topic Re: Send mms without activating data traffic in XZ Series

Send mms without activating data traffic

Harryharmynt — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 19:14:20 GMT

Is there a way of sending and receiving mms without activating data traffic? All my previous phones both sent and received mms without having data traffic turned on.

Re: Send mms without activating data traffic

Damo_ — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 23:36:00 GMT

MMS is a mobile network feature so yes you have to have mobile data activated to send / receive (unless your mobile network has deployed VoWiFi and enabled MMS as a feature on it).

Re: Send mms without activating data traffic

Harryharmynt — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 05:40:12 GMT

Is there an app that activates mobile data when I want to send/receive mms?

Re: Send mms without activating data traffic

Damo_ — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 23:00:31 GMT

You'd need to check the Play store although I couldn't find anything at a quick glance.

If you aren't going to use mobile data whatsoever for anything other than MMS you could delete all the other APN profiles, leaving just the MMS one (assuming your network provider has different profiles for internet and MMS). This way you could leave mobile data switched on as only MMS will have access. Settings > Network & Internet > Mobile network > Access point names

Re: Send mms without activating data traffic

xperia_pro — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 16:39:04 GMT

On my Z3 Compact I can send and receive MMS (picture) when both Mobile Data and WiFi are turned off (android v6). That does not seem to work on the XZ1 Compact (android 8). Is MMS handled differently on these models?

Re: Send mms without activating data traffic

Uliwooly — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 23:36:01 GMT

@xperia_pro

Not quite, is that phone network branded? I remember that back in the days I had an AT&T branded phone and even without a data plan I was able to send and receive MMS bc it was part of the contract, unlimited MMS, in other words mobile data was "off" but in reality it was forced-enabled by the carrier whenever I send/received a MMS

Re: Send mms without activating data traffic

xperia_pro — Sat, 02 Mar 2019 10:27:51 GMT

None of the Z3 Compact or XZ1 Compact were baught "branded". They use different providers (but not easily swapped for testing due different sized SIMs). A strange thing on the XZ1c is that it is not enough to activate WiFi. With WiFi active (confirmed working with Google Play) and Mobile Data Off, only the text part of an MMS is received directly while a waiting rotating symbol is shown for the picture. I waited many minutes before activating Mobile Data, then the (50kByte) picture was downloaded immediately. This behaviour is the same if I send the MMS from the Z3c either with WiFi and Mobile Data both off or both on.

Re: Send mms without activating data traffic

xperia_pro — Sat, 02 Mar 2019 10:53:34 GMT

My memory failed (its a nano-SIM also in the Z3c), so now I have tested with swapped providers in ZX1c and Z3c. The test shows that the provider does not matter. The Z3c can still send MMS with both WiFi and Mobile Data OFF. The XZ1c needs Mobile Data active to send the MMS. Nothing arrives at Z3c (with WiFi ON) until I activated Mobile Data.

Re: Send mms without activating data traffic

Uliwooly — Sat, 02 Mar 2019 23:03:49 GMT

@xperia_pro

This is quite interesting, I'll escalate this

Re: Send mms without activating data traffic

xperia_pro — Sun, 03 Mar 2019 14:55:21 GMT

I can add that also Xperia E5 (F3311) kan receive MMS with picture while keeping both WiFi and Mobile Data OFF.

I can give some background to why the XZ1c is a dissapointment:

I bought the XZ1 Compact for my Mother as a replacement for the Xperia E5 I first bought. The E5 is lacking the smart call handling (answer by lifting the phone to the ear, which is a great feature for my mother). The XZ1c has that but is missing the MMS capability whithout causing extra data fees. (I have tried to block as much data traffic as I can find both "in backround" and remove apps from the "unlimited" list but it still logs data traffic (in standby and without receiving MMS).

Re: Send mms without activating data traffic

rhayy — Sun, 03 Mar 2019 22:41:52 GMT

Recently, I change carrier.
With the previous one, I needed to turn on mobile data to receive MMS.
Currently, I don't need it.

Re: Send mms without activating data traffic

Jonas — Mon, 04 Mar 2019 11:38:07 GMT

Hi @xperia_pro!

You might experience that you cannot send or receive MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) on your Xperia device running on Android 8.0 (Oreo), without enabling mobile data. This is by design. However, some network operators allow sending MMS without enabling mobile data.

So there is a change in Android Oreo (same rule applies to Android Pie as well) compared to previous Android versions, but some operators still allow you to send MMS without enabling mobile data, as @rhayy wrote.

You can also check with the operator that your mother is using and see if there is anything they can change on their side.

I hope that answers your question!

@rhayy, thank you for this information!

Have a great day!

Re: Send mms without activating data traffic

xperia_pro — Mon, 04 Mar 2019 17:13:19 GMT

OK, thanks for checking. I just updated the XZ1c to Android 9. I'll guess it's "by design" in this version too, because MMS does not work with mobile data OFF (same SIM card that works in a Z3c/Android 6).

(A note: Going from Android 8 to 9, it also lost the "Smart Call handling" , i.e. answering by rising phone to ear, unless it is hidden somewhere because I can't find that setting.)

Re: Send mms without activating data traffic

NunoSEN2 — Mon, 04 Mar 2019 17:24:07 GMT

Hi @xperia_pro ;

For the Smart Call Handling try going to Phone app>top right 3 dots menu>Settings>Calls or Call Accounts (if Dual SIM)>Select SIM (if Dual SIM)>Smart Call Handling (it should be the first option).

Re: Send mms without activating data traffic

Jonas — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 09:14:43 GMT

Hi again @xperia_pro!

Yeah, it's the same in Android Pie and regarding the Smart call handling feature, you can find this if you open up the Phone application > tap the three dots in the top right corner > Settings > Calls > "Smart call handling", as @NunoSEN2 mentioned.

In Android 8 and Android 9, the call settings are no longer available directly in the Settings menu of the device, so you need to open them through the phone application.

I hope that helps!