Why do I need Cellular Data turned on to send/receive MMS?

I think you should just spend an extra $5 or $10 a month and get a plan with enough data for you.

If you're gonna buy one of the most advanced smartphones on the market worth $850 (AUD) why not spend a few dollars more per month to make good use of it? Phones have to be the most integrated device in our lives, we spend hours a day on them. Check them every few minutes.

Most people probably spend $5 a DAY on coffee or something like that which they find essential, so why not splurge that much a MONTH on your phone plan?

Or, just turn all the apps off from using data in your settings and leave cellular data on? And charge the phone every night.

My 2 cents :)

Though MMS uses cellular data, it should not hit your cellular data allowance (at least, I have not noticed that it makes a difference, I believe it's covered in your messaging plan, though I may not get enough MMS messages to notice).

You can tell what apps are using how much data in Settings>Cellular.

Because my iphone 5 has used cellular for updating apps even when I have strong wifi available! The Apple rep was no help other than to suggest I turn off cellular when wifi is available. I do this then I don't receive some texts even though I have strong wifi connection! Of course they can't help with that either.

One of the annoying quirks of iOS 7 is the iPhone connects to cellular, rather than wifi, when the screen goes to sleep.

UNLESS plugged into power.

The only way to prevent this stupidity is to turn off cellular when at home, on wifi.

Turning off cellular data does not prevent phone calls or text messages. It will prevent pictures in text from coming in until you turn cellular back on.

If you notice, right below cellular data in settings is the option to "use cellular data for:"

Then it list all apps. Turn off cellular data for App Store, and all other non essentials. This will prevent updating of apps on cellular and will force wifi.

Thanks but the line "Turning off cellular data does not prevent calls or text messages" is not true. That was the subject of another post I made that started this whole mess for me today. I can receive calls but not texts and the texts I'm referring to contain no pictures! copy below:

This continues to be a problem for me and the nice folks at Apple can't seem to help me. I have a limited data account so whenever I'm at home, or elsewhere with wifi available, I keep cellular turned off. I do this because when I first got my phone and downloaded several apps I went over my data limits even though I was at home with nice strong (same room as router) wifi connection. When I called to ask why my phone (iPhone 5) used the cellular data instead of wifi the Apple rep couldn't give me an answer other than to just turn off cellular when wifi is available to avoid this issue.

I didn't like that solution but having no other alternative have been using it. The problem is many times I don't receive texts (happened again this morning) until I turn on cellular even though I have wifi turned on! The last two times this happened was with a group message involving some iphones and some android devices. The one this morning was from my sister with android to my other two sisters, one with iphone the other without, and me.

I've been at home all morning with strong wifi connection yet again didn't get the message until I turned on cellular! Can anyone tell me why this keeps happening and what I can do to correct it? Thanks!

No, it isn't a quirk of iOS 7, it isn't a quirk at all it is how USB works starting with iPhone OS 1.0. Staying connected to USB if connected to power was added in either iOS 4 or 5.

USB works differently than cell data and is an always on signal. If your phone remained on WiFi overnight you would always wake up to a dead battery unless connected to power.

Switching to cell when asleep on not on a charger is by design.

Thanks Lawrence, that's exactly what I would have thought, that a regular MMS message should come through without cellular or wifi, that's why they sell message packages aside from the data package. But that is not working on my phone! The one that happened this morning didn't even come through with wifi ON!!

The message was a group MMS sent from my sister who has some kind of android phone so iMessage is not even an option. It was sent to my other two sisters and me. One of those sisters has an iPhone like me and the other one is still using an old Razr with a T-Mobile acct. Although I don't see how what the other recipients are using should matter, just thought I would include that.

Another person on here mentioned something about when the phone is in sleep mode it will revert to cellular and I think that is the key here. I'm thinking my phone was probably in sleep mode at the time the message was sent, however, I used it on and off (with a good wifi connection) for a couple of hours after that before getting ready to leave and turning on cellular and this is when the original message, along with replies from both of the other recipients, finally came through! The message should have come through without wifi or cellular yet it wouldn't even come through with wifi!

This has also happened before and it really gripes me because Apple and AT&T claim that it should be working. Lastly, even though this doesn't apply here since the sender isn't as iOS user, I kinda thought that setting about "send as SMS if iMessage is not available" only meant for the sender's phone. In other words, if the sender had cellular turned off and no wifi connection that it would send the message as SMS.

Thanks again for your input!

Dave

Let me try again. You can send and receive SMS with cellular data off. But you cannot with MMS. SMS is limited to 140 bytes. There is no image in the world that would fit in 140 bytes. So MMS messages require a data connection, either WiFi or cellular.

Okay, yes, I understand that. I wasn't even paying attention that it was an MMS instead of an SMS even though I typed that! But......again, that shouldn't have been an issue because wifi WAS turned on. So are you saying that even if I have wifi turned on that if my phone goes to sleep then wifi won't work so in effect then an MMS won't come through? And if so, why wouldn't it come through as soon as I woke my phone up and started using it with wifi on instead of not ever coming though until I turn on cellular?

Plus one other question, if one is composing a text and it goes over 140 bytes, it's automatically then an MMS rather than a SMS even though there is no picture involved?

This whole thing about texting kills me anyway. Most everyone I know that insists on texting, with the exception of my one sister with the razr, has a smartphone and could just send an email just as easily but for some reason they think it's easier to send a text. My one sister with the iPhone even pays an extra $20 for unlimited texts when she uses hardly any of her data plan and practically everyone she texts with has a smartphone with email!

Thanks so much for your patience and input.

The text limit for SMS is 160 characters, (140 characters is Twitter). If you go over on an iPhone with most carriers it will start a second SMS. There is no limit for an iMessage.

For group texts iOS uses MMS. If the person initiating the text message is not using iMessage you would need to have cell voice on and an active WiFi connection or cell data turned on.

Thanks deggie but again.........I had wifi on but the phone may have been asleep. But even if it were asleep and therefore negated the wifi connection by reverting to cellular, why didn't I get the message after waking the phone up and using it on and off for a couple of hours with strong wifi connection. I didn't get the message or other recipients' replies until I turned on cellular then all of a sudden I get the original message and two replies.

If your iPhone is asleep the WiFi connection is dropped. Depending on the cell provider the initiator was using it may not resend the message to you (most don't). This is why I leave cell data turned on.

You might have found this out by now, but the "Enable 3G" option, separate from the option to toggle Cellular Data, depends on the carrier.

For example, when I vacationed in another country, I used a pre-paid microSIM card there, and I was able to see the "Enable 3G" option.

With my Verizon Wireless SIM card, that's not possible.

By the way, every time you decide to use your iPhone in another country, let your carrier know, and they will unlock it for you. I told them the first time. I forgot the second time...

I have the same experience with DaveMedlin. Whether or not Wifi is on, my iPhone 5S with the latest io7 cannot send or receive a group MMS, even if they are only short text messages and contain no pictures or other data, unless cellular data is turned on.

I am new to the iphone. One thing I noted was that the battery life was much shorter than my previous phone (Blackberry). Since much of my day is spent within access to Wifi (home, work, etc.) I followed some tips on saving battery, one of which was to turn cell data off unless it was needed. This extended my battery life significantly.

However, someone recently called me to ask why I wasn't responding to a group message he had sent earlier that day. I couldn't figure it out until I just happened to turn cell data on for another reason, and was surprised when a flood of the messages came in. This morning I had cell data off and when I attempted to send a group message of only 40 characters to two people I received a "message failed to send" with no other explanation. I was at home and my phone had a strong Wifi connection, plus I was able to send and receive emails. I turned on cell data, hit Try Again, and the message went through without a hitch.

When I called Apple about this, they told me that you have to have the cellular data on so they can go to our carrier and verify that we do have MMS service available on our plan, but that it does not use any data to actually do that. In my research on our account (and I've done ALOT) Im not seeing extra data hits when I'm sending/receiving MMS messages. I still think it's bull crap, but it doesnt seem to be effecting the usage. I have other issues where celluar is effecting the usage when I have WIFI on. HOWEVER, that all said, I currently have my cellular off, and was just texting with 2 iphones, multi person text and received pictures. So maybe something changed with an update??