Why are the APN settings unavailable with 3.1.3 and 4.0?

Useful info, cheers slimgym.

To update. I was charged for the MMS (30p!), but as I say, I suspected I would have been anyway. So whatever the mms settings are now, they work! And T-Mobile surely can't charge me for something Virgin mobile have!

Rather puzzlingly, I now have some tiny tethering usage (33kb sent and 2kb received), despite never having set tethering up! Lord knows what that's about (unless it's some cross-network gubbins).

I do have an unactivated O2 micro SIM. I'm wondering if I put that in temporarily, it might bring back the APN options, and I can physically input the Virgin ones, and they will be retained when I put back the Virgin SIM. Or whether that might cause some unholy conflict with the forcibly created profile through the website. Although you saying that you had to fill the stuff back in again might suggest removing the O2 would blank these out.

I'm torn between playing it safe with a solution that appears to work (though a bit unsatisfactorily), and having a fiddle!!

When I put my O2 micro sim in (SIM is a few weeks old) it didn't prompt me to apply the carrier file but did show "O2 7.0" in the Settings > General > About. Since O2 charge extra for tethering, you do not see the APN for tethering with their SIM. Suggests the O2 one is stored in the firmware perhaps, and the carrier updates are for carriers which aren't included in firmware?

The carrier updates are a nice bonus to set complex stuff up automatically but in this case they're being used to force one carriers terms onto another carriers customers.

In fairness, it's probably not deliberate. Carriers that piggyback on other networks (Virgin and T-Mobile, Tesco on O2) might cause problems in phones' software recognising what data paths they should be using. At least the iPhone recognised Virgin as a carrier, even if it did screw the APN. I previously had the SIM (before I cut it down) in a Nokia N900, and that even displayed T-Mobile as the network on the home page!

Yes of course it's not deliberate but it's careless as there's a carrier file for Tesco in 4.0.1 which loads the right APN settings in (and hides tethering totally!).

I think Virgin ought to be recognised as "foreign" and allow you to change all the settings including tethering if they have no general policy on this. We'll see what happens. At least the duff carrier file isn't incorporated in 4.0.1.

I have the same problem. I foolishly accepted the carrier settings update and lost the ability to do any data with my Virgin SIM. Is there anything special I need to do to make sure my backup settings do not get overwritten before I restore the phone? I think I lost tethering on Virgin when I upgraded to 4.01. Did anyone else have the same experience? Any fix?

I would do a sync (and let the backup complete) then do a restore, which will put 4.0.1 back on (which does not have the carrier file integrated). iTunes will then prompt you to setup a new phone or restore the backup. Choose restore - your apps and synced music will be put back in the state they were when you did the backup. If you "manually manage music and videos" these will be wiped and will have to be put back manually.

From then on it will keep prompting you about the carrier file though. I expect this carrier file will come already included in future iOS versions which will make the phone impossible to use.

I reported this to support a week back and hoped they would have stopped pushing this file out by now.

T-Mobile UK have announced tariffs and the T&C's show they offer no tethering at all, even as at an added cost. I suppose this is why the carrier update was rolled out, to prevent people circumventing their restrictions and enabling it. With a fair usage policy of 500MB a month it's hardly likely to be that useful anyhow.

Lets hope they sort out the difference between T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile before the next iOS release!