233 Tech.

BB Essentials: BlackBerry Internet Service (Part 1)

Posted on 01. Jul, 2010 by Nana Kwabena Owusu in Berry Crazy

The World Cup may have distracted us a bit but its back to regularly scheduled blogging.  BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) is the backbone of the Blackberry world and to put it simply, it completes your BlackBerry. For all those rolling their eyes and saying, yeah I can live without it, trust me, a Ferrari on a village road is less crippled than your BB without BIS. If anyone knows what being with and without BIS feels like, I do.

I had BIS for about 5 months and then due to a little issue went without it for another 5 or so months, but I’m back and LOVING WHAT I DO. This post will be in two parts; options for making a decision which operator to use and how to actually activate and use the BIS service.

MTN Ghana

MTN Ghana was the first to introduce the BlackBerry service and intended it for corporate use but quickly changed their tune when they realised everyone wants one. They have two options for getting BIS: Postpaid BIS and Prepaid BIS. (NOTE: Prepaid BIS does not mean Pay-as-You-Go (PAYG) BIS which currently isn’t offered in Ghana.)

Postpaid BIS:

This means getting a postpaid account which requires you fulfill all postpaid requirements like providing address info, paying predefined deposits and you get a postpaid MTN account (Voice, SMS & MMS billed according to your usage) and a monthly BIS package (billed at GHC 40.00 with 2GB data allowance). Postpaid customers also get lower voice and SMS rates than prepaid customers.

MTN Postpaid BIS: Postpaid Account Deposit (GHC 50.00) + 1 Month BIS Service Fee (GHC 40.00) = GHC 90.00

There might to be an additional GHC 3.00 for a new postpaid SIM (these operators act cheap sometimes huh) and additional  fees for valued added services like international calls (IDD), if you decide to opt in for those.

Prepaid BIS:

This means a monthly BIS contract with MTN which requires a GHC 40.00 BIS fee each month but the service is for prepaid subscribers. The amount must be recharged before the next billing period so it can be deducted. Well I’m assuming that if it isn’t then the service will be disconnected and only reconnected by customer service personnel.

Zain Ghana

Zain also has similar packages to MTN: Postpaid BIS and Prepaid BIS. The options from the two operators are similar so I will not repeat myself but emphasis any major differences.

PostPaid BIS:

On Zain it costs a little more than MTN to activate a postpaid account and slightly less for the actual monthly BIS fees.

Zain Postpaid BIS: Postpaid Account Deposit (GHC 100.00) + 1 Month BIS  Service Fee (GHC 35.00) = GHC 135.00

However a major difference between the two services is that Zain provides unlimited data over BIS (versus the 2GB on MTN). This means you do not have to worry about exceeding any monthly data limits and running up a debt, which can occur with MTN.

Prepaid BIS:

Zain Prepaid BIS costs GHC 35.00 for unlimited data and is also a monthly contract which is debited directly from your prepaid account. This means you must recharge up to GHC 35.00 before the due date for monthly BIS deductions. Activation is simple and requires a visit to any Zain Shop, getting your phone certified that it is completely unlocked and activating the BIS service after paying the GHC 35.00 fee. It took me about 20 minutes to get mine activated

(Note: The Zain rep makes it seem that there are instances where the device may not be completely unlocked and in such cases will not work on their network.  To check if your BB is Unlcoked: Go to: Options > Advanced Options > SIM Card on your device and type ” MEPD”. It should say disabled or inactive under Network (and all options too).  Here is an example Unlocked Device Screen )

Tigo Ghana

Tigo Ghana is a bit of a dark horse in selecting a BIS Service beacause their website has little or no info on the service, which frankly is unacepotable. However there is info from the launch of the Bold but it must be taken as is. Tigo does not have a prepaid option for its BIS only postpaid and I cannot confirm if they will allow you to bring your own unlocked device to their network. It is also worth noting that Tigo does not yet have 3G deployed. Tigo’s postpaid data packages include unlimited Internet access and are priced at $25 per month for BIS.

Which Should You Choose?

The simple answer is, there is no simple answer. However here are some tips which may help.

1. Service Quality: Choose the provider whose service works the best already in the places you frequent the most. Almost all the service providers have areas in which their service is unsatisfying (crap in less diplomatic language) and places that the service works well. The tricky part is that voice and data may work differently, for example, Zain voice services at home for me not excellent but the data is good enough for streaming my favorite audio podcasts.

2. Which Operator?

Speed: MTN and Zain are both 3G enabled and might therefore perform better in 3G areas than Tigo. If you’re device is not 3G capable then this might not matter so much. However from my experience, MTN’s EDGE seems to be slower than that of Zain but there is no solid proof. Tigo users any speedtests?

Price: For postpaid MTN is cheaper than Zain in terms of initial payment, while Zain beats MTN and Tigo in monthly pricing. The difference for prepaid is almost negligible.

Heavy Data Users: Zain has unlimited data (MTH has 2GB limit) which means no surprises (it allows me to download and stream my favourite audio and video podcasts). However MTN is the better option if you need the flexibility to connect your BB to your laptop for emergency browsing. Zain does not allow this unless you purchase one of their normal data packages.

Related posts:

1. MTN BlackBerry service for Pay-as-you-go customers
2. Zain Contract Phones Explained
3. The changing face of competition in Ghana’s mobile market
4. BB Essentials: You and Your BlackBerry

Tags: BIS, blackberry, blackberry internet service, Ghana, mtn, tigo, zain