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

So after over 3 hours on the phone with Verizon, Apple, then Verizon again trying to figure out why I can't send or receive mms messages unless Cellular Data is on, doing a hundred soft/hard/network/every reset imaginable, a Verizon rep this morning told me "you cannot use mms unless the cellular data is switched to "on", and there are NO PHONES that will allow you to send mms without it on".

Ok, so how come when I had flip phones that didn't even have data plans, I was able to send MMS? And the biggest question - how come I never ever turned my 3G on on my droid and yet could still send SMS? Why does the iPhone force me to keep cellular data on, eating away at my 150mb data plan that I can barely even afford and would rather only have wifi on?

iPhone 5, iOS 6

Posted on Sep 23, 2012 4:51 AM

102 replies

Jun 10, 2014 6:26 AM in response to basil1091

basil1091 wrote:

Funny thing too, once I start squawking about things like this, they usually stop happening...big brother is watching!!

It's amazing how effective those tin foil hats are, isn't it?

deggie

Level 10

167,827 points

Jun 23, 2014 10:07 AM in response to basil1091

Were you connected to WiFi when you got those pictures and when you sent the picture to Facebook?

Jun 23, 2014 5:27 PM in response to basil1091

If you are communicating with other iPhones you are not using MMS, you are using iMessage, which CAN use WiFi.

mewkiss

Level 1

56 points

Sep 30, 2014 3:24 PM in response to Phil0124

I just set up iMessage and before that I had no problem sending SMS using Wifi when I'm at home. I had cellular and LTE turned off.

I'll track my usage but for now this is working.

DJS22867

Level 1

0 points

Sep 11, 2015 8:45 AM in response to zorinlynx

Fantastic explanation!!! I'm a Android user who had the same question as the original poster and until now never quite understood what was going on.

Thank you VERY much!

Sep 14, 2015 5:33 PM in response to IdrisSeabright

It fixed it for me.

Sep 15, 2015 6:17 AM in response to lashedpig

lashedpig wrote:

It fixed it for me.

I'm glad you've got it working but correlation does not equal causality.

deggie

Level 10

167,827 points

Apr 21, 2016 5:39 PM in response to rmbt

Text messages use cell voice and would not be affected (these are messages with green bubbles). iMessage and MMS on the iPhone use cell data (or WiFi) and will be blocked when you turn off cell data.

Dec 10, 2016 11:27 PM in response to Phil0124

Thank you Phil for your help. I will indeed dismiss his advice. My bad.. happy holidays. Cheers

Feb 27, 2017 10:33 AM in response to kkimball97

I'm pretty sure you are misremembering. For any carrier, anywhere in the world, you must have cellular data on to send MMS. You can send iMessages to other iOS device users over WiFi, but not MMS.

Mar 7, 2017 7:22 PM in response to Apple user Nikari

Get Outlook for iOS

Mar 7, 2017 7:29 PM in response to tharfromkyeng tung

What on earth does MS Outlook have to do with anything at all related to MMS or SMS text messaging?

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