Legacy MMS Problems iPhone

I am used to the Legacy MMS two-step on the iPhone. Essentially you receive the link which sends you to an ATT site in which you enter a user ID and password. Then the message appears in a new screen ... SOMETIMES!
Once again I tried to load the message and received the error message: FAILURE ENCOUNTERED DURING VIEW MESSAGE! Ive cleared the cache, the cookies, etc. but the same error reappears.
So what gives? Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesnt.
Also, there does not seem to be a way to download the content once it does appear in the browser. The source code view is even unavailable. Is there a way around this?
MacBook Core Duo 2.0 Mac OS X (10.4.11) 2GB RAM/160GB 7200 HD