Can someone explain how APN setting configuration actually works? - General Questions and Answers

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.

Related

[Q] Modifying APNs with 4.4.2 (NE1)

Hello,
I've been putting off asking the question as I thought that somebody else had to have gone through this already but I've had poor luck looking through the forum and Google hasn't been able to help.
I'll be traveling to Italy in the near future with my Verizon Samsung Galaxy S3 (Build KOT49H.I535VRUDNE1). I would like to pick up a TIN or WIND SIM while I'm there, primarily for data usage. From what I've read, once I install the 3rd party SIM, I'll need to update the APN settings to get data to work.
Stock, it looks like the APN settings are uneditable. I rooted the phone with towelroot (if only everything were so easy) and then checked the APN settings to see if I could add another network. No dice.
Poking around on the web, it looks like in the past, people have been able to work around this by downloading build prop editor and adding the following two lines:
ril.sales_code=LOL
ro.csc.sales_code=LOL
I gave this a shot and was surprised to see the APN menu gone when I went back into my network settings. Through trial and error, I determined that the inclusion of ro.csc.sale_code=LOL changes my Mobile Networks options from:
- Mobile Data
- Global Data Roaming Access
- Roaming
- Signal Strength
- Network Mode
- Access Point Names
- Network Operators
to:
- Mobile Data
- Data Roaming
- Network Mode (GSM is not an option in here)
- System Select
- Dial Up Networking
There is no option to modify APN settings there. Am I missing something silly? Did something change in KitKat 4.4.2 that has caused this approach to "unlocking" the APN settings to become invalid? Is everything really ok and I'll have access to the APN settings when I insert the italian carrier's SIM card?
I'm game for other approaches as well. At one point, I thought I saw an article that talked about setting up a pointer to the APN settings prior to updating the prop file but I haven't been able to relocate that.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Aaron
In the event somebody else is looking for the answer, I got my hands on a TIM sim card today, installed it in the phone and the APN menu reappeared and let me enter a new APN. Looks like the answer as of today for this phone is TowelRoot, SuperSU, BuildProp and install the 3rd party sim.
Take care,
Aaron

APN auto-switching

Has anyone has this issue? I'm using a telus xt1032.
I have a tablet plan from telus, cheaper data and I NEVER make phone calls (use dialer) or sms. Telus doesn't care and will let you use this plan on phones, the only issue is you must change your apn from sp.telus.com to isp.telus.com or it'll be $1/meg.
By default when I put in the sim care it was set to sp.telus.com as to be expeced, there was also the isp apn already there I just needed to click on it to set it. I set it to isp.telus.com and rebooted, still set on isp.telus.com all good. The next day I got a sms from telus letting me know I went over $50 on my plan, shoot it flipped to sp.telus.com!!!
After fooling around it seems as though after flipping airplane mode on/off it'll go back to the default setting, arg. The two showing apns are uneditable, the fields are all grey. I added a new apn and hit save, but if you already have one with the exact same address it won't add.
Normally my solution would be to root, install apn backup/restore, move it to a system app, delete all apns, then create the new proper one. I'm sure that would work, but the freaking lollipop update is coming out and I wanna be stock stock stock. Now on my N5 when I got the lollipop ota /system had to be complete stock, they didn't just check the files they were patching it checks the md5 of the entire partition and just patches the whole thing at once. So even if I deleted apn backup/restore it wouldn't work because I would have deleted all the APNs. Moto may do it different, I'm not sure. I suppose another solution would be to install GPe which will most likely let me edit/delete the default apns, since I can on my stock N5.
Just rooted and delete the apns and setup the proper one. But now I want to convert to gpe complete stock. Having issues though, gpt.bin won't flash something something. Should I close this thread and start a new one?

Samsung SM-G920W8 APN/Roaming Issues

I have a Samsung Galaxy S6 (SM-G920W8; I have not rooted or installed any custom OS; it's running Nougat 7.0) that was previously locked to Telus (Canada) and I had it unlocked in December. Since then, it was worked fine with SpeakOutWireless (7-Eleven) for texting and calling (no data). Recently, I purchased a roaming data-only SIM from KeepGo. I cannot, for the life of me, get it to work. The SIM itself is fine. It works in my husband's Galaxy Core LTE.
So the way KeepGo works, is I have to put in an APN. When I get to the "Access Point Names" screen, I get an error that states: "Unable to view the access point name settings. Access is restricted for the current user profile." I don't have any kind of user profiles set up on my phone. So I go to "Add" anyway, and I add my APN. If I choose "GID" for MVNO, it saves to where the APN's are listed and I can see my APN. If I choose anything else (such as "None"), it disappears and I can't see the list. At first, when I chose "None," the APN in the list was no longer visible (shows that "unable to view" error), but my data actually worked! Then, a couple of hours later, it no longer worked. I tried resetting APN so it erased what was there (because I couldn't see it to modify or delete it), and I tried again, and no matter what I do, I can no longer get data. I also tried a factory reset, and it made no difference. Also, to note, it shows the network just fine (whether Bell, Rogers or Telus; they use all three providers). It just can't register on the network.
I have contacted KeepGo, Samsung, and Telus, and can't get anywhere with any of them. Any ideas as to what the solution is?

v20 says "mobile network unavailable

First time poster and a real newby when it comes to tweaking phones.
I have an unlocked LG V20 which I purchased (and really like) from T-Mobile. I am trying to use it with Consumer Cellular. I have gotten it to work sometimes but it connects very seldom.
I had to set up the APN settings manually which seems weird but like I said, it works - sometimes.
Currently, I cant seem to send texts or even call anyone. The phone says it's registered on the network.
I was having an issue with it de-selecting the APN settings I had made (and saved) for Consumer Cellular. As it was a T-mobile phone, I figured it was trying to go back to the T-Mobile APN so I figured out how to delete the T-Mobile APN. I also deleted all other APN choices except the one I had made for Consumer Cellular. Now it seems to keep the CC APN selected but only for a short time. After awhile, it will de-select the APN so there is no APN selected at all.
Now it cant make calls at all
I am also getting an "er082" error (red phone icon) regarding WiFi calling.
Any help would be much appreciated. I really like this phone and would like it to work
Thanks,
Jim

Sonim XP8 w/Android 10 apn issues/root

So for the long post but lots of information up front. I obtained an unlocked Verizon Sonim XP8 with Android 10 installed. It works with a Verizon sim as well as a FirstNet sim. I am trying to use a Visible sim in it. I've used this sim in an iPhone, iPad and Unihertz Atom without any issues as the latter 2 let me add the apn settings. The software on the XP8 is obviously from Verizon who locks the apn settings even though the phone is unlocked. The sim lets me select the Visible 4G network but puts in Verizon's apn settings instead of Visible and won't let me change them. I have tried various programs which fail to change the apn settings. One program let me add an apn but refused to save it saying my "user privileges" would not let me add an apn with the "dun" setting. I tried some one-click root programs (even though I didn't want to) which failed to root the device. There is no available dump for Android 10 to pull a boot.img from to modify. TWRP website shows no Sonim compatiblity and even when downloaded won't run on the phone so I cannot get the boot.img myself. I looked through this thread https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/sonim-xp8-root.3851187/ Being a newbie, I think I need to use adb in order to pull the boot.img but am unsure where it is stored and where I am supposed to store the xml files that I create. If I can understand that process better and get the boot.img to root with Magisk, will this even solve my permissions problem with being able to add the apn settings? Is there an alternative or is the only way to solve this to flash the phone back to Android 8 with the stock images off this website to get rid of the Verizon problems? I'd really like to stay with Android 10 if at all possible. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
-Josh
Where did you get one with android 10? I have both the Verizon and ATT XP8s stuck on Android 8.1. I have had tickets open with Verizon for 2 months and they swear it is fully up to date with 8.1. It may actually be my APN configuration that is preventing the update.
I was able to get Visible working on my Verizon version by modifying just the apn name in the existing apn. I can't add new APNs on either ATT or VZW XP8s. Perhaps if you follow the other XP8 root thread you will see there is a method for rooting which gives you access to manually add APNs. I'm not sure if it works on Verizon model though...does anybody successfully have XP8 Verizon with Android 10 and root?
baROMba said:
Where did you get one with android 10? I have both the Verizon and ATT XP8s stuck on Android 8.1. I have had tickets open with Verizon for 2 months and they swear it is fully up to date with 8.1. It may actually be my APN configuration that is preventing the update.
I was able to get Visible working on my Verizon version by modifying just the apn name in the existing apn. I can't add new APNs on either ATT or VZW XP8s. Perhaps if you follow the other XP8 root thread you will see there is a method for rooting which gives you access to manually add APNs. I'm not sure if it works on Verizon model though...does anybody successfully have XP8 Verizon with Android 10 and root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used a friend's Verizon sim card in it and went to System->System updates->Check for new system updates and it upgraded itself to Android 10. What did you modify the apn name to in order to get it to work? I have 4 apn settings I was given for Visible. The apn settings in the phone however leave little room for modification.
joshnet3 said:
I used a friend's Verizon sim card in it and went to System->System updates->Check for new system updates and it upgraded itself to Android 10. What did you modify the apn name to in order to get it to work? I have 4 apn settings I was given for Visible. The apn settings in the phone however leave little room for modification.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using my Visible SIM on my Verizon device, I have only 1 APN instead of 4. By changing just the APN NAME, (which is all I can change), I am able to get visible data working. No MMS/SMS/ADMIN APNs but full speed data.
My primary sim for this is a Verizon prepaid. Was your friends sim a verizon post-paid account? Also, do you have the appropriate 4 verizon APNs on your phone? Maybe the admin APN is required for the update. Any chance we could swap screenshots of our APN configurations?
baROMba said:
Using my Visible SIM on my Verizon device, I have only 1 APN instead of 4. By changing just the APN NAME, (which is all I can change), I am able to get visible data working. No MMS/SMS/ADMIN APNs but full speed data.
My primary sim for this is a Verizon prepaid. Was your friends sim a verizon post-paid account? Also, do you have the appropriate 4 verizon APNs on your phone? Maybe the admin APN is required for the update. Any chance we could swap screenshots of our APN configurations?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The sim was a post-paid account. I don't have it in the phone right now. The only APN that shows up when I put the Visible sim in is named "Verizon" with an APN of "VZWINTERNET" MCC "311" MNC "480" APN type "default, dun,supl" APN protocol "IPv4/IPv6" APN roaming protocol "IPv4" I tried the root method in the thread I listed but when I type the command for the QSaharaServer it tells me the application is not executable even though I followed all the directions so I cannot even get the boot.img downloaded to begin the rooting process.
joshnet3 said:
The sim was a post-paid account. I don't have it in the phone right now. The only APN that shows up when I put the Visible sim in is named "Verizon" with an APN of "VZWINTERNET" MCC "311" MNC "480" APN type "default, dun,supl" APN protocol "IPv4/IPv6" APN roaming protocol "IPv4" I tried the root method in the thread I listed but when I type the command for the QSaharaServer it tells me the application is not executable even though I followed all the directions so I cannot even get the boot.img downloaded to begin the rooting process.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just change APN name from VZWINTERNET to VSBLINTERNET.
unfortunately that didn't work for me. not sure if that's an android 10 difference or something else... i do notice that when the phone starts i get a 4GLTE symbol which promptly goes away.
joshnet3 said:
unfortunately that didn't work for me. not sure if that's an android 10 difference or something else... i do notice that when the phone starts i get a 4GLTE symbol which promptly goes away.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did the APN name save? If so try the following:
Dial *#*#4636#*#*
Select Phone Information
Set Preferred Network type to "WCDMA Only"
Reboot and let it sit for 5 minutes without touching it to update it's settings.
It should automatically change but if not, Do it again and make sure Preferred Network Type is "LTE/CDMA/UMTS auto (prl)"
This got my VISIBLE sim on the right network along with the APN change.
a lot of the secret codes have gone away with the android 10 update hence the need to root. i am unable to change the network type through the typical menu and the dailing code does not bring anything up, just returns to a blank screen. The network is stuck on "LTE/UMTS/GSM" no matter what I do.
Were you able to root with android 10? I heard it hasnt been done as of yet due to the new android 10 features
joshnet3 said:
So for the long post but lots of information up front. I obtained an unlocked Verizon Sonim XP8 with Android 10 installed. It works with a Verizon sim as well as a FirstNet sim. I am trying to use a Visible sim in it. I've used this sim in an iPhone, iPad and Unihertz Atom without any issues as the latter 2 let me add the apn settings. The software on the XP8 is obviously from Verizon who locks the apn settings even though the phone is unlocked. The sim lets me select the Visible 4G network but puts in Verizon's apn settings instead of Visible and won't let me change them. I have tried various programs which fail to change the apn settings. One program let me add an apn but refused to save it saying my "user privileges" would not let me add an apn with the "dun" setting. I tried some one-click root programs (even though I didn't want to) which failed to root the device. There is no available dump for Android 10 to pull a boot.img from to modify. TWRP website shows no Sonim compatiblity and even when downloaded won't run on the phone so I cannot get the boot.img myself. I looked through this thread https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/sonim-xp8-root.3851187/ Being a newbie, I think I need to use adb in order to pull the boot.img but am unsure where it is stored and where I am supposed to store the xml files that I create. If I can understand that process better and get the boot.img to root with Magisk, will this even solve my permissions problem with being able to add the apn settings? Is there an alternative or is the only way to solve this to flash the phone back to Android 8 with the stock images off this website to get rid of the Verizon problems? I'd really like to stay with Android 10 if at all possible. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
-Josh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello, can you backup rom android 10 to zip file, i can not update my xp8 OTA updae normally.
Thanks
So I had to get a ATT sim without service from ebay, stuck it in and instantly had a update i could do which brought me to the last update before android 10. I then had to do a complete reset before it would even say it had another update. That got me to android 10. then doing the time/date trick got me to the current security patch level.
Unfortunately it still blocks the second sim slot.
I appreciate the many work-arounds here and will look at getting a SIM from somewhere if needed, but is there not a more simple download / extract path? The unlocked XP8 I recently got is on 8.1.0 and would really like to get a tad more recent if possible. Many thanks in advance!
P.S. Got unlimited connectivity and a number from Mint, so at least a very functional device... have no need, so haven't tried 2nd SIM slot.

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