APN setting with iphone 4 (ios 7)

[klr600]

Hey Guys;

  I have tried all the things you mentioned with APN, but i still canèt get my phone to send or recieve pictures on a MMS text message. It now works to access the internet on data, but still no pictures. Any ideas ?

Thanks

[CalgaryBen]

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@klr600 wrote:

Thanks for the information, this does clear up a lot of things for me. So I guess it will be time to say Good-Bye to the old Iphone 4 and move on to bigger and better a Iphone 5S that is a hand me down from daughter.

Just curious, was the iPhone 4 previously used on one of the "Big 3" as mentioned, or a different carrier?

You'll be happy with the 5S, since it still has a similar form-factor as the 4, while being a bit thinner/lighter, and a bit faster and more usable (with later iOS).

[klr600]

Thanks for the information, this does clear up a lot of things for me. So I guess it will be time to say Good-Bye to the old Iphone 4 and move on to bigger and better a Iphone 5S that is a hand me down from daughter. Thanks to everyone that helped with this solution.

[SMNVP]

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@CalgaryBen wrote:

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@Dunkman wrote:

I will try to tag @CalgaryBen .  He might be able to clarify why he feels MMS messaging is not possible with iphone 4 (IOS 7).  

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@klr600 wrote:

I have had this phone for quite a while on a different provider and it was sending and recieving pictures on text messages on the old provider.

I was sending and recieving pictures with the MMS. 

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@klr600,

This is going to be a bit long, but laying some groundwork/background is necessary to explain the rationale for everything.

Unfortunately, the hardware in the iPhone 4 limits it to iOS 7 as the highest version it can be upgraded to.  iOS 7 and earlier did not have support for Carrier Profiles, so back then (prior to September 2014), the carriers at the time had to work with Apple to get their carrier configurations essentially hard-coded into the OS, OR specify to open these settings (APN, MMS proxy, etc.) to the user.

The latter situation doesn't generally apply in North America (so references that tell you to set the APN, MMS proxy, etc. are most likely from sources outside of NA), as all carriers (as far as I know) in NA hide these settings.

In the former situation, this means it was mainly the large incumbant wireless carriers (e.g. TELUS, Rogers, Bell in Canada, and whomever else was prominent at the time) that would've had the correct APN and other settings built into the iOS at the time to allow proper configuration of the iPhone upon insertion of the SIM card. When you insert a SIM card, the iPhone essentially reads the MCC, MNC, and GID1 (the combination which is unique to each carrier) from the SIM and looks these up in a table built into the iOS. Guess what... if it's a TELUS, Rogers, or Bell SIM card, you're sure to have things work, including the MMS configuration. If you're on a carrier other than these, then it's likely that it may not work (some might, depending on their relationship with Apple at the time). Public Mobile would be one which wasn't supported

So, if you needed to set the APN because it wasn't in the hard-coded list, you could do so using a utility from Apple called "Apple Configurator". This was intended for corporate IT departments to mass-configure/deploy configurations to their assets, and one of the settings they can control in the deployed Configuration Profile is the APN. Since most people don't want the complexity of using Apple Configurator and to figure out how to push it to their devices, the folks behind unlockit.co.nz did a wonderful thing and created their web tool that essentially builds configuration profiles for users, which can simply be downloaded/installed via their website.  This ultimately over-rides the built-in APN setting with one that will work with the non-incumbant carrier.

So why is your iPhone 3/3G/3Gs/4 precluded from MMS on Public Mobile?  Sorry, I had to give the background to get to this point... essentially, if you download or look at the documentation for Apple Configurator 2 (the tool that makes Configuration Profiles), you'll see no settings for over-riding the MMS APN or proxy settings, which are needed for MMS to work. I don't know if this was an oversight by Apple, or excluded intentionally, but basically a Configuration Profile can't set/override these (AFAIK). So the unlockit.co.nz site can't help you with that, either.

I mentioned the only way I think you could possibly get MMS working on an iPhone 4 or earlier on Public Mobile would be to jailbreak the device, and then modify configuration files within the device directly. I don't have the details to do this (I've never had the inclination to jailbreak my devices and customize them), nor would I suggest the time investment to learn/achieve this would be worthwhile.

Going to an iPhone 4S (or higher, of course) is an easy/cheap way to overcome this limitation, since the 4S is capable of being upgraded to iOS 9 which does support OTA-updatable Carrier Profiles, which configure the APN, MMS, etc.  Hence, an iPhone 4S will work with Public Mobile for data and MMS by simply inserting the SIM card and allowing updates to be downloaded/installed (on WiFi).

Hope that all makes sense...

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I think you are right!

[CalgaryBen · Accepted solution]

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@Dunkman wrote:

I will try to tag @CalgaryBen .  He might be able to clarify why he feels MMS messaging is not possible with iphone 4 (IOS 7).  

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@klr600 wrote:

I have had this phone for quite a while on a different provider and it was sending and recieving pictures on text messages on the old provider.

I was sending and recieving pictures with the MMS. 

---

@klr600,

This is going to be a bit long, but laying some groundwork/background is necessary to explain the rationale for everything.

Unfortunately, the hardware in the iPhone 4 limits it to iOS 7 as the highest version it can be upgraded to.  iOS 7 and earlier did not have support for Carrier Profiles, so back then (prior to September 2014), the carriers at the time had to work with Apple to get their carrier configurations essentially hard-coded into the OS, OR specify to open these settings (APN, MMS proxy, etc.) to the user.

The latter situation doesn't generally apply in North America (so references that tell you to set the APN, MMS proxy, etc. are most likely from sources outside of NA), as all carriers (as far as I know) in NA hide these settings.

In the former situation, this means it was mainly the large incumbant wireless carriers (e.g. TELUS, Rogers, Bell in Canada, and whomever else was prominent at the time) that would've had the correct APN and other settings built into the iOS at the time to allow proper configuration of the iPhone upon insertion of the SIM card. When you insert a SIM card, the iPhone essentially reads the MCC, MNC, and GID1 (the combination which is unique to each carrier) from the SIM and looks these up in a table built into the iOS. Guess what... if it's a TELUS, Rogers, or Bell SIM card, you're sure to have things work, including the MMS configuration. If you're on a carrier other than these, then it's likely that it may not work (some might, depending on their relationship with Apple at the time). Public Mobile would be one which wasn't supported

So, if you needed to set the APN because it wasn't in the hard-coded list, you could do so using a utility from Apple called "Apple Configurator". This was intended for corporate IT departments to mass-configure/deploy configurations to their assets, and one of the settings they can control in the deployed Configuration Profile is the APN. Since most people don't want the complexity of using Apple Configurator and to figure out how to push it to their devices, the folks behind unlockit.co.nz did a wonderful thing and created their web tool that essentially builds configuration profiles for users, which can simply be downloaded/installed via their website.  This ultimately over-rides the built-in APN setting with one that will work with the non-incumbant carrier.

So why is your iPhone 3/3G/3Gs/4 precluded from MMS on Public Mobile?  Sorry, I had to give the background to get to this point... essentially, if you download or look at the documentation for Apple Configurator 2 (the tool that makes Configuration Profiles), you'll see no settings for over-riding the MMS APN or proxy settings, which are needed for MMS to work. I don't know if this was an oversight by Apple, or excluded intentionally, but basically a Configuration Profile can't set/override these (AFAIK). So the unlockit.co.nz site can't help you with that, either.

I mentioned the only way I think you could possibly get MMS working on an iPhone 4 or earlier on Public Mobile would be to jailbreak the device, and then modify configuration files within the device directly. I don't have the details to do this (I've never had the inclination to jailbreak my devices and customize them), nor would I suggest the time investment to learn/achieve this would be worthwhile.

Going to an iPhone 4S (or higher, of course) is an easy/cheap way to overcome this limitation, since the 4S is capable of being upgraded to iOS 9 which does support OTA-updatable Carrier Profiles, which configure the APN, MMS, etc.  Hence, an iPhone 4S will work with Public Mobile for data and MMS by simply inserting the SIM card and allowing updates to be downloaded/installed (on WiFi).

Hope that all makes sense...

[SMNVP]

@klr600 wrote:

Hey Guys;

  I have tried all the things you mentioned with APN, but i still canèt get my phone to send or recieve pictures on a MMS text message. It now works to access the internet on data, but still no pictures. Any ideas ?

Thanks

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As per my experience with Public mobile, If you have public mobile plan $15 or above and mobile data connection is turned On while sending MMS. It should work. I don't have iPhone 4 though, But it works on Noika 1. I hope it helps. 

Thanks

[Dunkman]

@klr600 

Sorry, I am not an Apple expert.  

I will try to tag @CalgaryBen .  He might be able to clarify why he feels MMS messaging is not possible with iphone 4 (IOS 7).  He wrote the nice article that I referenced.  Different mobile carriers have different APN setting/procedures.  Public mobile is a smaller guy on the market, so that might be the difference also.  

[klr600]

THank for the info. But I am very new to the PM community and i wasn't sure how to go about setting up the the posts. I alreay have set up the APN, and my phone is now connecting to the internet. I have had this phone for quite a while on a different provider and it was sending and recieving pictures on text messages on the old provider. I wasn't set up with Imessage as i didn't have data on my old plan. I was sending and recieving pictures with the MMS. 

[Luddite]

@klr600 You have posted to an old thread. In future you will have more assurance of help by creating your own topic on the forum  (which I have done for you today), or, if appropriate, submitting a ticket to the moderators.

On this issue the ONLY way to establish a VALID APN is to connect to wifi, access http://www.unlockit.co.nz/mobilesettings/ with Safari, then follow the directions there.

[Luddite]

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@klr600 wrote:

Hi There;

   i sort of understand where he is coming from. But the only issue I have with that is that i Switched from another cell provider and i was able to send MMS messages with pictures on this unit from the other provider. So is it just that I can't set the APN setting in the phone to pick up the PM system ?

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Be sure you are not thinking of messages between iPhone users. iMessage looks a lot like MMS but uses Apple's services with cellular/wifi data.

Anyway at least be sure the phone settings are optimum: Settings >> Messages >> iMessage ON, SMS ON, MMS ON >> Send & Receive: should show your PM phone number and your Apple id email address.

[klr600]

Hi There;

   i sort of understand where he is coming from. But the only issue I have with that is that i Switched from another cell provider and i was able to send MMS messages with pictures on this unit from the other provider. So is it just that I can't set the APN setting in the phone to pick up the PM system ?

[Dunkman]

@klr600 According to our resident Apple expert BenCalgary, MMS text will not work with iPhone 4. https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Phones-Hardware/FYI-iOS-and-APNs/m-p/323119/highlight...