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Incomplete APN settings: MMSC field not set

danhan22
danhan22 Posts: 24 Participant

I switched to Spectrum Mobile over a year ago and had to purchase a new mobile device when I switched carriers. The MMSC field is blank, not set and I am not able to receive MMS texts correctly, impacting group texts and texts with pictures, audio files, videos, GIFs, etc. This seems like a common issue with Android devices using Verizon's network. I have spent countless hours with Spectrum Mobile and my manufacturer, trying to get the needed APN settings to populate on my device (since the carrier locks the APN settings). I am at my wits end.😩 Neither party seems willing to fix the issue.

https://www.reddit.com/r/verizon/comments/16g5nq7/mms_and_apn_issues/
https://www.reddit.com/r/verizon/comments/1882dtn/what_is_really_going_on_with_verizon_not_sending/
https://community.verizon.com/t5/Other-Phones/APN-settings-locked-not-receiving-MMS/m-p/1076627#M124035
https://community.verizon.com/t5/Samsung/MMS-Video-splitting-into-JPG-and-QCP-files/td-p/1175062
https://www.google.com/search?q=messages+qcp+files+site:community.verizon.com&sca_esv=792956a740f9cd13&sca_upv=1&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS991US991&sxsrf=ADLYWIIBTkP0iow1j8vsPOvTsTJeOTrx3A:1721443313394&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjelsiJzLSHAxVKHNAFHSPjB_wQrQIoAnoECBcQAw&biw=1366&bih=641&dpr=1&safe=active&ssui=on
https://community.verizon.com/t5/Samsung/MMS-video-splitting-into-JPG-and-QCP-files/m-p/1257296
https://community.verizon.com/t5/Samsung/MMS-Video-splitting-into-JPG-and-QCP-files/m-p/1257361
https://community.verizon.com/t5/Samsung/MMS-Video-splitting-into-JPG-and-QCP-files/m-p/1697064/highlight/true
https://community.verizon.com/t5/Verizon-Messages/Mms/m-p/1697820

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Answers

  • HT_Greenfield
    HT_Greenfield Posts: 899 Contributor
    edited July 20

    Is that with the Google Messages app and, furthermore, with RCS effectively enabled, or what? Just curious.

    🔗 https://www.spectrum.net/support/mobile/rich-communication-services-faqs

    ↳ How do I get Rich Communication Services?

  • danhan22
    danhan22 Posts: 24 Participant

    It is irregardless of which texting app. It happens on multiple texting apps because the link for the MMSC is blank in the APN settings. It needs to be filled in with:

    http://mms.vtext.com/servlets/mms

    https://www.motorola-support.com/us-en/?page=device/motorola/motorola-edge-2022-android-13/topic/mms/manual-configuration/choice/verizon

  • William_M
    William_M Posts: 1,284 ✅ Verified Employee Moderator

    Hey @danhan22, welcome to our community!

    Have you already tried a network, then factory reset?

    Will you please make sure RCS is enabled?

    1. Open the Android Messages app and navigate to the Options tab in the upper right corner.
    2. Select Settings, and then choose Chat Features (Or Chat Settings).
    3. Make sure Enable Chat Features is toggled ON.

  • danhan22
    danhan22 Posts: 24 Participant

    I have done network and factory reset

    I have gotten several SIM cards. The RCS chat features are enabled. The stock messaging app isn't the issue. It is the incomplete APN network settings that's the issue. MMS texts don't work in other texting apps either. RCS texts just use the Internet instead of the mobile carrier's network LTE. That's all RCS does, allowing for bigger files to be exchanged.

  • HT_Greenfield
    HT_Greenfield Posts: 899 Contributor
    edited July 23

    Seeing as how Google Messages (formerly Android Messages or whatever) is essentially the de facto go-to messaging app/service now of days for VZW as well as Spectrum Mobile and how it is supposedly geared to utilize the highest common denominator (RCS or MMS or SMS) on the fly, based on some sort of black magic called Google Jibe, i swear to God i'd set Google Messages as the default messaging app in Android and reset network settings and see if it doesn't pull down MMS when it needs to regardless of whether MMSC = not set, but that's just me. I'm an unfrozen caveman.

  • danhan22
    danhan22 Posts: 24 Participant

    MMSC can stand for Multimedia Messaging Service Center, which is a system that allows mobile devices to exchange multimedia messages over wireless networks. MMSCs are a key component of mobile telecommunications networks and are responsible for receiving, storing, forwarding, and delivering multimedia messages. These messages can include images, videos, audio, animation, and personalized messages.

    MMSCs are also a key component of Access Point Name (APN) settings, and need to be properly configured to ensure seamless multimedia messaging functionality. 

  • TomUpNorth
    TomUpNorth Posts: 37 Contributor

    So you switched over a year ago to Spectrum Mobile and got this new device and it hasn't worked for over a year? What is the "new mobile device" that you can't get to work exactly?

  • danhan22
    danhan22 Posts: 24 Participant

    That is correct. I have multiple tickets with Spectrum and have had it replaced twice. It's a Motorola Edge 2022

  • HT_Greenfield
    HT_Greenfield Posts: 899 Contributor

    Just curious what the APN, MMS Port, MCC, MNC, and APN Type fields are set to.

  • danhan22
    danhan22 Posts: 24 Participant
    edited July 29

    Here is what my manufacturer says to set them to for those users who can manually configure the APN settings on their phone (Spectrum and Verizon lock the APN settings on devices using the Verizon network):
    https://www.motorola-support.com/us-en/?page=device/motorola/motorola-edge-2022-android-13/topic/internet/manual-configuration/choice/verizon
    https://www.motorola-support.com/us-en/?page=device/motorola/motorola-edge-2022-android-13/topic/mms/manual-configuration/choice/verizon
    APN: vzwinternet
    Proxy: not set
    Port: not set
    Username: not set
    Password: not set
    MMSC: http://mms.vtext.com/servlets/mms
    MMS Proxy: not set
    MMS Port: 80
    MCC: 310
    MNC: 12
    Authentication Type: not set
    APN type: default, supl, mms

    Here is the APN settings on my device:

    As you can see, the MMSC link is missing from the settings, which is crucial for multimedia messages to be sent via text. Also, the MMS port is not set, but I think that's not as important. You can see the country code is 311 instead of 310. Apparently, both country codes work for the U.S. The network code (MNC) is 480, which is a C-section frequency within the LTE 700 frequency. I think the MNC and MCC are okay for Verizon's network.

    Compare my settings with the one's below (my mother-in-law's APN settings on her Motorola Edge 2023 from Verizon):

    On her Verizon phone, you can see the bearers and she has the MMSC link, which is what I am missing.

    It is unfortunate that APN settings are locked and that Verizon and Spectrum employees don't know what the settings should be for people's devices (which they should know since they are the network provider and provide these settings in order for customers to use their mobile network), nor care to fix device issues with accessing the network.

  • HT_Greenfield
    HT_Greenfield Posts: 899 Contributor

    Fair enough! Try steps 1 through 8, here, and if they don't get it done, forget about them and go with the rest of the steps (taking shown example parameters with a grain of salt, of course) and see what happens:

    🔗 https://www.helpforsmartphone.com/public/en/motorola/edge-(2022)/android-12/guides/27/Set-up-MMS-Motorola-Edge-2022-

  • danhan22
    danhan22 Posts: 24 Participant

    Unlike Verizon, Spectrum has disabled the reset to default feature on their devices. That is why people can only reset the network and do factory resets on Spectrum phones.

  • HT_Greenfield
    HT_Greenfield Posts: 899 Contributor

    If you're convinced that MMSC being not set is an MMS dealbreaker no matter what, then i guess that the conventional wisdom has for you to get back ahold of Spectrum Mobile directly and try to get the matter escalated but i'm beginning to wonder whether it being not set isn't simply akin to default in the same kind of way as unspecified is for Bearer, at least as far as top-flight VZW MVNO 5G capability goes.

    Unless, of course, these particular happy campers just don't care about MMS:

    🔗 https://www.reddit.com/r/android_beta/comments/pa3rc9/comment/hbd7juk/"Everything else stays as "not set"."

    🔗 https://www.reddit.com/r/TotalWireless/comments/g5dqxs/comment/fpirf4n/"Hope this helps…"

    🔗 https://www.reddit.com/r/StraightTalk/comments/a86p1e/

    🔗 https://www.reddit.com/r/SpectrumMobile/comments/10nvxea/phone_thinks_its_on_verizon/"I got it working with 5G and everything (data/mms/etc.)…"

    🔗 https://www.reddit.com/r/SpectrumMobile/comments/pu9ziw/comment/k33ril9/ 🤣

    Otherwise out of my league. Good luck, my good man, and may you fare well in the by and by. ☘️

  • William_M
    William_M Posts: 1,284 ✅ Verified Employee Moderator

    @danhan22, will you please elaborate exactly what happens when receiving a message with multimedia? Is it only impacting group texts, or also messages from an individual Android user?

  • danhan22
    danhan22 Posts: 24 Participant

    @William_M , yesterday and the day before (Friday) I didn't get two group texts. There has been at least one time when I don't get any video text when a video text has been sent to a group text. When video texts are received, they are received as JPEGs or a JPEG with an unplayable QCP file (in other words, the video text is separated up into separate files because there is no MMSC in the network settings). The past few months I have noticed that GIFs do not work. They are not animated at all (they are mere pictures, sometimes granulated). This happens with iPhones and Android devices.

    Here are some additional links, which show how important having the network settings for the MMSC for multimedia texts to work on customers' phones.

    https://www.sinch.com/glossary/multimedia-messaging-service-center-mmsc

    https://www.byteplus.com/en/topic/4055

    When a mobile phone sends or receives an MMS message, it makes an HTTP connection to an MMSC (usually through a WAP gateway). The MMSC contains an integrated HTTP server to process these connections.

    https://nowsms.com/doc/mmsc-messaging-server/configuring-the-mmsc

  • danhan22
    danhan22 Posts: 24 Participant

    @William_M , well, yesterday and Friday, I didn't received two group texts. When I receive video texts, they are JPEGS or they come as a separated JPEG and QCP file, which are unplayable. GIFs texts are unanimated, still pictures.

    Here are some more websites that show how important the MMSC hyperlink setting is in the device's network settings:

    https://nowsms.com/doc/mmsc-messaging-server/configuring-the-mmsc

    When a mobile phone sends or receives an MMS message, it makes an HTTP connection to an MMSC (usually through a WAP gateway). The MMSC contains an integrated HTTP server to process these connections.

    https://www.sinch.com/glossary/multimedia-messaging-service-center-mmsc

    https://www.byteplus.com/en/topic/4055

    https://www.quick-apn.com/info/what-is-mmsc-apn-settings/

    https://www.byteplus.com/en/topic/4056

  • William_M
    William_M Posts: 1,284 ✅ Verified Employee Moderator

    Are you not able to receive group texts at all, or is it an intermittent issue? For the issue with multiemedia messages from individual senders, are the senders using Android as well or IOS?

  • danhan22
    danhan22 Posts: 24 Participant

    I am able to receive most group texts, I believe. The individual senders are using both Android and iOS.

  • danhan22
    danhan22 Posts: 24 Participant

    Here are some things my manufacturer's website says about messaging issues:

    Verify service & provisioning

    Messaging is managed by your carrier.

    If you are experiencing issues sending or receiving messages please check with your carrier to ensure your device is provisioned correctly.

    Important note: Certain devices may require special provisioning by your carrier. For example several devices on Verizon require the CDMA-Less feature is activated on the account, or messaging will not work correctly.

    Networks + Bands

    5G: mmwave & sub-6GHz | 4G: LTE | 3G: WCDMA | 2G: GSM

    https://en-us.support.motorola.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/172569/p/11319A level 2 Verizon tech support agent I spoke with today suggested I switch SIM cards with a phone that does work. I did that and the issue still remains. The Verizon agent also suggested that radio technology in the SIM reader might get the radio frequencies for the configuration message from the carrier. They also suggested that the band type might be an issue, stating that Verizon uses GSM and is compatible with CDMA and was not certain if Spectrum Mobile had the same band types or not. They also threw out the notion of switches on the tower relay in my area might affect the configuration message from the carrier. They also pointed out that my device IMEI is showing as not compatible with Spectrum Mobile on the Spectrum.com website.

    Change, add or reset Access Point Name (APN)

    The APN defines the network path for all cellular data connectivity. If you and your wireless service provider determine that you need to change the settings of your current access point name (APN) or to create a new one, you must obtain the APN and detailed settings from your provider.

    1. Note: APN settings on your device for a particular carrier may be locked or grayed out and can't be modified. This normally indicates they have been set by your carrier and that you shouldn't need to modify them.  
    2. Enter the APN settings that you obtained from your wireless service provider by touching each setting that you need to edit.

    https://en-us.support.motorola.com/app/mcp/troubleshooter_page/g_id/7729#gs=eyJndWlkZUlEIjo3NzI5LCJxdWVzdGlvbklEIjoxMSwicmVzcG9uc2VJRCI6MiwiZ3VpZGVTZXNzaW9uIjoiQ3FDRGNTSHEiLCJzZXNzaW9uSUQiOiJJU1F2OVNIcSJ9https://en-us.support.motorola.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/169751/p/11319

  • William_M
    William_M Posts: 1,284 ✅ Verified Employee Moderator

    Is the problem receiving individual MMS messages also intermittent or do they never come through correctly? Are you able to send them just not receive?

    I was able to locate your account and found an open ticket for this already, but it's raised a few more questions for me. It is only impacting one of your Android phones, not all of them correct? Will you verify the make/model of the phone having the issue and where you purchased it from? When you swapped the SIM card, did the problem follow the phone or the SIM card?

  • danhan22
    danhan22 Posts: 24 Participant

    Here are some things my manufacturer's website says about messaging issues:

    Verify service & provisioning

    Messaging is managed by your carrier.

    If you are experiencing issues sending or receiving messages please check with your carrier to ensure your device is provisioned correctly.

    Important note: Certain devices may require special provisioning by your carrier. For example several devices on Verizon require the CDMA-Less feature is activated on the account, or messaging will not work correctly.

    https://en-us.support.motorola.com/app/mcp/troubleshooter_page/g_id/7729#gs=eyJndWlkZUlEIjo3NzI5LCJxdWVzdGlvbklEIjoxMSwicmVzcG9uc2VJRCI6MiwiZ3VpZGVTZXNzaW9uIjoiQ3FDRGNTSHEiLCJzZXNzaW9uSUQiOiJJU1F2OVNIcSJ9

    Networks + Bands

    5G: mmwave & sub-6GHz | 4G: LTE | 3G: WCDMA | 2G: GSM

    https://en-us.support.motorola.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/172569/p/11319

    A level 2 Verizon tech support agent I spoke with today suggested I switch SIM cards with a phone that does work. I did that and the issue still remains. The Verizon agent also suggested that radio technology in the SIM reader might get the radio frequencies for the configuration message from the carrier. They also suggested that the band type might be an issue, stating that Verizon uses GSM and is compatible with CDMA and was not certain if Spectrum Mobile had the same band types or not. They also threw out the notion of switches on the tower relay in my area might affect the configuration message from the carrier. They also pointed out that my device IMEI is showing as not compatible with Spectrum Mobile on the Spectrum.com website.

    Change, add or reset Access Point Name (APN)

    The APN defines the network path for all cellular data connectivity. If you and your wireless service provider determine that you need to change the settings of your current access point name (APN) or to create a new one, you must obtain the APN and detailed settings from your provider.

    1. Note: APN settings on your device for a particular carrier may be locked or grayed out and can't be modified. This normally indicates they have been set by your carrier and that you shouldn't need to modify them. 
       
    2. Enter the APN settings that you obtained from your wireless service provider by touching each setting that you need to edit.

    https://en-us.support.motorola.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/169751/p/11319

  • danhan22
    danhan22 Posts: 24 Participant

  • danhan22
    danhan22 Posts: 24 Participant

    Multimedia file texts (videos, GIFs) usually do not come through correctly because the MMSC link is missing in the network settings and Verizon's MMSC has to process those files in order to send them correctly to the device. It happens on the stock texting app (Google Messages) as well on other texting apps. So, it's not a software issue. I also can receive multimedia files correctly if I text myself on my device. If it were a software issue, I wouldn't be able to do that.

    I can send multimedia files (videos and gifs). I think the recipients get them okay. The files would have to go through the recipients' MMSC server, which they have linked in their device network settings, which I do not.

    It has only impacted my phone, none of the other Androids. Probably because my line is not provisioned correctly for my type of phone because all the agents I've talked to don't know anything about APN network settings and the necessary network setting fields for the network settings to work correctly on a device. They just let their systems automatically provision the device without knowing information about these settings.

    My device is a Motorola Edge 2022, Android 13 OS, model XT2205-3. The IMEI Software Version is 24. I originally purchased the edge from Spectrum when I switched carriers because my Moto Z4 from Verizon was apparently not compatible with Spectrum's system. I had the phone replaced by Spectrum within the first 7 days then replaced by the manufacturer within the first month. The issue has persisted. I switched SIM cards with the Samsung A1 phone and the network settings issue remained on my device. It followed the phone, so to speak, which isn't a big surprise because it has done the same thing with the past 7 new SIM cards, pointing to the issue being a provisioning issue by the carrier, which is what the Verizon agent thought as well yesterday.

    Thanks for finding my ticket. Let me know if you have any further questions. You're welcome to attach my APN settings screenshots to my Spectrum ticket so the back-end people can see the wrong network settings on my device.

  • danhan22
    danhan22 Posts: 24 Participant

    @William_M So, I did a 3-way conference call with Spectrum Mobile repair department, Motorola level 3 support and myself. Motorola said the device is functioning as intended and Spectrum said there is nothing more they can do to fix the issue. Spectrum said I could pay more money to be a different mobile plan, where I can exchange my phone for another one. The manufacturer suggested switching to another carrier. I am hoping the product team at Motorola can find how to fix the issue. They are my last hope. I do not feel like I should have to pay more money for another phone since the carrier did not provide me with a working phone in the first place. Spectrum could not guarantee that I would not have device network setting issues again after switching to another phone.

  • HT_Greenfield
    HT_Greenfield Posts: 899 Contributor

    Hey, Dan, i take it that the phone manufacturer ultimately came around and got the matter resolved for you and, while it took a while, they pretty much ended up going all out and i just wanted to compliment you for your hearty diligence in getting that done‼️ ☘️

    🔗 https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/motorola-edge-2022/MMS-Video-texts-received-as-images/m-p/5242172?page=6#6421530

    🔗 https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/motorola-edge-2024/Voicemail-transcription-availability-on-XT2305-1-models/m-p/5331379?page=1#6424603

  • danhan22
    danhan22 Posts: 24 Participant

    @HT_Greenfield the manufacturer replaced my phone with an Edge 2024. It has the same exact issue: the network settings are incomplete, even though on the Spectrum system side it said that activiation was complete. I am hoping the manufacturer can find the solution to this issue. They are going to analyze my Edge 2022 that I shipped to them this past Friday at their Chicago office.

  • danhan22
    danhan22 Posts: 24 Participant

    I have seen in the past that my Google Play account lists my device carrier as Verizon Wireless sometimes and on two phone sites, it lists my phone number as Verizon Wireless.

  • HT_Greenfield
    HT_Greenfield Posts: 899 Contributor

    Good for you, Dan. I salute you. Speaking of "Chicago": 🎶 Good things, in life, take a long time 🎵 ☘️

    P.S.: None of the carrier lookup resources that i use for robocall spam research (🔗https://calleridtest.com 🔗https://www.whitepages.com/reverse-phone 🔗https://freecarrierlookup.com) have any MVNO awareness, just infrastructural carrier, which, for example, VZW is for it's affiliated MVNO's. I can't feature how Google Play would be able to determine anything beyond that but i've no doubt that they could, especially if, for example, you had Google's Carrier Services app installed. (🔗 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.ims&hl=en_US )

  • danhan22
    danhan22 Posts: 24 Participant

    Thanks, @HT_Greenfield . Yeah, the Motorola agent I'm currently working with said, "…other carrier MVNO's that also show up that way, but not all do".

  • danhan22
    danhan22 Posts: 24 Participant

    @HT_Greenfield I was excited that the other day I was able to remove Verizon apps from my Google Store app/account on my device. I haven't been able to do that for over a year. (The Google Store app kept thinking the Verizon apps from my Verizon phone before I switched and got a Spectrum phone were pre-installed on all 3 Spectrum phones. So, I couldn't remove them, only download and enable them.)