Error code 38

[ThreePixel]

Hi,

I can send messages to my wife and friends ok but when I send a message to a short code such as 60110 (used by Tesco) I get a message not sent Error code 38. I know such a text is chargeable and I managed to send a couple last month but now not working. I had a look at a couple of similar threads but didn’t help.
Any ideas how to fix this?

[JonathanB]

Hi @ThreePixel,

Sorry to hear you've been having trouble with your messages.

Have you recently joined Three and brought a number from another provider?

Do you use the default messaging app on your phone, or have you been sending your texts through another app such as Facebook Messenger? I've seen a few references to this error happening when people have changed their default messaging app.

It may also be worth narrowing down if the issue seems to be your number, or the phone you're using. Is there another phone you can test your SIM card in? If we know whether the problem is following your SIM, that may give us some other ideas to try.

Lastly is anyone else able to test the same shortcode(s) on another Three number for you?

Let me know on the above questions and we'll hopefully have some ideas on how to check into this further.

Thanks,
Jonathan

[ThreePixel]

Ok will try these ideas, cheers

[ThreePixel]

I have recently joined Three and this is a new number they gave me.

I have used the default messaging app and haven’t used any others yet.

I have just tried the sim in another phone, this time an iPhone and it didn’t work. So at least this shows it is a Three issue rather than a handset one.

My wife has tested the short codes on an iPhone and it worked fine but she isn’t on Three.

[ThreePixel]

I have found out the answer. It turns out that for new customers they only allow a £1credit for add on fees eg chargeable messages. I have to wait three months and have two bills paid to have a higher limit. Just would have been better to reject as credit limit reached rather than error code 38 but at least I know,

[JonathanB · Accepted solution]

Hi @ThreePixel,

Thanks for updating me. I believe the Error code 38 is coming from Android OS as opposed to Three's network, your phone's software won't know precisely why the message was being stopped so it gives a generic error code.

Appreciate it's not the ideal situation, but glad you managed to get to the bottom of this.

Thanks,
Jonathan