many companies refuse to send text to my Project Fi phone number because it's not acceptable?

[anon(10057381)]

I've been using Project Fi for a few months on a Nexus 5X. I got a random phone number when I signed up.

For some strange reason, many companies refuse to sent texts to my Project Fi phone number. They keep saying it's not an acceptable phone number. The companies include USPS, FedEX, United Airlines, Chick-Fil-A, etc.... What's even strangers is that when I sign up for something over text, I can get a reply text from those companies without issue... but if I'm asked to reply with "YES" to confirm sign-up, I immediately get a response that says my number is not supported. Weird...

My friends/family can send me texts and I can send texts to them without any issues. (Verizon, T-Mobile, Cricket)

I looked up my own Project Fi number and it's coming up as a Level 3 Communications number. Not even sure what that means because it's neither landline nor mobile...

 

[robber]

Interesting. I wonder if others have this same issue?

It sounds like these companies likely have adopted SMS messaging platforms that use a LRN lookup to verify that they are sending to a mobile number. In this case, the LRN number is showing Level 3 which is being interpreted as business/voip/landline.

 

[mogelijk]

Talk to support about this. If I understand correctly, the issue is that PFi uses Google Voice phone numbers, and since they aren't tied to a phone/SIM card it is often blocked if they look the number up. Basically, you are needing the line marked as PFi rather than Google Voice, if your issues are similar to others here.

 

[Rumblee1]

I've been using Project Fi for a few months on a Nexus 5X. I got a random phone number when I signed up.

For some strange reason, many companies refuse to sent texts to my Project Fi phone number. They keep saying it's not an acceptable phone number. The companies include USPS, FedEX, United Airlines, Chick-Fil-A, etc.... What's even strangers is that when I sign up for something over text, I can get a reply text from those companies without issue... but if I'm asked to reply with "YES" to confirm sign-up, I immediately get a response that says my number is not supported. Weird...

My friends/family can send me texts and I can send texts to them without any issues. (Verizon, T-Mobile, Cricket)

I looked up my own Project Fi number and it's coming up as a Level 3 Communications number. Not even sure what that means because it's neither landline nor mobile...

Your texts are tied to your phone number, not your phone or carrier.

 

[Sullie714]

I don't remember having trouble with this but coincidentally I currently have a trackable package enroute with USPS so i set up tracking texts for it. When I submitted my # I immediately got 3 texts from USPS confirming what I signed up for (all future activity), expected delivery date and last departure. Each of these texts allowed me to text HELP 4 help or STOP to cancel, no choice for YES or NO to accept as just by signing up and giving my number the service has begun. As a test I texted HELP and received a reply with a phone # or a web address to get the HELP i requested. To sum up, USPS texting works fine for me, must be related to your particular phone number and that level 3 designation. The phone number I ported to FI is one I have been using for many years which is probably the difference here.