Episode 6 – Messaging

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This is a series of blog posts documenting my switch from iPhone to Android. To read the whole exciting saga, click here.

If you search for the phrase “Can’t receive picture text messages” on the web you’ll find a ton of pages – about 9,000,000, according to Google. I ran into that problem this morning — I could receive text messages, but MMS (Multimedia messaging Services) messages wouldn’t appear. I’d get a box asking me to download the message, then it would time out without downloading the text.
Some pointers suggested turning off wifi, but another suggested checking the APN (Access Point Name) settings. The phones use APN settings to tell it how to connect to the mobile network.

A look at my phone revealed a possible problem — the APN settings pointed to Cingular, a previous incarnation of AT&T wireless. Since this phone is 4 years old, it’s entirely possible that the setting are no longer valid. Another quick trip to Google turned up this page, intended for someone bringing  a phone from another carrier to AT&T. I created another APN under Wireless and Networks -> Mobile Network Settings->Access Point names, and set the new one to default. Picture messages now work.

 

Smartphones
Name ATT Phone
APN phone
Proxy Not set
Port Not set
Username Not set
Password Not set
Server Not set
MMSC http://mmsc.mobile.att.net
MMS proxy proxy.mobile.att.net
MMS port 80
MCC 310
MNC 410
Authentication Type None
APN type default,mms,supl,hipri
APN protocol IPv4
Bearer Unspecified

 

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