Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

anderson-net.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 120 posts

Re: Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

#11

Post by nathana »

mathieuh wrote: post #7

If anyone else has this problem, check out http://www.unlockit.co.nz/ from your iPhone. It creates APN settings profiles which can be installed even if your carrier has disabled them.

This does not fix MMS.

Their site simply constructs the same kind of configuration file that Apple's official iPhone Configuration Utility generates. You can override an APN in those configuration files...the internet APN, and ONLY the internet APN. There is simply no place in the iPhone Configuration Utility to specify an MMS APN, and there is presumably no field in the configuration file itself for it to go.

iPhone Configuration Utility, unlockit.co.nz, and all their ilk ONLY fix internet data, and not MMS.

Re: Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

#12

Post by wlesieutre »

MrDrone wrote: post #9
sneak wrote: post #3

Apple also willingly blocks Facetime over 3G and tethering at the carrier's request (on a per-account basis) so that the carriers can upsell you. It really pisses me off that Apple is actively assisting the carriers in screwing me out of using the data that I'm already paying for. If I've paid the carrier for x GB, I should be able to use that for Facetime, wifi tethering, or whatever the hell else my phone is capabl…

I've never understood Apple's willingness to bend over for carriers. Its always seemed to me that they've tried hard to foster an image of a company that exists to serve the customer as best they can (though, sometimes they think they know best.) It would seem to me that Apple would have the upper-hand in these negotiations. The carriers, at this point, need the iPhone. AT&T, and Verizon simply couldn't afford to not…

They're better about it than the other phone manufacturers. Before the iPhone, it was more or less impossible to get a smartphone that wasn't loaded with non-removable carrier crapware. Apple's refusal to let AT&T do the same with the iPhone during their initial exclusivity deal was a big step.

But now, Apple doesn't have as much leverage. If they walk away from negotiations and say "Sorry, no more AT&T iPhones," they're losing all of the customers that stay on AT&T and buy Android devices. And AT&T loses all of the customers that switch to other networks so they can get new iPhones.

Apple did try to do something about exploitative text message pricing when they introduced iMessage. AT&T's response was to stop offering anything but unlimited texting plans.

Re: Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

#13

Post by nathana »

jarrettcoggin wrote: post #10
Hansi wrote: post #4

Why can't Straight Talk just push the correct APN settings when connected to the network?

This is also a problem with Simple Mobile (a MVNO that I'm trying out with a carrier and development unlocked AT&T Branded HTC Titan). Repeatedly, it will default to T-Mobile or AT&T APN and Cell settings, causing me to lose cell service and internet access. Oddly enough, when they've switched settings and cell/internet is supposedly down, I will get MMS messages. There is no way to set the settings correctly and loc…

That does suck, but if it is an AT&T-branded phone, it is less surprising (although no more acceptable) that you've encountered this problem.

If you go into an Apple retail store and buy an off-the-shelf carrier-unlocked no-brand-stickers-anywhere-on-the-device Apple iPhone 4 or 4S at full price ($450/$550), you will still run into this, which is ridiculous.

Re: Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

#15

Post by tharris0101 »

coldskull wrote: post #5

it will boil down to corporate principles/culture that Apple has. It has to decide how much max resources it can dedicate to handling a small subset of affected user VS. potential media backlash that could be triggered if some of these 'minority' users are influential.

Sounds like the automobile recall algorithm from Fight Club. Sadly, you're probably right.

Re: Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

#16

Post by ovi256 »

MrDrone wrote: post #9
sneak wrote: post #3

Apple also willingly blocks Facetime over 3G and tethering at the carrier's request (on a per-account basis) so that the carriers can upsell you. It really pisses me off that Apple is actively assisting the carriers in screwing me out of using the data that I'm already paying for. If I've paid the carrier for x GB, I should be able to use that for Facetime, wifi tethering, or whatever the hell else my phone is capabl…

I've never understood Apple's willingness to bend over for carriers. Its always seemed to me that they've tried hard to foster an image of a company that exists to serve the customer as best they can (though, sometimes they think they know best.) It would seem to me that Apple would have the upper-hand in these negotiations. The carriers, at this point, need the iPhone. AT&T, and Verizon simply couldn't afford to not…

Apple had a delicate relationship with carriers when it started making the iPhone. The carriers could dictate what they wanted. This has changed, as you state. These carrier-favouring measures could very well be contract inertia dating from that era.

Re: Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

#17

Post by sneak »

wlesieutre wrote: post #12
MrDrone wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never understood Apple's willingness to bend over for carriers. Its always seemed to me that they've tried hard to foster an image of a company that exists to serve the customer as best they can (though, sometimes they think they know best.) It would seem to me that Apple would have the upper-hand in these negotiations. The carriers, at this point, need the iPhone. AT&T, and Verizon simply couldn't afford to not…

They're better about it than the other phone manufacturers. Before the iPhone, it was more or less impossible to get a smartphone that wasn't loaded with non-removable carrier crapware. Apple's refusal to let AT&T do the same with the iPhone during their initial exclusivity deal was a big step. But now, Apple doesn't have as much leverage. If they walk away from negotiations and say "Sorry, no more AT&T iPhones," the…

Not really. From the top article:

> Apple won't help me because they agreed to block on-device APN editing for certain carriers, including AT&T, even though this negatively impacts people who are not direct customers of AT&T, and even though there is not one single other unlocked GSM phone model on the market besides iPhone that imposes this restriction on users or hands over this kind of control to carriers.

Unless I'm misunderstanding your argument. Are you suggesting that Apple is beholden to _all_ of the carriers severally now, because of risk of losing their dominant slice of marketshare?

Re: Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

#18

Post by wogg »

Seems to me this is really ATT's customer abuse than Apple's. I suppose Apple's main fault here is not putting more pressure back on ATT.

Albeit, downgrade seems like a reasonable request to me, although they may have security reputation concerns to be considered.

Re: Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

#19

Post by keithhanson »

MrDrone wrote: post #9
sneak wrote: post #3

Apple also willingly blocks Facetime over 3G and tethering at the carrier's request (on a per-account basis) so that the carriers can upsell you. It really pisses me off that Apple is actively assisting the carriers in screwing me out of using the data that I'm already paying for. If I've paid the carrier for x GB, I should be able to use that for Facetime, wifi tethering, or whatever the hell else my phone is capabl…

I've never understood Apple's willingness to bend over for carriers. Its always seemed to me that they've tried hard to foster an image of a company that exists to serve the customer as best they can (though, sometimes they think they know best.) It would seem to me that Apple would have the upper-hand in these negotiations. The carriers, at this point, need the iPhone. AT&T, and Verizon simply couldn't afford to not…

We absolutely are missing parts of the story. Negotiations and contracts at that scale are going to be massively complex, I can only imagine. Even my small shop's contracts with other businesses are multi-tiered and fairly dense.

Surely there is far more to this than simply "throwing weight" around by Apple, unfortunately. As well, it hasn't been that long since the carriers ruled everything about our experience with our phone. I'm sure there's plenty of old bureaucracy left for getting them to say "yes" to what all of us would want.

Perhaps, even, the things that frustrate you were some of the things Apple had to give up to give us the other awesomeness :P

Your reaction was my initial reaction as well, and definitely one I sympathize with (which made me actually comment). But, after thinking about my own basic experiences with contracts (and if you've ever signed a mortgage, for instance; a daunting amount of contractual repercussions, heh), I can only imagine the war room that negotiations must be with those carriers.

But all that, of course, is conjecture... Apple could just be assholes :P

Re: Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

#20

Post by roc »

sneak wrote: post #3

Apple also willingly blocks Facetime over 3G and tethering at the carrier's request (on a per-account basis) so that the carriers can upsell you. It really pisses me off that Apple is actively assisting the carriers in screwing me out of using the data that I'm already paying for. If I've paid the carrier for x GB, I should be able to use that for Facetime, wifi tethering, or whatever the hell else my phone is capabl…

I understand how business reality requires Apple to push at least some of the carriers' bullshit onto the customers.

But the second a device is "unlocked", all this nonsense needs to be removed from it. There's no defensible reason for an "unlocked" iPhone to still be subject to ATT/VZW's anti-consumer preferences.

Post reply on HN