Can't get Boost APNs to stick - E 2015 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

My phone is the Boost Mobile XT1526. Running Cyanogenmod 13 by squid2. The latest build.
I've been using the Boost APN found here, and even though it works, its not ideal. I'd rather use the APN that's built into the ROM or the APN I pulled from the stock ROM.
My problem is that, for the life of me, I absolutely cannot get the APNs to stick. The APN that's built into CM13, doesn't stick. It disappears. And if I manually add the APN I pulled from the stock ROM, that disappears as soon as I hit save. I have no clue why. The only APN I can use is the one I linked to above. But that one isn't ideal. But I'll use it if I have to.
Can anyone help me with this that knows more about this then I do? I'd really love to use either the built-in APN or the APN I pulled from the stock ROM, if its even possible.
I have data so that's not my problem. I just can't send or receive MMS messages using the SMS app in Cyanogenmod.
Thanks!
If anything isn't clear then please tell me and I'll try to explain better. I suck at explaining.

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Trying to get it to work too!
I'm having the exact same problems. I think it might be an issue with cellular network settings in CM13/MM roms (you'll notice clicking "Carrier Settings" in any of them causes com.android.phone to stop).
I've been playing around with various things, and I've found so far that using the Cypher rom (which doesn't have any Boost stuff baked in) I can put in the APN settings you linked to and send and receive MMS but LTE doesn't work. I then went back to Squid's CM13 rom (which is amazing, btw!) and LTE appears from install but changing any APN setting makes it fall over. Then I tried editing the Boost APN in deega/Buzbee2's flashable zip from "n.boost.ispsn" to "Boost_Mobile". I could flash that, and that does make it "stick" in the APN settings but, again, LTE disappears when I do this. Entries under the "Access Point Names" tab do seem to appear and disappear somewhat randomly whatever I do!
I've tried various other fixes suggested online, from root-deleting the telephony database to trying some SMS programs that let you put in the APN settings manually, but still nothing. I feel I'm close...but not that close I'll keep fiddling and see what happens but I'm not entirely sure whether this is a settings issue or a CM13 issue.

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Thanks for replying. I'm gonna do some testing too. I had the same exact issue on CM12.1 so I don't think its a CM13 issue.
I wonder if there's a way to use adb or fastboot to force the APNs to stick?
I tried using the Boost APN I pulled from the stock ROM that Motorola or Boost put there and you'd think it'll work but no. It disappears as soon as I hit save.
I know CM13 has to be using some kind of APN because I have data, but I don't know what that APN is nor why I can't get the SMS app to use it so I can send MMS messages.
I'm confused but I'll figure it out. Maybe. :/
EDIT: I notice too that whenever I tried to get into Network Operators that com.android.phone would FC. I was able to get in there by putting my phone in airplane mode and rebooting. I can take the phone out of airplane mode while I'm in it without it force closing. But I'm not able to do anything. Kept saying "error while searching for networks" or something along those lines. So I just gave up for right now.
EDIT2: I noticed that in the file /data/data/com.android.settings/shared_prefs/com.android.settings_preferences.xml that it had APN settings in there that were blank for the most part. I tried editing that file to add my APN settings but it didn't help.

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I've been testing things during the day and my hunch is there's a deeper problem with the LTE implementation in the 6.x roms (and earlier, perhaps, if you had issues with CM12 as well). It's difficult to know if this is Boost/Sprint related only - Buzbee2's flashable fix seems to be working for people on Freedompop and Virgin. I had a few issues today where my phone would be telling me I had LTE connectivity but web pages would give timing-out errors. I switched to Cypher which was solid on 3G where LTE had basically crashed. I sent MMS with manually inputted settings on Cypher again.
So I was left feeling that at the moment it's a choice between fast (patchy?) LTE speeds without MMS or solid (slow!) 3G with MMS. Hmm. It may be that current roms have a issue switching down and up between LTE and 3G...?
Looking at deega/Buzbee2's flashable zip it doesn't seem like it changes much, so it should be a settings issue, just as long as those settings can stick! Trouble is there might be multiple points of failure at present.
I dug up an interesting thread on the Moto G forum where a user who struggled with this on their phone found that Boost requires authentication for MMS over LTE but not on 3G:
Getting MMS to work on LTE made me pull my hair out. Virgin mobile(Boost) working on Sprint networks when it comes to MMS messages is an over complicated issue caused by the providers. When attempting to receive MMS on LTE networks with stock MMS or some 3rd party MMS apps it returns with a "HTTP error: Authorization Required". When trying it on 3G its no problem. Seems they required "Authorization" for MMS on LTE but not 3G - go figure. Hangouts basically works for all because the app itself doesn't use the phones APN settings. It tries (and does) to attain what carrier you are on and use its settings. In our case it will identify you are on the Sprint network and use those APN settings. Why don't we set our phones to the Sprint settings?...no LTE then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds eerily similar, but his fix file has disappeared into the mists of time and seems to have only worked on certain roms. Anyway, I'll keep digging and hope others might chip in.

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I found a file called preferred-apn.xml in the data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/shared_prefs directory where you can set a preferred APN. Least I'm assuming that's what its for. But I need the APN id and I can't find the id for the built-in Boost APN.
I'll keep looking and testing stuff. Hopefully we can get this figured out.
I'm stuck with using 3G where I live. Boost/Sprint doesn't have LTE where I live. So LTE isn't a issue for me.

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That's a good find. I think the APN ID refers to the line where you can find the details for the APN in the telephony database. There's some stuff on the Moto G forum about it here.
I'm guessing that the APN settings tab is pulling stuff from the telephony db and that your XML file is telling the phone which is the default. If so, maybe writing to the telephony.db (in the databases folder just along from shared_prefs) might make changes "stick", although if you delete that db it's recreated at reboot so it's not the originator of the data. My feeling is that there's a screwy connection between telephony.db and various other bits of CM13 right now...
Maybe taking telephony.db from a stock Boost rom and copying that in will do something.

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I still have a backup of the stock ROM on my laptop. Tomorrow I'll pull the telephony.db and copy it onto my phone replacing the original one and see what happens.

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Update:
I pulled the telephony.db from the stock ROM and copied it to my phone, replacing the original and I set the APNs in apns.xml to what I thought the APN should be. I wouldn't recommend it.
As soon as I rebooted CM13 stopped recognizing my sim card and the com.android.phone error popped up and wouldn't disappear. I couldn't do anything. Had no choice but to reboot into twrp and use its file manager to delete the db file. So that's a no go I guess.
I found a program for Linux (also available for Windows) called SQLiteBrowser which let's me open the telephony.db files and look through them. All of the APN IDs are stored in that db file. I'm going to use it to look through the telephony.db file for CM13 and get the APN IDs that I need. Then try to edit the preferred_apns.xml file to set it and see what happens.
EDIT: I'm looking through the telephony.db file from CM13 but there are no APNs in it for some odd reason. Wonder if we can manually add them if need be?

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Finally working for me
Buzbee2 made some suggestions on his support thread so I tried them and - to my amazement - everything worked. Not immediately, I had to wait a few hours (for the APNs to be picked up from Boost?) but it did work.
So what I did was first go into airplane mode and entered the Boost_Mobile APN details that you can find everywhere online (and on Buzbee's support thread). When I switched off airplane mode those settings disappeared and those baked into Squid's CM13 (or flashed via Buzbee's zip) came back. Switched on airplane mode again, those disappeared and the Boost_Mobile one I entered and saved is there. I can't believe that's meant to happen, but there it is.
I then downloaded Google Hangouts. I'd heard it sorts out its own APN settings if you set it to be your default SMS program. I could send SMS through Hangouts but still no MMS. I gave up at this point as I had to go out.
Checked my phone a couple of hours later and my MMS sent via Hangouts had arrived. I tried a few more and they all worked. Then I tried the stock messaging app and that could send MMS too! I couldn't believe it. I uninstalled Hangouts (much prefer the simpler app) and went to bed. In the morning, no MMS. Reinstalled Hangouts, still no good. Left it a few hours and - yep! - MMS was back for all my MMS apps. I tested with and without wi-fi, knowing that Hangouts likes shortcuts , and it was all good.
So the moral of the story is...I have no idea. But either Hangouts sets the APNs for the whole rom, or some combination of the Boost_Mobile APN (even though it doesn't "stick") and Hangouts gets it going. Maybe set that up, leave it overnight, and see. It doesn't explain some of the weirdness in the carrier settings, but at least it might work.

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I'll try that. ☺

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Any luck, Debdude? My phone has not been perfect, with it refusing to switch down to 3G when out of LTE coverage, and MMS mostly sending but sometimes not, but acceptable for something running a cutting-edge rom. It'll hopefully improve as things mature.

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davidxd said:
Any luck, Debdude? My phone has not been perfect, with it refusing to switch down to 3G when out of LTE coverage, and MMS mostly sending but sometimes not, but acceptable for something running a cutting-edge rom. It'll hopefully improve as things mature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn. I forgot. My bad. I got busy with my new laptop and my ps2 I just completely forgot about this.
I'll mess around with it in a bit. And try the suggestions you mentioned a couple posts back.