Successful Network and APN Thread

Hey everyone,

I had some difficulties getting the APN working correctly for my network. At one point I had it working, but then it stopped working (maybe after inserting an SD card?). One of the things I wished existed when troubleshooting was a resource where users shared the network and APN settings that enabled full functionality for their device.

Contribute

If you’re interested in contributing, please share what’s working for you:

  1. Copy the format below.
  2. Start a new reply.
  3. Select Markdown mode for the text editor (in the top left).
  4. Paste in the structure and verify it appears correctly in the Preview.
    • If the Preview still shows the gray background and outer block, delete the ``` at the beginning and end of the text.
  5. Replace everything within the the {} with your values.

Note that this structure matches my settings, so you likely need to edit the structure for yours.

Discussion / “My network setup isn’t working”

If you have an issue or follow-up question, please create a separate thread and link either this thread or the specific configuration you’d like to discuss. Let this thread be a collection of proof-positive working setups.

Format

## Physical Device
- Model: **{value}** 
- Carrier and Network: **{value}**
- Sim type: **{value (physical or eSIM)}**
- OS and version: **{value}**
- User Region: **{value (roughly where you are located, if comfortable sharing)}**

## APN

- Name: **{value}**
- APN: **{value}**
- MMSC: **{value}**
- MMS Proxy: **{value}**
- MMS Port: **{value}**
- MCC: **{value}**
- MNC: **{value}**
- APN Type: **{value}**
- APN Protocol: **{value}**
- MVNO type: **{value}**
- MVNO value: **{value}**

Note: APNs are case-sensitive, so please add the above information as mentioned.

## Other Settings
- *SMS App* > *Settings* (top right) > *SIM 2 - AT&T* > 
    - Group Messaging > **value**
    - Download MMS content > **{value (\[on\] or \[off\])}**

- *Main Settings* > *Network and Internet*
  - *Mobile Network* > *{[Your SIM card]}* > *Advanced*
    - Mobile data > **{value (\[on\] or \[off\])}**
    - VoLTE > **{value (\[on\] or \[off\])}**
    - Preferred network type > **{value}**
    - Wi-Fi Calling > **{value (\[on\] or \[off\])}** 
    - Calling preference > **{value}** (just a matter of preference, I think)
    - Automatically select network > **{value (\[on\] or \[off\])}**
    - Access Point Names > **\[see APN settings above\]**
  - *SIM Cards* > *{Your SIM Card}*
    - eSIM enabled > **{value (\[on\] or \[off\])}**

## Other notes
{Anything else you had to do to get it working}

FAQ

  1. Why isn’t group messaging / text photos working?
    It may be that you have mobile data disabled, or have selected “Separate SMS chats” in the SMS App settings.

    See this quote from @urszula
    "While simple one-to-one calls and SMS texts will work with basic call/text plan & no internet data plan is needed.

    Usually, group messaging on cell phones uses MMS, not plain SMS. MMS often requires cellular data to be enabled, even when you are only sending text in a group chat. It may not use your “internet browsing” data allowance in the normal sense, but the phone still needs carrier data/APN access to send and receive MMS.

    Picture messages also need data (or WiFi) as well as RCS, iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal."

1 Like

Physical Device

  • Model: Mudita Kompact (North America)
  • Carrier and Network: US Mobile Dark Star (AT&T)
  • Sim type: eSIM
  • OS and version: Mudita OS K, 1.5.0
  • User Region: Northeast US

APN

This was provided directly from US Mobile customer care.

Note: APNs are case-sensitive, so please add the above information as mentioned.

Other Settings

  • SMS App > Settings (top right) > SIM 2 - AT&T >

    • Group Messaging > Single MMS group chat
    • Download MMS content > [on]
  • Main Settings > Network and Internet

    • Mobile Network > SIM 2 - Dark Star > Advanced
      • Mobile data > [on]
      • VoLTE > [on]
      • Preferred network type > LTE (recommended)
      • Wi-Fi Calling > [on]
      • Calling preference > Call over Wi-Fi (just a matter of preference, I think)
      • Automatically select network > [on]
      • Access Point Names > [see APN settings above]
    • SIM Cards > eSIM AT&T
      • eSIM enabled > [on]

Other notes

I have a physical SIM (US Mobile Dark Star) in the phone as well. I thought I might need the physical SIM to get it working based on what others have said, but eSIM has been working fine. The above settings navigation may be slightly different if you only have an eSIM.

2 Likes

Thanks you for this. I’m sure it will help many users.

1 Like

Thanks for this information! Just got my data working thanks to this.

1 Like

Welcome! And I’m happy it worked out. Makes the post worth it

2 Likes

How did you get US mobile to give you the correct APN? I’ve asked them several times and nothing I’ve tried allows me to send mms photos on light speed. The settings you provided allows me to send mms photos on dark star so that’s an improvement ! My main number is light speed so… would really like to fix this.

2 Likes

I still have the message thread with them. I used the US Mobile app on my old smartphone to message support rather than calling, because I feel like you’re less likely to get the runaround over typed messages. You can message in a desktop browser, too.

I started with this message describing the symptoms rather than asking for the APN in particular:

I’m not able to send or receive images over text. To either iPhone or android users. I have a unique phone, the muldita kompact. But looks like other users have had success with you. Also, i had images working before. I set up the APN settings you list but that didn’t help, it’s been a few weeks like this. I think i should try changing the network and if that doesn’t work, doing a physical sim. I already have one for the Verizon equivalent network. And maybe i can dig for the other physical sim you sent. I’ve heard it can help to activate a sim in another device so i can try that in my iPhone 15. Let me know what you think is the best option!

Probably too much going on in that message, but I really wasn’t sure what my problems were at the time. After that I just followed their basic troubleshooting instructions and eventually they asked to see my APN values. After sharing, they sent the above APN.

It might be a matter of getting the right service rep, but I do think playing the game of ruling out the other things first gives them more confidence to try changing the APN.

You might have success by comparing my values above with their listed Dark star APN values. If there’s differences, try their listed Light speed APN with the same differences applied (additional APN type, different MNC value, whatever). This will be very annoying to do since failures to add the APN wipes the entire form, so you should try messaging customer service first.

2 Likes