Dayo first set me on to this. He had gotten a Blackberry and ran an experiment subscribing to both BIS and an MTN bundle plan. The idea is that with the bundle plan, he could tether and browse on his laptop. We both knew that the networks didn’t allow subscribers to tether via BIS.

Initially, I thought he was crazy, but it made sense. Whether it made sense or not anyway, it worked. He has both BIS and a mobile internet bundle plan running on his line – the best of both worlds.

I currently have a N5,000 Always Min internet bundle active on my line, and I may be reviewing Blackberry OS version 6.0 and so will need a BIS subscription. Afraid that activating BIS would make me lose my precious N5,000 investment, I decided to ask.

Here is an excerpt from Glo’s response:

These services are actually different and will not affect each other in any way. You can as well activate the BIS on that same sim.

Well, that is comforting.

I did try it out later and it works just like Glo customer care said it should.

So, now you know (or you had known before now and I was the one living in ignorance and the joke is on me!), you can use your BB and still enjoy tethering at a modest cost by subscribing for a bundle plan. At least on MTN and Glo. Anyone have any info on Airtel and Etisalat? Of course, I am expecting that it will pretty much be the same on those operators as well, but you never can tell.

Nokia has partnered with MTN Nigeria to bundle a messaging solution its new Nokia C3 to offer instant messaging to mobile users.

The device built with social networking offers instant access to favorite social communities such as Facebook and Twitter straight from the home screen for users to easily view and update their status.

The Nokia C3 device which was launched into the market in alliance with MTN Nigeria enables users to pay a data monthly subscription of N1000 on the network giving them access to Internet service at an affordable rate.

It also lets users to get messages across quickly having a QWERTY keyboard that helps in managing email, chat, calendar among others including dedicated widgets on the home screen.

Nokia says that users who purchase the device can activate it either with their old or new MTN lines and users would enjoy one month free access with MTN network.

Nokia representative, Marcel Van-de-pas says the device meets the desire of users on the lookout for a good looking, affordable handset that allows them to stay continually connected to communities that suits their lifestyle be it email, IM buddies, while offering instant access to Yahoo mail and Messenger, Gmail, MSN Hotmail, Window Live Messenger, Facebook and Twitter.

“The Nokia C3 also allows users to surf the Web wherever they are so they can be sure to keep in touch with their friends and family whenever they like. Nokia is the number one leader when it comes to giving consumers solutions to their mobile needs and with Nokia’s Ovi mail and Ovi chat on board, email and chats can be set up straight from the device.”

Nokia says it partnered MTN because of the network’s wider coverage area and plans further partnership deals with other networks in the country since the device would work with any operator’s SIM card.

West Africa Retailing and Consumer Marketing Manager, Nokia, Titilayo Olubiyi says the device can be set up by sending SMS with the word, “Nokia” to 131 after activating their SIM to enjoy one month free access from MTN network before they start paying N1000 monthly subscription to access the network.

Chief Marketing Officer, MTN Nigeria, Bola Akingbade says MTN is happy to be associated with this new device which would help users to enjoy its services across board adding that with the new offer users would be able to communicate to each other at an affordable rate.

The device has a two mega-pixel camera that comes in handy for taking pictures and videos which can be instantly shared online from the device to users’ favorite social network via GPRS.

Update (6th October 2010):
We got some feedback from Nokia’s West Africa Retailing and Consumer Marketing Manager via MTN to help you out with your concerns as expressed in the comments section.

SetUp and Other Details

Simply purchase your Nokia C3 from any retailer, including the Mobility Nigeria phone store, put in your MTN SIM and send “Nokia” as SMS to 131.

Users who purchase the C3 can activate it either with their old or new MTN lines and they would enjoy one month free access with MTN network.

Users get 1 month free 100MB data on the MTN network. After the first month, users are required to subscribe to any of MTN’s bundle plans for use on the device.

Zain now offers a monthly unlimited internet access plan for offices and homes. Called Zain Premium Plan, there is no monthly data cap on this service, similar to what CDMA networks like Starcomms offer. Finally, a GSM network steps up to the “unlimited” plate.

The package costs N15, 000 per month. all you have to do is load N15, 000 worth of airtime, and then dial *141*712*5# to activate the plan. Once activated, the subscriber has one month access to unlimited internet access.

Speed and performance depends on location, as Zain 3G is very limited at present. But outside of 3G coverage, subscribers will be able to browse via EDGE (180-240 kbps theoretical maximum speed), or GPRS (70 kbps theoretical maximum speed).

This is a good move by Zain. Now, if experience is anything to go by, we should expect the others to photocopy and join the unlimited bundle bandwagon. Which is not a bad thing at all. The consumer wins!

Ahem! In the meantime, we hope that the guys at Zain are working at providing wider 3G coverage. This is 2009, guys, and crawly GPRS is killing… slowly…