Using Windows Phone 8, I am unable to open media content in text messages, says getting content but doesn't open

I've seen the loss of ability to send / receive media content happen twice (once on my phone, once on someone else's). Both phones were early developer Lumia 920, FWIW.

In both cases, the resolution was odd... and the same.

In phone settings, I went to Access Point and hit the 'Add' option and made an EXACT DUPLICATE of the existing one (in my case, AT&T).

Switching to the new one worked -- and so did switching back to the original one.

No idea what this did to fix anything, but it did.

I've  been meaning to follow up on my post as well. I pulled the SIM out of my Nokia 1520 and re-inserted it. Media Content started flowing in immediately. Not sure why. It worked though.

Hi Alan,

As the originator of this thread I know well your frustration. That said I found a solution (a great solution in that I got paid rather nicely to execute it) that you might find of some help.

1^st^: I do not think this a Microsoft specific issue. Why do I say that? Back in December, while complaining face-to-face to my local T-Mobile store manager; I overheard another customer describing (what I thought) a very similar issue - although she had an older iPhone. She went on to describe that not only had she this issue; but a friend, who had a newer (but not the latest) iPhone, had a similar issue.

My solution? I essentially got paid $280 (this year) to upgrade both my phone and cellular service. Allow me to explain:

I had a Lumia 521 (bought on sale from the Microsoft store for about $70) and a no-contract T-Mobile Unlimited Talk and Text for about $40/mth (they publish a lower rate but its about $40 after you include their various taxes and fees).

Check out Cricket. They have an offer which provides a new Lumia 635 for FREE (ok – you have to spend $75 up front and then jump through the obnoxious hoops of the rebate process, not to mention waiting 6-8wks for the promised $75 Visa card). But at the end of the day from a $ perspective it looks like a wash.

But I found it a bit more than a wash…. I say that for while the offer requires me to buy at least their $40/mth Basic plan which in addition to being approximately what I was paying at T-Mobile; includes both: a.) the obnoxious taxes & fees that T-Mobile (as well as Verizon & AT&T) add on top of their advertised prices. And b.) unlimited Data (this is in addition to unlimited Talk and Text) which means that frustrating media content problem is history.

NOTE: because I never had any Data with T-Mobile (I didn’t see the need as I was usually near WiFI) most of the solutions presented in this thread simply did not work for me.

So now for the same money I got to keep my Windows Phone (actually a better Windows Phone - Lumia 635 vs the 521) and no more media content issue. Plus on those rare occasions when I do not have WiFI access; I get relatively reasonable internet access (full LTE in many cases).

Now for the interesting part… Getting paid $280.  This came in two parts:

Part 1: $100. In January Cricket offered to credit my account $100 if I simply switch my phone # from T-Mobile to Cricket. I needed to do this anyway to keep my number on my new Lumia 635. So that was a no brainer and I believe it more than covered my time for executing the rebate process mentioned above.

Part 2: $180. Remember that $40/mth Basic plan. Well it turns out if you make auto-payments they reduce it by $5/mth.  That would have been a $60/year reduction. So how did I get $180 you ask. Well my bride and 2 daughters all needed to replace their no-contact PagePlus phones. So we set them with Cricket with $40/mth Basic plans and added them to my account. Because we are all on one account Cricket gives us a group discount. In our case $60/mth, which is $180/year.

So for what it’s worth, while I used to share your frustration; now I am rather pleased with both Microsoft and Cricket.

Cheers!

Paul

I too have the media content problem, very unlikely to buy another windows phone after this. If MS cannot get the basics right they have no chance in getting repeat customers. Alan Catterson