hokie98 wrote:First of all, I have been a GoPhone user for several years. I had a cheap Pantech phone that I had NO problems with sending/receiving photos or videos via text WITHOUT a data plan. Last fall I started using an iPhone 4S (previously used on AT&T, but unlocked). I still do not subscribe to a data plan, but buy the 50GB package to use as necessary when I need internet access and am not connected to WiFi. Since I switched to the iPhone, I can only send/receive photos/videos to other iPhone users via iMessage when connected to data/wifi. I CANNOT send/receive photos from any one else that does not use iMessages. Heck, I even have one friend that has an iPhone, but for some reason her messages always come through at SMS, and not through iMessages, so again, no photos/videos from her. I have been dealing with this problem for way to long and I know I need to go into an AT&T store, but with 2 small children, don't have the time/patience to wait to be helped. Obviously, this is some sort of problem between the iPhone & AT&T. I'm not sure I believe that I have to be connected to data all of the time to receive photos, when I was NOT previously on the PanTech and had NO ISSUES sending/receiving photos. It's really become quite annoying. Can someone help me?
Tiy have found a "feature" of the iPhone implementation (and I believe all smartphones on the AT&T network have this same limit). Some of the features require cellular data to work properly. This would be MMS and Visual Voice Mail are two that I know of. I'm not sure, but I think that SMS is also in that list, but I'm not positive there. In order to use those features, you need to have your cellular data turned on. You can disable specific apps form using cellular data if you like though.