aai92
Level 1 (1 points)

Q: 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

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aai92

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

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  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair May 24, 2015 2:52 PM in response to Crackbot
    Level 9 (59,062 points)
    iPhone
    May 24, 2015 2:52 PM in response to Crackbot

    Crackbot wrote:

     

    Meg you are absolutely correct. I admit that i was taking out some frustrations stemming from other areas of my life on someone else who had done nothing wrong. Thank you for calling me out on my BS. I would like to offer an apology to wjosten. Sir, if and when you read this, i would like you to know I am embarrassed by my childish behavior and I hope you will accept my apology and not hold it against me too much. You will hear no excuses from me. I was a jerk. And I am sorry I was a jerk to you. And Meg, I would also like to apologize to you as well for simply having to read and respond to it. And thank you again for calling me out. Lead by example. Thank you.

    I'm not sure I would have been able to make such a public apology. We all have our off days. Most of us just try to forget them and hope others will, too. Thanks for your fine example.

     

    Best of luck.

     

    <Edited By Host>

  • by DJS22867,

    DJS22867 DJS22867 Sep 11, 2015 8:45 AM in response to zorinlynx
    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!

  • by lashedpig,

    lashedpig lashedpig Sep 13, 2015 7:27 PM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 13, 2015 7:27 PM in response to Meg St._Clair

    Internet is needed for mms and group messaging.  The problem I was having was that group messaging and mms was not working over wifi.  I had to turn on cellular data for mms and group messaging to work.  I just fixed it though.  Settings>Messaging>Send as SMS> Turn it off.

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Sep 13, 2015 9:30 PM in response to lashedpig
    Level 9 (59,062 points)
    iPhone
    Sep 13, 2015 9:30 PM in response to lashedpig

    lashedpig wrote:

     

    Internet is needed for mms and group messaging.  The problem I was having was that group messaging and mms was not working over wifi.  I had to turn on cellular data for mms and group messaging to work.  I just fixed it though.  Settings>Messaging>Send as SMS> Turn it off.

    All that setting does is, in the event an iMessage fails, it will be sent as SMS instead. It has no effect on MMS or group messaging with non-iPhone users.

  • by lashedpig,

    lashedpig lashedpig Sep 14, 2015 5:33 PM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 14, 2015 5:33 PM in response to Meg St._Clair

    It fixed it for me.

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Sep 15, 2015 6:17 AM in response to lashedpig
    Level 9 (59,062 points)
    iPhone
    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.

  • by rmbt,

    rmbt rmbt Apr 21, 2016 4:40 PM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 21, 2016 4:40 PM in response to Meg St._Clair

    I have family base set up on iphone 6 and limit my son's data, it gets turned off when he reaches 2.  The other day he was complaining that a text message he sent to a friend of his would not be delivered.  No usage alert came up to show him that he had used all his data, just it wouldn't go through.  Any help on this?  I thougt since I had unlimited texting that data usage was just for the web and videos and the like.?  Thank you.

  • by deggie,

    deggie deggie Apr 21, 2016 5:39 PM in response to rmbt
    Level 9 (54,602 points)
    iPhone
    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.

  • by Michael Black,

    Michael Black Michael Black Apr 21, 2016 5:52 PM in response to rmbt
    Level 7 (24,556 points)
    Apr 21, 2016 5:52 PM in response to rmbt

    rmbt wrote:

     

    I have family base set up on iphone 6 and limit my son's data, it gets turned off when he reaches 2.  The other day he was complaining that a text message he sent to a friend of his would not be delivered.  No usage alert came up to show him that he had used all his data, just it wouldn't go through.  Any help on this?  I thougt since I had unlimited texting that data usage was just for the web and videos and the like.?  Thank you.

    SMS text messages can be sent without any cellular or data connection at all as they use bandwidth in the cellular voice channel. MMS texts through your carrier use an Internet data connection. And all iMessages uses an Internet data connection, wifi or cellular, as available. So your unlimited SMS text messages is just that, text only, unless you are willing to use data.

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