Guide: SMS and MMS fixes for North America Carriers

rik

Thanks to recent developments, SMS and MMS fixes for users of various Halium 9 ports such as the Pixel 3a (XL), OnePlus 6, and others make it possible to get reliable SMS and MMS (only with wifi disabled right now) working for North American carriers, which previously had not been consistent.

Note: Even with these fixes, MMS incoming group messages aren't delivered to the Messages App correctly. MMS Photos work fine in and out, and sending MMS group messages work. Here is a brief guide to getting this working:

SMS

IMS services need to be disabled as part of the port, since if those services are running then carriers may detect your phone supports IMS and convert the way they deliver SMS to your device causing all your SMS to go down a black hole!
- Pixel 3a: please move to the "RC" or "Devel" channels, which have the patches already applied to disable IMS services.
- Other devices: if you receive 1 SMS after boot then no others, it likely is IMS interference. You may need to contact the porter of your device to discuss with them disabling IMS services.

MMS

Step 1: Apply MMS patches
- Note: for the Pixel 3a using "RC" or "Devel" channels, only the first patch for "nuntium 8" will actually make any changes.
Step 2: Install updated ofono and ofono-scripts packages.
- Somehow get a terminal running on your device: recommended is enabling developer mode in System Settings > About then using adb shell when connected to a computer via USB-C. Otherwise, you could connect via ssh [if you have that set up](link url).
- Run these commands:
  - sudo mount -o remount,rw /
  - wget https://ci.ubports.com/job/ubports/job/ofono/job/xenial_-_android9_-_usissue/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/ofono-scripts_1.21+ubports1+0~20210819100145.2~1.gbpb9f999_all.deb
  - wget https://ci.ubports.com/job/ubports/job/ofono/job/xenial_-_android9_-_usissue/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/ofono_1.21+ubports1+0~20210819100145.2~1.gbpb9f999_arm64.deb
  - sudo apt install --reinstall ./ofono*.deb
Step 3: Reboot

Again, at this time, MMS send and receive only work with wifi disabled. If you have issues with your APN Settings then try to Reset ALL APN Settigns, reboot, and re-enter them based on your carrier specifications. Note that another bug prevents setting Internet and MMS as the APN type: use MMS only, but do NOT create a duplicate APN for Internet in this case: 2 APN entries with the same APN will cause MMS to not work! So effectively, in this case, just set up the APN for MMS only and Internet should also work.

Join the UBPorts [North America Carrier Issues] if you need interactive support in getting SMS / MMS working.

Lakotaubp

@rik Thanks for this and all your other posts on related threads yesterday.

bradman1171

@rik Is it possible this has been implemented in the latest update in devel? I managed to get mine working with receiving/sending mms wifi off with just changing my APN settings and nothing else. I didn't do anything in your steps.

Reset ALL APN Settings
Pixel 3a
APN
Tmobile MMS
APN: pwg
MMSC: http://pwg.mmsmvno.com/mms/wapenc
Everything below blank.

I rebooted with wifi off and it works. I can toggle wifi on when needed but can then turn wifi off without a reboot to send/receive mms.

(2G/3G/4G) option works

rik

@bradman1171 the ofono updates are needed to more easily use the GUI to change and edit APN settings, which sometimes worked, sometimes didn't for a lot of people. Also, resetting APNs often didn't "stick" with those updates. But if you have APN settings working then good! Also with other updates it may be possible, I'll re-re-re-re-re-test from scratch to see if that is the case. But @fredldotme had indicated that these hadn't been applied yet to devel.

For "MMS patches" to nuntium, I thought they were still necessary, but if they are not then I will remove that part of the guide. Again I'll give a re-test to check again.

bradman1171

@rik Ah sounds good! Yeah I did a fresh devel install and updated the version and just configured the APN based on a ubports forum i found and it worked! The tmobile APN settings dont seem to work but the USmobile fixed my tmobile problems.
My configuration is on my first post but ill leave this here
https://www.usmobile.com/help/knowledge-base/configuring-your-device/

bradman1171

Tmobile Carrier
Pixel 3a
Reset all APN settings

Internet
APN: epc.tmobile.com
username: blank
password: blank

Tmobile MMS
MMS
APN: pwg
MMSC: http://pwg.mmsmvno.com/mms/wapenc
Everything below blank

Keneda

@rik said in Guide: SMS and MMS fixes for North America Carriers:

possible to get reliable SMS and MMS (only on wifi right now)

@rik said in Guide: SMS and MMS fixes for North America Carriers:

Again, at this time, MMS send and receive only work with wifi disabled.

Something's unclear there.

bradman1171

@keneda wifi must be off to recieve and send MMS (images) it will notify an error when recieving if your wifi is on. Text do come through and go with wifi on.

Keneda

@bradman1171
That's not a question i asked, but thanks anyway ^^

rik

@keneda typo fixed. yes it is only with wifi DISABLED that mms is working. WIth wifi on UT doesn't know to send / receive MMS over cellular since wifi is preferred.