APN Settings: What Does Each Setting Do? An Access Point Name, APN, is a gateway between mobile networks and the public Internet.
I've done research, and there's not much online about what the individual settings are or do.
This is what I've managed to figure out so far, listed in the order they appear on an Android phone.
Settings in bold I do not have a good answer for. Please tell me the setting's &quot;full name&quot; and what it does. If you know of a site that lists these out and describes them please share it. Thank you!


Name: User given label that doesn't actually affect anything. It can be anything.
APN: Stands for Access Point Name I guess? Usually, this is a short single word and ALL CAPS for some reason. No idea what this does.
Proxy: Is this for using a regular proxy server or something mobile specific?
Port: Port for the proxy? 80 by default?
Username: Credentials to use the carrier.
Password: Credentials to use the carrier.
Server: Found out this is for a WAP Gateway Server - kind of like a proxy except that it also translates/decodes web pages.
MMSC: A URL to send MMS messages to? What does MMSC stand for?
MMS proxy: Why does there need to be a proxy? Why not just send it to the MMSC directly?
MMS port: Why is this here, won't it always be 80?
MCC: Mobile Country Code - I believe this specifies to the cell phone towers which network to default to. Why would they need to know this?
MNC: Mobile Network Code - tells the towers what carrier is being used?
Authentication type: Port to send the Username &amp; Password over?
APN type: So instead of IP port numbers mobile networks use &quot;port names&quot; to specify the data type. So if you put &quot;default,mms&quot; then those communication protocols will be used. Correct me if I'm wrong, please.
APN protocol: Whether to use IPv4 or IPv6.
APN roaming protocol: Roaming is using another carrier company's service. This specifies what IP type to use when doing so.
APN enable/disable: For when multiple APN's are on the phone. Allows one to pick a certain configuration.
Bearer: What does this do?
MVNO type: Mobile Virtual Network Operator - a reseller carrier that uses one of the larger (AT&amp;T, Sprint, T-Mobile) carriers. This option can be either None, SPN, IMSI, GID, or ICCID. Tells the major carrier what the reseller is I think.
MVNO value: The number given to the reseller?
Found this as part of a search that lead me here:
Name (APN)
A user-chosen name to apply to this APN configuration. This name has no effect at all on the connection, and is only used as a label.
APN
Specifies the Access Point Name (APN) your device should quote when communicating with your carrier. The APN is a short string of text.
Proxy / Port
Optional fields for specifying an HTTP proxy to use for all web traffic over this connection. No longer usually required for most carriers.
Username / Password
In rare cases your carrier may require a username and password in order to access data. Usually left blank.
Server
WAP Gateway Server, a feature not usually used in modern smartphones and devices. This field should usually be left blank.
MMSC
Details of the Multimedia Messaging Service Center to use for sending and receiving of MMS messages.
MMS proxy / MMS port
HTTP proxy details to be used only for communicating with the MMSC to send and receive MMS messages.
MMS Protocol
Specifies the protocol that your device should use for sending and receiving MMS messages. Usually does not need to be modified.
MCC / MNC
Specifies the carrier network that the APN configuration should be used for. Stands for Mobile Country Code and Mobile Network Code.
Authentication type
Method used to supply your name and password to the server for your data connection. Usually not used.
APN type
Specifies which types of data communication should use this APN configuration. Different types of communication may use different configurations.
APN protocol / APN roaming protocol
For devices that support IPv6 networking, this specifies whether to enable IPv4, IPv6 or both. This can be set independently for home and roaming networks.
APN enable/disable
When having multiple general purpose APN configurations, allows you to choose which one is currently enabled.
Bearer
An optional field allowing you to exclude this APN configuration based on the communication technology (eg LTE, eHRPD) currently being used.
Mobile virtual network operator type / value
Restrict use of this APN to certain MVNOs (mobile network resellers) or subscriber accounts.
Mobile virtual network operator type / value
Restrict use of this APN to certain MVNOs (mobile network resellers) or subscriber accounts.