Picture Messaging on Samsung J3 will not Send

[Raemarbeau]

Hello, I have a new Samsung J3 2017 that I'm using as a spare to see if I like a full version flagship Samsung smartphone. I can't not get it, J3, to send picture messages via my home wi-fi. Only text will go through on wi-fi. Picture messages and text will only send thru my provider data connection. They will not send to any contacts thru my wi-fi nor will it send to my HTC M9 phone. They attempt but the small mms/sms prompt next to photo continues to spin and it never sends. I even lowered my picture size on these sends thinking it may be to large to accommodate. I normally do everything; messaging and email through wi-fi on my phones and save the data for emergency. My wi-fi works fine with internet and email sends on this Samsung J3 (and good wi-fi on all other devices). What toggle am I missing on this J3 to use wi-fi for multi-messaging? I have only attempted one photo send at a time with no success. Thank you.

 

[Unforgiven]

So I'm clear, the MMS messages go through on cellular data, but not WiFi?

 

[Raemarbeau]

So I'm clear, the MMS messages go through on cellular data, but not WiFi?

Yes, Picture messaging only goes thru on my cell data. Pictures will not send thru my wireless home wi-fi on the J3.

 

[Unforgiven]

Yes, Picture messaging only goes thru on my cell data. Pictures will not send thru my wireless home wi-fi on the J3.

OK, I haven't seen that problem before, but there is a lot I don't know. Have you checked your APN settings? You should be able to match them up with what you have on the M9 or get them from your carrier. It's under your wireless carrier section of settings (I'd give an exact path but it varies by vendor and Android version).

 

[Raemarbeau]

Thank you. APN(Access Point Name) is listed under Mobile Networks on both existing HTC and new J3 phones. Both are toggled the same, web.gci. GCI is the cell provider in my area. Both Wi-Fi connections look the same on each phone as well. The wi-fi picture sends is what I'm having problems with. I have both phone numbers keyed in for each phone. I tried to send again entering the actual 10-digit phone number manually bypassing the contacts list. No go. It will not send pics through wi-fi from the Samsung J3 only thru the data port. BTW, wi-fi picture sends will not go through to any of my phone contacts. I'm using the HTC M9 as my tester.

I will take the phone in to the provider in the next couple days and hopefully get on their wi-fi and try to duplicate my trouble. Using their data will not prove anything as I can already do sends through their data. If they don't have store wi-fi available(can't imagine not ??), I can step out into the mall and use the mall's free wi-fi to send a pic from phone to phone. There are a couple restaurants close by with free wi-fi as well. Just odd and frustrating. This J3 has not been a fun experience...ugh. If I could get my hands on another HTC M9 or as good, I would use sharp elbows to make that happen.

 

[Raemarbeau]

Question: Is wi-fi involved with texting at all? Each time I text, is it using cellular data to send that text or can I rely on wi-fi as the vehicle to send texts?

Sending pictures from the J3 will not send from phone to phone or contact's phone. Sending pics from M9 'DO' send and arrive on the J3 but a prompt says "Failed to download attachment from multimedia message. Try again later." It's definitely missing a toggle on the J3 somewhere.

Nothing wrong with the wi-fi. It works just fine on both devices and all devices in my home. Not sure how I got so far twisted up on this. lol So sorry. Will get with provider soon... Thank you!

 

[Raemarbeau]

I wrote yesterday but deleted part of the post. I wrote that I may have sent us/you on a wild goose chase. So sorry. Text and/or talk doesn't have anything to do with the Wi-fi connection. Email and internet work from wi-fi(and mobile data if I have no access to wi-fi). The two; talk and text versus internet are two separate entities. I work from home so have access to wi-fi all the time. I spoke to my cellular provider today and where my trouble laid was the Samsung J3 'does not' automatically turn on each time I send a picture text thus causing the mms not to engage on command. My HTC M9 'DOES' automatically recognize that a picture text is being sent and engages on command, without my help. Differences of a high-end phone and a low-end phone, possibly... I have to physically go into settings on the J3 and turn on the mobile data before texting photos, hence my trouble. I could leave the mobile data on all the time but won't because it eats up my data limit. And I don't send many text pics either. So sorry for the confusion. :-( Because my M9 texts picture on command, I thought my wi-fi was doing all the work. I expected the same on this new phone. Thank you so much for your informative posts! So appreciated!