Database Info

Solution: Prepaid APN change after ICS upgrand

(MODs: Please excuse if this is in the wrong place. I am currently only working with the Atrix 2 after ICS so I didn't want to push this on anyone else with other devices unless someone could confirm this works across all ICS ATT prepaid devices)
This is for those who would like to use their Atrix 2 ICS (probably any other ICS device) on AT&T prepaid (Pay as You Go) service.
I was using a 3G Moto Bravo for years with the $50/month unlimited talk/text prepaid plan with $25 data plan.
After purchasing the Atrix 2 and upgrading to OTA 2.3.6, I was informed by ATT cust. care that "4G Devices will never be compatable with prepaid service."
I used APN Backup and Restore, to backup and delete all APNs and added the APN below for flawless 3G ONLY data and MMS.
After upgrading to the ICS leak, I found out ther ICS will not allow APNs to be edited by 3rd party apps, and the user still cannot remove the stock APNs, even if rooted.
SOLUTION (REQUIRES ROOT):
1.Purchase Root Explorer from the Play Store.(there may be free solutions to view/edit .db files. let me know so I can update this)
2. Make a backup of: data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/telephony.db
3.Purchase SQLite Editor from the Play Store
4. Remove all 'records' from: data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/telephony.db
5. Go home -> Settings -> More -> Mobile Networks -> Access Point Names -> New APN
6. Enter these settings for your new (only) APN:
Code:
Name: ATT
APN: wap.cingular
Proxy: Not Set
Port: Not Set
Username and password are blank
Server: Not Set
Mmsc:h t t p : / / m m s c . c i n g u l a r . c o m (remove spaces)
Mms proxy: w i r e l e s s . c i n g u l a r . c o m (remove spaces)
Mms port: 80
Mcc: 310
Mnc: 410
Authentication type: Not Set
APN type: default
(please note that "Not Set" means that you do not put any data in this field.)
This may require a phone restart in order to work, but you should at least be able to access 3G data over a prepaid account. NOTE: You must have any data package for this to work. The "unlimited data" that is included in the plan does not apply to smartphones.
This is my first post, so I apologize in advance if I have broken any forum rules. I simply could not find a solution to my problem anywhere in internet land, and I wanted to prevent others from spending the 6 hours I did to get this working, or being totally disappointed to learn their new 4G device will "never be capable of running on prepaid networks". This is a lie ATT uses to make money. I would be happy to edit the post to clarify or help anyone who would like more details.

Thanks for the post!
Sent from my locked MB865 on Ice Cream Sandwich.

Ummm or go to the apns and Menu, add new, save done.
This is entirely unneeded. I use straight talk just fine and all I did was add an APN same with att prepay.
Sent from my MB865 using XDA Premium HD app

not that simple
Ummm or go to the apns and Menu, add new, save done.
This is entirely unneeded. I use straight talk just fine and all I did was add an APN same with att prepay
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.
I wish it would have been that easy. That was the first thing that I tried. (Many different ways and combinations)
I have some similar issues with customers whenever I worked for an AT&T authorized reseller, but non android devices.
However, in this case, either the network lock or some other policy in Android prevents the removal of the existing APN,s and upon entering a new APN and rebooting, the APN would disappear.
I would not have gone through a half a day's work to get this functioning properly if it would have been that easy. I'm not 100 percent sure exactly what is going on but I will give my best under standing of the situation. I was using an AT&T branded stock Atrix 2. I have been using my AT&T prepaid SIM card in a 3G device. Upon moving to AT&T SIM card to the Atrix 2, it automatically loaded 3 APNs from the Android telephony database. Those 3 have the lock symbol next to them and could not be edited or deleted, nor would a new manually entered APN stay after a reboot. when I was on Gingerbread I was able to use APN backup and restore to delete all records in the database, and only then did it allow me to add a new 1 by using the "add new" button.
. My experience with using another Gsm provider similar to straight talk, was that whenever I insert a SIM card I noticed that there were no APNs in the device by default for that network. This meant that I was allowed to add a new APN with no problem.
So, depending on if your device is branded by a particular carrier and or if android has existing APNs in its database for the service provider you are using you may have not had any trouble at all.
The conclusion I'm coming to is that you can normally just add a new APN unless there is a conflict such as the AT&T modern vs legacy access point names.
I only hope that this post will not get in anyone's way, and possibly might prevent someone hours of misery or giving up.

Ohhhh okay. I see what you're saying now. Gotcha
Sent from my MB865 using XDA Premium HD app

I've had my wife's Atrix 2 (on ICS leak, of course) on H2O and Net10, and both times all I had to do was add the APN normally. The APN should be att.mvno though, and get rid of the mms proxy and port, those can actually make MMS *not* work. Just make sure you name it something other than ATT or any of the listed APNs.

APN issue
How do I remove the following:
Remove all 'records' from: data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/telephony.db
I was able to fine the above path using root explorer, but when I run SQLite Editor I am not able to see above file that you asking to remove.
HTC Rezound- Root with S-ON
Thank you

i deleted all entries, and the pre locked AT&T APNs are now gone, but there are no options to add any new APNs.
Is there a way to add an APN manually or restore the option to add an APN?
overclocked181 said:
(MODs: Please excuse if this is in the wrong place. I am currently only working with the Atrix 2 after ICS so I didn't want to push this on anyone else with other devices unless someone could confirm this works across all ICS ATT prepaid devices)
This is for those who would like to use their Atrix 2 ICS (probably any other ICS device) on AT&T prepaid (Pay as You Go) service.
I was using a 3G Moto Bravo for years with the $50/month unlimited talk/text prepaid plan with $25 data plan.
After purchasing the Atrix 2 and upgrading to OTA 2.3.6, I was informed by ATT cust. care that "4G Devices will never be compatable with prepaid service."
I used APN Backup and Restore, to backup and delete all APNs and added the APN below for flawless 3G ONLY data and MMS.
After upgrading to the ICS leak, I found out ther ICS will not allow APNs to be edited by 3rd party apps, and the user still cannot remove the stock APNs, even if rooted.
SOLUTION (REQUIRES ROOT):
1.Purchase Root Explorer from the Play Store.(there may be free solutions to view/edit .db files. let me know so I can update this)
2. Make a backup of: data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/telephony.db
3.Purchase SQLite Editor from the Play Store
4. Remove all 'records' from: data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/telephony.db
5. Go home -> Settings -> More -> Mobile Networks -> Access Point Names -> New APN
6. Enter these settings for your new (only) APN:
Code:
Name: ATT
APN: wap.cingular
Proxy: Not Set
Port: Not Set
Username and password are blank
Server: Not Set
Mmsc:h t t p : / / m m s c . c i n g u l a r . c o m (remove spaces)
Mms proxy: w i r e l e s s . c i n g u l a r . c o m (remove spaces)
Mms port: 80
Mcc: 310
Mnc: 410
Authentication type: Not Set
APN type: default
(please note that "Not Set" means that you do not put any data in this field.)
This may require a phone restart in order to work, but you should at least be able to access 3G data over a prepaid account. NOTE: You must have any data package for this to work. The "unlimited data" that is included in the plan does not apply to smartphones.
This is my first post, so I apologize in advance if I have broken any forum rules. I simply could not find a solution to my problem anywhere in internet land, and I wanted to prevent others from spending the 6 hours I did to get this working, or being totally disappointed to learn their new 4G device will "never be capable of running on prepaid networks". This is a lie ATT uses to make money. I would be happy to edit the post to clarify or help anyone who would like more details.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

aglibot said:
i deleted all entries, and the pre locked AT&T APNs are now gone, but there are no options to add any new APNs.
Is there a way to add an APN manually or restore the option to add an APN?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try editing the apn.conf in /system/etc ?
You should be able to add/remove any apn you like, once you're done go to mobile network settings > access point names then hit the menu button and reset to default. That should load the apns from your apn.conf file and hopefully you'll be good to go.

41rw4lk said:
Did you try editing the apn.conf in /system/etc ?
You should be able to add/remove any apn you like, once you're done go to mobile network settings > access point names then hit the menu button and reset to default. That should load the apns from your apn.conf file and hopefully you'll be good to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great seems to have worked one way or another. Thanks! I managed to add a new APN (straight talk) and data seemed to work for a few minutes, but after powering down and powering up, data has once again cutoff and will not come back on.
The 4G symbol is there but it won't turn blue or show any data transmission. I've tried a factory reset and add/delete the APN that worked, but still can't seem to get the data to go up or down anymore. Calls and regular SMS still work.
Pretty sad over that tease after days of banging m head against the wall...:crying:
Any ideas anyone?

aglibot said:
Great seems to have worked one way or another. Thanks! I managed to add a new APN (straight talk) and data seemed to work for a few minutes, but after powering down and powering up, data has once again cutoff and will not come back on.
The 4G symbol is there but it won't turn blue or show any data transmission. I've tried a factory reset and add/delete the APN that worked, but still can't seem to get the data to go up or down anymore. Calls and regular SMS still work.
Pretty sad over that tease after days of banging m head against the wall...:crying:
Any ideas anyone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are your apns still set to what they should be? Have you tried turning of your wifi and sending yourself a mms msg? That's usually the best way to test whether apns are working or not.

41rw4lk said:
Are your apns still set to what they should be? Have you tried turning of your wifi and sending yourself a mms msg? That's usually the best way to test whether apns are working or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, the APNs are the correct APNs. MMS won't send or receive. I actually unlocked the phone and played with the settings and that seemed to fix things. I though the phone had somehow relocked itself, but other carrier SIMs seem to work in the phone now.
The display is showing 4G access but there is no data transmission. Even after deleting the APNs the 4G symbol does not disappear and readding it has no affect.
It was working for a bit just yesterday, but I cant seem to get the phone to transmit any data up or down since then.

aglibot said:
Yeah, the APNs are the correct APNs. MMS won't send or receive. I actually unlocked the phone and played with the settings and that seemed to fix things. I though the phone had somehow relocked itself, but other carrier SIMs seem to work in the phone now.
The display is showing 4G access but there is no data transmission. Even after deleting the APNs the 4G symbol does not disappear and readding it has no affect.
It was working for a bit just yesterday, but I cant seem to get the phone to transmit any data up or down since then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What settings did you mess around with? Also, a straight to the point solution would be to call the provider and get the proper apn settings (if you haven't already). If your 4G is lit up, but you can't push or pull data, then you might have an auth value wrong, or a proxy wrong, etc. If you haven't already, call and get the apns straight from the source.

[Q] Avatar 4.2.2 Rom LTE APN issues

I have an S-OFF ATT HOX. SuperCID. Installed the Avatar 4.2.2 rom. Works great! Snappy, and pretty! Only problem is I was only able to get 4G speeds. After a 30 min conversation with ATT to confirm there were no issues on their end, I looked at the APN settings for PTA. The APN settings were incomplete.
Normally the APN type has default,mms,supl and hipri but my installs (3x) never included. I attempted to add the hipri to the APN and even create a new APN, but the changes would never save.
Any thoughts?

Is the APN locked from being edited? Try just making a new APN with the correct settings.

Avata 4.2.2 APN woes
Its not locked. I can get into the existing 6 APNs and create a new one, but there is no save button on a new APN or existing APN. But I guess by definition means it is locked. I speculated just pressing back auto saved the entered settings but alas, no LTE goodness

Weird. I've seen where the APN is locked from editing (Save button is grayed out) such as the default APN on the AT&T stock ROM. But even then, you can create a new APN and save it. Never seen where it locked you out from editing and saving altogether.

[Q] Add APN After 4.4.3 Update

Hi everyone. M8 Verizon.
I'm on stock rooted on 4.4.3 S-Off. I noticed with this update they removed the ability to add APNs in addition to the Verizon one .
I travel to the middle east and usually swap SIM cards, selecting the corresponding APN, and it worked fine while on 4.4.2. On 4.4.3 I can edit the Verizon Apn to put the Vodafone apn for data to work, however the MMS part is blocked, and it won't let me enter anything.
Once I re-insert the Verizon APN I have to say Restore defaults for the Verizon APN to populate.
My question is, how can I get the feature back to add additional APNs? I use to be able to toggle through several.
* If you look at the attachment, where it says Reset to Default, there used to be a feature that Said "Add APN"
Thanks!

dude8370 said:
Hi everyone. M8 Verizon.
I'm on stock rooted on 4.4.3 S-Off. I noticed with this update they removed the ability to add APNs in addition to the Verizon one .
I travel to the middle east and usually swap SIM cards, selecting the corresponding APN, and it worked fine while on 4.4.2. On 4.4.3 I can edit the Verizon Apn to put the Vodafone apn for data to work, however the MMS part is blocked, and it won't let me enter anything.
Once I re-insert the Verizon APN I have to say Restore defaults for the Verizon APN to populate.
My question is, how can I get the feature back to add additional APNs? I use to be able to toggle through several.
* If you look at the attachment, where it says Reset to Default, there used to be a feature that Said "Add APN"
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sadly i have the same problem,i bought me one since they are GSM unlocked and are compatible with my carrier and i can't add my apn

possible answer
dude8370 said:
Hi everyone. M8 Verizon.
I'm on stock rooted on 4.4.3 S-Off. I noticed with this update they removed the ability to add APNs in addition to the Verizon one .
I travel to the middle east and usually swap SIM cards, selecting the corresponding APN, and it worked fine while on 4.4.2. On 4.4.3 I can edit the Verizon Apn to put the Vodafone apn for data to work, however the MMS part is blocked, and it won't let me enter anything.
Once I re-insert the Verizon APN I have to say Restore defaults for the Verizon APN to populate.
My question is, how can I get the feature back to add additional APNs? I use to be able to toggle through several.
* If you look at the attachment, where it says Reset to Default, there used to be a feature that Said "Add APN"
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i found one way to make them work,one bad thing it's that if you restart the phone you will have to do it again,but at least it's working again.
select the apn from verizon,the only field we can modify it's the APN
then enter the info from your carrier,for example :
fast.t-mobile.com in the case of t-mobile
vzwinternet in the case of verizon
as we know that field changes with our carrier but they just were some apn's i found on internet.
then save the apn,it worked on my GSM carrier again with 4G LTE.
i hope you get data again,let me know.

Latest VZW OTA/Firmware update 4.4.3 removes 'New APN' setting.

I noticed that under Network settings for Global or GSM, the New APN feature to manually add an APN for different sim is gone. Looks like it's an auto detect feature now. I travel overseas for business alot and use pre-paid SIM cards. Not all prepaid sim cards have the data APN coded. I just found out on my trip here to Taiwan and couldn't get data on my phone because the option for adding the APN is no longer available. I tried multiple settings, different ROM's and no good. Only when I downgraded my firmware did the option come back. Glad I'm rooted, it sux, but had to downgrade and reflash back to the old 4.4.2 firmware/rUU and run custom ROM. Until this is addressed by verizon, there will be no way to manually add an APN.

rudyo78427 said:
I noticed that under Network settings for Global or GSM, the New APN feature to manually add an APN for different sim is gone. Looks like it's an auto detect feature now. I travel overseas for business alot and use pre-paid SIM cards. Not all prepaid sim cards have the data APN coded. I just found out on my trip here to Taiwan and couldn't get data on my phone because the option for adding the APN is no longer available. I tried multiple settings, different ROM's and no good. Only when I downgraded my firmware did the option come back. Glad I'm rooted, it sux, but had to downgrade and reflash back to the old 4.4.2 firmware/rUU and run custom ROM. Until this is addressed by verizon, there will be no way to manually add an APN.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Adding Screen shots for reference from my testing on my device Using 4.4.2 firmware and SkyFall Rom 2.7 and 4.4.3 firmware running both SkyFall 3.2 and RKDN rom 1.4 & final version tested.

Update: Figured the APN issue thing out
Thanks to member DOTTAT for giving me the direction I needed to get the APN assignment issue resolved. I just needed to do things differently for getting the APN to load up. Basically had to to to the 'Network Preferences' section to add the network my SIM cards are registered on. This is a long list to scroll through. After I selected the network, there is multiple options to add the network type (GSM,UMTS,LTE, etc.) Had to enable three different versions then reboot the phone. After, there were two APN's that automatically populated and I was able to edit. Thanks again to DOTTAT for the direction. :laugh::good:

rudyo78427 said:
Thanks to member DOTTAT for giving me the direction I needed to get the APN assignment issue resolved. I just needed to do things differently for getting the APN to load up. Basically had to to to the 'Network Preferences' section to add the network my SIM cards are registered on. This is a long list to scroll through. After I selected the network, there is multiple options to add the network type (GSM,UMTS,LTE, etc.) Had to enable three different versions then reboot the phone. After, there were two APN's that automatically populated and I was able to edit. Thanks again to DOTTAT for the direction. :laugh::good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds good man... Glad this will be useful for all. Might even take some guess work out of some of the weirder apns.

dottat said:
Sounds good man... Glad this will be useful for all. Might even take some guess work out of some of the weirder apns.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I apologize but I did not see the steps to get the apn settings access. I've got the HTC One M7 for Verizon on 4.4.3 and can not change apn settings. What would the steps be? Thank you so much for any and all help.

thewhiz7 said:
I apologize but I did not see the steps to get the apn settings access. I've got the HTC One M7 for Verizon on 4.4.3 and can not change apn settings. What would the steps be? Thank you so much for any and all help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The info is in the last couple posts.

dottat said:
The info is in the last couple posts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I figured I'd bump this thread rather than start a new one... It seems I and many other Verizon M8 users have encountered the same problem:
I get no list of network APNs under "Network Preferences." There are zero entries, even though a message pops up to say the list is full.
I tried manually entering the MCC/MNC numbers for my carrier abroad (Claro Brazil) but this doesn't resolve the problem. I am stuck with only voice but no mobile data service.
Has anyone found a solution to this? Verizon tech support of course insists "just pop in the SIM and it should work automatically" as does the Brazilian carrier.

Does anybody know where in the phone the APN settings are stored, to edit them manually?

Can someone explain how APN setting configuration actually works?

So, let me explain the problem I had as context for my question.
I have a HTC M8 from Verizon that is totally unlocked (bootloader, SIM, etc) and rooted. I am running a recent version of LineageOS
My wife has a Samsung Galaxy S5 from Verizon that is rooted. She is running the latest available stock firmware from Verizon (with some bloat removed).
On the Verizon network with our Verizon SIM cards neither of us could edit APN settings.
We have been off contract for a while and just switched to Total Wireless.
I had 0 issues with my phone as the proper APN for Total Wireless was obviously loaded properly into my phone when I put in their SIM.
My wife OTOH was not able to get any internet access and upon examining her settings I noticed she lacked the newer TRACFONE.VZWENTP APN that my phone had.
I was not however able to edit her APN settings.
From everything I was finding online it seemed that the phone was clearly unlocked since the TW SIM worked to make/receive phone calls. Also it appeared people were stating that the presence of an APN is a function of the SIM and that if the APN wasn't there or I couldn't add it, then the SIM was the problem.
In the end I was able to install build.prop editor and make the following changes:
Code:
ril.sales_code=LOL
ro.csc.sales_code=LOL
This allowed me to add an APN. I copied the settings from my HTC *exactly* (triple checked) and still no Internet.
Finally I chose the option "Reset to default" and it appeared that it deleted the APN I added and added another TRACFONE.VZWENTP that was just slightly different then what I had on my phone (it set the "Bearer" option to 'LTE' instead of 'unspecified'). Everything then worked.
This experience leaves me to believe the following:
1) The ability to edit the APNs is a function of the ROM, not the SIM, since I was able to edit with build.prop and then make the change.
If this is the case however, why would a custom ROM like LineageOS not have this unlocked by default???
2) The APN is actually stored in the SIM card.
This must be the case because when I "Reset to default" there was nowhere that it could have gotten these changed settings from other than the SIM card as it was unable to even reach out to the internet at the time (wifi was off).
This was all just such a hassle and there are hundreds of posts out there about people in similar situation who state they can't access their APN settings.
If my wife's phone wasn't rooted I would not have been able to use build.prop editor to make the APN editable and then I would never have been able to get internet. What could I have done in that situation?
Again - my issue was resolved, but I am trying to understand specifically how these things are controlled and unlocked - especially for someone who doesn't have root access to their phone.

Oh - I just wanted to add that I worked with Total Wireless over chat for close to an hour while I was researching this on my own.
I helped them out from the beginning by telling them that I thought the APN was the issue and the block head kept telling me that I needed to edit my APN settings.
When I continued to tell him they were greyed out and I couldn't do it he just kept repeating as if they have never experienced this before and there *must* be a way for me to edit my APN settings.
I haven't had a build on my HTC or my wife's G5 that I can remember where I have ever been able to edit them manually, so I would expect that grayed out APN settings are pretty standard. Ofc I may have had a total moron over chat (likely), but he seemed to be consulting either their internal KB or another associate - so the fact that it was so difficult for them to figure this out (in fact they never did, I did) and they never would likely have if my phone wasn't rooted is very perplexing to me as to the root problem.