Android: Setting The SMSC (SMS Message Centre) in Android ICS

A combination of being in a rush and fat fingers whilst in the “Testing” menu (*#*#4636#*#*) led to me deleting the SMS Message Centre Number from my Google Nexus S phone.

It runs a custom ICS – either Apex or AndroidME – and there is no “Message Centre” setting under the Messaging App.

So, scrolling to the bottom in the Testing menu -> Phone Information you can see the “SMSC: ” field.

Tip: DON’T PRESS UPDATE, PRESS “REFRESH” TO SEE THE CURRENT SETTING!!!

The actual SMSC number is: +447785016005, however inputting this into the field and hitting update just produces “update error”. The issue is that this needs to be translated into PDU format (Protocol Description Unit) and you can do that here: http://www.twit88.com/home/utility/sms-pdu-encode-decode.

For the number above, this turns out to be 0791447758100650 which is what you would hope to see on your working UK Vodafone droid.

For some people, entering the PDU number above into your SMSC field in the testing menu and pressing “update” will have the desired effect but for me, the “update” button won’t work unless you have a “+” in front of the number which is no use at all.

The solution? Take the SIM card out and stick it in a non-android phone (I used a Blackberry), go to the messageing app, settings, message centre number and enter the real number, i.e. +447785016005.

Save, exit, power off, replace SIM into Android phone, job done.

Hope this helps someone ..

 

References:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=926771

 

6 Replies to “Android: Setting The SMSC (SMS Message Centre) in Android ICS”

  1. I have Sony Xperia S
    And I m also suffering from update error
    What I will do?
    Plz help me.
    I have airtel sim card
    From Gujarat India.

  2. i have coolpad note 3 lite
    And i am also suffering from upadate error
    What i will do?
    Pzl help me
    I have reliance jio 4G sim card

  3. Hi all,

    I just wanted to say that this is a 5 year old post and relates specifically to Ice Cream Sandwich which has out of support for a long, long time. If you are still using ICS then you really need to upgrade from a security perspective ..
    K

  4. for fix issue update error use “” so if the number is +blahablahblah —> “+blahblahblah” with quotaion marks and update should work. P.s network or your provider is not related to this issue probaly the bad programmers use it for do this work

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