able to receive but not send picture texts on a flip phone

[dlb]

When I first joined PM a week or so ago, I was unable to send or receive picture texts on my flip (aka "dumb") phone. I found this post, went through the steps, and now I can receive picture texts but I am still unable to send them. I've double-chekced and made sure I inputed all the correct info and have searched the forum for more info but am at a loss now. Does anyone have any suggestions?

FYI, my phone is an LG A341.

[Anonymous]

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@sherr6 wrote:

@dlb yes also thank you for posting that.

@Anonymous it reminds me other carrier's APN settings, that vary across different mobile types. Looks like Public Mobile must have slightly different settings for this too.

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Which surprises me. I would have thought the APN settings would be up to the carrier...not the phone. But we're supposed to go to that gishan site to find APN settings for the phone under the carrier. Go figure.

[sherr6]

@dlb yes also thank you for posting that.

@Anonymous it reminds me other carrier's APN settings, that vary across different mobile types. Looks like Public Mobile must have slightly different settings for this too.

[Anonymous]

 @dlb

Thanks for posting that.

Some of those settings are quite different from the usual ones we see here. Interesting that it works for you.

[dlb · Accepted solution]

I'm going to post the changes I can see on my phone, for future reference. I'm copying the format Charanth182 used in this post so cheers to Charanth182 for that. The big differences between what Charanth182 posted and what the mod sent me are in the internet profile's proxy, access point, and proxy port number.

Here are the steps for making the changes. The order of these steps is important.

Legend:

Blue is the main menu.

Green are menu options in the bottom corners.

Set Up Access Point

Settings -> Connection -> Access Points -> New

Connection Title: PUBLIC MMS

Authentication: No Auth

APN: sp.mb.com

Save

Set Up Internet Profile

Settings -> Connection -> Internet Profiles -> New

Profile Name: PUBLIC MMS

Use Proxy: On

Access Point: mmscproxy.mobility.ca

Proxy Port Number: 8799

Access Point: PUBLIC MMS

Save

Set Up Message Center

Messaging -> Message Settings -> Multimedia Message -> Message Center -> Options -> New

Name:  PUBLIC MMS

MMSC URL: http://aliasredirect.net/proxy/mb/mmsc

Internet Profile: PUBLIC MMS

Save

Activate *This is very important and easily overlooked*

Restart Your Phone *also easy to overlook*

[sherr6]

I was just about to suggest this. I looked at the OP's post about the settings, and even for a basic phone, it looks like something is missing (APN type maybe?).

But yes, please post the settings you now have for future reference. Thank you!

Edit: Ugh. I really need to read slower. Reviewing OP's post about the settings he used, each one specifies the type. Lol but still, it would be helpful to compare what now works for others who may have this trouble in the future.

[Anonymous]

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@dlb wrote:

The moderator team fixed it!

A mod sent me a text with the APN settings for data to work. When I received it, I clicked 'install,' then I power cycled the phone (turned it off for 30 seconds then turned it back on). I tried sending a picture text then and at first it said it didn't go through, but then a few minutes later my wife texted me back saying she received it. So it seems to be working now.

Thanks again to everyone here for their suggestions. I really like how proactive and helpful this forum is.

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Are you able to somehow copy the text of that text to post here? It should be a simple copy/paste. That might be helpful for future readers. Remove anything personal.

Never mind. I just re-read "install". No point in leaving a blank post 🙂 Unless you feel like transcribing the settings in your phone. Yeah I thought so too. 🙂

[dlb]

The moderator team fixed it!

A mod sent me a text with the APN settings for data to work. When I received it, I clicked 'install,' then I power cycled the phone (turned it off for 30 seconds then turned it back on). I tried sending a picture text then and at first it said it didn't go through, but then a few minutes later my wife texted me back saying she received it. So it seems to be working now.

Thanks again to everyone here for their suggestions. I really like how proactive and helpful this forum is.

[dlb]

Hi sherr6. In answer to your questions:

1) I tried sending a picture text to myself, no luck.

2) I've tried sending picture texts to multiple contacts, and made sure that all of their numbers have either 10 or 11 digits. Still no luck.

3) My PM plan has unlimited texting, including sending and receiving pictures.

[sherr6]

Okay no pay-per-use charges. Thanks for pointing that out.

So if OP was on the $20 for Unlimited Talk plan, it would make sense to receive, but not send out. In that case, they would need to be on on a rate plan that has Unlimited Messaging.

[computergeek541]

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@sherr6 wrote:

3. Do you have sufficient funds in your account, or on a rate plan that includes MMS? The reason I ask is, if you're able to receive, but not send out, then this could be very well be the issue.

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A customer doesn't need "sufficient funds" in the account to send MMS.  Public Mobile has absolutely no system in place to charge for anything that isn't already included in a plan or add-on that has already been purchased.  If the customer doensn't have text messaging/picture messaging as part of the plan, it will not work no matter how much of balance is in the Public Mobile account.

[sherr6]

1. Try to send a picture message to your own number. Sometimes we would do this back in the day to 'wake up' the MMS account.

2. When sending the picture message, is the recipient's phone number correctly entered? I would try the full 10 digits such as: 234567890, or +1234567890. Be sure there's no setting turned on where area codes get replaced (smart dialing I believe it's called).

3. Do you have sufficient funds in your account, or on a rate plan that includes MMS? The reason I ask is, if you're able to receive, but not send out, then this could be very well be the issue.

Edit: I saw another post of yours mentioning not wanting to be accidentally charged for data (no data plan). Please let us know what rate plan you're on so we can determine if this is the cause. #3 right now seems the most likely.

[dlb]

Yep, I did a factory reset on the phone, restarted it, and re-entered all the access point, internet profile, and message center stuff. No luck with that so I tried the suggestion of reporting it lost, turning the phone off, waiting 5 mins, reporting it found, and restarting it. No luck with that either so I just messaged the moderator team.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far.

[youbme]

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@dlb wrote:

When I first joined PM a week or so ago, I was unable to send or receive picture texts on my flip (aka "dumb") phone. I found this post, went through the steps, and now I can receive picture texts but I am still unable to send them. I've double-chekced and made sure I inputed all the correct info and have searched the forum for more info but am at a loss now. Does anyone have any suggestions?

FYI, my phone is an LG A341.

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From what you've described and what I can tell from the post you referenced, this is likely an issue with your phone settings. It isn't easy to get MMS working on a flip phone, but certainly doable. Have you already tried to clear the settings, restart the phone, then input them again as instructed in the post you linked? I suspect there is a hidden setting somewhere that is blocking you from sending MMS.

It doesn't hurt to also contact the @CS_Agent as suggested, to make sure it isn't an issue with your account.

[Lieux]

If the lost/stolen trick don’t work @dlbyou will need to write a private message to the moderator...here...as said by @popping...

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage And type moderator_team in send to and explain what happened... they will help... patience....

[popping]

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@dlb wrote:

Thanks but I'm afraid that didn't work. I can still only receive and not send picture texts.

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You may try the lost/stolen phone trick to re-provison your plan feature again.

1. Login to your self-serve account.
2. Report your phone lost/stolen using [Plan and Add-Ons] --> [Lost/Stolen Phone]
3. Logoff
4. Wait 5 minutes and login again
5. Report your phone found.
6. Re-start you phone to provision your account again. i.e. enable all features of you plan again.

If this trick failed to get thing working again, you should send a private message to moderator for help. But the wait is up to 48 hours. Good luck.

[dlb]

Thanks but I'm afraid that didn't work. I can still only receive and not send picture texts.

[popping]

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@dlb wrote:

When I first joined PM a week or so ago, I was unable to send or receive picture texts on my flip (aka "dumb") phone. I found this post, went through the steps, and now I can receive picture texts but I am still unable to send them. I've double-chekced and made sure I inputed all the correct info and have searched the forum for more info but am at a loss now. Does anyone have any suggestions?

FYI, my phone is an LG A341.

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1.  Enable data

2.  Reset network settings if possible on your LG phone.

3.  Restart your LG phone

4.  Test again.

EDIT:

If you cannot reset networ settings, you can factory reset your phone as followings;

1. Save you contacts to SIM card.

2. Remove SIM card

3. You may want to backup your photos in your phone.  Google how to backup photos.

4.  Follow the procedures in this link.

https://business.telus.com/en/business/support/global/how-to/lg-a341-how-to-reset-your-phone-to-orig...

5.  Insert PM SIM card and restart phone.