How to configure your phone for mobile browsing on Airtel

Posted by Felix Okoli on Thursday June 14, 2012 13:40:7:

If you've got a mobile phone powered with an Airtel sim and want to activate mobile browsing, then that device needs to be setup with the right settings on your local network. These settings tend to vary from country to country where Airtel is at work but the bottom line is that you would need to have it configured first before being able to browse the mobile web.

Airtel offers a mobile internet service that is very reliable and fast and you can tap into that by subscribing for the service.

So how do you configure your mobile phone in the first place?
You can do this in either of the 2 ways:
- Manual configuration: Doing it yourself
- Automatic configuration: Getting the settings downloaded from the Airtel network

How to do the Manual configuration for Airtel
You would need to visit your local Airtel website in order to get the settings.
1. Go to your phone settings and set up the settings
2. Edit the settings on your phone
In Nigeria for instance, go to settings and enter Airtel GPRS
- Enter a name for the connection e.g. Airtel Live
- Enter access point as wap.ng.airtel.com
- Go to bearer and enter username and password as wap
- Set up the home page as http://airtellive.com although you can use any other home page
- Enter the port number as 8080 or 9201 for wap
3. Switch off your phone and on again
4. Wait to see if there is a connection like 3g or G
5. Go to your browser and go to airtel home page eg. http://airtellive.com. It should load without charging you.

That's about it. If your phone is still nor browsing, you can try contacting Airtel customer service for help. If you are already browsing with your phone, you can decide to go on a Prepaid or post paid plan, whichever works best for you.