Big text message issue with 4s

Help! Just picked up 4s. Texts syched from 3g....but now I cannot respond to any texts from local numbers that I have been texting to for years and have always been entered as just a 7 digit number without an area code. I keep getting " Invalid Message" saying I need to enter 10 digit number...add the area code to contact info, doesn't matter...still can't text. Spent 2 hours on phone and 1 hour in store with Apple support...basically tell me I'm beat. Only way to be able to text to those local 7 digit numbers as I always have is to delete all of those threads, put area code in all of the contacts and then compose new messages. Ridiculous amount of work ...info, photos and phone numbers in threads i need to save..and worst I will lose all of the text threads I have for years...and some I still need.

Deleting all threads and reentering all contacts with area code is not an acceptable solution. How can i upgrade to a 4s from 3g and have it not be able to text the way 3 g did? Doesn't make sense...yet they tell me no other solution

Any/ all ideas welcome! Thank you!

Why hang onto old threads? I delete as I go. Most of it is just chatter. I save pics to my camera roll and from there to albums.

When I switched to Mac I gave up years of Outlook email archives, and to my surprise haven't missed them. Quite instructive.

Rob2662 said:

Help! Just picked up 4s. Texts syched from 3g....but now I cannot respond to any texts from local numbers that I have been texting to for years and have always been entered as just a 7 digit number without an area code. I keep getting " Invalid Message" saying I need to enter 10 digit number...add the area code to contact info, doesn't matter...still can't text. Spent 2 hours on phone and 1 hour in store with Apple support...basically tell me I'm beat. Only way to be able to text to those local 7 digit numbers as I always have is to delete all of those threads, put area code in all of the contacts and then compose new messages. Ridiculous amount of work ...info, photos and phone numbers in threads i need to save..and worst I will lose all of the text threads I have for years...and some I still need.

Deleting all threads and reentering all contacts with area code is not an acceptable solution. How can i upgrade to a 4s from 3g and have it not be able to text the way 3 g did? Doesn't make sense...yet they tell me no other solution

Click to expand...

That does seem extremely odd. Well how about offloading those that you need? The Missing Sync claims to be able to do that.
Sync between Mac and iPhone - Ringtones, voice memos, Voicemail, notes, tasks, docs, files and more - The Missing Sync for iPhone

So does PhoneView.
PhoneView for iPhone and iPad - Save SMS, iMessages, Voicemail, Call History, Music, Photos, Notes - Ecamm Network

As does this one:
How to save / export SMS messages to your computer. Windows or Mac. Decipher TextMessage.