Can you still get text messages if mobile data is turned off?

[magellan]

It doesn't make much sense, but I was able to get text messages on my old dumb phone so...maybe?

 

[EarthDog]

SMS you can, yes (MMS you cannot). It(SMS) is a non-voice basic service similar to telephony and other basic services (think call waiting). It does not use cellular data.

 

[magellan]

So if I turn off Mobile Data MMS messages will be lost? Or will it wait 'til I can get a WiFi connection then download the MMS messages to my phone?

 

[EarthDog]

You should get the messages when you enabled the data/hit a wifi spot. Not sure though.

 

[hokiealumnus]

AFAIK MMS & SMS go over the cell towers (hence the terrible compression if you send a video, for example). If you use chat such as iMessage (Apple) or RCS (Google), those use the internet and would be downloaded after you connected to an internet source.

If you use RCS and it can't send, it will usually ask if you want to use SMS/MMS instead, which happens frequently at my office b/c my signal on Verizon is terrible in our building.