Tmobile Officially Passed the Buck

I've had the same problem, I will enter my number and it just goes back to the same screen saying to enter my number. I get texts when someone updates their twitter that I am following, and if I send the word 'help' to 40404 I do get a response back, but it will not let me update my twitter and will not let me add my device, I am mildly confused.

edit: I don't have a G1 I have the new Sidekick 2008.

When I first started I had accidentally put in a wrong number in my phone, it gave me a code and I sent it and it worked, but after awhile it stopped of course and the code never went away from the device page. It's just confusing, I think they should have a list of phones that may or may not work, I find it odd.

You should tweet your SMS texts to 40404 (which is presumably what works for your boyfriend), and your tweet should appear in your timeline at http://twitter.com/home . But there is very occasionally a delay (minutes or even hours).

If you log out of Twitter and log back on, your phone number should still appear correctly (no spaces or leading zeros) on your http://twitter.com/devices page. If it doesn't ask you to text a code from your phone (something like xyzxy is usual), but shows a Delete and start over? button, then your phone is registered correctly.

Maybe T-Mobile recently started blocking 40404 for new customers?

Some US providers block 40404 along with other short numbers by default to avoid billing disputes, since short numbers are often used for premium services (e.g. to sell expensive ringtones, or dating chats, here in Germany) - and not all phone company representatives are aware of the blockage, or that they can remove it - or indeed that there is a service called Twitter. Some users have had to be very persistent with their phone companies.

It's a good sign that your boyfriend successfully uses the same phone model and carrier. You should be able to compare notes and find out from him how Twitter should work with T-Mobile.

SVallie and ashleighnr23:
It's very unlikely to be your phone model that's the problem: it's more likely some combination of country, mobile provider, and Twitter SMS number (40404 etc.).

If you've made more than one unsuccessful attempt to enter your phone number, then Twitter may have misinterpreted your international code, causing the Duplicate Accounts, aka Username1 problem.

It might be worth visiting that thread, which describes the problem, as well as its solution.

SVallie, can you kindly try sending an update from your phone to 40404 and also to the +44 number and see if your tweet appears anywhere in TwitterSearch (whether under your account or under a different account)?

For example, if you send "This is a TestFromTMobile to 40404" to the 40404 number, does it show up in search here: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=Te...

And if you send "This is a TestFromTMobile to +44" to the +44 number, does it show up in the same search?

If neither of your tweets (whether to 40404 or to +44) show up in search, then it sounds like your phone was accidentally trapped in limbo when you sent the code to the +44 number.

If you're 100% sure that your phone is not linked to any account (including your own real account), you can free up your phone by sending "delete me" to the +44 number. You won't get a reply from Twitter, though, so please don't expect one.

After you've freed your phone from limbo, please go back to http://twitter.com/devices and try adding it again.

Thank you for all your help, that was also my problem and I found the extra account.

SVallie and ashleighnr23:
I'm delighted that things are now working for both of you. Your detailed descriptions helped us track down the problem and propose the right solution. Excellent Get Satisfaction teamwork all round!

mdy:
The Duplicate Accounts problem is easy to diagnose "the other way around", when a user notices a Username1 account and wonders where it came from.

But it's not so easy to diagnose when the only obvious symptom is that the phone number registration simply fails - so your Duplicate Accounts detection method via test tweets and search.twitter.com is something I'll bear in mind.

I wonder if Twitter could improve the phone number registration process with error messages such as

• 40404 will not work with the international code you have entered for your number
• That phone number is already linked to another Twitter account
• Are you sure your international code is correct (e.g. +1 for USA)?

to hinder the multiple registration attempts which create Duplicate Accounts.

I am a new tweeter I cannot register my blackberry (I am in the US) no reply at all to my text... and when I try to write on the boards it says my email addy is not registered... but under my account it is and I get emails from Twitter.... Help?!?