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.

ronbillock

Unbelievable! I have an OP6 and could not get MMS to work. I tried various Tello ASN settings, T-mobile settings, Wifi on/off, Roaming on/off but all failed. I then tried the settings provided in this link (https://www.usmobile.com/help/knowledge-base/configuring-your-device/) for US Mobile that @rik provided and bing-badda-boom, it works. Yes, Wifi must be off but roaming does not need to be on. Personally I think the wifi off options is unpractical but I am hoping someone will fix this eventually.

lsitongia

I have a Pixel 3a on the dev channel with Red Pocket GSMA in the USA.

MMS works both in and out ONLY when the WiFi is ON.

If I turn the WiFi off, I can't receive MMS, but I can send it.

I've tested this a number of times. I don't know if it is just intermittent or really depends on WiFi. I will try sometime when I'm away from home so that the WiFi is on but I'm not getting data over it.

rik

@lsitongia When you get a chance could you please post your APN settings so we can understand better?

lsitongia

@rik, thanks for your reply.

I also have a support thread in this forum about this. No one else seems to report this behavior. I hope it is a matter of the APN settings.

In the following, the name give is the name I put in to replace the two entries that were in the APN settings when I first put the card in.

Red Pocket
Internet

Used for: Internet
Name: Red Pocket
APN: ERESELLER

Red Pocket
MMS

Used for: MMS
Name: Red Pocket
APN: ERESELLER
MMSC: http://mmsc.mobile.att.net
Proxy: 172.26.39.1
Proxy port: 80

rik

@lsitongia By having 2 APN entries with the same APN value it will not work: UT will get (and stay) confused that way. You need different values for both of them. What we with T-Mobile / US Mobile (reseller) are doing is using the T-Mobile "Internet" APN (epc.tmobile.com) and the US Mobile / mvno APN entry for MMS: pwg.

Since yours are both ERESELLER it will confuse things. So for you to get it working you need to put a different value in your APN for internet (get the "stock" ATT one for example and see if cellular data still works).

Hopefully in the near future the patch to allow combined contexts (so you can have 1 APN entry for "Internet + MMS") will work, here is the conversation on that one: https://github.com/ubports/ofono/pull/28

I don't know what to say about how it IS working for you with wifi on, that is a positive surprise!

Lastly, about Group MMS being received as indivdual messages, I only recently learned myself how to "properly" create a Group MMS in UT: you don't do it by adding separate numbers in the "to" field in the new message screen. Instead you click the "group people icon" to the far right, then add people there. It will display "New MMS Group". So please do test doing that, then test again sending group MMS to those people. Hopefully they are willing to put up with you while you send and have them reply to test messages

lsitongia

@rik thanks.

If I just make up names for the APN: string, it doesn't work. I thought I'd tried that before and decided that the string was arbitrary. So, I can't make up my own.

I found a forum post where someone used the string "PRODATA" for APN: for both Internet and MSS, so I tried PRODATA for Internet and ERESELLER for MMS, and both work. I don't know about group text or group MMS yet (have to wait for a chance to test that in one of the groups I'm in).

I do use the method you describe to create the group.

rik

@lsitongia OK that is some progress, with the PRODATA for Internet APN entry. There are some MMS patches getting made as we speak, they are being targeted for OTA-21.

Again, the ofono 28 linked above for a "combined APN" (for "Internet + MMS") isn't quite ready but will further improve things when it gets in: I am currently using it and it works well (I can get MMS on 3G now, couldn't before with separate APN for MMS and Internet), but it will reset APN entries often (so I needed to edit the "defaults" so when they are deleted and reset they are still correct) so there are some bugs / blockers. Defaults come from /usr/share/mobile-broadband-provider-info/serviceproviders.xml