My girlfriend and I have been having a strange communication problem for the past six to eight months. Calls between our phones usually never start ringing and eventually fail or disconnect, although they occasionally work. Neither of us has blocked the other, and we can both call and message everyone else normally. Today, my Galaxy S25+ also stopped sending her RCS messages, showing her as offline. The messages eventually fall back to SMS/MMS, while I can still receive her RCS messages. She uses an iPhone that is a few years old, and I use Verizon while she is probably on AT&T. Both phones have working internet, Wi-Fi, cellular service, and current updates. We have already restarted the phones, reconnected Wi-Fi and mobile service, and tried Wi-Fi calling. Has anyone dealt with a problem where calls and messages fail only between two specific phone numbers?
2 Answers
The RCS problem may be separate from the calling issue. RCS support on iPhones depends on the iPhone model, iOS version, and carrier support, so her phone appearing offline does not necessarily mean her internet is down. Check whether her iPhone supports RCS with her carrier, then temporarily disable RCS on your phone and test with standard SMS. For calls, try disabling Wi-Fi Calling on both phones for a test; if calls work over cellular, the issue may involve Wi-Fi Calling or carrier routing through the home router.
Since it only affects this specific number pair, I would have both carriers check the line routing and messaging records. A carrier-side provisioning or inter-carrier routing problem can cause calls to fail without affecting calls to anyone else. Ask them to verify that neither number is incorrectly flagged for spam, blocked at the network level, or missing the proper voice and messaging features. It may also help to remove each other from your contacts, delete the conversation threads, and add the numbers back using the full country code before testing again.
She is almost certainly on AT&T while I am on Verizon, so I will have both carriers investigate the connection between the two numbers.
We have both used Wi-Fi Calling on the same router before, but the calls between us still failed. We will test with Wi-Fi Calling and RCS disabled to see whether either service is contributing.