I have a friend (yes, I have a friend) who has lost a cell phone. She has put off getting a new one since she had just gotten this phone two months earlier.
The battery had died within two days. So, after that, calls went to voice mail. But what about text messages? If the phone were simply turned off and turned back on, I know they would appear, but what about if the number is assigned to a new phone? Do they disappear into Never Never Land?
Yes, exactly. Just like if you sent a text message to a landline number.
ooops, sorry. I missed this part. the messages would go to the new phone, wouldn’t they?
Messages sent after the reassignment go to the new phone.
There’s a little buffering for SMS- the phone does not have to be online to get them (it wil receive them once it connects to the network), but I don’t think this buffer is more than a few hours or days.
In some networks - I’m not sure if it depends on the country or on the service provider within a country - text messages sent to a landline will be delivered in the form of a call from an automatic synthesised voice reading the message to the recipient.