Is there a way to fix the low animated gif quality on Fizz?
I've just switched over my family 3 cellphone to Fizz. While testing the network as suggested, I sent my daughter an animated gif for the Minions. I was instantly struct by the very low quality/high compression taking place compared to Rogers. I couldn't find any setting on my Pixel 2 XL to change this quality so I guess it could be a Fizz setting. Is anyone aware of such aweful compression and if there's any way to fix it?
I am also wondering if there is a way to have Google Jibe "Chat features" to work as it should? It was working previously on Rogers but instantly stopped when I switched to Fizz this morning. For those unaware of the Chat feature, it send extra data between users SMS so they know when a message is received, read and when the other is typing as well like any decent messaging app.
Answers
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You can do that in the settings if your are using adroid, for iphones i dont know.4
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Hey Louis and welcome to Fizz!
Have you tried to change the compression settings on the app itself? Also, have you tried with other messaging apps to validate if the experience is the same?
Cheers,
Jay
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Normally Android will allow you to change the settings to not compress.4
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It sounds like you were using RCS before and maybe now it is not. Are you both using Android?5
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I too have had compressed gifs MMS come through from my girlfriend. Wondering if its a Pixel 2, Android, Messaging app, RCS, or Fizz issue.3
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Thank you everyone for your reply.
I've tried changing Google official messages app settings but found out it's hard coded in the program itself. Reaching out to support of Google Messages, they confirmed it cannot be changed by the user. They instead verify the carrier code and the max MMS size the carrier reported to them to set the limit internally.
Since Rogers supports RCS, it could be either that MMS were previously going thru RCS (no size limit) but I recall having full resolution animated gif before RCS so I think they simply report a higher maximum to google.
Now, since I couldn't change this limit on Message, I wanted to test if Fizz actually has a low limit. I took the first MMS app I found and set a no limit on it, on both my and my wife's phone. The results were the following:
- Using Google message on rogers between us was giving full size animated gif.
- Using Google message on Fizz give compressed images.
- Using 3rd party MMS app with no size limit sending from Fizz to Google messages on Fizz gave full size anim gif.
This leads me to think that Fizz incorrectly report their MMS limit to Google and that they could easily fix it. Otherwise, maybe they simply try to trick user into using low limit MMS to use less bandwidth.
Anyone who'd like full size MMS, I suggest going with 3rd party app which allow setting the max send/receive size, as well as liking my post so we can get Fizz to see this error isn't something customer support.
Now, regarding RCS. Videotron still hasn't enabled it as of today. Google did launch a service to bypass the carrier but it doesn't seem to work by itself and need a small hand. I managed to enable it on my Pixel 2 XL (a bit of work since I didn't knew how) as well as on my daughter Essential phone pretty quickly thereafter.
If anyone is interested in the fix to have RCS working, here are the steps I used (found parts of them on google, I don't claim to be the author of the app that helped it work)
1 - First open Messages app. In the top right corner, tap the 3 dots to bring up the menu and then open Settings.
2 - Click on Chat features. It first told me service was not available because carrier doesn't support it. If that's your case, follow to next step. If it shows as "verifying your phone number", jump to step 7.
3 - Open Google play and download the app Activity Launcher from Adam Szalkowski :
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.szalkowski.activitylauncher
4 - Start Activity Launcher, accept the disclaimer and scroll down to "Messages" (They are in alphabetical order). Click on it for this application settings to show as a list below it. Click on "Set RCS Flags".
5 - In this net setting page, click on the first option called "ACS Url" and choose the last option which reads up as : " http://rcs-acs-prod-us.sandbox.google.com/ " and then click on apply (you might need to hit the "back" key to minimize your keyboard, I had to do so on both my devices).
6 - Open Messages app again, click the 3 dot at the top right of the screen and open Settings as previously. Chat features should now show something new, either connected or trying to verify phone number. If it shows connected, congratulation, you are done! Otherwise, follow to step 7 for a quick fix.
7 - Click on Chat features. Set your phone number and hit verify. I've had this step bug on my a few times. If it will not verify, the way I found to fix this was the following :
8 - Get back to Messages app main screen. On the top right corner near the 3 dots, there should now be a star with an ! inside it. Click on it. It'll ask for your phone number. Enter it and hit verify. The app might connect by itself or it might ask for a verification number you should receive by SMS within a few seconds of hitting verify. If you received the SMS, enter the verification number. It might told you there is an error but ignore it.
9 - Close the app and restart it. If everything went as it did for me, chat features should now be enabled! To verify, open Settings again and click on Chat features. It should now show as Connected.
Enjoy!
Thanks again all!7
