Fido

BrianJM · April 2018

I've installed Android Messages and I've enabled Enhanced Messages (RCS) as directed on my unlocked/BYOD devices but when I try to send a message, even to myself, it continues to show "SMS" under the send arrow, which as I understand it, means that it's not being sent by RCS.

Shouldn't everyone have RCS ability at this point given how long ago Fido started rolling this out?

bobrovski · September 2018

I can't seem to get RCS enabled on my phone. I have a Nokia 7 plus running Android 8.1. I have confirmed with Nokia that the phone does support RCS, but I've never received the popup when accessing Android Messages.

I went to the Fido store the other day to find out what was going on and the store representative told me that it only works with Fido phones. This seems a bit odd since the RCS page mentions that the feature is available "on all devices running Android 4.4 KitKat or higher".

I'm not sure if the rep is misinformed or not. Does anyone with a BYOP have RCS enabled?

BrianJM · September 2018

@bobrovski wrote:
Does anyone with a BYOP have RCS enabled?

I do. LG G3 with LineageOS 15.1 -- so about as far from a "Fido phone" as you can get.

So wonderful that the staff in the store is so well informed. I don't blame them though. Clearly they are not getting enough training to understand what they are selling and servicing.

bobrovski · September 2018

Did you need to activate RCS on your phone or did it automatically work when sending a message to another RCS user?

BrianJM · September 2018

@bobrovski wrote:
Did you need to activate RCS on your phone or did it automatically work when sending a message to another RCS user?

Using RCS or not is entirely a software and messaging app issue/feature so whether you use RCS or not is going to be dependent on which app you use for messaging and whether you have to enable it or not. For Android Messages, follow the instructions on Google's help page for it.

Supposedly some versions of some Samsung Messages apps have RCS but I had no luck in getting that to work on my friend's phone on Rogers.

bobrovski · September 2018

@BrianJM wrote:
Using RCS or not is entirely a software and messaging app issue/feature so whether you use RCS or not is going to be dependent on which app you use for messaging and whether you have to enable it or not. For Android Messages, follow the instructions on Google's help page for it.

That's my issue though, I have the latest version of Android Messages and I'm running Android 8.1, but I don't have Enhanced Chat Features in the app settings. The option just isn't there.

FidoJulien · September 2018

Hey @bobrovski

That's definitely odd. If you have RCS enabled, you should see Enhanced Chat Features in your settings. What type of phone are you using?

Also, you mentioned you saw SMS when sending messages to other people. Did you verify with them that they had RCS enabled on their side? If they don't the message will automatically be send as an SMS. It'll also be sent as an SMS if you send it to yourself.

Keep us posted!

fnels808 · November 2018

Hi, I just purchased a google pixel 3 from Fido. I am trying to set up RCS but it won't let me. I have done everything that was suggested in this thread but nothing has helped. I contacted Fido customer service and they told me Fido doesn't support RCS... I am really confused as it seems like no one from Fido knows anything about RCS. Can someone please help me?

Thank you

FidoValeska · November 2018

Hey @fnels808!

Thanks for reaching out

Fido does support RCS.

We would need to take a closer look to troubleshoot this with you.

I'll be sending you a PM shortly.

Talk to you soon!

Original_Lucy · November 2018

I think the issue with RCS is that everyone needs to be a)using android messages, b) knows how to enable and has enabled the chat feature c) has enough of their contacts on board with using it. It needs to hit critical mass of users to be able to use it at will. It's like when most of us were on BlackBerry messenger (the first messaging app) we could ping/message each other instantly and see that they read it and were typing an answer. It is awesome. Now there are a multitude of instant messaging apps available and it's a matter of tearing your friends away from there favourite chat program to use messages from android. I have many contacts on as many different apps that they use for instant messaging. I still use BBM and then my next choice is texting with a 3rd party app. Google came a bit late to the party for IM. So, I bid you luck to get people to change to android messages.

BrianJM · November 2018

@fnels808 wrote:
Hi, I just purchased a google pixel 3 from Fido. I am trying to set up RCS but it won't let me.

What do you mean exactly it won't let you? Does it pop up a dialog saying "I'm not letting you do this"? Well, of course not but the point is that just describing something as "it won't let me" doesn't really tell us much.

@fnels808 wrote:
I have done everything that was suggested in this thread but nothing has helped.

Helped in what way? Again, you are not really telling us anything that will let us help you. So you did everything on this thread and then what? What's not happening that you think should be or what's happening that you think shouldn't be? You need to describe steps and results, not just hand-wavy statements like "nothing has helped".

@fnels808 wrote:
I contacted Fido customer service and they told me Fido doesn't support RCS...

You more than likely talked to some "procedure-reading" drone that doesn't really know anything more than how to look up "my e-mail doesn't work" type questions in an operations manual.

FidoPhilippe · September 2018

Hey @bobrovski!

Congrats on your first post.

I've moved your post to this thread for you, as the topics are related. You'll find a few users here who have their RCS enabled.

You can also find further information here.

Let us know if that helps.

FidoJulien · April 2018

Hey @BrianJM

In order to be able to use RCS, the following conditions must be met:

- Both parties need to have RCS enabled on their device

- Both parties need to be with the same service provider

If one of these condition is not met, your message will be sent as a regular text message.

Hope this helps!

BrianJM · April 2018

@FidoJulienwrote:
Hey
In order to be able to use RCS, the following conditions must be met:

- Both parties need to have RCS enabled on their device
- Both parties need to be with the same service provider

As I said in my original message when I try to send a message, even to myself.... Since in such a case, I am both the sending and receiving party I'm pretty sure I meet both of those requirements.

@FidoJulienwrote:
If one of these condition is not met, your message will be sent as a regular text message.

Which one do you think is not being met when both the sender and receiver are the same person?

FidoKenny · April 2018

Hey @BrianJM

I'm sure we can figure this out together.

Which phone model are you using now?

Also, is it a Fido device?

And have you been able to ever use RCS with this device since you started to use it?

BrianJM · April 2018

@FidoKennywrote:
Hey @BrianJM

I'm sure we can figure this out together.

Which phone model are you using now?

Exact phone and model should not matter. It's running Nougat so it meets the requirements for Android Messages to be able to use RCS as far as I understand.

@FidoKenny
Also, is it a Fido device?

No, but that also should not matter as long as Fido is not playing games to boost phone sales and only supporting features on phones they sell.

@FidoKenny
And have you been able to ever use RCS with this device since you started to use it?

I've never tried before.

So the answer to my original question is yes, then, everybody should have RCS by now?

FidoThomas · April 2018

Hey @BrianJM,

Thanks for the information The reason behind our questions is to better understand the issue at hand, who's affected and what could be the reason behind it.

Most Android users are indeed able to use RCS if they have activated Android Message. Rather than testing with your own phone number, can you try with someone that is with Fido and has the option activated on his phone?

Let us know!

BrianJM · April 2018

@FidoThomaswrote:
Hey @BrianJM,

Thanks for the information The reason behind our questions is to better understand the issue at hand, who's affected and what could be the reason behind it.

Fair enough. I just don't want to get sidetracked by issues that should not be related.

@FidoThomaswrote:
Most Android users are indeed able to use RCS if they have activated Android Message. Rather than testing with your own phone number, can you try with someone that is with Fido and has the option activated on his phone?

I don't know anyone that fits that bill. I'm the only Fido user I know of. I know people who are on Roger's that I should be able to test with but I will have to get together with them to have them install Android Messages and enable RCS first.

But trying to send to myself really should work.

If you have Android Messages and have RCS you should be able to see yourself as a non-SMS contact recipient when trying to send a message to your own number. That would be interesting to know in fact. Does it appear that way for you?

FidoSaad · April 2018

The best way to test it out would be to try it with someone who has RCS enabled on their Android too.

When you'll be texting someone, it should say "Enter Chat message" and the "send" button should be green when using RCS. This window will say "Enter Message" and the "send" button would be orange with MMS/SMS.

Currently I'm unable to confirm if you can verify the above by texting yourself though.

Keep us updated!

BrianJM · April 2018

@FidoSaadwrote:
The best way to test it out would be to try it with someone who has RCS enabled on their Android too.

Of course. But as I said previously, I don't know anyone else with RCS enabled (yet) so I can only test with myself. I have read others using RCS with Android message that say that when they message themselves, it shows up properly as RCS.

@FidoSaadwrote:
When you'll be texting someone, it should say "Enter Chat message" and the "send" button should be green when using RCS. This window will say "Enter Message" and the "send" button would be orange with MMS/SMS.

Thanks. I know how it's supposed to work. It's just not working that way for me.

@FidoSaadwrote:
Currently I'm unable to confirm if you can verify the above by texting yourself though.

So then, you don't have RCS either? Because if you did, you could simply try sending yourself a message in Android Messages and see how it behaves and report back.

FidoThomas · April 2018

@BrianJM I've done some testing on my side.

I use a Huawei P10 from Fido. When I send a message to my own number with the RCS active, it's sent as a SMS. But when I send a text to an other Fido user that has the function enabled on his phone, it's sent as a RCS message.

You'll need to find someone to test it, and confirm that it is working correctly on your device. Let us know how it goes!

Fido

Does everyone have RCS by now?