If you want to subscribe to GloMobile’s prepaid internet bundle plans, you need to be well armed so as to have a pleasant experience with the service. Here are a few vital tips. Miss these and you will have issues.

1. Subscribe to the plan of your choice by sending the required SMS
To subscribe to a bundle plan, text “activate” to 127, and follow all instructions till you are successfully subscribed to the plan of your choice. By subscribing, your line should also be automatically provisioned for GPRS/EDGE/3G/3.5G.

Of course, make sure you have more than the required airtime already loaded on your line.

2. It works on both modem and phone
Regardless of what you are told, the service works on both modems and phones. It will work on your phone. But don’t bother arguing with anyone. Just smile and create a connection setting with the following parametres:

APN: gloflat
Username: flat
Password: flat

No proxies or ports required.

The above settings are what you need to use after activating the bundle plan of your choice. If you use any other APN e.g. Glodirect, you will still be billed 15 kobo per kb from your regular airtime balance.

3. Ensure that you have at least 1 kobo left on your line
The Glo system will keep you off GPRS/EDGE/3G/3.5G if you do not have any airtime left on your line after activation of the plan of your choice. If your balance reads zero after activation, you will not be able to browse.

4. You can also deploy the service using your phone as a modem with your PC
Simply enter the configuration settings published above in your phone’s PC Suite and connect. No proxies. No ports. No tweaks.

Related Articles:

1. Glo Introduces Pre-Paid 3G Packages
2. If it works on modem, it works on phones; stupid!

As a sequel to the articles, Glo Introduces Pre-Paid 3G Packages, and Official configuration settings for the new Glo prepaid internet bundle plans, I gave the new bundle packages and settings a try this morning.

Having purchased N500 airtime and sent the required SMS codes, I was notified that I had successfully subscribed to the Always Day plan. This plan gives the subscriber 50mb data for a period of 24 hours. My subscription notification came in at 7.17 a.m. this morning.

I immediately noticed that I lost 3G connection. Trying to browse with the new APN, Gloflat, resulted in “Packet data not connected” errors. I also remembered that brym! had mentioned a 3-hour waiting period. No problem!

But while waiting, I decided that it wouldn’t hurt to continue browsing with the old Glodirect settings and be billed per kb for that, since I still had some airtime on the line. As such, I selected the Glodirect settings and tried to browse. Same error. I tried the other official Glo APNs and got the same error. Apparently, subscribing for Always Day got me yanked off mobile internet entirely on the Glo network.

Over three hours later, I tried to see if anything had changed, but no; I was still unable to get a connection. Dialling 121 didn’t get me anywhere; I simply got the busy tone each time.

Finally, I decided that I wouldn’t throw N500 at Glo like that. I had thrown away too much to GSM networks in the last several years. I did something I absolutely hate doing – I drove down to the nearest Gloworld. I knew I was going to be treated to the same old dose of ignorance or foolishness. Or both.

I wasn’t disappointed.

The plump, fair, and clueless lady who attended to me made such amazing statements like:

It cannot work on your phone because it is for modem and PC only

and

When you activated the bundle package, it messed up your provisioning because it is not for phones

and

I was not trained to activate this plan on a phone. I can only activate on PC. Please go and bring your laptop

As if it wasn’t the same settings both the modem and the phone would use. As if it wasn’t the same GSM/3G radio that powers both modem and phone. I felt like yelling at her, “Don’t be stupid; if it works on modem, it works on phone“.

But I let self-control rule. I requested that she at least provision me for regular internet service. The silly girl sent me Glo WAP settings – because in her little mind, all that my Nokia E90 communicator could handle was puny WAP. Doh! Need I say that whatever it was that she did worked not?

To make matters worse, I went to the menu in my phone browser to select the new bundle package APN, and discovered that the silly girl had deleted them! She had collected my phone for a brief period, and had apparently deleted the settings then. Why would she delete those settings from my phone? Why did she sneak up on me like that? Those settings are official. Anyone with the modem can actually look them up easilly.

Perhaps she knew that they would work on the phone, but she needed to follow a stupid line that a superior had fed her about making sure that their dumb subscribers buy those modems? But Yomi is no dumb subscriber. She was messing with the wrong chap.

Again, I kept my cool. I did not say a word about the deleted settings. I simply typed them back in. Tried browsing. Again, no show.

Meanwhile, I spoke with my contact at Glo engineering, and he went to work. I know the guy; he is an intelligent person, and one of the few people at Glo who seem to know anything about mobile technology. The others are mostly dullard businessmen and marketers, it seems. He excused himself and called me back a few minutes later.

He asked me to load at least 1 kobo on my line and then try to browse. I was under the impression that he had done something at the other end, but later found that all I needed to do was have some amount on my line’s balance, which was reading zero at the time. [Updated 13th november]

Having followed his instructions by loading airtime, I selected the Gloflat settings again, launched the browser on my phone, and presto! I was on. I was still seated before her royal cluelessness all this time. With a smug, I told her that I was now browsing – and that I was specifically browsing on the Always Day plan.

She almost jumped out of her skin and retorted, “That’s not possible because I deleted the settings.” As if she what she did was such an irreversible thing.

I smiled coolly and said, “Yes; but I put them back in.”

The look on her face spoke volumes. Perhaps I had under-estimated this man? I can imagine that this was getting embarassing for her. Customers were sitting and standing all around, anhd I imagine that some of them had followed our little drama from inception.

She started saying something about my airtime being eaten up because the service would only work via their modem. I said goodbye and walked out with a smile. I would have loved to say to her, “My name is Yomi – and when Yomi tells you that something about mobile technology should work, you shut up, sit straight and listen. Don’t ever forget that name or this face.”

That would have been dramatic – like something out of a James Bond movie. But I didn’t. I simply walked out with a warm “Have a nice day“.

Screenshot of the Gloflat configuration on the Nokia E90 - Click on image for full version

This was several hours ago. I have been browsing, connecting to mail servers, and chatting via Messenger on my phone since then via the Gloflat settings and the Always Day subscription that I did this morning. My regular airtime has stayed intact. Not a kobo has been deducted. At least, I am getting value for the N500 I loaded this morning. Tomorrow, I will be taking a deeper plunge by subscribing for G-Work, costing N6,000 and giving me 3GB for a 30-day period from 8a.m. to 9p.m. daily.

Gloflat connection at work - Click image for full size

Wish me luck. Who knows? I may complete the subscription tomorrow and my line be de-activated and yanked entirely off the GloMobile network. Now, you can stop laughing; it isn’t funny. Serious.

Globacom’s under-sea cable linking Nigeria with Europe has touched down in Lagos today September 5, 2009.

Before now, the entire country depended on only the SAT-3 cable under the monopoly of NITEL for cost-efficient high-speed access. Industry watchers have been in expectation of Glo-1 for months now, as its launch will undoubtedly impact on the cost and delivery of high-speed internet access in Nigeria.

Now that Glo-1 is here, when exactly do we begin to enjoy the services?

Source: CyberSchuulNews.

I held out for as long as possible, hoping against hope that Zain Nigeria would have a re-think about some of their services.

No; I wasn’t asking for too much. I only needed stable mobile internet services. Because this is 2009, I also wanted that internet connection to be high speed. GPRS is good. EDGE is faster. 3G is not bad. But in 2009, anything short of a 3.5G connection does not qualify as high speed.

Recently, a Zain official confirmed to me that 3G and 3.5G are available (officially) only on post-paid SIMs. He spent time trying to convince me to migrate my line to a contract package. But I know better. I’ve had my fingers burnt on contracts a couple of times. I know others who have too.

But I was willing to stay with Zain on their pre-paid platform. You see I have high-speed internet connection at the office and at home, so I could tolerate GPRS or EDGE when out and about.

Then suddenly, Zain internet went bunkers. Tolerating GPRS/EDGE was one thing. Tolerating GPRS/EDGE that was not working was… well… you get the picture.

‘Dayo and others who know me well have been wondering why I have stayed with Zain this long. They know I normally have no qualms changing my line. It baffles them. It sort of baffles me too.

I finally gave in this morning. I just could not bear it any longer. I got myself a SIM from another network. When I popped in the new SIM, 3G/3.5G internet was ready and waiting. My Xperia X1 simply connected on schedule to download my mails. What bliss!

I am sure that Zain works for some people – perhaps people who want nothing than just voice and SMS; people who are not so into mobile internet; and people who do not need a high speed connection.

Mobile internet is primary on my list. SMS follows. Voice comes last. Yes; I’m wierd. Welcome to my world.

No; I am not so naive as to think that I won’t experience any issues with the new network. In Nigeria, that is wishful thinking. But at least, whatever it is I have to tolerate, I now have high-speed internet on the go. At least when it works.