[FIX][PATCH] Virgin Mobile APN Patch for Android Marshmallow

[Chippy Chapz]

Over the past couple of months, I’ve spend countless hours trying to get my phone to work properly on Virgin Mobile’s network. For those of you who have ever attempted to flash a newer version of Android onto your phone, you’ve probably found yourself in a similar situation. That’s precisely why I have taken the time to write this post. I finally found a solution to this problem and decided to share it with the community. Your welcome everyone!

Onto the most important piece of this post—the actual solution. For those of you keen on flashing things, I created a ZIP package that you can install using either ClockworkMod or TWRP. It is designed to fix the following issues that many popular ROMs have:

• Wrong carrier name – Some ROMs show “Sprint” as your carrier instead of “Virgin Mobile”.
• Broken LTE – Most ROMs are not able to establish an LTE connection to nearby cell towers.
• Broken MMS – Most ROMs are not configured to handle MMS (text messages with attachments) properly. This typically prevents the default text messaging application from downloading and sending MMS messages.

So now that you know what the patch is able to do, here’s a small list of problems that it cannot fix:

• MMS messages cannot be sent over LTE using the AOSP messaging application
• Group messaging (which also relies on MMS) does not work in the AOSP messaging application
• Android is sometimes unable to switch between LTE, 3G, and 2G when the preferred network type is set to LTE. This is most likely a compatibility issue with the modem firmware and newer versions of Android.

In order to get MMS and group messaging to work properly in Android Marshmallow, I recommend that you install Textra SMS. It will resolve all of the MMS issues listed above. Please note that Hangouts does not appear to work in Android Marshmallow but it does in Android Lollipop. I haven’t done a lot of testing with Hangouts though, so feel free to try it out for yourself.

Directions:

1. Boot phone into recovery mode
2. Flash your favorite ROM
3. Flash the APN patch / ZIP package
4. Boot into Android and get past the welcome screens (if applicable)
5. Wait a few minutes for the telephony database to be rebuilt

If everything goes according to plan (and you’re not standing in a dead zone), your phone should establish an LTE connection to the nearest cell tower. If you are in an area where LTE is not available, try switching your phone’s preferred network type to 3G if you are unable to establish any sort of data connection within the first few minutes.

Downloads:

File Name: "vmu-apn-patch.zip"
MD5: 7BF4BD3370CD3C3C3EABE93AD492DC55
Link: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=9589CE1DB53562DD!5950&authkey=!AChog-_qpGDA5xc&ithint=file,zip

I would like to give a special shout-out to MopedRyder over on AndroidForms. This APN patch is based on a similar one that he made for Android KitKat (4.4). You can check it out here.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central, and thanks for sharing that!

 

[Chippy Chapz]

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: Will this fix my LTE connection?
Answer: Yes. Your phone should be able to establish an LTE connection if that service is available in your area.

Question: What versions of Android is this patch designed for?
Answer: This patch has only been tested on Android Marshmallow (6.0). However, it should work on Android Lollipop (5.0 - 5.1) as well. Feel free to test this patch and report whether it works properly on older versions of Android. If you are running Android KitKat (4.4), I recommend you try using this patch instead.

Question: Will this patch work on phones other than the Samsung Galaxy S3?
Answer: It’s hard to tell. This patch relies on your phone’s recovery software to identify and mount the necessary partitions. If your phone’s internal storage contains the standard Android partitions (/boot, /data, /system, /cache, etc.), this patch may very well install the way it is supposed to. If you choose to apply this patch to a phone other than a Samsung Galaxy S3, you are doing so at your own risk. You have been warned.

Question: What recovery software should I use to install this patch?
Answer: It is recommend that you use either ClockworkMod or TWRP.

Question: Will “Virgin Mobile” display as my phone’s carrier?
Answer: Yes.

Question: Will this patch allow me to send MMS messages using the AOSP messaging application?
Answer: The AOSP messaging application in Android Marshmallow does provide partial support for MMS messages that are sent through the Virgin Mobile network. You will be able to send and receive attachments, but group messaging does not appear to work yet.

Question: Which third-party text messaging applications handle MMS messages properly?
Answer: Based on initial testing, it appears that Textra SMS is able to handle MMS messages properly on both Android Lollipop and Android Marshmallow. Please note that Hangouts does not appear to be able to send or receive MMS messages in Android Marshmallow. However, my experience with Android Lollipop was a bit different. In that version of Android, Hangouts was able to send and receive MMS messages properly.

Question: If I dirty flash a ROM overtop of an existing installation of Android, should I reapply the patch?
Answer: Yes. Dirty flashing a ROM often overwrites the apn.xml and telephony database files. This may cause your phone to loose LTE and MMS.

 

[rstamey1985]

Over the past couple of months, I’ve spend countless hours trying to get my phone to work properly on Virgin Mobile’s network. For those of you who have ever attempted to flash a newer version of Android onto your phone, you’ve probably found yourself in a similar situation. That’s precisely why I have taken the time to write this post. I finally found a solution to this problem and decided to share it with the community. Your welcome everyone!

Onto the most important piece of this post—the actual solution. For those of you keen on flashing things, I created a ZIP package that you can install using either ClockworkMod or TWRP. It is designed to fix the following issues that many popular ROMs have:

• Wrong carrier name – Some ROMs show “Sprint” as your carrier instead of “Virgin Mobile”.
• Broken LTE – Most ROMs are not able to establish an LTE connection to nearby cell towers.
• Broken MMS – Most ROMs are not configured to handle MMS (text messages with attachments) properly. This typically prevents the default text messaging application from downloading and sending MMS messages.

So now that you know what the patch is able to do, here’s a small list of problems that it cannot fix:

• MMS messages cannot be sent over LTE using the AOSP messaging application
• Group messaging (which also relies on MMS) does not work in the AOSP messaging application
• Android is sometimes unable to switch between LTE, 3G, and 2G when the preferred network type is set to LTE. This is most likely a compatibility issue with the modem firmware and newer versions of Android.

In order to get MMS and group messaging to work properly in Android Marshmallow, I recommend that you install Textra SMS. It will resolve all of the MMS issues listed above. Please note that Hangouts does not appear to work in Android Marshmallow but it does in Android Lollipop. I haven’t done a lot of testing with Hangouts though, so feel free to try it out for yourself.

Directions:

1. Boot phone into recovery mode
2. Flash your favorite ROM
3. Flash the APN patch / ZIP package
4. Boot into Android and get past the welcome screens (if applicable)
5. Wait a few minutes for the telephony database to be rebuilt

If everything goes according to plan (and you’re not standing in a dead zone), your phone should establish an LTE connection to the nearest cell tower. If you are in an area where LTE is not available, try switching your phone’s preferred network type to 3G if you are unable to establish any sort of data connection within the first few minutes.

Downloads:

File Name: "vmu-apn-patch.zip"
MD5: 7BF4BD3370CD3C3C3EABE93AD492DC55
Link: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=9589CE1DB53562DD!5950&authkey=!AChog-_qpGDA5xc&ithint=file,zip

I would like to give a special shout-out to MopedRyder over on AndroidForms. This APN patch is based on a similar one that he made for Android KitKat (4.4). You can check it out here.

Bro, much love I have tried for months to get my APN settings, right nothing ever worked for me but this did. Thank you very much I really appreciate it

 

[unklegwar]

I just tried this and the MD5 check failed as did the zip integrity. Anywhere else I can get this, or an updated version of this?