I had a Nexus 4 from launch until the Nexus 5 and never had a problem with receiving or sending SMS messages.
I've never heard of it being a common problem either. Your wife should go ahead and get the phone if she wants one.
Yep - Same here, SMS's have always been perfect. I reckon the GP poster is simply trying to stir..
Thanks both. I suspected this.
I can add one more report: My Nexus 4 has no problems with receiving or sending text messages. Maybe the OP uses a non-standard radio firmware or something?
Hell, I had no problems with SMS and I was using Facebook Messenger as my default SMS app. I had no problems with the few days I used the stock messaging app.