Must I use the AT&T messaging app?

[AC Question]

must I use the at&t messaging app?

Ive been having some serious texting issues lately, delayed, not arriving, my phone was taking up to several minutes to send a text and if I ended up in a group text scenario i couldn't even participate, my text wouldn't send while everyone else text would show up completely out of order, late and the whole thing would become nonsense.
My partners phone was also not performing as it should, not as bad as mine but def not how it should.

So I called att, one thing was aparently my texting service wasn't enabled in their system, I don't fully understand what he was talking about, I've been using text and paying for it, but he said it wasn't turned on, either way, he unblocked it and set it up and I suddenly started to get messages.
Second thing he did was make me turn on att messages app.
This also seemed to make a big difference, at this point i'd say my issue is fixed.
My question is do i have to use the att messages app?
When I asked the rep he said that yes I did if I wanted even close to reliable service.
The stock messaging app on my phone (galaxy s5) is what I had been using. I've also used hangouts and another downloadable one but I did seem to notice glitches in service when I used them.
I honestly do not like the att app, no bells and whistles, very few options, doesn't turn on my screen when I get a message, plus it's ugly, very white bread.
Is he right that I won't get reliable service if I mess with other messaging apps?
He also said that the whole reason the messaging service got turned off in their system is that I went 180 days without using the service so it automatically shut off, was this when I was using hangouts?
It all kind of seems like fable to me, but would like to know the details of the matter.

Thanks!

 

[Rukbat]

Re: must I use the at&t messaging app?

My question is do i have to use the att messages app?

My wife and I are both on AT&T, neither one of us has ever used the AT&T messaging app (I have mine frozen), and neither one of us has ever has any problem texting. (And she texts people and receives texts all day long.) I use Messaging (the name of the app - I think she uses the default text app, which may be Messages or Messaging, I forget.)

When I asked the rep he said that yes I did if I wanted even close to reliable service.

Reps know what they read from the screen. If 17 months of not using their app isn't reliable service, what is? The app writes the messages for me?

The stock messaging app on my phone (galaxy s5) is what I had been using.

That's what my wife has been using. For 17 months. No problems. Your account not being provisioned properly was the problem.

I've also used hangouts and another downloadable one but I did seem to notice glitches in service when I used them.

I've used Hangouts, Textra and GoSMS with no problem.

Is he right that I won't get reliable service if I mess with other messaging apps?

I seriously doubt it. I only use other apps and I get reliable service (even when I get a text from AT&T).

He also said that the whole reason the messaging service got turned off in their system is that I went 180 days without using the service so it automatically shut off, was this when I was using hangouts?

You know what we call the stuff that comes out of the back end of male cattle?

It all kind of seems like fable to me, but would like to know the details of the matter.

Fables are sometimes enjoyable - he was giving you what the industry calls "the lie of the day", IOW, get the customer off the phone fast, because you have a quota to meet. In over a decade in the business (and selling their service when they were still known as Cingular - AT&T doesn't own the AT&T Mobility name), I've never hears such bad lies from AT&T. A little wrong, yes, but not that 'stuff I can't name on a family forum'. They messed your account settings up, it's that simple. When he fixed them, it started working reliably. That, and an apology (that's their way - apologize to the customer), should have been the end of it.