I've been here for the better part of 4 years and never had a serious problem with AT&T after switching to them from another US mobile provider. But a little over a week ago my incoming texts started being delayed from a few minutes to up to 11 hours or more. Outgoing texting remained fine. After 3 calls to their tech support which featured troubleshooting my device, and plausible deniability ( a.k.a. shifting the blame ), a search revealed the following article on one of their forums. I called them a 4th time and specifically had them reset my over-the-air device setting on their server(s). Instantly my two-factor authentication test text and also a test message from them came through. Not the case for these types of tests since the problem started. So if anyone has this problem now or in the future this might help.
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https://forums.att.com/t5/Network-Coverage/Receiving-delayed-text-messages/td-p/5623759
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squiggleyy
Tutor
Dec 4, 2018 5:23 PM
Re: Receiving delayed text messages
HELLO I HAVE THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION!
I had this issue a while back and it was quite frustrating. I managed to get it fixed, but wanted to wait a few weeks to make sure none of my texts were delayed before posting the solution.
The problem has nothing to do with cellular coverage, nor data usage. The issue is on AT&T's servers only. What you need to do is call AT&T and ask them to force-reset your "over-the-air" server settings. This is not a "reset network settings" option on your device; this is a reset on AT&T's system. Essentially, AT&T's servers have a program that receives incoming texts from other devices, then relays those messages to your device. There are settings for each individual device connected to AT&T cellular. For some reason, there is a bug where AT&T's servers will collect many texts without passing them on, then will spontaneously send them to your device all at once. This is what results in you receiving a bundle of texts late, even with perfect cellular coverage. Again, the issue is with AT&T, not your device.
If you call them and request for an "over-the-air" settings reset on their server, they should do it. If they ask, tell them you have already tried resetting the network settings on your phone and it has done nothing. They said it takes up to 48 hours for their server-side settings to reset.
I did this about 3 weeks ago, and I have not had a single delayed text since. I used to get multiple delayed texts every single day, from friends with a variety of carriers. If this works for you, please pass it on.
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