Text mix-up puzzles cellphone owners

Cellphone companies can’t seem to explain why their customers suddenly received confusing text messages on Thursday. Many cellphone users received text messages from contacts who hadn’t sent them. The phenomenon seemed widespread, if social media is any indication, and wasn’t limited to a single carrier.

What happened? Most likely, undelivered texts sent months ago suddenly appeared, but no one is sure why. A Sprint spokeswoman said it was caused by a “maintenance update,” and T-Mobile blamed it on a “third-party vendor issue.” Verizon and AT&T have not offered an explanation.