It sounds really complicated and it can be but this is exactly the kind of thing that can cause non-techie people like me to run the other way. Here’s how I came to discover just what GPRS is.

Earlier this week, my mobile internet stopped working. At first, I thought it was a problem with my Rogers service and thought I’d give it a few hours to sort itself out but when I checked on it a few hours later, still no internet. I rebooted, I took out the battery and still no go. I uninstalled a couple of wifi applications that I wasn’t using thinking that perhaps something I installed messed something else up causing the trouble but still nothing. At this point, I started to worry that something inside my N900 had called it quits - not good. Thankfully, I ruled out that option by connecting to Wifi at a local Starbucks. The problem was something else.

I came home and started looking around for a possible problem. What I discovered was that my Rogers Internet connection worked through GPRS. My first thought? What the hell is that? In layman’s terms, GPRS is a service that allows data to be transferred over a voice network allowing me, the user, to access the internet over my cell phone connection. Not so complicated after all!

After a little digging, I discovered that my GPRS service had lost all its settings. I don’t know how it happened or why but after a little searching, I managed to track down the settings which I then punched into my phone and voila! Mobile internet works again!

To save you the trouble of looking around for those settings, the GPRS settings for Rogers are:

username: wapuser1
password: wap
address: internet.com

If you’re with Fido, similar information can be found here. One of the things I’ve discovered in my years of using online tech tutorials is that the steps aren’t always the same for everyone, even if the person who wrote them has the apparent same setup. I’m not sure if those Fido settings are completely accurate as I haven’t tested them but I can vouch for the Rogers settings – worked like charm!

So remember, if your mobile internet stops working, it’s not the end of the world. Probably just a minor glitch in the system!