Hi Guys,

My frustration with the kind and quality of mobile internet services we are being punished with in Nigeria is the reason for this topic. I know there have being lots of topics and posts  on this and related issues but this topic could ultimately help in our long and rough ride to good and affordable internet services provision.

Since current deployment of mobile internet services (CDMA and GSM) to cities like Benin City where I live I have personally subscribed to Visafone and MTN. what is my assessment? As follows.

Visafone is useless, to the extent that I can't use it or even carry out a speed test in the daytime because it is always dormant despite promises of stable and reliable connection. I am currently on 1x and will not take the risk of going for the EVDO when it is subsequently put in place becuase if they could not deliver on 1x I think the EVDO would end up in disappointment too. I still have another month to run on my subscription package after that it's bye bye Visafone, dem don chop me reach.

MTN, I have an HTC TYTN II phone which is HSDPA enabled and the truth is when Iam within 3.5G coverage the connection I get sometimes is something else it could be blazing fast but come down to GPRS and it just crawls along that is not the issue anyway. Firstly, you have the incessant disconnection issue I am into forex trading just imagine what that could cost you on a bad day? Secondly there is the issue of the usage limit being on the low side for some fairly heavy user haba just imagine 3Gigabytes when the average size of a song is about 5Megs not to talk of trying your hands on a movie download. Finally I think they upgrade more of their stations to 3.5G particularly within the cities, the mast that supplies me with signals where I reside is 3g enabled yet and it is within Benin metropolis some kilometers away from the University of Benin. Below is my speed test result with MTN GPRS


With Glo you can't even activate your line to access GPRS services talk less get the services. Glo has really fallen behind in many respects. If you are on it and using it favorably tell us about your experience with them.

Starcomms, I don't have a personal subscription with them, but a friend of mine does and I played around with it a bit. It slow but still loads faster than Visafone or MTN GPRS however it tends to loss connections frequently sometimes for hours

I can't comment on CELTEL/ZAIN because they are yet to make their mobile internet  widely available.


There is a solution to all these shortcomings. Yes these problems can be solved but before the solution. I want replies with personal experiences with your mobile internet service provider in your various geographical locations.

Wow!! That was lengthy and am winded.

PS. I live in Benin City Ugbowo area close to UNIBEN.

i use mtn and zain to browse fre and i really enjoy them cos its very fassst and i use an applicatn called freegate software for increasing d spi wel i stay at osasogie close to uniben.

thanks for sharing with us

Hello Ehisod,

I stay in Benin too, behind water resources. I connected to mtn 3g yesterday in the hope of getting a faster internet connection - I was on starcomms 1x previously which was poked. But the mtn is slow. Do you know the areas in Benin where there is 3g?

Metroman (m)
Benin, Nigeria
Posts: 8

Offline Offline


Re: Solution To Our Bad Mobile Internet Services
« #7 on: Today at 02:19:30 AM »

Hello Ehisod,

I stay in Benin too, behind water resources. I connected to mtn 3g yesterday in the hope of getting a faster internet connection - I was on starcomms 1x previously which was poked. But the mtn is slow. Do you know the areas in Benin where there is 3g?


Hi,

If you have a 3G or HSDPA enabled phone then its easy

Firstly ensure that you have enabled 3G on your phone thru settings. If necessary switch it off and back on. Then you should have '3G' icon displayed on your screen where you have your network signal indicator if this condition is met then you are on 3G.

All you have to do now is simply connect to the internet and you are on 3G. Remember 3G must be displayed on your phone for you to connect to a 3G internet network.

By the I think you should have at GRA if not definitely along Airport Road.

Hope this helps.

@ skyworld
Do this tricks work on symbian phones such as nokia 6630? Please info needed seriously.

There is no mtn 3g @ GRA, Mtn 3G sucks in benin jare!! It was formally on the sapele rd axis frm 1st junction to ring road on that radius. Then down to uselu and ugbowo environs. Also @ aduwawa-ikpoba hill - apkapkava road, sapkoba road dwn to ring road, But i guess the 3g service is down n out. Mtn should sit up oooooo