If you have read some past post, you may know that I was very eager to use 3G service on my iPhone 3GS and so I got BSNL 3G as soon as it launched here. But as I mentioned in a few past post, it gave me disappointing result. No coverage in house, malls or any other building. It was ridicules to go on the terrace or somewhere in open to get 3G connectivity. So, I stopped using it. I was being hopeless about using services like Facebook, Twitter, Mail etc on the go without 3G and as there is no GPRS(EDGE) ability in iPhone (Depends on carrier). But finally I've found solution! with some tweaking, I've been able to successfully configure GPRS in iPhone. Read more to know how.
How GPRS can be helpful?
Well, GPRS is used to get 'Always On' internet connection on mobile devices. If you are in India, or somewhere else, where 3G service is not available or, simply you can't afford it as it may be costly for you or for any other reason you can't get 3G connectivity, then GPRS is useful for you. You don't need to buy a 3G SIM, no high rent, nothing. Most service providers provides GPRS service as 'Pay as you use' plan. (Like Airtel and Vodafone provides GPRS at 10 Paisa/10 KB) As there is no 3G service launched in India except by BSNL and MTNL (Which is almost crap) and even when launched it's going to be so costly as service providers have paid high amount of money to get 3G spectrum, its good to be on GPRS.
How to configure iPhone to get GPRS connectivity?
As you may know, some carriers does not allow editing APN on iPhone for non 3G SIM, you can't simply add GPRS settings and start using it like you do in other phones. Read following steps to configure GPRS settings in iPhone.
Note : We are going to configure iPhone to use GPRS with Vodafone prepaid SIM.
Fist you need to download and install a software called 'iPhone Configuration Utility'. Download links are at the end of the post.
Step 1 : Run iPhone Configuration Utility and connect your iPhone with PC using USB cable. The Home Screen of the software look like this.
Step 1.1 : Click on 'Configuration Profiles' on the left panel.
Step 1.2 : Click on 'General'.
Step 1.3 : In 'Name' field, we will give a name to the profile we are going to create. Any name can be used. We will use - vodafone in this example. Then in 'Identifier' field, type portalnmms.
Step 2 : Now scroll down the left panel and look for 'Advanced' option. Click it and click 'Configure'. Type the following details in given fields.
For Vodafone SIM
- Access Point Name(APN): portalnmms
- Access Point User Name : leave_blank
- Access Point Password : leave_blank
- Proxy Server and Port : In the first box, type - 10.10.1.100
- In the second box, type - 9401
- Access Point Name(APN): rcomwap
- Access Point User Name : leave_blank
- Access Point Password : leave_blank
- Proxy Server and Port : In the first box, type - 010.239.221.005
- In the second box, type - 8080
Step 3 : Now click on your device's name on extreme left panel (7 in picture) and click 'Configuration Profiles'. You will see name of the profile vodafone (Or any other name you gave) below. Click the 'Install' button. A window will pop-up on your iPhone's screen. Tap 'Install' and the profile will be installed. You can see the profile in - Settings - General. Scroll down to see new area added named 'Profile'.
Step 4 : Enable 'Cellular Data' in Settings - General - Network if not already done. There is no option for turning on cellular data in iOS < 4.0. It is always on.
Finally Power off and Restart your iPhone. Open Safari and try to browse www.google.com If it successfully loads, everything has gone fine and GPRS is working. If not, try again or try to load other site. If nothing happens, then its possible that GPRS service is not active on your SIM. Most new SIMs comes with pre-activated GPRS but it is possible that you are not subscribed to it if you have old SIM. Call costumer-care regarding activation of GPRS. You can also try again by re-installing profile after removing it first.
If you want to remove the profile we created and installed using iPhone Configuration Utility, Click the device name under 'Devices' (left panel) and go to 'Configuration Profiles'. Click 'Remove' button and the profile will be removed from iPhone as well as the Configuration Utility. Follow each step mentioned above to create a new profile.
Note: You may experience low speed while using GPRS. Its not as fast as 3G.
Note: The charge will be deducted from your current main balance. You can subscribe to a good GPRS plan if you want.
Caution: Leaving the 'Cellular Data' setting ON May drain your balance! Reason is, iPhone regularly checks for new e-mails, facebook, twitter updates etc. So I suggest you keep it turned OFF while not in use.
This process can also be done with other service providers like Airtel and BSNL or any others. You just need to find APN settings for the service providers and add them into Step 2. Search for GPRS settings on the internet.
If you try this, please share your experiences with everyone.
Update 2 : Seems like you no longer need to add profile to your iPhone to access GPRS on Vodafone SIM(Not sure about others). Just insert Vodafone SIM into iPhone and turn on Cellular Data from Settings->General->Network if not already done, and it gets working. The Mail Application of iPhone is working too now. Push notification, Push Mail is also working.
Update 3 : Many visitors are asking how to setup GPRS in Reliance GSM on iPhone. I have now included it in this tutorials.
Download iPhone Configuration Utility
Windows and Mac
http://support.apple.com/kb/dl926
Last Updated - 29/07/2011
