Since the release of iPhone 2.0, you’re allowed to edit APN settings for the cellular data network connection of your iPhone. Normally, you can access this setting by tapping Settings -> General -> Network -> Cellular Data Network. However, as I know, not everyone can edit the APN setting, no matter you’re using EDGE or 3G. Apple provides a configuration tool for carriers and lets them to determine if they want the users to edit the APN settings. Some carriers prefer to preset the APN setting for its users but disallow the editing by disabling the option.
It’s not a problem if you bought your iPhone from the official carrier. But if you’re using an unlocked iPhone with other carriers, you’ll need to edit the APN setting for connecting to the Internet.
So, what if you can’t find this option after jailbreaking & unlocking your iPhone? Here is the solution. [Thanks to altfx2 for sharing the tip!]
Before diving deep into the solution, make sure you know how to use SSH to transfer file between iPhone and your computer. You’ll need to copy a file from iPhone to your PC/Mac for editing and then transfer it back to iPhone. You can refer to this guide if you’re not very familiar with SSH:
Let’s get started
1. First, connect to your iPhone using WinSCP for Windows or Cyberduck for Mac. Navigate to /System/Library/Carrier Bundles/
2. Copy the “carrier.plist” file from iPhone to your computer.
For Mac User
3. You can simply double-click on the “carrier.plist” to open it. Check the “AllowEDGEEditing” checkbox to enable it.
For Windows User
3. Download Property List Editor and use it to open “carrier.plist”. Add the following code:
<key>AllowEDGEEditing</key>
<true/>
4. Save the change and transfer the file back to iPhone. Put the file back to the same folder you use in step 1.
5. Once done, restart your iPhone. You should be able to edit APN setting by tapping Setting -> General -> Network -> Cellular Data Network
nice post .. helped a lot
wonderful post, considering APN Editing is down in Cydia.
Will click on a few ads for you.
So I’ve found this same information posted on numerous different sites and was hoping that it would help me get Visual Voicemail working on my iPhone again. Unfortunately, having followed this information to a T, I’m unable to get the Cellular Data Network button to appear. Everything else appears to be working properly on my phone.
I have a Jailbroken 3GS running 3.0.1. I’ve tried carrier profiles and numerous other tweaks. And not that I’d really use this feature much, I just hate having features disabled by service providers like AT&T.
Any ideas why this might not be working for me?
Hey, what application are you using for editing the .plist like that on the Mac ? Mine opens it in a strange encoding in textedit, and i got to open it with textwrangler the same way the windows one looks, but i don’t have the code there, i think i need to add it manually.
thanks
@George, you can open the file with Property List Editor.
Thanks, it worked perfectly.
What is Property List Editor?
Thanks
I could modify carrier.plist but still I could not connect to the network wap
i cant seems to find the EDGE tag?? anyone know why that is??
Is there an Property List Editor for Windows XP?
Thank you.
On 3.1.2 – I was able to get it fixed only after modifying the carrier file on var/mobile/library/Carrier in addition to the file in /System/Library/Carrier Bundles/ mentioned in this post (maybe the first one is even enough).
I want to use the opportunity to thank Simon for this amazing blog. Thanks.
ttllkk – great tip!
my carrier has updated the settings, and I’ve been sweating this out for the past few hours!
ttllkk. Unfortunately I still cannot edit the apn settings. The only thing I am able to change is carrier. I have downloaded the app open SSH in cydia and I have followed all of these steps with SSH Transfer. Reboot the phone and still no apn tab in network settings. This is driving me crazy…..
Great and fantastic! Keep up the great work! Share knowledge!
so there is no Edge option?? so i added it? still nothing??
a screen just pops up and says “could not activate cellular data network”? you are not subscribed to a cellular data service? and i am??.. i did the 3.1.2 upgrade jailbroke with AT&T everything works but the internet? please help!!
Facing the same problem. The carrier.plist doesn’t show any of the stuff shown in the picture above. I am using etisalat SIM card (UAE). I urgently want to solve my problem as I also get the same error messages like : “could not activate cellular data network”; “you are not subscribed to a cellular data service”…… but my credit balance is constantly deducting. Help!!
Con dobleclick no se abre el archivo para editarlo. Cómo debo hacer?
Trabajo en una mac.
En la mac baja el program que se llama cyberduck para q puedas conectarte por medio de SSH. Despues buscas el archivo mencionado en el paso tres y lo descargas en tu orgnizador.
I followed the article and could not see the Cellular Data Network options…I had to edit another carrier.plist file located in var/mobile/library/Carrier as user “ttllkk” mentioned. This should help all…trust me.
John February 15, 2010 at 4:37 am
“”I followed the article and could not see the Cellular Data Network options…I had to edit another carrier.plist file located in var/mobile/library/Carrier as user “ttllkk” mentioned. This should help all…trust me.”"
ok, what did you edit there? what did you do? just add the string AllowEDGEEditing
or check box on mac
be specific, wut did u edit and wut those edits were
I did this, sucessfully got the thing to show up with AT&T but i get message failed to send.
Great Post,
But I got an update here.
Im using Vodafone, and it didnt have the Boolean entry for AllowEDGEEDiting , so I just created a new one.
And it worked fine, infact didnt even have to Restart the phone.
Good one !
Can someone please help me with which bundle to edit for T-mobile USA, I cannot seem to find one that looks right.
Thanks
I got it to work but had to modify your procedure.AT&T, OSX 10.6.3, and iPhone 3.1.2 Jailbroken and unlocked (BlackSn0w). Open SSH and Cyberduck allowed me to get to the plist file but when I opened it, it opened in TextEdit.
I did a search and found a link to PlistEdit Pro and downloaded it from the apple site.
I then opened the carrier plist with PlistEdit Pro and there was no entry for “AllowEDGEEditing”. I was able to create one (Click on Root -> click New Child -> name it AllowEDGEEditing -> select Boolean under Class -> select Yes under Value). I saved the file and uploaded it to the phone.
It worked as advertised. No restart required.
Thank you for your clarifications, they were extremely helpful. After a year of trying to make this work I can now finally get data on my my iPhone.
Thank you to PvtIdaho and all the others that have helped me get this working.
David
followed instructons. Running jailbroken iPhone with Mac OSX 10.6.4. Added “AllowEDGEEditing”, uploaded, and still nothing. Any ideas?
Thnks very much it worked for me
running 3.1.2 on an iPhone 3G 8GB Vodafone Egypt. i also had to edit multiple carrier.plist files. you’ll find carrier.plist under user/library/Carrier Bundle.Bundle and also under Custom Carrier.Bundle. there’s Operator Bundle.Bundle too, which i didn’t touch. i used plist editor for windows to edit carrier.plist under Carrier Bundle.Bundle and carrier.plist under Custom Carrier.Bundle. be sure to make backups. as other ppl described, i added the following line of text to carrier.plist as mentioned above:
AllowEDGEEditing
then voila ‘Cellular Data Network’ appeared and everything worked like magic. didn’t even have to reboot the phone. thanks for the help.
Hello, I’m using China mobile right now and I’ve got the iphone jailbroken (with blackra1n) for 9 months. Until jailbreaking my 3G version 3.1.2 my 3G and GPRS was working with spanish carrier (in Spain). I jailbroke it in oder to use china mobile in china but I’d not had data subscription until now. I’ve got the “Cellular Data Network” and I can edit it and put the carrier information. But I can’t access to internet. I’ve tried another iphone with my sim card and even a Nokia E67, and I can go to internet with the same data information.(APN:CMNET,user:blank,pass:blank)
I’ve tried SBSettings so I can see that the carrier gives me a DATA IP as soon as EDGE or GPRS is active, but I cannot update the weather app either use safari.
Any ideas?? ’cause I’ve run out of them
Solved … I upgrade from 3.1.2 to 4.0 but I don’t recommend it … this SO is sooo slow for iphone 3G that I’ll downgrade to 3.1.3 in no matter of time. But At least I hafve internet in my mobile
i cant find the right carrier bundle? any ideas? Islandcom is the name of the company but it is not listed??
Thanks Simon!! it works perfectly fine!! from Argentina
Which bundle do I edit for T-mobile in the United States?
I have similar trouble’s ..i wanna trying your tutorial …Thanks A lot …
Hi,
I am currently using iPhone 3gs 16 GB model, MC model. My career is vodafone IN. I reside in Delhi. Plz tell me if APN editing let me browse Internet via GPRS. Because I am not subscribe to any monthly data plans.
The post was just OK, but the clarification from PvtIdaho posted on April 19, 2010 at 12:50 pm, was extremely helpful.
Thank you to all that have helped me get this working.
David
makes sense to act this way, but it didn’t work.
my providers property list didn’t have a line for “allow editing”.
inserting such a line didn’t work either.
any suggestions?
BTW: cellular data network is available with another SIM (different provider).
found the right carrier.plist
there are so many!
and now I’ll have to find the right parameters to fill in :-/
Hmmm
Upgraded last night to 4.0.1, performed exactly as prescribed (icluding my own tip from way back – and now it doesn’t work (don’t see the cellular network settings…)
I followed the procedure for China mobile in China. It actually already had the line of code when I opened it. It still does not show cellular data network. Any other ideas on how to get it to show up? I am on a iphone 4 jailbroken and unlocked.
I followed the procedure for China mobile in China. It actually already had the line of code when I opened it. It still does not show cellular data network. Any other ideas on how to get it to show up? I am on a iphone 4 jailbroken and unlocked.
Here is what is on my carrier list. I already have the code line but the APN setting does not show up still. Is there another line I need to edit?
ASCIIFileNameRequired
AllowEDGEEditing
CarrierName
中国移动
CheckSMSonSIM
MMS
GroupModeEnabled
vCard21ExportModeEnabled
PhoneNumberRegistrationGatewayAddress
00447786205094
ShowCallForwarded
ShowCallForwarding
ShowTTY
StatusBarImages
AllowPrefixMatching
CarrierName
CHINA MOBILE
DefaultImage
Default_CARRIER_China-Mobile.png
FullScreenOpaqueImage
FSO_CARRIER_China-Mobile.png
StatusBarCarrierName
中国移动
AllowPrefixMatching
CarrierName
China Mobile
DefaultImage
Default_CARRIER_China-Mobile.png
FullScreenOpaqueImage
FSO_CARRIER_China-Mobile.png
StatusBarCarrierName
中国移动
SupportedSIMs
46000
46002
SupportsNITZ
SyncSIMPhonebook
URLifyUnquotedShorts
VisualVoicemailServiceName
none
VoicemailPilotNumber
apns
apn
password
signature
UPjwiZr7gVDTYaHl62x1+C3r7ws3F01lFGOVCEiPGNZHCQ4nbLft
eTj/HIc3sONpSDvjqIHP96GkgS1GzAvb2yeK8QjQu8Qe3Gxg9H38
wSe/PIPJlkooHbufLcMhXfN5cBupzchOvxpWR2tro1NsYHkUI7kc
CbBx5iZZPRGiP/o=
type-mask
0
username
apn
password
signature
UPjwiZr7gVDTYaHl62x1+C3r7ws3F01lFGOVCEiPGNZHCQ4nbLft
eTj/HIc3sONpSDvjqIHP96GkgS1GzAvb2yeK8QjQu8Qe3Gxg9H38
wSe/PIPJlkooHbufLcMhXfN5cBupzchOvxpWR2tro1NsYHkUI7kc
CbBx5iZZPRGiP/o=
type-mask
0
username
apn
password
signature
UPjwiZr7gVDTYaHl62x1+C3r7ws3F01lFGOVCEiPGNZHCQ4nbLft
eTj/HIc3sONpSDvjqIHP96GkgS1GzAvb2yeK8QjQu8Qe3Gxg9H38
wSe/PIPJlkooHbufLcMhXfN5cBupzchOvxpWR2tro1NsYHkUI7kc
CbBx5iZZPRGiP/o=
type-mask
0
username
signature
OCm+j4CkxHo9TXjigyrGWelv4Vq2L1FFAkZWGe6N2jqCaeQZkXveGTAnWss7yZoxof4j
eKQhv+d63NIfE9UmayqA/7dzAvw2Palqs8FEvADmOpynuVUKWnEaSRUqrGimKzNb/HYT
tKcXfA7UNjUnY+Huc39wCpRI9hmwGe/NeIU=
i used this and my internet is working on iwireless which is tmobiles prepaid where im athttp://www.iphone-notes.de/mobileconfig/
Upgraded to 4.1, still doesn’t work…
I even installed a commcenter patch file.
Any ideas?
Thanks.
tried all the steps above but still no luck…I have an iPhone 2G with 3.1.2 firmware…I searched for all the carrier.plist files in other directories and updated them as well but no luck
please suggest…
Hi.
It definitely works. All I had to do was go to my providers bundle (Vodafone_es in my case) in the said location, add the AllowEDGEEditing Key and didn’t even have to reboot the phone. Finally there was the new option mobile network and I could see and edit the APN and MMS settings. Yippieeh! Thanx for the great manual!!!
Sorry, I was being premature. It worked for exactly several hours and then suddenly my iPhone 4 showed the Apple Logo without me even touching it. After it had completed the reboot, the “General -> Network -> Cellular Data Network” option had vanished again. Aaaaaaaahhhhh.
I immediately went to the Carrier Bundle locations, but the carrier.plist files were still untouched. I then even went to the other location named above “var/mobile/Library/Carrier Name.bundle” and added the “AllowEDGEEditing Key” into that file too. But even after another reboot the settings tab is still missing!!! How is that even possible? Is there any other hidden location for that key, that I don’t know of and which overwrote my changes in the memory? All the files in the respective locations are unchanged. If they had been overwritten I could just have changed them again. But now I am out of ideas, how to proceed. ANY HELP APPRECIATED!!!
Ok, after hours on the internet I found out, that from iOS 4 onward you can’t make those changes to the carrier.plist files any more, because Apple included Signatures and Signature checks. If you change only 1 bit in the carrier.plist Files, they won’t load anymore and your iPhone will go back to default settings, which are totally restrictive (including not allowing any APN changes). You can confirm that by going to Settings -> General -> Info. At Carrier (between Version and Model) their is no name anymore, instead it shows “not available”. That means, no carrier.plist has been loaded by your iPhone at all. The only way to get that back is to restore the original carrier.plist Files (or better the complete directories of the carrier bundles) that you changed.
I was about to give up, when I stumbled over an alternative, that finally worked for me: Supreme Preferences 3.0
Make sure you get the Version 3.0 1b8 or newer. You can install it through cydia (repo should be included) and need to go to Winterboard to activate it. There is plenty of info if you google it, but beware, many of the threads talk about the old beta versions, which had to be installed manually.
All I can say is, that after activating that setting in Supreme Preferences I was finally able to edit the Network APN Settings again. Yippiiieh.
LoveIt!
Thanks, issue finally resolved.
Only addition is that winterboard needs to be installed first and within it you need to activate Supreme.
Thanks a lot
Excellent , it helped a lot
Just Awesome!
This solution just worked pretty good for me!!!
Tried everything like iphone confi utility (This solution you can only edit profiles) The problem with this approach is that whenever you are tethering your iphone, the iphone seems to create an internal private network to share yor apn connection with the outside world, but the problem is that by somehow the profile apn that you installed with iphone confi tool is not de current default gateway and what happens is that the old and permanent apn (That came configured by your carrier) is the one chosen to be your default gateway.
With this methode by editing the carrier.plist you overcome this problem of apn profiles…
Thanks!
thnx it really worked…recommended!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I would personally give you a massive hug if I could. NOONE in Brazil knew how to do it, and your instructions were easy enough for a computer retard like me!
Works!!…but for me, in Brazil, I edited the file in the directory: `/User/library/Carrier Bundle.bundle`
Thanks!!
Hi,
My Carrier.plist looks like this:
bplist00Þ
/0456BC_ShowCallForwarded\StockSymboli_MyAccountURLTitle]SupportedSIMs\SupportsNITZWShowTTY[CarrierName\BookmarkURLs\MyAccountURL_VisualVoicemailServiceName_StatusBarImages_ShowCallForwarding_voicemail_contextTapns¡ÑVsymbolV^BSESNXVodafone¯ !”#$%&’()*+,U40427U40446U40443U40460U40401U40415U40430U40405U40420U40411U40413U40484U40486U40567U40566U40488V405750V405751V405752V405753V405754V405755V405756^Vodafone India¡1Ò234[BookmarkURL\BookmarkName_http://www.vodafone.inTnone¢7?Ô89:;_FullScreenOpaqueImage_AllowPrefixMatching\DefaultImage[Vodafone IN_FSO_CARRIER_Vodafone IN.png_ Default_CARRIER_Vodafone IN.pngÔ89:
Can you please tell me how can i enable APN settings through it
Thanks in advance
Thanks alot it worked for me.. I’m using Vodafone India..
nice one troops
I was having issues getting my T-Mobile web service to work on my unlocked/jail broken iphone 3G, and my sons 3GS. I have T-Mobiles Flexpay Unlimited call, text, and web. ($60 a month) I contacted them via web chat, told them i was using my iPHONE’s and then told them about the web browsing problem. (web2go up sell message) They were more than happy to help me out. I followed these instructions and my phone is fully functioning. I thought I would share the information that they had given to me, for anyone who is having the same issues. HERE IT IS…
From the main menu, scroll to and select Settings.
Select General.
Select Network.
Verify the following settings:
Data Roaming is set to On.
3G Enable is Off (3G iPhones only.)
Verify that Wi-Fi is turned off.
Note: The Apple iPhone is missing the WCDMA 1700 band, and cannot function on the T-Mobile 3G network.
Note: Changing the 3G Enable function while the device is on an active call may cause the call to disconnect.
Select Cellular Data Network.
Note: In software versions prior to 2.0, Cellular Data Network is called EDGE.
In the Cellular Data APN field, enter epc.tmobile.com
Leave the Username and Password fields blank.
Press the Home button to save the APN and exit to the main screen.
In the MMS section.
For the APN field enter epc.tmobile.com
Leave the Username field blank.
Leave the Password field blank.
For the MMSC field enter http://mms.msg.eng.t-mobile.com/mms/wapenc
Leave the MMS Proxy field blank
Leave the MMS Max Message Size field blank.
Leave the MMS UA Prof URL field blank.
Press the Home button to return to the Main Menu.
Power cycle the handset.
Test MMS functionality.
Note: The handset must be power cycled following MMS configuration. Until the handset is power cycled, you will not see an option to send an MMS.
Verify MMS is enabled:
Tap Settings
Tap Messages
Tap MMS
Set MMS Messaging to On
If you arent able to see the (Cellular Data Network) after doing the edit straight from the /System/Library/Carrier Bundles/ .bundle directory, try doing this go to var/mobile/Library/Carrier Bunble.bundle and edit it from there. It worked for me.
If you arent able to see the (Cellular Data Network) after doing the edit straight from the /System/Library/Carrier Bundles/ .bundle directory, try doing this go to var/mobile/Library/Carrier Bunble.bundle and edit it from there. It worked for me. Im on a iPhone 4 OS 4.1
beautiful! thanks.
my first piece of system file editing for my 3G, cos none of the other software routes were usable – wrong phone, wrong o.s., wrong time…
using macbook, plistedit pro (free from apple) (oh, i geddit! app can be short for more than one word), and phoneview.
navigated to disk/User/Library/Carrier Bundle.bundle/
copied Carrier.plist to mac
opened in plistedit pro. used operations/change format (to xml)
[the file can't usefully be edited in textedit.]
copied & pasted the lines:
AllowEDGEEditing
(there! did it again!)
saved file (having made sure to keep an unedited copy, in case of foul-up)
copied back to 3G.
no reboot necessary.
still worked after reboot.
wow
beautiful! thanks.
my first piece of system file editing for my 3G, cos none of the other software routes were usable – wrong phone, wrong o.s., wrong time…
using macbook, plistedit pro (free from apple) (oh, i geddit! app can be short for more than one word), and phoneview.
navigated to disk/User/Library/Carrier Bundle.bundle/
copied Carrier.plist to mac
opened in plistedit pro. used operations/change format (to xml)
[the file can't usefully be edited in textedit.]
copied & pasted the lines:
“AllowEDGEEditing
”
(there! did it again!)
saved file (having made sure to keep an unedited copy, in case of foul-up)
copied back to 3G.
no reboot necessary.
still worked after reboot.
wow
T.H.A.N.K.S.!!!!!!
This one worked perfect on ios 4.3.3
can’t find the carrier bundle anywhere for Ukranian mobile company MTS !!!??? have looked everywhere …. anyone?
using t-mobile USA, but it isnt there? so what am i supposed to do now? help would be great, thxs!
Did you ever find which is the right Tmobile Usa bundle?
Hey amazing work.
How did you actually start off with this?discovering that this file needs to be edited,etc
I found a Tmobile USA bundle in Cydia when I searched for something else. I searched for a tweak called APN Editing – unfortunately neither the tweak or the bundle has worked for me. I still can’t edit the APN settings
Hi,
I’m using an iPhone 3gs jailbroken from a Canadian carrier (Bell). I did everything as mentioned “AllowEDGEEditing
” and reboot my iPhone but I still can’t edit the APN. One thing I noticed is my carrier file is under /System/Library/Carrier Bundles/iPhone/Bell_ca.bundle; there is an iPhone folder before the carrier folder. I don’t think that’s a big deal. Also, I don’t have BookmarkURLs in my plist file. Here’s the info in my file before and after:
Before
———
CarrierName
Bell
MMS
After
——-
AllowEDGEEditing
CarrierName
Bell
MMS
Sweet!!! Thanks! Been looking for this for soooo long!!! Thanks a lot! It works great!
I’ve been browsing on-line more than 3 hours these days, yet I by no means found any fascinating article like yours. It?s pretty price enough for me. In my opinion, if all site owners and bloggers made just right content material as you did, the web shall be a lot more helpful than ever before.
I totally agree. I browsed for hours looking for this information and this was the ONLY blog that really offered any valid help. I am very, very grateful.
reply to Eddy or other on Bell.ca
I did edit /System/Library/Carrier Bundles/iPhone/Bell_ca.bundle
no luck
But If you arent able to see the (Cellular Data Network) after doing the edit straight from the /System/Library/Carrier Bundles/ .bundle directory, try doing this go to var/mobile/Library/Carrier Bunble.bundle and edit it from there. It worked for me. Im on a iPhone 4 OS 4.21
Update for Os4 user.
Samething happen like LoveIt! October 28, 2010 at 7:49 am #
Sorry, I was being premature. It worked for exactly several hours and then suddenly my iPhone 4 showed the Apple Logo without me even touching it. After it had completed the reboot, the “General -> Network -> Cellular Data Network” option had vanished again. Aaaaaaaahhhhh.
And no internet.
So i removed the added lines, reboot than it work again.
I did it, and after that I couldn’t connect to the internet via my cellular company. The APN setings apeared, and after some time disapeared. When I inserted another sim, I could see the APN settings, but stil couldn’t connect to the internet also with this second sim. So I transfered the original carrier file back, and everything is working fine. My iphone has 4.3.2 software. The trick didn’t work….
P*E*R*F*E*C*T worked like a charm….Thanx
Man you’re good. Thanks for everything, now i have to talk with my carrier for internet services, but this is not a problem. I just clicked on your every comercial in this blog. Thanks again. I owe you one
Jason and 1nDeeD and to the author.
What iPhone version do you have, baseband and firmware? Mine is:
Device Type iPhone 4G (iPhone3,1)
iOS Version 5.0.1 (9A405)
Hardware Model Number MC608-LL/A
Firmware Version iBoot-1219.43.32
Baseband Version 04.11.08
With this article, though useful in many cases, I’m like Eddy where my carrier file is under /System/Library/Carrier Bundles/iPhone/ATT_US.bundle; there is an iPhone folder before the carrier bundle folder.
I’m currently on AT&T’s network and I have a T-Moble Prepaid microSIM and I want use it in the iPhone instead. I have it Jail Broken, I’ve ran Ultrasn0w, APN Editor through Cydia, Advanced Preferences, and even a Comcenter Patch and I can’t get anything to work . To bring the phone back to the original state I did a restore from backup and brought it back to standard load and then did another jailbreak on it and started this article.
Any suggestions on this? I’d really appreciate it.!