Just received a weird text...

[jigz23]

I just got this weird text from a number 4756 that says: //BREW:0108f3d4:GCD

Any idea wth this is? Are aliens sending me weird messages?! (Ok just kidding on that one)

 

[tropper]

Brew is the mobile web browser for dumb phones, prolly someone trying to share a feature phone app. your not crazy or atleast I think

 

[jigz23]

Yeah I'm familiar with brew from when I had my samsung rogue (sans flash) wonder who that number is tho

 

[Edwill86]

A: When you switch from a BREW based phone (Verizon LG phones) to an Android phone Verizon may send these messages. To get rid of them power off the phone, remove the battery for 2 minutes, turn it back on, call *228 and select option 2.

This is from XDA

DO NOT CALL *228! with an LTE device this can cause problems with your phone. I would call vzw tech and ask for help. from what I have read these texts will stop then start again. and can be ver7y annoying. if the tech tells you to dial *228 tell them your bolt is an lte 4g phone and that that is wrong. (I had 3 techs tell me to do this. after it messed up my phone twice I told the 3rd tech no and she forwarded me to lvl 2 tech.)

good luck! let us know how it goes and whart they tell you to do to fix this

edit: sorry for the spelling. I have been drinking

 

[vzwuser76]

I've been getting odd texts lately as well. Lately, when I get a text from someone I get a second text shortly after that contains a lot of gibberish (like when you view asian text on windows without the language pack you see rectangular characters), along with the date & time, and a link that's usually 5 numbers (73.788 for example).

The number it comes from is the same as texts from Verizon (like when you change something on your account) except for the last 4 digits. The ones from Verizon usually end with 4000, where these end with 2020.

This started after I got the Thunderbolt, so I wonder if it has to do with devices that have a SIM card. Anyway, I've got a ticket open & we'll see what happens.

 

[RichardClark]

Our two original Droids used to receive these messages. They were coming from Verizon's Backup Assistant for Feature Phones still trying to reach out to the Droids to perform a backup even though the Droids didn't have Backup Assistant installed on them. They eventually went away, perhaps because we did the *228 option 2 function described above.

 

[dmcman73]

Our two original Droids used to receive these messages. They were coming from Verizon's Backup Assistant for Feature Phones still trying to reach out to the Droids to perform a backup even though the Droids didn't have Backup Assistant installed on them. They eventually went away, perhaps because we did the *228 option 2 function described above.

I don't think you could so a *228 from the Thunderbolt. When I first got my phone and tried doing it to activate, it would ring once then the line would disconnect. I tried doing it again about 5 more times and each time it would ring once then disconnect. I think the system on the other end can detect a 4G phone and will just disconnect it when it tries calling in.

I wound up just logging into my account online and activating my phone that way. After I activated it I tried the *228 again and same thing happened.

 

[Edwill86]

DO NOT DIAL *228 FROM A 4G LTE DEVICE!
This method is known to have adverse effects on LTE phones with sim cards (the thunderbolt)

when dialing *228 from an LTE 4g device with a sim card the system should hang up on you right away. Since this is the incorrect way to activate and manage an LTE device. in some cases it will not hang up and it will in fact mess up your activation (or activated device) forcing you to get a new sim card to reactivate your device.

for the vzw generated texts from old feature phones that are being sent to your smartphone I would suggest calling vzw to resolve the issue.

FYI: the Thunderbolt (and upcoming lte devices) are Activated by installing the Sim card. VZW syncs the Sim cards ID to your account, then once that sim card is installed into your device it automatically activates it.

 

[RichardClark]

I don't think you could so a *228 from the Thunderbolt. When I first got my phone and tried doing it to activate, it would ring once then the line would disconnect. I tried doing it again about 5 more times and each time it would ring once then disconnect. I think the system on the other end can detect a 4G phone and will just disconnect it when it tries calling in.

I wound up just logging into my account online and activating my phone that way. After I activated it I tried the *228 again and same thing happened.

As I mentioned in my post, I was referring to original Droids, not ThunderBolts. What what other posters have said it, it sounds like you shouldn't be doing *228 with an LTE phone.