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Data plan required to send MMS.

Knowlege Bomb

Knowlege Bomb

macrumors G4
Original poster
Feb 14, 2008
10,296
9,013
US
I've never started an MMS thread and I never will again. Onward...

I've updated and now have the camera icon but MMS fails every time. It doesn't go past 10%.

So TheSpaz was wrong. It doesn't use the same data transfer method as SMS.
 
So it's AT&Ts fault that you're too cheap to pay for extra features?
 
lostprophet894 said:
I've never started an MMS thread and I never will again. Onward...

I've updated and now have the camera icon but MMS fails every time. It doesn't go past 10%.

I've restarted my phone several times, made sure it's turned on in Messages settings, went into settings for Phone and hit "Save" on the "my number" screen... Did I miss something?
Click to expand...

Is your wifi on? Try turning it off...it did the trick for me.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7C144 Safari/528.16)

As at as I know from past GSM carriers, MMS has always been data
 
still not working for me either. updated, rebooted, try to send; same ****. red ! after it hits 90%. why release something if it won't work everywhere?
 
Anyone actually have the 5.5 carrier file on their computer or know where it’d be located so i can get someone to send it?
 
lostprophet894 said:
So I'm cheap because I have wi-fi and choose not to pay $30 a month for something I don't need?

Good story.
Click to expand...

Well - to be honest - yes - it's your fault/problem. MMS uses data. The files are too big to be transported via the limitations of the phone line ala SMS. Since AT&T and Apple require a data plan if you have an iPhone - it's a non issue for them, and the millions of iPhone users.

Since it was your decision - and you have that right - to go against their policies, you have no justification for being upset at features you can't access. It's called living with consequences for your actions.
 
alent1234 said:
maybe AT&T doesn't want to accept MMS traffic from the internet?
Click to expand...

Not sure if it's a limitation of the protocol or hardware to send MMS, but it sure would ease network traffic if they could. I would assume there my be hardware level encryption on the radio that keeps them from sending it over wifi.?
 
lostprophet894 said:
Well since I have to leave for work in 8 minutes, I'll just conclude that a data plan is required to send MMS.

You suck AT&T.
Click to expand...

That's Apple's fault, not AT&T.

Dumbphones that do not have a data plan can connect to the data network, send/receive the MMS, and disconnect. Apple made no such provision for that with the iPhone since they assume people will get the data plan and be connected to the data network anyways.

My parents have Samsung dumbphones on AT&T with no data plan and can send and receive MMS with no issues.
 
TMar said:
Not sure if it's a limitation of the protocol or hardware to send MMS, but it sure would ease network traffic if they could. I would assume there my be hardware level encryption on the radio that keeps them from sending it over wifi.?
Click to expand...

They probably just restrict traffic to the devices that are on their network (their dhcp server gives an IP on their LAN). They could then block request from outside their network easily. I remember seeing the same things year ago on other phones that could do MMS.
 
yg17 said:
My parents have Samsung dumbphones on AT&T with no data plan and can send and receive MMS with no issues.
Click to expand...

I got news for you. That phone connects to a data (MMS) server even though they don't have a data plan. That's how MMS works. One part is SMS the other is data and sent via a separate server. Then the SMS is received on the other end pulling the matching file with it. Your parent dumphones are using a data connection.
 
yg17 said:
That's Apple's fault, not AT&T.

Dumbphones that do not have a data plan can connect to the data network, send/receive the MMS, and disconnect. Apple made no such provision for that with the iPhone since they assume people will get the data plan and be connected to the data network anyways.

My parents have Samsung dumbphones on AT&T with no data plan and can send and receive MMS with no issues.
Click to expand...

They didn't assume anything. They didn't assume people would get the data plan, they knew they would because they had no other choice. But I'm sure they should have found a way for VV to work without data too right?
 
samcraig said:
I got news for you. That phone connects to a data (MMS) server even though they don't have a data plan. That's how MMS works. One part is SMS the other is data and sent via a separate server. Then the SMS is received on the other end pulling the matching file with it. Your parent dumphones are using a data connection.
Click to expand...

Apparently you didn't read the first half of my post:

Dumbphones that do not have a data plan can connect to the data network, send/receive the MMS, and disconnect. Apple made no such provision for that with the iPhone since they assume people will get the data plan and be connected to the data network anyways.
Click to expand...

Data plan != data connection. With dumbphones, they connect to the data network, do their thing, and disconnect when transferring an MMS message, even with no data plan. However, the iPhone does not do that. It assumes you are always connected to the data network. If you don't have a data plan, it won't connect to the data network. It's either all or nothing. Apple did not design the iPhone to connect and disconnect as needed.

TMar said:
They didn't assume anything. They didn't assume people would get the data plan, they knew they would because they had no other choice. But I'm sure they should have found a way for VV to work without data too right?
Click to expand...
No, they shouldn't have found a way to make VV work without the data plan; I never said they should. If you try to get around the terms of your contract and cheap out without a data plan and lose features, too bad.
 
yg17 said:
Apparently you didn't read the first half of my post:



Data plan != data connection. With dumbphones, they connect to the data network, do their thing, and disconnect when transferring an MMS message, even with no data plan. However, the iPhone does not do that. It assumes you are always connected to the data network. If you don't have a data plan, it won't connect to the data network. It's either all or nothing. Apple did not design the iPhone to connect and disconnect as needed.
Click to expand...

and apparently you didn't read what I was responding to. We're both right. Apple didn't plan on people not having data. Nor should they have that option as a data plan IS required. But it's not just Apple. It's also the connection to AT&T. Whatever handshaking is going on via the iPhone and AT&T's servers is different than what goes on with dumbphones apparently.

But again - there's no "blame" as a data plan is required for an iPhone. Those "opting" to break that agreement do so at their own "peril"
 
thats the deal for all smartphones... not just the iphone... if you put the datablock on a pda u won't get mms.
 
yg17 said:
No, they shouldn't have found a way to make VV work without the data plan; I never said they should. If you try to get around the terms of your contract and cheap out without a data plan and lose features, too bad.
Click to expand...

But as far as data sent and receive they are one in the same. So AT&T and Apple should have set it up to let me receive voice messages via MMS but not VV messages without data?
 
well the iphone 3g and 3gs have to have data anyway, so i dont see how you got away with it. doesn't apple realize you dont have it and jsut add it. i thought you couldn't take data plans off anyway.
 
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