Welcome to Ask Jerry, where we talk about any and all the questions you might have about the smart things in your life. I'm Jerry, and I have spent the better part of my life working with tech. I have a background in engineering and R&D and have been covering Android and Google for the past 15 years.
Ask Jerry is a column where we answer your burning Android/tech questions with the help of long-time Android Central editor Jerry Hildenbrand.
I'm also really good at researching data about everything — that's a big part of our job here at Android Central — and I love to help people (another big part of our job!). If you have questions about your tech, I'd love to talk about them.
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I look forward to hearing from you!
MMS problems on my old phone
Keith writes:
I have a Microsoft Lumia 650 which works well but since I got a new sim card from O2 I cannot send picture messages. What setting do I need to restore if possible?
Thanks, Keith
Hi Keith. The Lumia 650 is one of my all-time favorite phones!
It was designed to be the perfect phone for almost everyone, the hardware was superb, and the price was right. I still have mine on my shelf of tech things I'll never get rid of.
To answer your question, it sounds like the APN (Access Point Name) needs to be set or edited. The APN is a gateway between your mobile network, O2 in your case, and the internet. It tells your phone how to route all the traffic in and out, 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 the device on, but sometimes it needs tweaking. The simple solution is to visit an O2 store, and they'll fix it, but you can edit it yourself in the network settings — O2 should have the correct values on its website, or customer service can help you.
The less simple solution is that it may not work. The Lumia 650 is ancient as far as phones are concerned. It was released in 2016 and Microsoft stopped all support back in 2020. It uses "older" network technology, and while it's working 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 trying, but the reality is you might need to get a new phone. Something like a Pixel A series phone or a Samsung Galaxy A series has the right price and should function for a long time.
You'll also have access to a rich ecosystem of apps and services if you want to use them — even Microsoft's services that you may use with your Lumia. When it comes to MMS (pictures, video, or audio sent as a "text"), a new Android phone, no matter how budget-friendly, will outclass your old Lumia, too, because the person receiving them is probably using an Android phone, too. RCS messaging doesn't have the compression issues and size limitations of MMS, so your recipient can see or hear exactly what you did.
I hate saying this as much as you hate hearing it. I'm a firm believer in using a product until it disintegrates whenever I can, and that includes phones. The only reason I stopped using my old BlackBerry is because it stopped being supported by T-Mobile.
Nobody wants to be forced to spend money, but in this case, I really think you'll be glad you did.
