Unconfirmed: The recent "RESELLER" APN change may be negatively affecting phones that use the 3G/HSPA spectrum.
The "RESELLER" APN settings also make my 3G/HSPA device lose internet, and may also be contributing to not being able to receive MMS messages. The "tfdata" APN settings does still give the device internet, but still does not fix the MMS receiving issue. My 3G/HSPA is using a newer 4G LTE SIM card from the post-5GB increase BYOP "Top 4" multi kit from Walmart.
I have 2 BYO phones with Straight Talk. 1 phone (an unlocked AT&T device, Lumia 1520) uses 4G/LTE and the recent "RESELLER" APN change has had no negative affect. My other phone (a Verizon global dual CDMA/GSM device, Lumia 822) lost the ability to receive MMS texts earlier this week. Regular SMS texts receive fine, and MMS can be sent to others fine, so APN settings are working. But whenever an MMS attempts to receive, I instead receive a mystery SMS text from "Unknown" that reads "Message not found".
This is actually a nebulous problem that's been coming & going as far back as 2012 from what I've found on Google. It seems to mostly affect the AT&T network, but I have seen a few T-mobile, Verizon & Sprint users with the same complaints. It also has affected various iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone models. Not really a pattern that I can find, other than a mobile network (usually AT&T) makes some kind of behind-the-curtain protocol change, the bug appears, then eventually the bug is remedied without any explanation.
Last night I spoke to an above-average Straight Talk tech about the issue. While doing some troubleshooting, they said they've had to implement a lot of changes within their systems due to AT&T's recent "RESELLER" change, and it's caused some users a lot of problems. But my problem was something they haven't received a lot of calls for, possibly since the issue may be 3G/HSPA specific. The tech then had me talk to a "programmer" who asked me dozens of questions for their report, questions not typical to the standard useless troubleshooting you usually get on a call like this. They said they'll be pushing through some more changes over the next 48 hours that will hopefully fix my issue along with some others.
I was actually surprised by the knowledge and competence of the ST staff I spoke to last night. I've only had to call ST a couple of times over the past 2 years, and was never really pleased when I got off the phone, usually needing to fix it myself anyway. Perhaps they have their A-team currently working the phonemill because of the AT&T changes.
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