Every year, to mark my birthday, I treat myself to a new mobile phone. Usually, it is a smartphone. This year, however, I have departed slightly from the regular pattern and gotten myself a mid-tier non-smartphone.

While traditionally a Nokia and Sony Ericsson fan, I have been getting quite adventurous for some time now, straying into the territory of other manufacturers, including Palm and Samsung. Well, the adventurous streak in me is apparently still at work.

I got myself an LG this time. My very first LG. Yes; life’s good!

The LG KS360

The KS360 is an interesting device from LG that sports a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a stunning 240 x 320 pixel, 2.4 inch, display with touch screen dialling functionality, GPRS and EDGE, Bluetooth, 2 MPX camera, FM radio, threaded SMS view, and microSD slot, among others. It is primarilly targeted at heavy messaging people.

KS360 beside the E90

The size difference is amazing! The KS360 is the size of a regular phone and weighs only 108g.

The KS360 with Keyboard Slid Out

I’ll be doing a full review soon, so watch this space!

If you change phones a lot for any reason, you must be familiar with the problem of transferring your contacts.

One way to solve that problem is to regularly backup your files. But this does not have to be limited to just contacts. Other files, such as SMS, pictures and calendar entries, can be backed up too.

If you have a PC, you can backup your phone via whatever PC Suite the manufacturer supports. If not, an online backup service is a viable alternative.

ZYB is an online sysstem that backs up all the contact information on your phone to the internet. ZYB automatically updates your contacts, on the phone and internet, whenever you or your friends change or add information. This basic functionality is free.

Basically, you need a GPRS/EDGE/3G/HSDPA connection, and you can backup and restore your files anywhere, anytime as long as you are within network coverage.

You can also backup your contacts by sending SMS to a predefined number. Picture backups can be done via MMS as well.

The advantage of thee online sservice is that you are not tied to doing backups and restores from just one location (wherever your PC happens to be).

In addition to backing up contacts, ZYB also backs up your calendar entries. You can also backup your SMS, pictures and videos for a small subscription.

In addition, ZYB shows you your frieends’ Social updates from Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Hyves and blogs.

Sounds like something you could use? Then head over to ZYB.COM to signup free and Keep your phone in sync.

Here is my updated list of the best mobile internet deals at the moment. Because we currently have two types of mobile platforms running side-by-side in the country (GSM and CDMA), I am presenting one network per technology platform.

Both networks on my list offer a variety of packages, giving subscribers great choice in their respective terrains. Both networks also give subscribers the option of browsing directly on their phone or on PC (netbook, laptop, desktop, etc)

Zain Nigeria

Zain is a GSM-based mobile operator. Zain Mobile Internet is delivered on GPRS, EDGE (up to 234kbps), 3G and HSDPA (up to 1.8mbps), depending on coverage in your locality. Zain’s packages:

1. Pay As You Use
No bundle
Cost: 15kobo per kilobyte

2. Zain Day (24-hour bundle)
Bundled Data: 50MB
Cost: N500.00
Activation: Load N500 and dial: *141*712*3#

3. Zain Lite (24-hour bundle)
Bundled Data: 100MB
Cost: N1,000.00
Activation: Load N1,000 and dial: *141*712*4#

4. Zain Pro (24 hours for 30 days)
Bundled Data: 1GB
Cost: N5,000.00
Activation: Load N5,000 and dial: *141*712*1

5. Zain Max (24 hours for 30 days)
Bundled Data: 3GB
Cost: N10,000.00
Activation: Load N10,000 and dial: *141*712*2#

Zain Mobile Internet (ZMI) must be active on your line before you can subscribe to any of the above plans.

To activate ZMI, visit a Zain centre, call Customer Care on 113 or send an SMS with the word ‘internet phonebrand model’ to 232 e.g. “internet sonyericsson P910i” to receive your settings.

ZOOMmobile

ZOOMmobile is a CDMA-based operator, deploying both CDMA 1x (50Kbps – 100Kbps Upload and Download with bursts to 144Kbps) and EVDO Rev A (600Kbps-1,400Kbps Download with bursts to 2.0Mbps; 500Kbps-800Kbps Upload with bursts to 1.8Mbps), also depending on your location. ZOOMmobile internet packages include:

1. Easy Time (24 hours for 30 days)
Bundled Data: Unlimited
Cost: N10,000.00

2. Busy Time (24 hours for 14 days)
Bundled Data: Unlimited
Cost: N5,000.00

3. Rest Time (11pm to 6am for 30 days)
Bundled Data: Unlimited
Cost: N5,000.00

4. Relax Time (6pm to 11pm for 30 days)
Bundled Data: Unlimited
Cost: N5,000.00

5. Cool Time (Friday 8pm to Sunday 10pm for 30 days)
Bundled Data: Unlimited
Cost: N5,000.00

6. Day Time (8am to 6pm for 30 days)
Bundled Data: Unlimited
Cost: N7,000.00

Subscription for all above ZOOMmobile plans can be done at any ZOOMmobile centre.

It is amazing that in the year 2009 (not 1989) some of our local GSM service providers still ask customers to come to their offices or to place telephone calls to request for their lines to be provisioned in order to have access to the network’s data (or value added) services.

While deploying a data service is well appreciated, the networks should go a step further to make it convenient for subscribers to have access to these services.

For example, there’s no valid reason why the networks cannot provide their SIMs already provisioned for internet. It is a fact that at least MTN and Etisalat are doing it right in this regard. Etisalat especially is to be commended, for though being a new player in the Nigerian telecoms ecosystem, they are more forward looking in terms of user-friendly data provisioning than the older boys like Zain and GloMobile.

Surely, it cannot be so difficult for network operators to deploy over-the-air (OTA) configuration such that soon after inserting your SIM into a GPRS or 3G-enabled phone, the data settings are pushed automatically to the phone and the subscriber can simply launch his phone browser and start surfing the web away.

Both MTN and Etisalat are again the leaders in this department. And once again, Etisalat are getting two thumbs up from me for implementing this from the word go.

My experience with Etisalat is one I remember with fondness. I popped in my SIM into a phone, the settings were pushed to me via SMS, and within minutes I was browsing without having to go to their office, call for my line to be provisioned, or manually input any settings. I said to myself, “This is the way it should be“.

Network operators need to remember that the average phone user is not a geek, does not care to go beyond the basic menu of his phone, and would rather not be bothered with the extra hassles of getting value added services setup.

The average subscriber wants these services to work out-fo-the-box, and the networks that respond appropriately to this fact will have subscribers eating out of their hands. Mobile Data will become more mainstream when the hassles of data configuration are eliminated.

Yesterday evening, a gang of nasty gremlins launched an attack on MTN Nigeria’s packet data service, rendering it unusable. Till this moment, trying to get a connection on the MTN 3G and GPRS networks has been more difficult than pushing a camel through the eye of a needle.

We are talking over 24 hours of unusable service to data subscribers. Hopefully, this nightmare will be over when the sun rises tomorrow.

This is a rant, and it was triggered off by a comment posted at All About Symbian by someone who calls himself Natureboyzone. Here is what he posted:

Hi.i am new to the forum.i use N76 and my network is mtn nigeria.how do i activate it for free browsing.i also heard about the data call pls send me the settings or link me up with someone who can help.thanks

If you follow the AAS link I provided above, you would see that the topic under discussion has nothing to do with configuration settings, muchless free browsing. Note also that he is new to a community, and the first thing he does is this.

I see this embarassing, beggarly attitude on different forums, including foreign ones like Esato and My-Symbian (My-Symbian has a number of Nigerian IP addresses blocked already).

Here on the homefront, Nairaland is has the worst hit mobile community. Over 95% of the exchanges there are about free browsing on GSM networks. It is almost impossible to find an intelligent discussion to engage in the mobile forum there.

Here on MobilityNigeria, we keep stressing that we have no such information to give, but these desperate young men (and women) keep mailing in to request for free browsing tricks and information. As a responsible business and as responsible individuals, we cannot promote practices that undermine the business of others. But that is beyond the point of this article.

What I am bothered about is the nuisance that these free browsing beggars have become everywhere on the WWW, and the bad publicity that they generate for Nigeria. It is bad!

People are having an intelligent discussion, and then someone barges in, begging for free browsing tricks. Sigh. I can imagine that various well-known mobile figures around the world would have received private mails from Nigerian hounds looking for free (illegal) browsing hacks and tricks.

What is more shocking is the fact that the majority of those who jump on the free ride don’t put it to productive uses (See my article published in November 2008: The Free Browsing Tricks on Mobile Networks).

Get productive, guys. Put innovation to work. Get off your butts and do something to better your lot and that of the country you live in. Stop begging and hitch-hiking. Okay, its fine to hitch-hike the first few legs of your journey if things are really bad for you. But build from there, and get off that road ASAP.

I remember using CSD (circuit switched data) years back when call and data both cost N50.00 per minute (anyone remember those days?) to manage my emails, customer orders and support in the early days of my webhosting business. Even at that exhorbitant cost, I put it to profitable use and built something out of it. Circuit Switched Data is the technical name for GSM dial-up.

Thereafter, GPRS (and later 3G) arrived and was much costlier than what we have on ground today. Yet; I still put it to productive use.

Today, we see an army of young people using cost as an excuse (excuse me?) to defend what is largely a product of irresponsibility. I am under no illusions that this article of mine will produce any change. I’ll bet my entire year’s income that this article will be read, noses raised at me, and the hunt further pursued.

But at least, I have had my say. And hopefully, maybe one – just one – of these free browsing hunters will be awakened through what I have written here, and choose to stand apart, get responsible, and do something really productive with his or her life.

Maybe.

PS: Zain has just concluded a month-long free internet promo, and I am sure we will be hard pressed to find a handful of young people who put the promo to real productive use – not just chatting up babes and posting unintelligent comments on discussion boards and weblogs. Not that Zain’s very epileptic internet access helped matters though, but that’s a subject for another article.

Of the four (4) GSM networks, setting up a connection between a capable phone and PC for internet access on three of them, namely: MTN, Glo, and Etisalat, is a simple, straightforward affair. Once you have your data cable (or Bluetooth connection), APN, username and password, you are good to go. With Zain however, there is one further step to be taken – a proxy must be setup or else the internet connection won’t work.

Here is a concise guideline to help you get things working.

Install Your Phone’s PC Suite on the PC

This usually comes in an installation CD in the phone sales package. Slot the CD in the CD drive and complete the installation.

Connect Your Phone to the PC

I’m assuming that you are using a USB cable here. Connect the cable to your phone and then to the PC. Your PC should indicate that your phone has been connected, and tell you your phone is ready to be used.

Launch the PC Suite on PC

Under the “Programmes” menu, launch the PC Suite application. Select the “Internet Connection” menu. The title may vary a bit, so don’t panic if that’s not exactly what you see. In Sony Ericsson PC Suite, for example, it is called “Mobile Networking”.

Some PC Suite applications automatically setup the connection. Others may require you to manually do so. If you can’t get the PC to establish an internet connection, select the manual setup option, and use the following parametres wherever a request for any of them is made by the application:

- APN: wap.ng.zain.com
- Username: wap
- Password: wap
- IP address: 172.18.254.5
- Port: 8080

Complete the setup by clicking the relevant button, and now you have just one more step to go. Yes; just one more.

Setup a Proxy in Your Browser

If you use Internet Explorer, follow these steps:
Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections -> Settings -> Look in the section titled “Proxy Server”, tick the box that reads “Use a proxy server for…” and enter the following:

Address: 172.18.254.5
Port: 8080

Also tick the check box that says, “Bypass proxy server for local addresses”. Then click “OK”, and “OK”.

If you are using Firefox, you are likely to know what to do to setup a proxy, but here goes all the same:

Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Network -> Connection -> Settings

Under Connection Settings, tick “Manual proxy Configuration”, and enter the following:

HTTP proxy: 172.18.254.5
Port: 8080

Then click “OK”, and “OK

That’s It

You should be able to browse now on your PC using a Zain line on your phone.

PS:
1. Your phone must have a modem built-in for this to work
2. Your Zain line must have been activated/provisioned for Zain mobile internet (To get provisioned, send SMS in the format, “internet sonyericsson P910i”, to 232, save the settings sent to you by SMS, and start browsing.)

For Other GSM Networks

For other GSM networks, use the following settings for the connection (no need for a proxy with any of them)

MTN
- APN: web.gprs.mtnnigeria.net
- Username: web
- Password: web
- IP address: 10.199.212.2
- Port: 8080 or 9201

GloMobile
- APN: glosecure
- Username: gprs
- Password: gprs
- IP address: 010.100.098.022
- Port: 8080 or 9201

Etisalat
- APN: etisalat
- Username: blank
- Password: blank
- IP address: blank
- Port: blank