Welcome to Ask Jerry, where we talk about any questions you might have about the smart things in your life. I’m Jerry and I’ve spent most of my life working with technology. I have a background in engineering and R&D and have been working with Android and Google for 15 years.
Ask Jerry
Ask Jerry is a column where we answer your burning Android/tech questions with the help of longtime Android Central editor Jerry Hildenbrand.
I’m also really good at researching data about anything – that’s a big part of our job here at Android Central – and I love helping people (another big part of our job!). If you have any questions about your technology, I’d be happy to talk about it.
Send me an email at [email protected], and I’ll try to sort things out. You can remain anonymous if you wish, and we promise we won’t share anything we don’t cover here.
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MMS problems on my old phone
Keith writes:
I have a Microsoft Lumia 650 that works fine, but since I got a new SIM card from O2 I can no longer send picture messages. Which setting do I need to restore if possible?
Thanks, Keith
Hi Keith. The Lumia 650 is one of my absolute favorite phones!
It was supposed to be the perfect phone for almost everyone, the hardware was excellent and the price was right. I still have mine on my shelf of tech stuff I’ll never get rid of.
To answer your question: Apparently the APN (Access Point Name) needs to be set or edited. The APN is a gateway between your mobile network, in your case O2, and the Internet. It tells your phone how to route all incoming and outgoing traffic, and it must be set correctly for any service that sends data to work.
This usually happens when you insert a SIM card and turn on the device, but sometimes it needs to be adjusted. The simple solution is to visit an O2 shop and fix the problem there. However, you can edit it yourself in the network settings. O2 should have the correct values on their website or customer service can help you.
The less simple solution is that it may not work. The Lumia 650 is an ancient smartphone. It was released in 2016 and Microsoft stopped all support back in 2020. It uses “older” network technology, and while it works for voice calls, O2 may not support it when it comes to data transfer – which you need to send an MMS message.
It’s worth a try, but the reality is that you may need a new phone. Something like a Pixel A series phone or a Samsung Galaxy A series is priced right and should work for a long time.
If you want to use them, you’ll also have access to an extensive ecosystem of apps and services – even Microsoft’s services that you might use with your Lumia. When it comes to MMS (images, videos, or audio sent as “text”), a new Android phone, no matter how cheap, will also outperform your old Lumia, since the person receiving it is likely a Android device uses phone too. RCS messages are free from the compression issues and size limitations of MMS, so your recipient can see or hear exactly what you’ve done.
I hate saying this as much as you hate hearing it. I am a firm believer in using a product until it dissolves whenever I can, and that includes phones. The only reason I no longer use my old BlackBerry is because T-Mobile no longer supports it.
Nobody wants to be forced to spend money, but in this case I do Really I think you won’t regret it.