hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
220-1201 Practice Question: A customer calls stating that their Android…
A customer calls stating that their Android phone's messaging app is not receiving SMS messages from one specific contact, but all other contacts work. The phone has good signal strength. What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
CompTIA A+ often tests the distinction between device-level blocking (which affects only one contact) and carrier or SIM issues (which affect all contacts), leading candidates to incorrectly choose a global cause like a damaged SIM or carrier outage.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The contact's number is blocked in the messaging app.
The most likely cause is that the contact's number has been blocked in the messaging app. Blocking a contact prevents SMS messages from that specific number from being delivered to the inbox, while all other contacts continue to work normally. This matches the symptom of a single contact failing to send SMS, with good signal strength and no carrier-wide issues.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The phone's SIM card is damaged.
Why it's wrong here
A damaged SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card would prevent the Android phone from registering with the cellular network entirely. Since the SIM card contains the subscriber's identity and authentication keys necessary for network access, its damage would result in a complete loss of all cellular services, including the inability to send or receive any SMS messages from any contact, not just one specific sender.
- ✓
The contact's number is blocked in the messaging app.
Why this is correct
When a contact's number is blocked within the messaging application, the app is specifically configured to filter out and suppress incoming messages originating from that particular sender. This action is an application-level setting that prevents only the blocked contact's messages from appearing in the user's inbox, while all other SMS functionality and messages from unblocked contacts remain fully operational.
- ✗
The messaging app has a corrupted database.
Why it's wrong here
A corrupted database within the messaging application would typically lead to widespread and severe operational issues, impacting the app's overall functionality. Such corruption could manifest as the inability to launch the app, retrieve any message history, send messages to multiple contacts, or general instability, rather than selectively affecting only the messages from a single, specific contact.
- ✗
The carrier is experiencing an outage in the area.
Why it's wrong here
A carrier outage in the area signifies a disruption to the mobile network infrastructure, such as cell towers or the Short Message Service Center (SMSC). This type of outage would globally affect all subscribers within the impacted geographical region, preventing them from sending or receiving any SMS messages, making calls, or accessing mobile data, rather than selectively blocking messages from a single contact.
Go deeper
Related to this question
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Troubleshoot: PC Hardware Issues
Key term
Android
Android is an open-source operating system used primarily on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, developed by Google.
Key term
Received Signal Strength Indicator
Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) is a measurement of how strong a wireless signal is when it reaches a receiving device, like a laptop connecting to Wi-Fi.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 220-1201 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 220-1201 exam.