Skip to main content

Downed server caused nearly 170K Valentine’s texts to be delivered on Wednesday

Earlier this week, almost 170,000 text messages were delivered that were supposed to be sent on Valentine’s Day — and now it looks like we have a reason why. According to a new report, the issue had to do with a faulty server that briefly went down, preventing messages from being sent while it was down.

The server is owned by a third-party provider called Syniverse, which is one of the companies that provides text messaging services to major mobile carriers. Syniverse says that its server went offline on February 14, after which it was finally brought back online on Wednesday, November 6. The result? The messages that were supposed to be sent on Valentine’s Day were finally sent through.

Recommended Videos

Syniverse says that it normally only retains text messages for 24 to 72 hours, but that was circumvented by the server going down. In total 168,000 messages failed to go through on Valentine’s Day, which certainly isn’t a small number.

“Messages that cannot be delivered immediately are temporarily stored between 24 to 72 hours depending upon each mobile operator’s configuration,” Syniverse said in a statement. “During this time, multiple delivery attempts are made. If the message remains undeliverable after the specified time, the message is automatically deleted by Syniverse.”

This explains a lot of things. Namely, it explains why messages from multiple carriers failed to go through. Originally, some thought that the issue may have been related to a specific carrier, but it soon became clear that it was unrelated to a specific carrier or to a specific phone brand. Ultimately, users of most major U.S. carriers reported that they were affected by the incident.

The incident sheds some light on what happens behind the scenes when you send a text message. Clearly, there are a number of companies that are involved in delivering that message to the recipient. As a report from CNBC highlights, Syniverse is one of many companies that works with carriers, including the likes of Subex, Syntec, Starhome, and more — all companies that you’ve likely never heard of. Some of these companies are involved in the delivery of text messages, while others work with cloud providers.

Christian de Looper
Christian de Looper is a long-time freelance writer who has covered every facet of the consumer tech and electric vehicle…
Yes, Reddit is down. Here’s everything you need to know
The Reddit app icon on an iOS Home screen.

Bad news, fellow Redditors. If you're trying to browse your favorite subreddit right now, you're probably unable to. Why? Because Reddit appears to be down due to technical difficulties.

What's going on with the outage? Do we know when it'll be back up? Here's a recap of everything we know.
Why is Reddit down?
On the Reddit status website, the company indicates an "unresolved incident" taking place on November 20. The company confirms "degraded performance for reddit.com," which appears to be accurate.

Read more
I traveled 8,000 miles to get an Android phone unlike any I’ve used before
Someone holding the Lava Agni 3 smartphone.

The U.S. smartphone market is a well-known entity in 2024. Apple dominates the flagship space with the iPhone, Samsung's Galaxy S handsets are a reliable force every year, and Google's Pixel phones continue improving. But what about budget phones? There are some decent choices from Google, Motorola, and OnePlus, but your options are limited.

It's a trusty, if somewhat unexciting, swath of smartphones, especially when you get a glimpse at what's happening in other parts of the world. On a recent trip to India with MediaTek to see the company's presence in the Indian tech market firsthand, I was given the Lava Agni 3 — a new smartphone release from the India-based company Lava.

Read more
The Nubia Z70 Ultra just gave the Galaxy S25 Ultra some tough competition
A render of the Nubia Z70 Ultra.

With all eyes on Samsung and the upcoming Galaxy S25 release, it's easy to forget about other players on the field. And the Nubia Z70 Ultra could be the underdog competitor no one considered. This powerful phone was just announced in China and will see a global launch on November 26 for roughly $635.

This phone has a lot going for it, but the absolute first thing that catches the eye is the breathtakingly gorgeous design. I'm a fan of Post-Impressionist art, and I have to say that the Starry Night pattern looks better than any case could dream of, but this handset is no slouch in the specs department either. It comes with the same display as the RedMagic 10 Pro and has a screen-to-body ratio of more than 95%. The Nubia Z70 Ultra uses a 16MP underdisplay camera rather than a pinhole camera, giving the screen a more complete look.

Read more