Receiving SMS On Google voice

**evperry** · 12-08-2012, 07:27 PM

So this used to work just fine and now I don't get MMS pics to my gmail when someone texts me.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Thanks

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**Insp_Gadget** · 12-08-2012, 07:54 PM

Google Voice does not currently support MMS.

The only exception is if you have a Sprint account that has been specially integrated with Google Voice. Under those conditions the MMS is actually going through Sprint's infrastructure, not Google's.

**evperry** · 12-08-2012, 08:25 PM

It worked fine a month ago. Is this a new thing?

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**Insp_Gadget** · 12-08-2012, 08:46 PM

No, it's not new. Are you a current Sprint user?

**Insp_Gadget** · 12-08-2012, 09:00 PM

SMS text messages will go to your email via your Google Voice number regardless of whichever carrier you're with. MMS will only go to your email if you are a Sprint user with Google Voice Integration.

This has always been the case.

**evperry** · 12-08-2012, 10:26 PM

I have to tmobile and it worked fine for me a few months ago. Am I imagining this?

Originally Posted by Insp_Gadget

SMS text messages will go to your email via your Google Voice number regardless of whichever carrier you're with. MMS will only go to your email if you are a Sprint user with Google Voice Integration.

This has always been the case.

**88 FLUX** · 12-08-2012, 10:39 PM

Originally Posted by evperry

I have to tmobile and it worked fine for me a few months ago. Am I imagining this?

Yep, I think you are. No MMS with Google Voice except the Sprint integration already mentioned.

**Jerry Hildenbrand** · 12-08-2012, 10:43 PM

Originally Posted by evperry

I have to tmobile and it worked fine for me a few months ago. Am I imagining this?

Nope. It worked for a while for me on T-Mobile as well. Stopped working one day and hasn't returned.

**Insp_Gadget** · 12-08-2012, 10:50 PM

Interesting, Jerry. This is the first I'm hearing of GV/Gmail supporting MMS on any carrier other than Sprint. Perhaps it was a prelude (testing) for things to come.

One can only hope.

**evperry** · 12-08-2012, 11:00 PM

No. Maybe it was from someone who was on sprint.... My best guess

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**dan1431** · 12-09-2012, 12:17 AM

I am still receiving MMS messages via my email from many carriers (Sprint /T-Mobile /MetroPCS) and I am on at&t.

Dan

**Jerry Hildenbrand** · 12-09-2012, 12:25 AM

Everyone is supposed to be able to get MMS from Sprint users as long as txt to email support is enabled in your G Voice settings.
I was getting MMS from everyone for a little while. Sounds like dan1413 still is.

Probably Google using some of us as guinea pigs

**evperry** · 12-09-2012, 07:26 AM

It's awesome knowing that you are not nuts. For me if was working fine for a few months and someone just sent me a pic (one that I REALLY REALLY wanted to see) and I didn't get it.

Of course there is always email, but for some people that is a drag. Why that is I will never know....

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**Insp_Gadget** · 12-09-2012, 11:10 AM

Originally Posted by evperry

It's awesome knowing that you are not nuts. For me if was working fine for a few months and someone just sent me a pic (one that I REALLY REALLY wanted to see) and I didn't get it.

Of course there is always email, but for some people that is a drag. Why that is I will never know....

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While many people now have smartphones, most people still treat their smartphones like feature/dumb phones. They haven't properly set up their contacts with email information, or put them in the cloud, so sending someone an email from their phone isn't as convenient to them.

Also, they may be used to sending to other people that don't have smartphones, and therefore don't think of emailing them pictures because they figure they can't get them on their phones that way. They're conditioned to use MMS.

The technology may be nearly mainstream these days, but average people have yet to catch up to it. I'm still teaching people how to manage their contacts when switching over to smartphones. We see it in posts on these forums all the time. Some folks just don't get it until it's spoonfed to them.

**Minlock** · 12-09-2012, 11:36 AM

IIRC, Sprint MMS with Google Voice ends this year. I wonder if something in that agreement precludes Google from extending MMS to other carriers until the agreement is up and what some people are seeing is testing for a future MMS system?

**bilago** · 12-09-2012, 01:42 PM

Funny, I just received my first MMS message out of the blue via google voice about 2 minutes ago and her carrier is Virgin mobile, however they do use sprint's network, so that could be the explanation for my example.

**evperry** · 12-09-2012, 08:31 PM

So this is strange.

I wonder if it was enabled for a time and then they took it away...

**Celeste Green** · 01-25-2013, 07:56 PM

Originally Posted by Insp_Gadget

While many people now have smartphones, most people still treat their smartphones like feature/dumb phones. They haven't properly set up their contacts with email information, or put them in the cloud, so sending someone an email from their phone isn't as convenient to them.

Also, they may be used to sending to other people that don't have smartphones, and therefore don't think of emailing them pictures because they figure they can't get them on their phones that way. They're conditioned to use MMS.

The technology may be nearly mainstream these days, but average people have yet to catch up to it. I'm still teaching people how to manage their contacts when switching over to smartphones. We see it in posts on these forums all the time. Some folks just don't get it until it's spoonfed to them.

as fast as tech changes you will spoon feeding soon too

**Insp_Gadget** · 01-25-2013, 08:58 PM

Originally Posted by Celeste Green

as fast as tech changes you will spoon feeding soon too

I'm not sure what you're trying to say.

**Travis Cannon** · 04-05-2013, 04:51 PM

Okay, so GV cannot send MMS. Got it. I'm also aware of the ability to send texts (including those with MMS) to email. Is there a way to filter these messages so that messages only with an MMS can be kept, whilst all else from GV are deleted? I've tried but that seems to be only for those that have Sprint. I've tried it and it's not worked.

I've tried putting something together to the best of my knowledge, but I get mixed results at best. Help!

**Insp_Gadget** · 04-06-2013, 03:25 AM

Originally Posted by Travis Cannon

Okay, so GV cannot send MMS. Got it. I'm also aware of the ability to send texts (including those with MMS) to email. Is there a way to filter these messages so that messages only with an MMS can be kept, whilst all else from GV are deleted? I've tried but that seems to be only for those that have Sprint. I've tried it and it's not worked.

I've tried putting something together to the best of my knowledge, but I get mixed results at best. Help!

Seems pretty cut & dry from the link you provided. (I'll put the non-shortened link here for the benefit of those that don't trust short links.)

Bottom line is with GV, at present, you can only receive MMS via email from people that use Sprint (or in some cases a Sprint-related MVNO).

Everything else about filtering the emails is posted in the thread you linked. Is there something specific about the filtering syntax you need help with? I haven't actually tried it myself. This is something that is kind of hard to test unless you have a Sprint user on standby that can send you MMS for testing.

UPDATE: I just tested this filter: from:(@txt.voice.google.com) -has:attachment

That works great from the GMail search bar on the desktop site. It finds all text messages that do NOT have attachments. (I had a few that some of my Sprint-using friends had sent me over the last several months.)

To create a filter with this condition, put @txt.voice.google.com in the From field and put -{has:attachment} in the Has the words field.

I've set things up so that my text messages WITHOUT attachments skip the inbox and go to a label called Text Messages. I created a second filter that takes text messages that HAVE an attachment and puts them in a sub-label called MMS. I then set up my GMail app on my phone to alert me with a special notification sound whenever anything new shows up in the MMS label.

As previously noted, only MMS attachments sent from a Sprint user will come through. All other MMS messages don't come through at all. I just tested from a Verizon phone (my work phone) and got nothing (as expected).

**Travis Cannon** · 04-06-2013, 01:06 PM

Ok, so that is the filter to take SMS from GV with no attachments to a desired folder? Correct? I guess that's where I'm confused. So, then in theory, that should take MMS from GV to the inbox, yes?

Thanks for all your help!

**evperry** · 04-06-2013, 01:56 PM

It works with other carriers but intermittently.

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**Insp_Gadget** · 04-06-2013, 02:14 PM

Originally Posted by Travis Cannon

Ok, so that is the filter to take SMS from GV with no attachments to a desired folder? Correct? I guess that's where I'm confused. So, then in theory, that should take MMS from GV to the inbox, yes?

Thanks for all your help!

It doesn't actually DO anything. The assumption was that people already know how to create filters in Gmail. The information I provided is merely the filtering criteria. When you set up the filter using that criteria you need to tell Gmail what to actually do with the message. You can apply labels, delete it, whatever.

I gave examples of what I did for my own account. But you need to set it up for your own needs.

**Insp_Gadget** · 04-06-2013, 02:21 PM

Originally Posted by evperry

It works with other carriers but intermittently.

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As far as I've been able to confirm, it will only work with carriers that use Sprint's network, such as MVNOs like Ting or prepaid carriers like Boost Mobile.

The recipient can be on any network, but the sender must be using a Sprint-related carrier/MVNO. This is because at present Sprint is the only carrier that has set up full integration with Google Voice, so Google's SMS/MMS backend knows how to talk to (and use) Sprint to deliver the MMS attachments.