
Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It - nathana
http://www.anderson-net.com/~nathan/apple-broke-my-phone
======
sneak
Apple also willingly blocks Facetime over 3G and tethering at the carrier's
request (on a per-account basis) so that the carriers can upsell you.

It really pisses me off that Apple is actively assisting the carriers in
screwing me out of using the data that I'm already paying for.

If I've paid the carrier for x GB, I should be able to use that for Facetime,
wifi tethering, or whatever the hell else my phone is capable of.

Because it's so rare for Apple to fuck their customers like this, it's extra
jarring when it actually happens.

~~~
MrDrone
I've never understood Apple's willingness to bend over for carriers. Its
always seemed to me that they've tried hard to foster an image of a company
that exists to serve the customer as best they can (though, sometimes they
think they know best.)

It would seem to me that Apple would have the upper-hand in these
negotiations. The carriers, at this point, need the iPhone. AT&T, and Verizon
simply couldn't afford to not offer the iPhone anymore and expect customer
retention/satisfaction. Why doesn't Apple throw their weight around and go to
bat for the customer?

Is this some relic of a contractual obligation with AT&T? What part of this
story am I missing?

~~~
wlesieutre
They're better about it than the other phone manufacturers. Before the iPhone,
it was more or less impossible to get a smartphone that wasn't loaded with
non-removable carrier crapware. Apple's refusal to let AT&T do the same with
the iPhone during their initial exclusivity deal was a big step.

But now, Apple doesn't have as much leverage. If they walk away from
negotiations and say "Sorry, no more AT&T iPhones," they're losing all of the
customers that stay on AT&T and buy Android devices. And AT&T loses all of the
customers that switch to other networks so they can get new iPhones.

Apple _did_ try to do something about exploitative text message pricing when
they introduced iMessage. AT&T's response was to stop offering anything but
unlimited texting plans.

~~~
kalleboo
> Before the iPhone, it was more or less impossible to get a smartphone that
> wasn't loaded with non-removable carrier crapware

You've always been able to buy an unlocked phone with no crapware and no
restrictions. The problem with the iPhone is that even the unlocked phones are
restricted and locked-down, which is a first.

~~~
fatbird
I could be wrong, but I don't believe you were able to buy unlocked phones
with no crapware, _as part of the normal subsidized phone regime most carriers
have_. Yes, you could always pay full retail for virgin phones, but most phone
sales occur through channels that are structured around seriously reducing the
cost of the phone in exchange for signing a contract. Apple was, IIRC, the
first phone vendor to participate in those high-volume channels without
locking or crapware.

~~~
tomflack
iPhones have had locking from the start. You are correct about crapware
however.

That said this conversation is about unsubsidised, unlocked phones. Not phones
bought through carrier channels. Apple are breaking new ground by selling an
"unlocked" phone, for an unsubsidized price, but still pushing carrier
restrictions on it.

------
crazygringo
I use StraightTalk in NYC with an official unlocked iPhone 4S, because it's
less than half the price of AT&T, but dealing with them has been horrendous.
If you aren't good with computers, forget about it, ever.

They supply their SIM cards with a list of "settings" (APN), but it turns out
1) you can't access them on an unlocked iPhone, and 2) they're both wrong and
incomplete anyways. Calling them up, their customer service told me it will
never work without jailbreaking my iPhone (which is completely incorrect), and
gave me _another_ set of settings to try, which also didn't work.

In the end, after much Googling, experimentation, etc. (including the T-Mobile
SIM card swap trick), I discovered the following worked:

\- Download the Apple "iPhone Configuration Utility"

\- Create a profile with not just correct APN settings (att.mnvo) but also the
proxy server and port (66.209.11.33:80), despite the fact that the customer
service representative kept insisting it must be left blank

\- Attach the profile to your phone, and restart it once or twice

I've accepted the fact that MMS will simply never work, but most people I know
use iMessage anyways, so I don't really mind.

The absolute worst part was a couple of weeks ago, when StraightTalk decided
to change its proxy from 66.209.11.32 to 66.209.11.33, incrementing the IP
address by one. My data didn't work for two days, calling them gave me someone
else completely unqualified who insisted that they never need to tell anyone
when they change their internal settings, because iPhones detect them and
self-update automatically, etc. And that besides, nothing had changed, and a
proxy isn't necessary anyways. It was only through trial-and-error that I
discovered the new functioning proxy (because it happened to be the same as
the MMS one, now, unlike before).

So, you will save money, but the experience is horrible. It is ridiculous that
Apple doesn't expose APN/MMS/etc. settings on their unlocked phones, and it's
ridiculous that StraightTalk can't even provide minimally correct information
to their customers on how to get their SIM cards to work.

~~~
nathana
In my experience, the proxy server for the internet APN is not necessary, and
in fact hinders certain functionality (I know that it at least blocks the
download component of Speedtest.Net; when I saw that, I didn't bother to use
it long enough after that to figure out what else it was breaking).

I am currently using a configuration profile generated with the Configuration
Utility in order to work around the internet access problem. It works fine for
that, and I had no problem setting that up. I've had no problem with the
service and no problem with configuring it _provided that I had a place to
enter the values that needed to be configured_.

Back when I used the iOS 5.x modified-iTunes-backup procedure to modify the
APNs, I found that all I needed to do was to change any of the default AT&T
APNs to the "att.mvno" one and leave everything else the way that AT&T had
already configured it for their service (including all of the default MMS
values). So I haven't been using the Straight Talk supplied web proxy since
day 1, and it's worked just fine. MMS used to work fine, too.

The thing that galls me about the MMS problem from a practicality perspective
is that a friend of mine who doesn't own an iPhone could send me an MMS
message, and not only would I never know that they sent it, but they would
never know that I never got it. From their perspective, it was successfully
sent, and nothing got kicked back to them. From my perspective, nothing ever
showed up.

~~~
crazygringo
Yeah, I truly don't understand at all why my 4S refuses to access data unless
I put in the proxy. StraightTalk says I don't need to, other people on the
Internet say I don't need to, but my own experience shows me it simply doesn't
work without it. I haven't got the slightest idea why.

I also can't for the life of me imagine why the iPhone config utility doesn't
have fields for MMS. It seems like such a strange and pointless omission.

~~~
drzaiusapelord
Apple has zero incentive to make life easier on those switching carriers to
budget carriers. Nothing bizarre or pointless about that. For every guy like
you, there's 100 others who will never switch over. This keeps Apple partners
like AT&T very happy. Also less support load for apple geniuses.

~~~
nathana
Well, that all depends on what Apple's internal corporate culture's value
system is, doesn't it? If they want to continue to give off the impression
that the end-user is their direct customer and that they prize that end-user's
experience above all else, then they need to distance themselves from things
like this.

I think that Apple has worked very hard to cast this image of themselves as
the champion of the end-user. If that's the case, then they need to start
proving it with mobile devices like the iPhone, which occupies a market
segment where users have traditionally not been regarded as much more than
pawns. I feel as though Apple here is treating this situation like their
ongoing business relationship with AT&T and other carriers is more important
than satisfying the needs of their customers whenever the two are in conflict.
I suspect that Apple wouldn't want that kind of press.

------
Apreche
Should an unlocked phone be able to function on any carrier without hacking?
Yes. If I had my way, there would even be laws guaranteeing customers this
ability.

However, I really can't sympathize with you at all. You intentionally and
knowingly chose to do something that was not officially supported. Now you are
complaining that your hack stopped working. If you wanted it to always work,
you should not be doing something so weird.

Classic case of "Doctor, it hurts when I do this."

~~~
runjake
Oops, it looks like you did not read the article. The person in question owns
an officially-unlocked iPhone. This involves an anti-competitive practice
where the APN settings are locked to a specific carrier, AT&T -- even in the
case of an unlocked phone. You really seem to be venturing into an area you're
not educated in.

~~~
russell_h
Apreche acknowledged that the settings shouldn't be locked on an unlocked
phone, his point seems to be that when you use an "unofficial workaround" as
the author claims to have done, you shouldn't be that surprised when it stops
working.

~~~
runjake
Configurable APN settings on a device sold unlocked _should_ be a given. APN
settings configure your device for the given network you are connecting to.

It's not so much an "unofficial workaround" as a mandatory component of the
unlocked device.

------
kalleboo
Apple's locked-down APN settings affect me as well, except for me it's only an
annoyance. I use a travel SIM card with cheap data called abroadband. They
have their own APN settings, but since the SIM card is issued by Telekom
Austria, the iPhone will lock in TA's APN settings, which don't work.

Now abroadband have a settings profile you can download and install, but since
it overrides any settings you have, I have to find wifi and re-
download/install this profile every single time I swap SIM cards.

It's a huge pain and no other phones have this issue. I really have no idea
why Apple feel the need to hide the APN settings - it's like hiding the
network settings on your computer since DHCP works "almost all the time" and
all those numbers are confusing..

~~~
nathana
Supposedly the APN submenu is hidden if a certain flag is set by the carrier
in their Apple-signed carrier profile (which is distributed with iOS). So the
carrier that controls the iOS carrier profile for your SIM's IIN can elect to
either hide the menu or not hide the menu.

I'm arguing that on an unlocked phone, this flag should be ignored, OR the
software should be re-engineered to do away with the flag in the first place
(customers cannot abuse service by editing APNs if the customer is provisioned
correctly by the carrier on their end in the first place). It's a dumb
restriction, a dumb option to give carriers, and a dumb thing to hoist on
customers that bought the phone out-right or who are no longer under contract.

~~~
ryanpetrich
Carriers can and do ship updated carrier profiles over their networks—I
receive carrier profile update prompts on the Rogers network a few times a
year. The profiles that are distributed with iOS are the latest version that
the carrier provides when that iOS version ships.

~~~
nathana
That's true. But this shouldn't take away from these two facts:

1) iOS does ship with a collection of the latest versions of partner carrier
profiles as of the ship-date of that iOS version, as you point out. So you
can't try to do an end-run around the AT&T profile restrictions by, say, doing
a complete restore of iOS on your phone, followed by activation of the phone
using a SIM that isn't from a carrier partner in order to cause it to use the
generic carrier profile (for example, T-Mobile U.S.), followed by SIM-swapping
back to your AT&T SIM. The AT&T profile is lurking in there, ready to be
consulted when you switch SIMs, on _every_ iPhone.

2) This is still a proprietary Apple scheme for pushing APNs for carriers
(carrier profiles are plists), and not some universal standard for doing
carrier programming updates "over the air." Carriers can build and submit
their carrier profiles to Apple, but Apple then centrally distributes the
profile updates from their own servers. And AFAIK, if you're a carrier, Apple
is not going to host a carrier profile for you unless you have some formal
relationship with Apple (become a "supported" carrier).

------
desireco42
What can I say, I really enjoyed my iphone, but it's been a year, I like my
Galaxy just fine. It is not worth the trouble unlocking and constantly
breaking into your own device. This is probably not what you want to hear.
Plus, when signal is weak, I can use wi-fi to make calls which saves battery
and I don't have to go to special corner in the office other iphone users run
to, to talk on their phones. It is like pretty girl, if she tells you she
doesn't like you, go on and find another girl.

------
lesterbuck
The interesting thing about "unlocked" iPhones is that there are several
definitions of "unlocked", viz:

[http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcwebertobias/2011/12/22/how-u...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcwebertobias/2011/12/22/how-
u-s-carriers-fool-you-into-thinking-your-iphone-4s-is-unlocked/)

Here's the summary, at least as of the date of that article:

1\. The only _fully_ unlocked iPhones are the ones you buy directly from
Apple, not from any carrier or reseller (BestBuy, etc.).

2\. Your phone may be unlocked for European SIMs but not unlocked for another
US carrier.

3\. No US CDMA carrier will ever activate an "unlocked" phone previously
activated on another CDMA carrier's network.

~~~
nathana
#1 is the model I have, and I wouldn't call it "fully" unlocked with this
limitation in place.

------
willkelleher
I have this exact same problem. It's infuriating.

I bought an 'unlocked' iPhone at full price with the expectation that I would
be able to use it with the carrier of my choice only to discover that I can't.

I was without any mobile data for nearly a month because the unlockit.co.nz
"solution" for modifying APN settings wasn't working for me. I tried it again
(randomly) a week ago and data came back. Still no MMS.

I guess I should have bought an Android device, but I was so disappointed by
my previous phone (Droid 2) that I'm hesitant to purchase another non-Nexus
device. I also develop iOS apps and need something to test them on.

------
blhack
Does this actually surprise anybody anymore?

Guess what! Don't trust apple's updates! They have a LONG history of breaking
your functionality when you "upgrade" them that goes back to the original
iPods.

(A la blocking gnupod)

------
wogg
Seems to me this is really ATT's customer abuse than Apple's. I suppose
Apple's main fault here is not putting more pressure back on ATT.

Albeit, downgrade seems like a reasonable request to me, although they may
have security reputation concerns to be considered.

~~~
fpgeek
It's not an AT&T-specific problem. Lots of carriers in other countries do this
too. That's why unlockit.co.nz exists in the first place.

------
S_A_P
I dont know that I can prove this, but Im pretty sure that AT&T was throttling
my "unlimited" data plan well below the 2GB limit. It was bad enough that I
rarely used more than 1GB of data per month.

Fast forward to my iPhone 5 upgrade. Granted there is decent LTE coverage here
in Houston, but with no change in my usage habits I hit the 90% mark of the
4GB plan(I needed tethering, so I had to "upgrade") 18 days into the billing
cycle. My main data consumption was iTunes match over cellular. I was getting
constant buffer underruns with my iPhone 4 on 3g, but now Im hitting the data
wall halfway through the billing cycle. Its now in AT&Ts best interest to open
the pipe for me so I can pay overage fees.

I dont know that it would be better on a different carrier, but I certainly
harbor no goodwill towards AT&T. I feel like Im one hassle away from buying
out my contract.

Just getting my iPhone 5 proved to be a multi hour headache due to an AT&T
agents royal screwup of my initial upgrade. I ordered a 64GB black phone, was
shipped white. He also updated my home/billing address incorrectly(more on
that later) I returned it, and they spent 2 hours reversing the upgrade and
giving me a new sim for my iPhone 4. That took so long that I couldnt re-order
the upgrade. A week later I used the AT&T website to order the new phone,
however, it could only be shipped to the billing address that the AT&T agent
mistyped when I originally ordered the phone. So I had to cancel the order.
But it wasnt that simple. I am a "premier" account and premier support isnt
open on weekends. I had to go to an AT&T store and cancel the order. Then I
had to call premier support on monday and reverse the upgrade. The next
weekend, they finally had some black 64GB iPhones in stock. I bought one.
Guess what? it had an intermittent power button. I had to set up an appt with
an apple store to get that fixed. Fortunately the Apple store experience was
much better. So 3 iPhones later, I have an iPhone 5 with a bad carrier and
have to now worry about my data usage. First world problems I suppose.

~~~
cydonian_monk
Also in Houston here, also had AT&T 3G service. I doubt they were throttling
your old phone - their local 3G network is just that bad. Using AT&T's LTE
network in the same town is rather like using a different carrier. Even the
HSPA they built on top of their old 3G is remarkably better. And it's
considerably faster than Verizon's current LTE offerings, which have been
degrading in speed/quality since mid-April. (Though that might improve in
time, and MaBell's service quality might go back down as more people upgrade
to it.)

------
revelation
Thats interesting. So a given iPhone can now have a combination of the
following locks:

* carrier lock

* APN lock

* region lock

How is that even legal?

------
coldskull
it will boil down to corporate principles/culture that Apple has. It has to
decide how much max resources it can dedicate to handling a small subset of
affected user VS. potential media backlash that could be triggered if some of
these 'minority' users are influential.

~~~
tharris0101
Sounds like the automobile recall algorithm from Fight Club. Sadly, you're
probably right.

------
gerrynjr
I am in the boat as you. After a few months I just accepted that MMS will
never work on my iPhone. Google voice doesn't support mms anyway and I would
rather be able to get MMS in my email.

------
quux
Glad to hear that Apple still has people looking at the emails to the CEO and
following up with executive support. I was afraid this might end after Steve
left.

~~~
nathana
It's just too bad that in certain instances, the people who follow up are
powerless to do anything, and the people who do have the power to do things
and who need to be hearing from disgruntled customers like me may or may not
be getting a filtered message or even paying what they do hear any heed.

------
ryandvm
If only people had the option of not buying Apple phones...

~~~
gutnor
Or change their network ?

At the end, Network X does not support Phone Y for whatever reason, you need
to vote with your wallet. End of (non) story.

~~~
nathana
Except that when it comes time to evaluate _which way_ to vote with your
wallet, the "whatever reason" _does_ matter. And since Straight Talk isn't the
entity here that is enforcing this restriction, I am much less likely to give
them the boot, and much more likely to give Apple the boot.

------
supercanuck
I too use my unlocked iPhone on Straight talk and didn't realize I had this
problem.

------
Hansi
Why can't Straight Talk just push the correct APN settings when connected to
the network?

~~~
jarrettcoggin
This is also a problem with Simple Mobile (a MVNO that I'm trying out with a
carrier and development unlocked AT&T Branded HTC Titan). Repeatedly, it will
default to T-Mobile or AT&T APN and Cell settings, causing me to lose cell
service and internet access. Oddly enough, when they've switched settings and
cell/internet is supposedly down, I will get MMS messages. There is no way to
set the settings correctly and lock them down from an end user perspective.
It's pretty much a wash when it comes to service since there aren't enough
T-Mobile towers where I'm at, and after the amount I've already paid for is
up, I'm switching to Straight Talk to give them a shot.

~~~
nathana
That does suck, but if it is an AT&T-branded phone, it is less surprising
(although no more acceptable) that you've encountered this problem.

If you go into an Apple retail store and buy an off-the-shelf carrier-unlocked
no-brand-stickers-anywhere-on-the-device Apple iPhone 4 or 4S at full price
($450/$550), you will still run into this, which is _ridiculous_.

~~~
dunham
Would getting the FCC involved help? It wouldn't hurt to file a complaint. I
think they've forced phone companies to enable unlocking in the past, and
Apple needs their approval to sell the iPhone in this country. So they may be
willing to get involved.

~~~
nathana
That's an interesting avenue I had not thought of; thanks.

------
mathieuh
If anyone else has this problem, check out <http://www.unlockit.co.nz/> from
your iPhone. It creates APN settings profiles which can be installed even if
your carrier has disabled them.

~~~
nathana
This _does_ _not_ _fix_ _MMS_.

Their site simply constructs the same kind of configuration file that Apple's
official iPhone Configuration Utility generates. You can override an APN in
those configuration files...the internet APN, and ONLY the internet APN. There
is simply no place in the iPhone Configuration Utility to specify an MMS APN,
and there is presumably no field in the configuration file itself for it to
go.

iPhone Configuration Utility, unlockit.co.nz, and all their ilk ONLY fix
internet data, and not MMS.

~~~
sneak
Arguably, people who still care about "picture messages" deserve to get
fleeced by carriers. If your Internet APN is working, send and receive emails
like normal people.

Still, fuck Apple for locking the user out of configuring their own device,
though.

~~~
nathana
My prepaid flat-rate plan includes "unlimited" SMS/MMS (and don't get me
started on use of the word "unlimited" by service providers...). In any case,
it doesn't cost me anything extra, and it's way easier to be able to accept
and send MMS messages to people in your life who are going to use that channel
of communication with you regardless of how many times you tell them to use
e-mail to talk to you THAN it is to face them after they've sent you something
and then you run into them a few days later and they want to know why you
never responded. (EDIT: ...okay, that was a terrible run-on sentence.)

------
rb2k_
The last time I went to the US, I used "Red Pocket", another AT&T reseller.

For data connections to work, they just generate an APN settings profile for
you (<http://goredpocket.com/configure>)

Seeing as they can't seem to push For MMS settings, they give you the
instructions:

[http://redpocket.wdsglobal.com/mms?contractId=503&countr...](http://redpocket.wdsglobal.com/mms?contractId=503&countryId=&networkId=&phoneId=5078&bearerId=&mobileNumber=)

Worked fine for me.

~~~
nathana
How long ago was this, and what iPhone model and iOS version were you using?
The instructions they give are exactly the ones that I need to be able to
execute on my "unlocked" phone, but the menu they reference is being
suppressed by AT&T's carrier profile. I don't see how it is possible that
these instructions could work for anybody that was using Red Pocket on an
iPhone that wasn't jailbroken and that didn't have a tweak installed that
reveals that Cellular/Mobile Data Network settings menu.

------
moepstar
What prevents the OP from using an official firmware (one Google search away)
in combination with TinyUmbrella and install it then via iTunes?

Or did i overlook something?

~~~
nathana
You overlooked the fact that TinyUmbrella cannot help if you did not happen to
use it to collect your iOS 5.0/5.0.1/5.1/5.1.1 SHSH blobs generated uniquely
for your device by Apple _at the time that iOS 5.x was the latest version
available_. Once iOS 6 came out, if the blobs for previous version(s) had not
already been collected, then it's "tough luck: you're stuck."

------
inspiration27
Sounds frustrating.

While it may sound reasonably possible to allow a downgrade I don't think
that's the case. Apple has made this no-downgrade a core rule so that
developers can rely on that rule and only worry about building a one-way data
migration path for new versions.

So maybe some of your data / configuration has been converted during the move
to iOS 6 and now there is no process that can convert them backwards into an
iOS5 format.

~~~
nathana
But that's the case with any software update. So that makes it my
responsibility to make and keep a comprehensive backup of my system and app
data before I initiate the update, if I want to be able to go back. Either
that or I accept the possibility that I'll have to start over with my data. So
what? How is that any different than software on a personal computer?

Both of these options (backup or clean start) are burdens I am more than
willing to accept and bear in exchange for having the freedom to backlevel my
software as I see fit. Apple doesn't need to _support_ people's downgrading
efforts (as in, hold their hand, explain how to do it, etc.), but they've gone
way beyond "not supporting" it. Going out of your way to develop a system that
prevents downgrading? WTF?

I've said this on other forums, so I apologize if it sounds like I'm repeating
myself, but the way I look at it is that if Apple is going to insist that I
can never, ever reinstall an older version of the OS, then they are absolutely
on the hook to deliver 100% bug-free software every single release. That's
impossible, even for Apple (:-P). People aren't perfect, and they make
mistakes. So it is absolutely imperative that they give their customers an
"out" that they can elect to take if a bug or shortcoming of a software update
introduces an undue burden for the user, and they need that functionality to
work the way it did before while a new version (hopefully with a fix to your
problem) is developed, tested/QA'd, and finally shipped. That kind of thing
doesn't happen overnight, and it is not reasonable for software companies to
expect people to live with certain classes of bugs or other problems while the
fix takes 2-3 months to ship.

Enterprise system operators wouldn't stand for that kind of behavior from a
vendor; if Cisco has a showstopper regression in their latest code that ends
up biting people in the butt, there is NO way an admin worth his salt is going
to keep running that version until the fix is in.

Heck, PC users wouldn't stand for that kind of behavior, either: can you
imagine the outcry that would have resulted if Microsoft had told everybody
who upgraded their PCs that were previously running XP to Vista that they're
not allowed to undo the upgrade, even via a format and reinstall? Or what
would have happened if, once Vista had been released, Microsoft told people
that if anyone still running XP ever needs or wants to perform a clean-install
of Windows, they would be forced to install the latest available version of
Windows (Vista)? (Technically they could _kind of_ do this if they elected to
shut down the product activation servers for XP, but to Microsoft's credit,
they have not done so and have shown no indications that they are even
thinking about doing this.)

Apple does _both_ of these things with iOS: technical enforcement of downgrade
prevention, and also technical enforcement (through the same mechanism) of
forced upgrade to the latest version during OS reinstall, regardless of what
you're currently running. I find it crazy that people put up with it.

------
fwny
Get the official Apple iPhone Configuration utility off of the Mac App Store.
It is for enterprise customers to config their iPhone fleet but I use it to
set my APN settings for AT&T prepaid which doesn't officially support iPhone.

~~~
nathana
I'm going to audibly (...well, visually...) emit a _sigh_ and patiently
explain, for what I'm hoping will be the final time, that the iPhone
Configuration Utility _cannot change the MMS APN_ , only the internet access
APN.

------
yock
This is all pretty comical. The hardware company we all praised when they
released the iPhone sans carrier bloatware has apparently become the single
most clever practitioner of carrier-prescribed device limitations.

Well played, Apple.

------
chiph
Possible solution? Trade handsets with someone who never upgraded to iOS 6.

~~~
nathana
Yes, possible solution, but not really practical, for the following reason:

The iOS downgrade prevention mechanism also forces you to upgrade to the
latest version, even if you do not want to do so willingly, if you ever need
to restore (reload) the OS on your device. If iOS gets corrupted somehow and
you need to reinstall, the only version you are authorized to install is the
latest version for your particular device.

Even if I had not gone to the slaughter willingly, if the OS had ever spazzed
out on me and required a reinstall, I'd have still been screwed. You aren't
allowed to reinstall the exact same version that's already on the phone if
what you have on it isn't the latest version.

So if I trade phones with someone, I still run the risk that at some point,
I'm going to be forced to upgrade.

~~~
emmapersky
I don't think this is true... Having never upgraded an unused old iDevice,I'm
pretty sure I have still been able to restore from backup without upgrading.
But this is really old, so maybe they stopped that in a later firmware update?

~~~
nathana
It is absolutely true. If the OS itself is not corrupted, you can erase your
data and restore YOUR DATA from backup, but that doesn't include the OS
itself. If you do a "full restore" of the OS (and this isn't the first time
I've observed the confusion caused by Apple's overloading of the term
"restore"...in this context, "restore" basically means "complete reformat and
OS reinstall"), you WILL be forcefully upgraded to the newest iOS.

------
ricardobeat
I don't know exactly what these small carriers are like in the US, but
shouldn't APN data be configured by the SIM/network automatically?

~~~
nathana
As far as I know, there is no standards-based mechanism for doing so as SIMs
predate packetized cellular data over GSM, so the concept of the APN was not
around to be "baked into" the GSM SIM when it was first conceived, and the SIM
has seemingly not been spec-bumped since to support it. I have never run into
a GSM phone that can automatically pull its APN configuration from the carrier
network or from a SIM; it's either been pre-configured for you in the ROM (in
the case of locked phones) or manually configurable (in the case of unlocked
phones).

Apple provides an automatic APN configuration subsystem that the carriers
control, but it is completely proprietary to iPhone, and it is in fact this
exact subsystem that is causing me grief.

Some final notes of clarification:

1) Straight Talk isn't a "small carrier" (read: regional carrier with "rural"
possibly implied) in the U.S., at least in terms of the size of the network
itself. In fact, Straight Talk doesn't actually own any of their own
infrastructure: they ride the nationwide AT&T network.

2) This proprietary iPhone automatic APN configuration system is used on ALL
iPhones worldwide, regardless of carrier. So this has nothing to do with how
carriers in the U.S. do or do not accomplish this vs. how you think other
carriers outside the U.S. accomplish this. If you own an iPhone and have a SIM
card in it that was issued by a carrier anywhere in the world that Apple has a
contractual relationship with, your phone was configured this way, and you
could run into the same problem I documented here depending on the situation.

~~~
ricardobeat
My original carrier is from Brazil, and I can't see their APN settings, but
I've used three SIMs in Europe from different carriers and they all worked
seamlessly, and was able to look into the APN settings for at least one of
them (Wind, I think).

To me this looks like an issue of Straight Talk failing to fulfill their job
as a carrier, or AT&T not providing the necessary access to their resellers.
If you're going to sell mobile plans you should have the infrastructure to
support it (third-party or not).

~~~
nathana
Right, so the Brazilian SIM card was issued by a carrier that has a carrier
profile included with iOS that is set to block access to that menu, while the
European SIM cards you have either were issued by carriers with carrier
profiles in iOS that _don't_ block access to that menu, or those European SIM
cards were issued by a carrier or carriers that the iPhone knows absolutely
nothing about (no built-in carrier profile(s)).

In my case (and in the case of some other customers of other MVNOs), my
carrier, Straight Talk, is really just a company that buys wholesale access to
AT&T's network and then resells it as a prepaid service to customers. Thus a
Straight Talk SIM card looks _identical_ to an AT&T SIM card to the iPhone.
And AT&T's iOS carrier profile blocks access to the APN editing submenu. So my
situation is different from yours because in your case, your Brazilian service
provider and your European service providers had no corporate connections with
each other, nor did they share a singular common network, as is the case with
AT&T and Straight Talk.

There is next-to-nothing Straight Talk can do about this, at least without
both AT&T's and Apple's co-operation.

------
stcredzero
I'm also using StraightTalk. Have you tried SIM swap with a T-Mobile SIM? I
think they describe this on the unlock it.co.nz site.

~~~
nathana
Haven't -- yet, though I may end up caving before too long -- but I don't
really like the idea of having to use such a hack, for the reasons I already
listed at
[http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=16267233#post16...](http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=16267233#post16267233)

1) It may be cheap relatively-speaking, but why should I have to spend
anything above and beyond what I already spent on this unlocked phone just to
make it work the way it should? (I know, I know...this is one of those "it's
the principle of the thing" arguments.)

2) It's another glitch, much like the one I used to rely on in iOS 5. And like
that glitch, it will surely be fixed by Apple in the future. I need something
that is reliable and that I can count on.

3) Speaking of reliable, the jury still seems to be out on how reliable it is.
It does seem to stick around for a number of people, but I have read a handful
of anecdotes where the APNs were mysteriously reset somehow, and the person
would have to re-do the trick. I don't like the idea of having something like
that randomly flake-out on me. Plus it would mean that because I'd never know
when it might stop working, I'd have to carry that darned T-Mobile SIM card
with me wherever I go, "just in case."

I'd rather Apple just fix the issue the right way. A quick software workaround
like the one I used in iOS 5 is one thing, but if I'm going to have to resort
to jury-rigging something in meatspace, then I might as well drop Apple and
switch to a different phone at that point. I'm already considering it.

------
kamakazizuru
am I the only one wondering why you need MMS so bad?

~~~
nathana
Maybe because not all of my friends have iPhones and cannot use iMessage to
reach me, and have no idea that when they send me an MMS that it's just going
to disappear into a black hole, and I'd rather have the option of not missing
any communication?

~~~
kamakazizuru
theres also whatsapp and a bunch of other ways to send media messages. I just
feel like not being able to MMS is probably the smallest problem you could
have. #firstworldproblems.

