Some weeks back, I finally got to purchase my long anticipated Nokia 5800 (yes; the touchscreen beauty). Of course, I decided to bring the phone up-to-date by running a firmware update. All went well with the update, but when I attempted browsing on the phone, the built-in browser persistently gave me an error message and refused to load web pages.
I initially thought the firmware update did not install properly and therefore created problems for the phone’s browser. So I decided to repeat the update process. Each time I tried to do this, the software updater kept telling me that my phone has the latest firmware and didn’t give an option to repeat the process. Of course, the problem persisted.
My next trouble-shooting option was to do a factory reset with the hope that this time the problem would go away. Five factory resets after, and the problem was still there, mocking me. You can begin to imagine the mounting frustration that I was going through.
Naturally, I thought of something else. I decided to format my memory card. I thought, “There has to be an application I downloaded to my memory card that is causing this problem”. Memory card wiped clean, but the problem was still there. At this point, one week of not being able to browse or download had passed. I had also run out of trouble shooting ideas. Sigh!
Finally I decided to take the phone to Nokia care centre. A rep collected the phone from me and told me it would be ready in 14 days.
That night, I made an interesting discovery. I had put my SIM in a Nokia E61. When I launched the browser, I got the very same error message that my 5800 gave. It looked like a dream to me!
Several attempts to open a web page resulted in the same error message. I arrived at the office the next day, made my observation known to my other colleagues, and when they attempted to browse on the MTN network using the built-in browser on their Nokia phone, presto – the same problem!
Note that we were all able to browse on the Nokia built-in browsers with SIMs from other networks.
All along, the problem had been MTN. My phone’s trip to Nokia care had been unnecessary.
I rushed to Nokia to retrieve my phone and to tell them that the problem was not the phone but with my service provider. To my amazement, they told me they had already sent the phone to their Abuja office as they don’t have the software for the phone here in Lagos. Why me?
This post was written by
Dayo Olutunfese – who has written 56 posts on Mobility blog.
Dayo Olutunfese is a mobility consultant and seminar facilitator. He is on the staff of Mobility.
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February 12th, 2009 at 11:17 am Browsing with
Why you? Dunno!
But more seriously, one wonders what the problem is with MTN data all of a sudden. Alongside the problem you have detailed here, from a few weeks back, MTN’s data connection has refused to load certain websites – including the MTN website itself. Yet; these affected websites load on other ISP connections.
I submitted a formal complaint to the MTN technical helpdesk and I am hoping that these issues will go away soon.
Hope your 5800 gets back soon! Someday, I might tell the story of how my beloved E90 embarked on that same trip to Nokia Care, Abuja.
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February 12th, 2009 at 11:26 am Browsing with
Na wa o. The phone is been gone for 16days now. Hopefully I should have it before this week runs out so that I can do a review for would be owners of the phone.
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February 13th, 2009 at 4:53 pm Browsing with
My boss handed me an N95 a couple of weeks back where I lodged my “nite time” data-enabled MTN sim card. I have been experiencing similar problems with the nokia browser on this network. And like you, I also thought it was because I updated the software to 3.0.
Sometimes, on my P1, Opera Mobile 9.5 beta and the default Opera Mobile 8.65 don’t browse on the MTN network.
I didn’t notice these problems on time because I prefer using opera mini. It puzzles me: is it delibrate restriction by MTN or are they facing configuration challenges?
Sorry about your phone !
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February 15th, 2009 at 2:41 am Browsing with
Nokia browser and Opera Mobile now working on MTN. All browsers worked well on nite time belt.
Well, Yomi that was a fast reponse to your complaint.
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February 16th, 2009 at 10:53 am Browsing with
Thanks Brymay! Glad the phone is back and yes all browsers are now working well, but MTN is yet to sort out their IP issue. There are still certain websites that don’t load on MTN’s connection. Hope they sort that out fast.
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