ceases inquiring to the server, or it somehow is mishandling the transaction.

 

The phone is an LG Optimus Fuel, KitKat 4.4, unlocked, on the Page Plus Cellular network (which is an MVNO piggybacking on the Verizon network).  I had been running 8sms (v1.48) as my SMS app, but switched back to the default app as a diagnostic.  It's still sometimes receiving multiple copies, but I haven't yet seen any substantial delays in delivery.  However, this isn't a daily occurrence, usually only maybe once or twice a week, and I've only been back on the default SMS app for one day.

 

I wrote to PPC CS about it and their reply essentially was that the multiple delivery problem was "an Android thang," and suggested I contact the manufacturer.  They failed to address the delayed deliveries.

 

 

Does Android in general have a history of either of these problems, or am I just special?  Or is this only something that happens on low-end phones, like my Optimus Fuel?  Or is there an SMS app that is less prone to these problems?

 

Thanks for looking!

[DewLoop]

Yesterday I rebooted the phone about 1:50 pm, then received two texts that already had been delivered once, and this using KitKat's default SMS app:

 

 

I already had received both messages more or less instantaneously at the time marked "Sent."  Both of the earlier received messages were still stored on the phone.

[DewLoop]

I've long since upgraded to a more upscale (i.e., less chintzy) Samsung phone but both problems persist.  I still get text messages sometimes days after they're sent, and they usually decide to get un-stuck as I've rebooted the phone.

 

And I still sometimes get multiple copies of the same message.

 

Still no idea whether it's some quirk of the geography of where I live or if it's because PPC is a bottom feeder.