Kurt's Thoughts

A few hours ago, Penguin Audio published a professional audiobook reading of the “Whistle-Blower Complaint” against Donald Trump.

The audio is streamable from Soundcloud and downloadable from there as well.  It is 30min long and the .MP3 is 40MB in size.

• The Whistle-Blower Complaint Released by the House Intelligence Committee, 9/26/2019 https://soundcloud.com/penguin-audio/the-whistle-blower-complaint-released-by-the-house-intelligence-committee-9262019

UPDATE 9/20/19:
Today, I noticed that the sync started working again for both Verizon Messages (Windows UWP/Microsoft Store app) as well as VZW Message+. (The legacy Win32 app installable that’s no longer available from VZW’s web site.)

There’s been no explanation as to what went wrong but it was clearly a backend service issue because nothing changed on my or anyone else’s computer at all.

(What I’m saying is that the VZW Support’s explanation that “Message+… is not compatible with Windows 10” was & remains totally wrong. If you’re reading this, blaming Windows 10 “compatibility” was a really silly & annoying tactic, Verizon.)

BTW: Props to DavidR_VZW from Verizon Support.  His explanation on the community boards was the most accurate in all the other responses, I’d seen:

We apologize for the issues experienced when using the Message+ Verizon Messages – Windows Desktop application, JoEbY-X. We always want to make sure you’re able to use any available service, and you can rest assured our Message+ team is working on a resolution. DavidR_VZW

UPDATE 9/13/19:
VZW Support chimed in. You can see in the Support forum below, they have spammed the forum with the same canned answer over and over and over again:

The Message+ application is not compatible with Windows 10 computers. The Windows messaging client for Verizon messages is being temporarily removed to prevent syncing issues. I’m sorry for the inconvenience. You can utilize the messaging web client as a windows alternative by following the steps in this link below

https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/knowledge-base-54302/ .

I got the same from @vzwsupport on Twitter. Virtually the exact same wording.  No update, no ETA, no commitment that the matter will be fixed.

The fact that they feel it’s better that their customers are ignorant or dissatisfied with their support response tells me something is likely afoot here. 

ORIGINAL POST:

One of the critical apps I install on my PC is called “Verizon Message+”.  It’s a simple Win32 app that allows me to text using my Verizon Wireless account from my desktop as if I were using my phone.  It keeps synced with my phone so I can seamless text from my desktop and continue when I leave with my phone.

On August 31st, the Verizon Message+ apps for Windows & Mac stopped working and the community isn’t very happy about it… to the tune of 35 pages of “feedback” on the VZW community site:
https://community.verizonwireless.com/t5/Verizon-Messages/Message-Plus-not-syncing-with-windows-10/m-p/1129310/highlight/false#M32768

BACKGROUND:
I have the same problems as everyone else.  I suspect they have recently started to have service failures with the Internet gateway they have that connects the SMS text messaging service with user’s Win32 Message+ apps. (Modern App from the Microsoft Store & the old Desktop app that we all love & saved the installers for, amirite?)

Like everyone here, Message+ (Win32 desktop install) stopped working on my workstation on 9/1/19.  I’ve installed the “newer” Modern App version from the Microsoft Store and it suffers from the exact same problem.

The web app at https://web.vma.vzw.com/ times out and doesn’t seem to be able to maintain a dormant HTTPS: connection so that fails somewhat regularly.   My Android device however works with it’s Verizon Message+ (or whatever it’s called on Android) just fine – but I strongly suspect the connectivity is done over their cellular network and not over the Internet, hence it doesn’t use the same gateway that the Win32/Modern App clients use.

I’m a little surprised that they don’t appear to have this as a high priority (Service down???) being that SMS text messages are a revenue-generating service.  But then again, maybe many VZW customers have Unlimited SMS text msg plans and thus this is not a big deal to them.

Its’ September 11th, 2019 now and it’s still not working.  I really do hope they get this resolved.  Based on the thread it appears to have failed before but subsequently resolved  but I guess an issue has reared it’s head on 8/31/19 all over again.

DOWNLOAD:
For those interested in the app for Windows – assuming it gets fixed – there are 3 options:

1) Message+ for Win32:
This is the old desktop app that VZW no longer makes available sadly.  This is the app that long time users have depended on for more than a decade and it has run on everything from Windows Vista on up to Windows 10.  VZW removed the app from their site but the installer is still downloadable from the link below:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150717102459/https://web.vma.vzw.com/downloads/Message+.exe

2) Message+ for Windows 10
This is the new “Modern App” that only works on Windows 10 available for download via the Microsoft Store in Windows that apparently VZW doesn’t advertise either.  Its similar to the Win32 app but requires that you download it from the Store.  It’s downloadable from the link below:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/verizon-messages/9wzdncrdcsnz

3) Message+ Web Client
This is the web page you can sign into that provides similar, but lesser functionality through a web browser.  All you have to do is sign into the link below:
https://web.vma.vzw.com/

————-

HELLO VZWSUPPORT!
Note: I’ve started pinging @VZWsupport on Twitter and referencing the Community forums thread referred to above, in the hopes of getting a status or even a resolution. 

VZW’s been radio silent on the matter.  I have yet to receive a response either on the community forums or on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/kurtsh/status/1171686713837490176