AT&T's been feeding us a story that it'll offer
MMS on the iPhone only "once [it completes] some system upgrades that will ensure our customers have the best experience," but here's the thing: it seems that it works right now -- if you've got a build of OS 3.0 that'll let it. None of us have been able to get it going ourselves, but we've been sent screenshots from a tipster that seem to indicate that both MMS and tethering are in full effect on the network, so there doesn't seem to be a network restriction involved (we can't verify whether the build we see here was tweaked, so we're thinking there might be some hackery in play). The strategy for ultimately deploying the features to AT&T customers is unclear, but seeing how some folks in Europe running the exact same gold build of 3.0 have access to MMS and those of us stateside do not, it's got to be a software switch that can be triggered remotely. Some form of SMS provisioning, perhaps? Let us know what you've seen out in the field in comments.
[Thanks, Arnoldo]
Update: Turns out the secret to enabling MMS and tethering lies buried in the carrier settings file, which happens to be
the same black magic employed to roll out 3G MicroCell support a while back. Customer devices are at AT&T 4.0, but there's an AT&T 5.0 profile floating around the interwebs that turns the features on -- it's just a matter of finding it, installing it, and making sure that your account is provisioned for multimedia messaging. Thanks, everyone!
posted Jun 12th 2009 4:40PM
I have the 3.0 GM installed on my iPhone 3G, and nothing showing up here. My UDID is registered by a developer too. (Chicago)
I am currently running iPhone 3G 3.0 GM Final, install with iTunes b7, and I can open the ATT_US.ipcc file with iTunes and upload it to my iphone. I can currently tether with USB and Bluetooth on my MacBook, and it will try sending MMS but I cannot get the correct settings.
See, the above photo proves that the iphones battery stinks.
See, the above photo proves that the iphones battery stinks.
What? the thing is charging?
While I'm still a fan of the iPhone in certain respects, I must admit there's something tragic about a June 2009 Engadget article/comments section that is dedicated to the 'excitement' surrounding getting MMS and internet tethering on a mobile phone...
Does anyone really use MMS?
Can you remember the last time you used it? I can't.
I can.
September 2005
I never use MMS either (I have the option though on my Nokia N95). It's the principle though. If the iPhone wants to be taken seriously as a smartphone, it needs smartphone, hell, regular phone features.
And AT&T getting ready for iPhone MMS, that is just pathetic. Apple made AT&T seem like the most pathetic operator in the world when they had that slide with all other operators supporting tethering and MMS.
In my opinion, MMS is moot now we have social networking apps such as Twitter and Facebook but I suppose they are still big especially in Asia which they have been using for so many years already.
i use MMS maybe 5% of my texts? they're great! must be that either your carrier or your phone sucks if you say it's not necessary.
I use and receive MMS from others constantly.
AT&T can bite me. I am not giving them one more cent, aside of my monthly obligation. They could roll-out teleportation from the iPhone, and I couldn't be bothered.
dudes... plenty of people I know still use MMS. Plenty of people still aren't willing to, or even CARE about, buying these kinds of phones that can e-mail photos and browse and upload to Facebook and MySpace and what not efficiently. MMS might be inferior to e-mailing photos to each other, but until the vast majority has phones that are capable of better options in a user friendly manner, MMS will still be around for a while.
Personally, there are things now and then that people try to send me that MMS would be good enough for, and I'm annoyed I can't receive them. I gave up on that wheresmymms.com or whatever it was a long time ago. The fact that they won't be supporting MMS with the first gen iPhones is crap. We still exist! Who am I kidding, I'll probably get the 3GS.
Usage aside, it's the principle of the matter that gets me. I use maybe 350 texts a month (400 on a heavy texting month) but I have to pay $15 for 1500. That's ridiculous. For SMS.
Someone with a samsung dumbphone could send 1500 video messages, using 10 times the bandwidth on the network, for the same $15.
SMS should be almost free. It's 2009. It's 140 bytes. 0.137KB. So for my $15 plan, with an iPhone, I'm paying about $0.07/KB, that's 7x as much as pay-per use data. A person with my same plan who sends 1500 MMS messages at 30kB each is getting a rate of $0.004/KB.
If you don't have a messaging plan, you pay $0.20 per text. If my math is right, that's $1.45 per KB. It's the biggest racket going. If they can give away 150+MB (about my monthly quota on my iphone) of data for $30, they can give away 202kb (1500 SMSs) for free.
"must be that either your carrier or your phone sucks if you say it's not necessary"
Or, you know, You just use e-mail. I get 200 free message a month in my plan. I use maybe 2 or 3 a month because someone texts me.
SMS / MMS is another way the carriers squeeze money out of their users. WTF should a little sideband message cost extra money when you're paying for "unlimited" data?
"real" smartphones have an e-mail client...
Installed 3.0 a couple days ago when it came out all over the net. Neither of those 2 things work for me. And I miss my jailbreak stuff, can't wait until that's out for it.
my tethering works just fine over usb; but not bluetooth on my uMB. no mms
Is it buggy for you? Touch on the very edge of the left side of my screen does not seem to be working and as of right now if I have to type a "1" using the portrait keyboard I have to actually paste it in there. It's quite annoying.
It's also preventing me from rearranging my homescreen but I'm afriad of taking my phone to the genius bar because I got the firmware from a torrent. Damn!
Tethering still works for me like it has since beta 1 and MMS still wont work :)
My network lists as AT&T 4.0, his is 5.0, what's the significance of that?
I think the AT&T 5.0 is what will turn MMS on - as I don't even have the icon on my 3.0 running AT&T 4.0
yeah, that seems to be it!
after i uploaded the right .ipcc for orange.at i found on the web, i now also have orange 5.0 showing instead of orange 4.0 i had before!
now tethering and mms (sending fine, recieving gives errors) are working fine for me here in austria!
Same for me, 3.0 is installed, but no MMS or tethering... I blame AT&T.
I have build 7A341 on my phone and under network my carrier is AT&T 4.0. in the screen shot it shows 5.0. maybe this has something to do with the features not being on...
It's pretty simple. This is why it works, that person was either an employee or knows someone who knows how the data plan works. You need to remove the MMS block on the account and it will start working right away.
This is exactly correct. If you go back and read the guides to getting SwirylyMMS and the like working, one of the steps is to call AT&T and have a feature code changed. I bet if those using 3.0 called AT&T and said the magic words, the MMS would start working.
I installed 3.0 and didn't have it but then found on another site an updated ipcc that allows for this, so i deleted iTunes and installed the beta of iTunes and uploaded the carrier settings to my phone reset it and it MMS work, well first I had to put my sim in another phone for awhile, then back in the iPhone and it worked, but today it seems AT&T has reblocked my phone because it doesn't work anymore. I never did get tethering working though.
http://www.blogsdna.com/3610/how-to-enable-mms-3g-tethering-on-iphone-os-30-gm-build-7a341.htm
you're welcome!!!!!!
He's using the hacked carrier file probably; it makes the network say AT&T 5.0. People who hacked the carrier file and updated have kept the same file. Both still work on my iPhone 3G too.
I wonder if those guys are running off of towers other than AT&T kind of like how instead of roaming you are using "Friendly" towers
Too bad on their is no option for MMS and Tethering for my iPhone on the final 3.0 firmware on ATT...
you just have to get the modified ipcc file. google it :)
I have it but my iTunes is too new D:
There's two other possibilities:
1. Make a .mobileconfig file with a typemask -2 string
or..
2. Move to Scandinavia, both MMS(!) and tehtering work just fine.
Jakob, how the hell do I do step 1? lol
i was told by a friend who works with cell phones that when you sign up for a new iphone theres a box that automatically gets unchecked that says mms, and the reason theres no mms support on att for iphones right now is because att would have to go through each account and check that box off. granted i dont see why any of us couldnt go to att or best buy and have them check the box off for us?
Here is an article about why AT&T won't support MMS until later:
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/06/08/the-reason-why-att-wont-support-mms-with-the-iphone-until-late-summer/
All they would have to do is a mass database update...
Can't do a mass database update, not everyone would have moved to 3.0, can only update those who have updated to 3.0.
Bulls**t they couldn't figure out a way to do a mass update to the database. I've been a database consultant for 4 years and if there's something a client wants that seems impossible, believe me, you find a way to accommodate them.
@zephxiii
Well, it seems that people are able to remove the Opt out code my modifying the .ipcc (iPhone Carrier Code file). Can't AT&T just code a new .ipcc and then send it out to iTunes? That only makes sense.
Yes, not everyone may update to iPhone 3.0, but a lot of people will, considering the new features, but iTunes knows when to update your carrier info and firmware based on your hardware information, so they can discriminate between iPhone 2x users or iPhone 3.0 users.
And even then, bundle the carrier update with iPhone 3.0 so that you don't need to swamp the network with a carrier update.
That fool's runnin' a Honda 2000...
What the deuce! I run an S2000 and I use an iphone but I have neither of those features!
I bet I can take him in my dad's Jetta!
I bet he has $100,000 worth of mods.
Damn! He's fast
http://www.blogsdna.com/3610/how-to-enable-mms-3g-tethering-on-iphone-os-30-gm-build-7a341.htm
All you need is the right .ipcc file, I've turned both on in my phone.
Nothing too fancy here guys:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=671426
Chris, I've got to call you on a grammatical error in your post. Sorry, but as a recovering English major, it must be done. You write, "None of us have been able to get it going ourselves. . . ." when it should be, "None of us HAS been able to . . . " Looks and sounds awkward, but it's correct since "none" is a contraction of "No one"; one would not write/say, "No one have been able to . . . " I forgive you, but don't make that mistake again! :-)
you should pull your iPhone out or your butt
You are correct that it is incorrect but for the wrong reason.
none is not the contraction "no and one" it is the opposite of some and therefore "have" is correct.
If there were the issue than I believe it would be something more like UPDATE 'Customers' SET 'mms checkbox' = 1.
I got mine on T-Mobile using a hardware unlock, and I've managed to send MMS. No luck with tethering, though. Mind you, I'm on a 2G network anyway so I wouldn't particularly like tethering.
guys the iphone comon two ears ago you should have dis ability
You're spelling is ridiculous.
"Your". Oh sweet irony.
AT&T sucks Apple made a big mistake going with them from day one.
I used to be so jealous of American cell phone customers, and hated Rogers.
Now it's the other way around.
MMS and tethering have been working for me since 3.0 Beta 1 came out.
-Riordan in Canada on Rogers
mine works been using mms about 2 months now and tethering
Has anyone heard what the added cost to the wireless plan will be for tethering?
So far it is looking to be $70 a month w/ unlimited data w/o texting added in
$10 rumored
My crystal ball tells me $40/month since 3G subscribers already pay $30 for unlimited data access already.
UPDATE customers
SET enable_mms = true
WHERE phone_type = 'iPhone'
This is not a valid excuse to delay mms support in the least.
Have you ever seen the cludge of systems that wireless providers run off of? You'd be foolhardy to think their database is setup up in such an easy-to-use manner.
if any at&t store can pull up the form with that mms checkbox they must all be querying/updating the same database. why is there a stupid checkbox anyway when they could just disable the ability to send mms on the mms server depending on device type attempting to send/receive it, and add iPhone to approved devices there next week wednesday. at&t is weak sauce man.
at&t has what, 75 million subscribers? If their entire customer database is one sql table, I'm switching to Verizon.
Holy hell is the code really that simple?
anybody tried what david mulcahey said?
I think I might move to Canada for a year.
Oh trust me, you don't. While AT&T is pure shit, Rogers is even shittier. 3-year contracts a standard, subsidized phones always coming in late a lot of the time, and overall Rogers finding a way to cheat you to make you renew your contract.
this is so funny, i had both of these functions on my phone in 2003 :D
by the way, why would this stuff even be disabled/not included?
LMAO....Ahhhh but you lacked so many other functions.....next smart remark? ;)
yes i did, but in fact i do not know ANY middle or high class phones from the last 5 years that wouldn't support MMS and tethering.
especially MMS which has been a feature of even the cheapest phones since forever.
and my question still satnds, "why would this stuff even be disabled/not included?"
because it's really hard to understand why the developers would add all the fancy stuff first and trivial stuff like MMS, tethering, video recording and bluetooth file transfer at the end. by the way have they fixed the BT file transfer yet?
Looks like he got a new Carrier update some how... His is 5.0 and mine is 4.0. Yes i am running Iphone OS 3.0.
Will the $20 unlimited text messaging plan include unlimited MMS messages? If this IPCC file is used, what will we be charged for each message?
good question
unlimited text plan includes MMS messages
This should not warrant additional charges since text and MMS are treated as one plan same as any carrier.
i had mms with the earlier betas and it worked but then they made all these worthless updates and took away my favorite thing.. the ability to send friends picture messages of my poop
very excited about mms...not so much about tethering because now it will be regulated by AT&T...
i used about 25gb of data using pdanet on 3g in two months
tethering works great but my MMS messages still get hung on 3.0 Gold Master.
I still can't get my MMS to work. Mine says "AT&T 5" not AT&T 5.0"! Any ideas?
If your carrier says AT&T 5, what part of the country are you in? In Md, mine is 4.0
MMS works fine with rogers in canada, but tethering doesnt, Says i gotta call rogers and set it up :(
If you're in the U.S., and running 2.2.1 this applies to you:
What is under carrier and modem firmware for you? I have 3.1 and 02.30.03
3.1
02.30.03
I'm actually using the tethering RIGHT NOW!!! I downloaded an updated .ipcc file for At&t 5.0 and turned tethering on in the phone...works like a champ! And in response to the MMS question, it's still hidden in my iphone's system, even running the updated carrier file...and there doesn't seem to be a way (and I've tried) to remove the block from at&t's side...I work for an authorized retail store, and at&t actually locks the mms block on the phone using the IMEI...
Can someone explain how to update to the carrier on a Mac. All of these articles relate to Windows. Thanks!
Sure, go down to your local electronics store, or an online store, and buy a PC with Windows. After that come back here and follow the directions.
OR run Parallels...
You could also not propagate the stereotype that Mac users are simpletons... that would be awesome...
Some of us know what the command line is ... you know... Terminal...
Yay! 7 year old tech featured on Engadget!
3Gs as in plural iPhone 3G, or singular iPhone 3GS
WOW Stuff my android can already do, plus i already have like 10 compass apps and a camcorder
I hope you don't get lost.
Been running the 3.0 GM build since it came out. Running a carrier update file to re enable mms settings on and it works everytime.
Log into your ATT account and look at your features. They list text messaging as "iPhone text messaging", rather than just text messaging. I changed my text plan once and I don't have "iPhone" text messaging, just plain ole' texting. Maybe this is what they mean by not being able to send MMS. The first two phone didn't support MMS so they disabled in the texting plan so that people couldn't accidently send you MMS messages but now that all needs to be changed so that you can send and receive them?