Net10 and Straight Talk APN's and Settings Upgrade and Download Link For APN Settings

Straight Talk and NET10, which are both part of Tracfone, are mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs ),  that offer prepaid unlimited talk, text and data plans for $45 (Straight Talk) or $50 (NET10).  Both MVNOs sell "BYOP" (Bring Your Own Phone) SIMs that let use your own GSM phone with the service. The service is very popular because of the price but there are some hurtles in getting data and MMS working with Straight Talk and NET10 if you are using your own phone. Here are answers to common questions about using the GSM BYOP program with your own AT&T, T-Mobile or unlocked GSM phone.

What Networks do Straight Talk and NET10 use? 
Straight Talk and NET10  offer both AT&T based SIMs and T-Mobile based SIMs.

What phones work? Any AT&T or T-Mobile phone except for Blackberrys will work for at least voice and text. AT&T and T-Mobile phones do not need to be unlocked as long as you use a NET10 or Straight Talk AT&T SIM with AT&T phones and  a Straight Talk or NET10 T-Mobile SIM with T-Mobile phones.

You can also use an unlocked GSM phone provided it supports the proper radio bands:

• 850 Mhz and 1900 Mhz for voice, SMS and low speed (2G: GPRS and Edge) data with any Straight Talk or NET10 SIM.
• UTMS band V (850 Mhz) and band II (1900 Mhz) for high speed (3G and HSPA+ 4G) data with an AT&T SIM.
• UTMS band IV (1700 Mhz) for the best high speed (3G and HSPA+ 4G) data coverage with a T-Mobile SIM. Phones that support band II (1900 Mhz) will get high speed data in some places with a T-Mobile SIM.
• LTE band 17 (700 Mhz) for 4G LTE data with an AT&T SIM

To use Straight Talk with your own compatible phone you need to buy a Straight Talk SIM card which is available from straighttalksim.com for $15 plus tax. Shipping is free. Straight Talk SIMs are also available for the same price at walmart.com and some Walmart stores. 

NET10 SIMs are available from www.net10sim.com for $14.99 and for under $5 from Amazon and eBay and from independent mobile phone shops.

Are there any disadvantages to using Straight Talk or NET10 with my own phone? 
Definitely, there are three that I'm aware of.

1) Very limited customer support. There is no hand holding and you are on your own when it comes to setting up your phone. You will need to change settings on your phone to get data and picture messaging to work.

2) Manual setup is required: Configuring data and MMS picture messaging on Android phones involves changing a few settings but isn't hard and this post will show you how to do it.

MMS settings are locked on phones running Windows Phone versions older than WP 8.0. Both data and MMS settings are hidden on iPhones using AT&T based SIMs. There are ways to get around Apple and Microsoft's stupidity in blocking users from critical settings, but it takes more work than with Android. There's currently no way to get MMS working on some Windows Phones running WP 7.8 and earlier.

3) "Unlimited" data isn't really unlimited. Although data is advertised as unlimited, Straight Talk and NET10 prohibit video streaming and tethering (using your phone as a modem to provide data to a laptop, tablet or other device).

Both MVNO's have an undocumented data cap that's enforced inconsistently. Some users report using as much as 8 GB of data per month without problems but others have seen their data cut off or throttled to about 128 Kbps after using as little as 1 GB. On the other hand voice and messaging does seem to be truly unlimited, at least I've never heard of NET10 or Straight Talk  terminating or restricting anyone's service for talking or texting too much.

How to setup Straight Talk data and picture messaging on Android
Follow the instructions that came with the SIM to activate it online at straighttalksim.com orwww.net10sim.com or by calling 1-855-222-2355. Insert the SIM in the phone and turn it on. Make a test call to be sure your SIM really is active. Sometimes it takes a little while for the activation to process. If you still can't make voice calls after an hour, call Straight Talk's dedicated BYOP SIM support number at 855-222-2355. There's no point in trying to set up data until the SIM is active. Once you can make calls:

1. On the Android Home Screen, press the Menu key, then tap  Settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile Networks > Access Point Names.
2. You should now be on the APNs screen (image below, left), press the Menu key and tap "New APN"
3. Enter the values listed below in each field. There are additional fields on the screen that aren't listed below, leave them blank. 

To make things confusing Straight Talk and NET10 keep changing the settings for AT&T based SIMs. SIMs activated since June.2013 should be using the new settings But many accounts are still using the old values. Try the "New" settings first, if they don't work try the "Old" settings. If you have a phone that supports AT&T LTE band 17 you must use the "New" APN settings to get LTE and may also need a new SIM.

Straight Talk Android Setup

	AT&T SIM "New" Settings	AT&T SIM "OLD" Settings	T-Mobile SIM
Name	Straight Talk or NET10	Straight Talk or NET10	Straight Talk or NET10
APN	tfdata	att.mvno 1	wap.tracfone
Proxy	Leave blank 2	Leave blank 2	Leave blank 6
Port	80	80	8080
MMSC	http://mms-tf.net 3	http://mmsc.cingular.com	http://mms.tracfone.com
MMS Proxy	66.209.11.33	66.209.11.33 4	Leave blank 6
MMS Port	80	80	Leave blank
MCC	310	310	310
MNC	410	410	260
Authentication Type	PAP	PAP	Leave blank
APN Type	default,supl,mms 5	default,supl,mms 5	default,supl,mms 5

1 If you get no data with att.mvno, try wap.tracfone in the APN field
₂ Straight Talk recommends using  proxy.mvno.tracfone.com but doing so causes speedtest.net and some other sites to be blocked. There are no known problems with leaving the proxy field blank.

3 If MMS doesn't work try setting the MMSC to http://mmsc.cingular.com
₄ If MMS doesn't work try changing the MMS proxy to 66.209.11.32.
₅  If the APN Type field is a dropdown, choose "internet+mms". If MMS isn't working try changing the APN type to default,mms or leaving it blank.
₆ If data or MMS don't work try using 216.155.165.40 in the proxy and MMS proxy fields.

4. Press the Menu key and tap Save.
5. Set the Straight Talk APN as the active APN by tapping the radio button to its right until it turns green as shown in the image below right.
6. Delete any other APNs if possible. To delete, tap the APN name to open it, then press the Menu key and tap delete. Some phones won't let you delete the Operator (AT&T or T-Mobile) APNs. If that's the case just be sure the Straight Talk APN is selected as indicated by the green dot next to it (image below, right. 
7. Turn the phone off and back on and try to open a web page. If it doesn't work see the troubleshooting section below.

Android specific troubleshooting:
If you have followed the above steps and data does not work, go back to the  Access Point Names screen and be sure that the Straight Talk APN is still selected. If it's not, re-select it and try opening a page in the browser. Double check all the entries on the APN setup screen. A missing or extra space, period or other character will keep data and/or picture messaging from working.

Some phones tend to switch back to the AT&T or T-Mobile APN. If this is happening try to delete the other APNs. If the APNs are locked and the delete button is disabled go to the Play Store on the phone and install the APN Backup and Restore App by Ritesh Sahu. Use the app to backup your APNs and then delete the APNs. It will delete all of them, so you will have to re-add the Straight Talk one. APN Backup and restore doesn't wth with phones running Android 4.0 or latter but a similar app called Tweakker does.

How to setup Straight Talk data and picture messaging on the iPhone:
Follow the instructions that came with the SIM to activate it online at straighttalksim.com orwww.net10sim.com or by calling 1-855-222-2355. Insert the SIM in the phone and turn it on. Make a test call to be sure your SIM really is active. Sometimes it takes a little while for the activation to process. If you still can't make voice calls after an hour, call Straight Talk's dedicated BYOP SIM support number at 855-222-2355. There's no point in trying to set up data until the SIM is active. Once you can make calls:

For T-Mobile based SIMs only: 

• Go to Settings > General > Cellular
• Verify that Cellular Data Network is set to On.
• Select Cellular Data Network.
• In the Cellular Data Section enter the following values:
• APN: wap.tracfone
• Leave the Username and Password fields blank.
• In the MMS section enter the following values:
• APN: epc.tmobile.com
• Leave the Username and Password fields blank.
• MMSC: http://mms.tracfone.com
• MMS Proxy: leave blank
• MMS Max Message Size: 1048576
• MMS UA Prof URL: http://www.apple.com/mms/uaprof.rdf
• Press the Home button to save the APNs and exit to the main screen.
• Go to Settings > Messages
• Set MMS Messaging to On
• Press the Home button to save and exit to the main screen.
• Turn the device off and on
• Turn WiFi off (Settings > WiFi) and test connectivity and picture messaging

AT&T based SIMs: iPhones will recognize a Straight Talk or NET10 AT&T SIM as an AT&T SIM and configure themselves for AT&T postpaid and then lock the settings so they can't be changed. 

To override the AT&T settings, you need to use a Straight Talk webapp to push the Straight Talk/NET10 data settings to the phone using WiFi. This will configure data (browsing, email, etc.), but not picture messaging, on any iPhone, whether jailbroken or not:

• Connect to WiFi and go to  http://iapnupdatetfdata.straighttalk.com/ with Safari on the iPhone.
• Tap "Install".
• Turn the phone off and on and test that the web works.

If data doesn't work it may be because your NET10 or Straight Talk account is configured to use the "old" settings. To setup your iphone with the old settings:

• Connect to WiFi and go to  http://unlockit.co.nz/ with Safari on the iPhone.
• On the Unlockit site, tap "Create APN".
• Choose County: United States, Carrier: Straight Talk and tap the "Create APN" button.
• Tap "Install".
• Turn the phone off and on and test that the web works.

There are several ways to setup MMS picture messaging on the iPhone that's using an AT&T based NET10 or Straight Talk SIM. The methods and steps vary depending the model of the iPhone and whether or not the phone is jail-broken and/or unlocked.

Here are instructions that work for phones whether they are jail-broken or not. This method works on the locked and unlocked iPhone 5S, 5C, 5 and 4S but the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 need to be unlocked. 

You will need a non-AT&T, non-AT&T MVNO SIM card. A T-Mobile SIM or a non US SIM will work. The SIM can be active, inactive or expired : 

• Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings to clear out any old settings
• Turn off WiFi
• Insert the T-Mobile or other non-AT&T compatible SIM card
• Start up the Notes app,
• Double tap the Home button to put Notes in the background
• Tap Home and go to Settings > General > Cellular. Be sure that Mobile Data  is "ON"
• When "Cellular Data Network" appears tap it.
• Double tap the Home button to bring up the multitasker and switch to Notes
• Remove the non-AT&T SIM card and replace it with the AT&T MVNO SIM
• Wait for the signal bars reappear and 3G or 4G icon to appear at the top of the screen and 
• Double tap the Home key to bring up Multitasking and switch back to Settings
• Enter the following settings. Use the "New" settings, if they don't work try the old settings (NET10/Straight Talk is in the process of changing every AT&T users settings)
• In the Cellular Data section, enter:
  • APN: tfdata (or att.mvno for older accounts)
  • Leave the Username and Password fields blank.
• In the MMS section enter the following values:
  • APN: tfdata (or att.mvno for older accounts)
  • Leave the Username and Password fields blank.
  • MMSC: http://mms-tf.net (or http://mmsc.cingular.com:80 for older accounts)
  • MMS Proxy:  66.209.11.33:80
  • MMS Max Message Size: 1048576
  • MMS UA Prof URL: http://www.apple.com/mms/uaprof.rdf
• Press the Home button to save the APNs and exit to the main screen.
• Go to Settings > Messages
• Set MMS Messaging to On
• Press the Home button to save and exit to the main screen.
• Turn the device off and on