MMS being a bitch on Galaxy S2

[Gray]

This is a slightly confusing matter. I've been on O2 for years and years, however i found that the signal around my home was being relatively shit. I figured one option would be that my SIM Card is now outdated and potentially deteoriating - It was over 6 years old at least.

So, first port of call - Get a replacement SIM Card. Went to the local O2 store to get a replacement SIM Card. 5 minute job, can't say i was impressed with the signal at home still, still only 1-2 bars and sometimes none at all, but heyho no harm done.

Except i found out i was actually unable to send any picture messages. Or, they would be stuck on "Sending". I checked the net, and found i needed to maybe download the settings again - So i did the 2020/Active and installed the (same) settings.

Reset my phone, sent an MMS - Worked! Wonderful. Waited 5min, tried it again... Fail! The only time i can send an MMS is when the phone is freshly rebooted. It seems those which are stuck on "Sending" can go through though - I had one very unhappy friend tell me in work they recieved my MMS at 1am the next day. GG.

I'm at a loss at what could be causing this. I had felt that maybe MMS hadn't been enabled for this SIM Card but that wouldn't explain the messages going through much later on.

I have also just checked on my Nokia N95, sent an MMS through. It says it sent, but i didn't recieve it (Sent it back to my number just incase). This would imply that potentially it was the SIM Card at fault and not the Galaxy S2. But it may just be tricking me..

*Samsung Galaxy S2
*O2 Contract
*Brand new Contract SIM Card
*MMS settings sent to the phone after SIM replaced using 2020/Active
*MMS gets stuck on "sending" unless the phone is rebooted before hand
*Checked alternative phone which didn't give any positive news

 

[Ch3tan]

You haven't actually phoned o2 yet have you.

 

[SheepCow]

... i found that the signal around my home was being relatively shit. I figured one option would be that my SIM Card is now outdated and potentially deteoriating...

This is silly, the SIM either works or doesn't - it provides the details needed to let you on to the network, very little else so it won't affect signal quality/strength.

Answer: it's a smart phone, don't use MMS.

 

[Ch3tan]

I'd like to expand on sheepcow's point. Use a data messaging service such as whatsap, or email. Why pay for mms?

 

[Gray]

Yeah phoning O2 was a last resort, since i already worked for them many moons ago i already knew about the settings and things, and why my first port of call was to get a new SIM card - I did find with my customers a new SIM card did at times assist them if they did have issues and considering mine was 6-7 years old it was probably about time to replace it anyway.

Of course, back then, you had to manually enter the settings on the phone so i was somewhat thrilled to have this Active service just install them on the phones.

It was only a few days ago i found that picture messages were charged, considering the last time i maybe did it (Maybe <12 months ago) the picture messages would come directly out of your text allowance costing 4 text messages - Since then i see they have been charging me 20p per message so i was thankful any messages i deleted stuck in "sending" did not send. I was only introduced to the WhatsApp last night, but i don't fancy forcing people to have to install an app just to view a picture i send. When i checked only a small handful of my contacts had it installed.

Will speak to O2 tomorrow, will ask on Facebook since most of my friends still work there but i honestly can't see anything which would stop the service running from a SIM card standpoint, but i guess things might have changed in past few years.

 

[Gray]

Well O2 were no help, pretty sure i got through to an Indian callcentre anyway. Explained the issue, they said they would send the settings... Which i've already done about 5 times previous.

No matter who i talk to, they seem to have a hard time comprehending that when my phone resets i can immediately send a picture message, but if i leave it 10+ minutes it won't send. What makes it worse is O2 doesn't seem to have an email address to contact someone about it, instead it's just livechats which are constantly busy. Awesomeeee.

Think i may need a new SIM card.

 

[SheepCow]

Try walking into a shop and show it to them, they might be able to think of someone that can help

 

[Zenith.UK]

Have you updated it to the 4.0.3 ICS version?
That's the first thing I'd do. You've already checked the SIM so that's ok.
You have MMS enabled on your account, so no problem there.

Do you have 2 APNs, one for data, one for MMS? Have you tried combining them into 1 APN?
I presume you've already seen this page...
http://mobileguide.o2.co.uk/devices/device.jsp?deviceId=667&tab=8&step=2&settingId=3313

 

[Gray]

Yeah on ICS, was so pre-SIM change, was hoping the JellyBean would be available now but seems not. MMS is indeed enabled.

I do have two APNs, it's a bit confusing because they're both named the same, but one has MMS functionality while the other one doesn't. The other confusing factor is when i checked it last night, they were different names (One was WAP, other MMS i think) but regardless it seems both are correct.

I seen the manual settings page, from what i seen everything detailed there is as it should be, although as i say i haven't combined them, they're both seperate.

 

[Gray]

Fixed it.

Bastard thing. Deleted the APN's already present then did it manually. Didn't work. Deleted those and did the 2020/Active again to reinstall, deleted any previous installs. Installed new. Still didn't work.

I noticed something... peculiar though, when i went to enter the settings manually for the APNs the Packet Data was active, but when i exited it was disabled. It started going through my mind if this is what was causing the issue. I couldn't remember when i first got the Galaxy S2 if i disabled the Packet Data option purposely, or if i didn't. But the past few days everytime i enabled it, it would disable not long after...

It then clicked what could be causing it... The JuiceDefender App! Sure enough, i disabled it, reset the phone just to be sure, tested it immediately - and it worked. This was no success yet though, i needed to wait. 20min later i tried again... and it still worked! So it seems it was JuiceDefender.

The only reason i didn't look at that originally is because i made absolutely no changes to it, it was just running in the background. The only thing that changed was the SIM Card which is why i concentrated so hard on it. But i looked through the settings of JuiceDefender and i can't see anything which would cause it to randomly kill my MMS options. Least now i know i can fix it if i need too.