Question about H20 wireless

[LRH]

My husband recently switched his out of contract (AT&T) iPhone 4s to H20 wireless.  It is working great, except that he cannot send or receive group texts or picture messages.  We were planning to switch mine (same phone) over if we liked it, but the lack of picture and group messaging is really irritating.  Has anyone had this issue or know how to fix it?  If not, I need suggestions for other inexpensive options.  We use about 500MB of data each.  H20 is running $27/mo for this.  Thanks!

[Daley]

The inability to configure MMS gateway settings for iPhones on most AT&T MVNOs is a long known issue, and there's no real way around it short of jailbreaking or switching to an AT&T MVNO that's been blessed by Apple to be permissible for use. H2O is not one of these carriers. (Blame Apple and AT&T for this mess, not H2O Wireless, Airvoice, or any of the other decent AT&T MVNOs that this effects.)

If you want AT&T coverage, your only real options are going to be Consumer Cellular or one of the crummy low-quality America Movil brands.

If T-Mobile coverage works for you, any T-Mobile MVNO will not have the same configuration restrictions as most AT&T MVNOs do. P'tel is the best choice from the guide.

[LRH]

Thank you for linking me to the guide.  What an amazing resource!  We are just getting started, and the cell phones are definitely low hanging fruit for us.  We don't want to buy new phones, so if I am understanding correctly our AT&T iPhones should be able to transfer to P'tel and we would be able to utilize MMS.  Is this correct?  Do we need to have our phones unlocked before switching?  Thank you again for the help! 

[Daley]

Not a problem.

We don't want to buy new phones, so if I am understanding correctly our AT&T iPhones should be able to transfer to P'tel and we would be able to utilize MMS.  Is this correct?

*wobbles hand back and forth* yes...ish. There's technical considerations such as lesser overall network coverage, less indoor reception due to the primary service frequency, possibly slower mobile data throughput, etc. If T-Mobile is a good carrier in your area, you should be reasonably fine, but don't expect the iPhone 4s to behave the exact same way on T-Mobile's network as it does on AT&T's. That said, you should be able to set both the APN and MMS settings for P'tel (and any other T-Mobile based MVNO) under any version of iOS without any problems. iOS9 settings for P'tel here.

Normally I prefer to recommend people to use MVNOs on the same major carrier they left so as to minimize any possible disappointment and keep the coverage consistent with what they're already used to, but sometimes there can be a good reason to switch. This would be one of them.

Do we need to have our phones unlocked before switching?

You only need to carrier unlock a GSM phone once. Once it's done, it can be taken anywhere. If you left AT&T and are already on H2O Wireless, you probably already had the phone unlocked. If not, that could be part of the problem as well, as AT&T MVNO SIM cards will work for basic phone calls and SMS messaging on AT&T locked phones, but data APNs cannot be reprogrammed... still though, MMS on iPhone just isn't going to be doable on H2O Wireless or Airvoice without some serious technical hoop jumping. If the phones hadn't been unlocked before you left AT&T, it'll be easier just paying for an unlock code through a reputable phone unlocker on Ebay than trying to get AT&T to do it after you already left them.

As for potentially porting your phone number out of H2O Wireless, the two most important bits of info to do that is your account number and your PIN. If I recall correctly, I believe H2O Wireless uses your H2O Wireless SIM card number (ICCID) for your account number, and the last four digits of that ICCID for your PIN/account password.