APN Settings Need Update Android 8.1 MMSC on 3G only no MMSC on LTE

[dGio]

As you can see by the screen shots if I want to receive picture messages I have to choose the 3G APN

I can select lte and get 4G but then MMSC doesn't work.

Why has Android blocked the ability to update APN settings?

FIDO update the APN settings so we can use MMSC on our Android 8.1 devices with 4G/LTE!

Google/Android blocking this feature of editing APN is something Apple would do (after being a long time frustrated iPhone user I am very dissapointed to come across this option blocked...)

[dGio]

Hello @dGio,

Did you try taking the SIM out of the phone and see if it will allow you to edit the APN?

I personally experience this issue with a few phones where it was not letting me edit the APN what I did was tap on the burger menu (the 3 dots) hit save went back out then tap on the APN again and I was able to edit it now. 

A few times I have to do a network reset first then reboot and did the same steps above in order to edit the APN.

[FidoPhilippe]

Hey there @brewmaster! I hope you're doing well.

Just to confirm, have you tried all the troubleshooting noted above?

Let us know.

[FidoAmanda]

Hey @brewmaster!

Were you able to get this sorted out?

Let us know what worked for you!

[brewmaster]

I have tried all the troubleshooting. The only way to get MMS messaging working is to select 3G only. The APN settings are incorrect and are not editable. We NEED to change the APN settings in order to get it working or Fido needs to supply the correct settings via push.

[FidoPhilP]

Hey there @brewmaster!

Can you try to create a new APN with the following settings? Everything that I have left blank, you need to leave it to your phone's default.

Name: Fido 2
APN: internet.fido.ca
Proxy:
Port:
Username: fido
Password: fido
Server:
MMSC: http://mms.fido.ca
MMS proxy:
MMS port: 80
MCC: 302
MNC: 370
Authentication type: 
APN Type: default,supl,mms
APN protocol: IPv4
APN roaming protocol: IPv4
Bearer: Unspecified
APN PPP phone number: Not Set

Try that, restart your phone, and tell us if it did anything for you.

[brewmaster]

---

@FidoPhilP wrote:

Hey there @brewmaster!

Can you try to create a new APN with the following settings? Everything that I have left blank, you need to leave it to your phone's default.

---

LOL. Apparently you haven't read the entire thread. Or any of it. The point is that the apn settings are not editable and you cannot create a new one. With the Sim card removed the apn settings do not even show. With the Sim card inserted there in no option for a new apn. 

Kelvin

[FidoClaudia]

Hey @brewmaster,

Sorry about the confusion and thanks for the clarification!

I'll send you a PM to take a closer look into this.

Keep an eye on your inbox, talk soon!

[cbsewell]

Did you ever get this solved? Still stuck on 3G if I want to send or receive MMS messages. Went through lengthy PM sessions with no luck. Phone manufacturer was of no help either.

[cbsewell]

I've discovered the problem. The APNs loaded on the phone come from the /system/etc/apns-conf.xml file and are loaded based on the mcc and mnc from the SIM card. The phone manufacturer has loaded an old or incomplete apns-conf.xml file that is missing the MMS field settings in the ltemobile.apn APN. You cannot edit this file without rooting your phone.  While some carriers can push an APN to your phone over the network, FIDO cannot. Or so they tell me. The next step to investigate is why the APN settings are locked on the phone. Is it because the phone manufacturer has locked them in the android software, or is there a setting on the SIM card that locks them. None of the "tricks" found on the internet I've found will unlock the APN settings so far.

So there are a couple of choices to solve the problem:

 1) Root the phone if possible and edit the apns-conf.xml to add the correct MMS settings to ltemobile.apn.

 2) Go to the phone manufacturer and ask them to provide an updated apns-conf.xml file with the correct settings through an OTA or sideloaded update.

 3) Find out why the APN settings are locked and possibly unlock them so you can edit the incorrect APN yourself.

[cbsewell]

Problem solved by rooting the phone and fixing it myself.

Since I couldn't edit or add APNs, my only recourse was to root the phone, fix the apns-conf.xml, and then do an APN "reset to default" which loaded my edited values from the apns-conf.xml file. The file for my phone contained a lot of APNs for FIDO that I don't seem to need. I have another phone that contains even more redundant FIDO APNs.  I removed them all and added just two, which has done the trick.

<apn carrier="Fido ISP GPRS"
mcc="302"
mnc="370"
apn="fido-core-appl1.apn"
mmsc="http://mms.fido.ca"
mmsproxy="205.151.11.13"
mmsport="80"
type="default,supl,mms"
/>

<apn carrier="Fido LTE"
mcc="302"
mnc="370"
apn="ltemobile.apn"
mmsc="http://mms.fido.ca"
mmsproxy="205.151.11.13"
mmsport="80"
type="default,supl,mms"
/>

Now I can select "Fido LTE" as my APN and can send and receive MMS messages on the 4G/LTE network.

[Hwr778]

Thanks for the update on that, sounds like quite toe convoluted process to get the end result.  I will never understand why things end up being so darn difficult when anyone with a half-a-brain somewhere along the process could have so easily fixed this at any previous stage--kudos to you for your perseverance in getting this resolved without much actionable help from any outside sources.

I am sure your post will help others, myself included.