A reader, Sherrie asks, asks…

“I have tracfone services. Yesterday I have transfered my number to a different phone, an iPhone 4. Every since then I am not receiving any pictures and any pics I send are not going thru. My phone says sent but they never receive it. I am able to get pics I send myself but nothing from anyone else. No one at tracfone is able to help. They all say there is nothing wrong with anything, that there is somthing wrong with everybody else’s phone I have tried exchanging photos with.. but I never had any problem until I switched to a different phone. Thank you for any advise you could give me.”

Hi Sherrie,
So if I understand correctly, you transferred your existing Tracfone service to an iPhone 4 using Tracfone’s Bring Your Own Phone Plan and now your MMS picture messages are not working.

Unfortunately, I can’t tell you how to fix it but I will offer some suggestions.

In order for your cellular data, MMS picture messages, and group texts to work, your phone needs to have tracfone’s APN settings set up in your phone. This is supposed to happen automatically but sometimes there is a problem. And to make it worse, since your phone is supposed to set this up automatically, the settings page on your iPhone is hidden.

If I were you, here is what I’d try. Tap Settings->Messages and turn off iMessage if it is enabled. Then test sending and receiving messages again. You should also take a look at Understanding the Difference between MMS and iMessage on Your iPhone

If that doesn’t work then try this: Resetting Network Settings on Your iPhone

Leave a comment on this article and let me know how it goes.