Monday, July 9, 2018

10 MONDAY, JULY 9, 2018
Gadget smart
Understanding data roaming
If you looked at your phone settings, you may have come
across a setting called ‘data roaming’. Enabling it would
bring a pop-up message saying that turning this option on
may incur significant network charges.
So, what is data roaming, and why would you enable it
if it could incur these charges?
Roaming
Roaming is when your phone leaves the range of your
network and loses its signal. This goes a little further than
simply going into rural parts of the country; it means
leaving the country altogether. When you are in a country
that is out of range of your network provider’s territory,
your phone is now roaming. Data roaming, therefore, is the
act of getting data while outside of your network’s range.
How data roaming works
Let’s say you are a Nigerian and a customer of 9Mobile
who provides you with a phone signal and 4G data. You
feel like taking a holiday, so you decide to jet off to sunny
Spain for a bit. While you are there, you would still like to
catch up on your YouTube videos and podcasts while you
are on the beach, so you take your phone with you.
There is a problem, however; 9Mobile doesn’t have a
presence in Spain. Therefore, if you left for Spain, you
would be stuck without a phone signal. If you had an
unlocked phone, you could exchange the SIM card with a
Spanish provider to get data there. But what if your phone
was locked to 9Mobile and you can’t change the SIM?
In order to tackle this problem and help their customers
get a signal no matter where they are, 9Mobile struck a deal
with the Spanish network so that if any of their customers
goes to Spain and wants to use 4G or make a call or text,
the Spanish network would pick up the slack and give them
a network signal, despite the fact that the customer is a
9Mobile user. In return, 9Mobile will support any Spanish
network customer coming from Spain.
With Anna Okon
09080019063
aokon@punchng.com
The result
Now when you take that flight to Spain, you can use the
Spanish network signal to get 4G; however, there is a good
chance that additional charges for using a foreign network
will come into play.
To prevent itself from accidentally racking up a huge
phone bill, your phone won’t automatically connect to the
Spanish network when you arrive. You have to manually
tell your phone to connect by enabling data roaming. Once
done, you can now enjoy 4G abroad without changing
SIM cards.
When you arrive at Spain with roaming enabled, you
wll see that your network provider’s name will change
404 error
404 Error Code is caused in one way or another by
misconfigured system files in your windows operating
system.
It is a common website error message that indicates
a webpage cannot be found. It may be produced when a
user clicks an outdated (or ‘broken’) link or when a URL
is typed incorrectly in a web browser’s address field. Some
websites display custom 404 error pages, which may
look similar to other pages on the site. Other websites
simply display the web server’s default error message
text, which typically begins with ‘Not Found’. Regardless
of the appearance, a 404 error means the server is up
and running, but the webpage or path to the webpage is
not valid.
So why call it a “404 error” instead of simply a “Missing
Webpage Error?” The reason is that 404 is an error
code produced by the Web server when it cannot find a
webpage. This error code is recognised by search engines,
which helps prevent search engine crawlers from indexing
bad URLs. 404 errors can also be read by Web scripts and
website monitoring tools, which can help webmasters
to something like ‘España Móvil (9Mobile)’. This just
means you are currently using España Móvil’s network as
a 9Mobile customer.
If you travelled with a friend and they used a different
network, they may see a different Spanish name pop-up
#Takeaway
• Source:mywebspot
locate and fix broken links.
Other common Web server codes are 200, which means
a webpage has been found, and 301, which indicates a file
has moved to a new location. Like 404 errors, these status
messages are not seen directly by users, but they are used
by search engines and website monitoring software.
There are two ways to fix 404 error:
Advanced computer user solution (manual restore):
• Start your computer and log on as an administrator.
• Click the ‘Start’ button then select the following- All
Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then click
System Restore.
In the new window, select “Restore my computer to
an earlier time” option and then click Next.
Select the most recent system restore point from the
“On this list, click a restore point” list, and then click Next.
• Click Next on the confirmation window.
• Restarts the computer when the restoration is finished.
Novice computer user solution (completely automated):
• Download (Error 404) repair utility.
• Install program and click Scan button.
• Click the Fix Errors button when scan is completed.
•Restart your computer
corresponding to the network their provider struck a deal
with.
Significant charges
While roaming is very useful, it can come at a hefty
additional cost to your base data and call rates. This is what
the pop-up is warning you about when you enable data
roaming. Different network providers will have different
charges depending on which country you visit, so be sure to
check up the stated charges on the website before travelling.
In order to find these charges, you don’t have to find
out what network you’ll be switching to when you arrive
at your destination. Simply search for the one you use at
home and look up their roaming charges, and it will apply
when you go abroad, even after the network changes. Just
be sure you select the correct country, as charges can differ
depending on where you go.
If you are lucky, you may find there are no roaming
charges at all. For example, if you are in Europe, you will
be pleased to know that the European Union scrapped
roaming charges for travelling within its boundaries, so
you can go from France to Italy without worrying about
roaming costs at all.
Effect on WiFi
Roaming charges won’t affect any WiFi connections
you access during your stay. If your hotel has WiFi, or you
find a café with a hotspot, you can use that at its advertised
cost (if any) without paying anything extra. Roaming only
comes into play when you are using a cellular network
(like 4G) abroad.