With the advent of the long awaited connection of our continent to the internet backbone, prices for mobile internet have gone down dramatically and (data)usage is rising by the day.

On a continent where only very few people have computers (and even those who do might not be able to run them when power fails once again), the new generation of smart phones (and the more complex feature phones) have in less then a year overtaken fixed broadband use and are now the no#1 means of connecting to the net in Africa. It does not hurt, ofcourse, that companies such as Huawei are now selling proper Android phones for only $100.

For visitors and residents alike, I thought it might be useful to put down the few very simple steps to be taken when getting yourself online…

Please note: this situation is up-to-date as of January 2012 but it sometimes seems the only thing moving fast in Africa is offers like these so if any of the following is incorrect, please let me know!

The right phone / tablet
Ensure you come with a sim-lock free phone, operating in one of the European / African GSM frequencies (so no US-only phone). For data, it helps if it supports at least GPRS/EDGE and if you’re in either Dar or Arusha, 3G networks. Outside of towns, best you can hope for is GPRS/EDGE with varying speeds.

Getting connected
Walk into any Airtel shop* available and spend Tshs 500/= (about USD 0.30) to buy a SIM card. Use a Tshs 5,000/= note (USD 3) and ask for the remaining Tshs 4,500/= as credit, half of which will be used straight away for your internet credit.

For just making calls you can buy SIMs and credit anywhere but for data the SIM needs to be activated in an Airtel Shop. Click here to find your nearest outlet. Make sure you do not leave the shop before they activate your new line for internet use. It’s just a click on a keyboard but don’t stress, it all happens on Tanzania time.

Configure your phone
To allow your phone to use Airtel (or Vodacom) networks, setup could not be simpler. Basically you leave everything either empty or default; the only setting required is:

APN: internet

For Android (2.x) phones, this can be accomplished by going to ‘settings’ > ‘wireless and networks’ > ‘mobile networks’ > ‘access point names’ > ‘menu’ > ‘new APN’ > name: airtel, APN: internet > ‘menu’ > ‘save’. Then, on the ‘APNs’ screen, make sure you select the newly created APN.

Purchase a bundle

In case you want to use your phone to connect your laptop (or computer, or entire office) to the net using a ‘tether’ application, you might want to spend some serious money to buy up to 3Gb of data, see this chart for the prices.

The reason I am using Airtel as opposed to Vodacom or ZanTel is not their service (LOL) but because of one bundle they offer that no-one even comes near, called, the ‘handset bundle’. If all you do is browse, check mail, chat and download the occasional app, you can buy 400Mb, valid for an entire 30 days, for only Tshs 2.500 !! Which means that for just over a dollar a month, you can be online 24/7.

Though this bundle has been active for over a year now, it makes no sense (see picture below); compared to the ‘dataplus’ offer for instance, it offers 1/4th more data, for an entire month as opposed to one day, for LESS money. Hmmm. Only in Africa…

To purchase this bundle, first ensure you have at least Tshs 2,500 credit (send *102# to check), and then:

1. send a text message with the word internet to 15444.
2. When you get a swahili reply, simply respond by sending “ndiyo” (yes)
3. You will get a confirmation of purchasing 400Mb of data.

To check your balance at any time, simply send the word “balance” to 15444. Your answer might be swahili, or english (this seems to be random) but the numbers are the remaining megabytes

* note: I’m not pushing Airtel above other operators here such as Vodacom (also GPRS/EDGE and 3G) and ZanTel (CDMA). People that know me know I have no great love for any of them, and I have just ordered my “I do not brake for AirTel employees” bumper sticker. They just offer the best deal at this point in time, check their pricing and bundles here…

 EDIT JANUARI 2012

I’ve received an email from Howard, active for the Tanzania Conservation Resource Center, and he pointed me to a page he made on this subject, which is much more detailed then my little attempt. Check-out his article here…