The mobile phone market in several African countries has witnessed a significant influx of Chinese phones, primarily due to their affordability. However, concerns have been raised regarding the legitimacy and quality of these devices, as they often closely resemble popular brands like Nokia and Motorola. While Chinese phones offer a wide range of features at a lower cost compared to other brands, their durability and accessories, such as battery life and phone cases, remain questionable. It's worth noting that most Chinese phones come with internet connectivity capabilities, provided the proper internet settings from the service provider are manually entered.

In contrast to well-known brands like Nokia, Motorola, LG, and Siemens, where users can easily obtain internet settings and activation by sending a blank text message to their mobile service provider, Chinese phones require manual entry of internet settings. While this process may seem complex, sometimes the lower cost comes with a trade-off. Users have two options: either input the internet settings personally or visit their mobile service provider's customer care center for assistance. Currently, Safaricom is the only service provider in Kenya with a 3G network, requiring manual input of internet settings for Chinese phones to access the internet.

To enter Safaricom internet settings on a China phone, follow these steps:

Ensure your SIM card is activated for internet settings.You can activate the SIM card by either calling customer care at 100 or sending a blank text message to 445 using the desired SIM card.


On your China phone's menu, select "Services" or "Web."Then navigate to "Data Accounts" and select "GPRS."
Choose "Account 1."


Fill in the following fields with the corresponding values:Account Name: Safaricom GPRS
APN: safaricom
Username: saf
Password: data
Authentication type: Normal
Press "Done" and save consecutively.


From the phone's menu, select "Services" or "Web," then go to "WAP Browser" and select "Settings."For dual SIM card phones, choose either SIM 1 or SIM 2, then select "Edit Profile SIM 1" or "SIM 2."
Select "Profile 1" and activate it.
Choose "Edit Profile" and enter the following values in their respective fields:Rename Profile: Safaricom
Homepage: http://wap.google.com
Data Account: Safaricom GPRS
Connection Type: HTTP (or WAP, depending on compatibility)
Proxy/Gateway IP/Address: 172.022.002.038
Proxy/Gateway Port: 8080
User Name: Leave blank
Password: Leave blank
Press "Done" and save.


Go back to the menu and select "Services" or "Web," then choose "WAP Browser" followed by "Homepage."

To configure multimedia and messaging services, follow these additional steps:

From the phone's menu, select "Services," then "Data Accounts," and choose "GPRS."Select a profile and press "Edit."
Enter the following values in their respective fields:Account Name: Safaricom MMS
APN: safaricom
Username: saf
Password: data
Authentication type: Normal
Press "Done" and save by selecting "Yes."


Return to the phone's menu and select "Messages," then "MMS."In the Message Settings, choose "Server Profile," then select a profile and press "OK."
Select "Edit Profile" and enter the following values:Rename Profile: Safaricom MMS
Homepage: http://mms.gprs.safaricom.com
Data Account: Safaricom MMS
Username: saf
Password: data
Select "Connection Type" and choose "Connection Oriented."
Input the following values:IP Address: 172.022.002.038
Security: Off
Press "Done" and save by selecting "Yes."
Finally, select "Activate Profile" and confirm by pressing "Yes" to activate it.

To access the internet on your China phone, go to the menu and select "Services" or "Web," followed by "WAP" and "Homepage."