Checking that Your IoGT Site is Available for Free
Before checking
You have to set up your site on either Facebook Free Basics or for zero-rating through an agreement with a mobile network operator (MNO).
Checking free access from Facebook Free Basics
Requirements
Mobile phone with a web browser and a SIM card from an MNO in your area which offers Facebook Free Basics.
Prepare your phone
- If the SIM card is not in your phone already, put it in
- Turn off all network connections other than the SIM card from your Free Basics MNO
- Disconnect from WIFI
- If you have two SIM cards in your phone, make sure that only the Free Basics MNO SIM card is using data
Check your SIM card's access to Facebook Free Basics
- Navigate to https://internet.org/
- If you arrive at a Free Basics Portal, you are accessing Free Basics and you can proceed to checking your IoGT platform
- If you arrive at a different page - for example a generic page titled "Meta Connectivity" - you cannot access Free Basics
- One possible cause would be your phone using some network connection other than the MNO SIM card
- To troubleshoot this take these steps:
- Make sure you are disconnected from WIFI
- Turn off Bluetooth
- Remove any secondary SIM card in your phone so that only the Free Basics MNO SIM is in the phone
- Try loading https://internet.org/ again
- If the troubleshooting steps don't work you should speak to the MNO's customer service for help - it's possible the MNO does not actually support Free Basics
- To troubleshoot this take these steps:
- One possible cause would be your phone using some network connection other than the MNO SIM card
- If you get an error saying you are not connected to the internet, it's likely your SIM card needs to be activated or registered - try visiting another site, and if that also doesn't load speak to the MNO's customer service for help
Check that your IoGT platform is listed in the Free Basics Portal
- Search in the Free Basics Portal for your Site Name, as configured by your Free Basics administrator
- For UNICEF the site name will be "Internet of Good Things"
- Your Free Basics administrator can check your Site Name by 1) visiting this page 2) clicking to Edit your Site 3) scrolling to the bottom to find the Site Name field
- Click on your platform's listing in the Free Basics Portal, and you should arrive to IoGT with free browsing via Free Basics
Check that your Free Basics shortened URLs work properly
You can check any of the shortened URLs that you have created by visiting them in your browser. If Free Basics is working properly will arrive on the proper IoGT Page; if it's not working properly you will arrive on a general page with a title like "Meta Connectivity".
Checking free access from an MNO zero-rating agreement
Requirements
Mobile phone with web browser and a SIM card from the MNO where you have a zero-rating agreement. The SIM card
- must be internet-capable
- must NOT have a data bundle activated and NOT have credit available which can be used for web browsing
- if your SIM card comes with free credit or an included data bundle, you can spend them down by watching videos on YouTube
- can include free services like WhatsApp or Facebook - this will not cause a problem
Prepare your phone
- If the SIM card is not in your phone already, put it in
- Turn off all network connections other than the SIM card from your zero-rated MNO
- Disconnect from WIFI
- If you have two SIM cards in your phone, make sure that only the zero-rated MNO SIM card is using data
Check that your SIM card cannot access the internet (aside from free services)
- In your web browser, go to https://www.google.com/, or any website which is not a free service from your MNO
- If you see a message that you don't have sufficient data or credit, you can proceed to checking your IoGT platform
- If you see an error that you cannot connect to the internet
- Check any free services that are included by your MNO - if you can access them then you can proceed to checking your IoGT platform
- If you cannot access your MNO's included free services, you may need to activate or register your SIM card and you should contact your MNO customer support
- If your MNO doesn't have included free services, and you've never successfully connected to the internet with this SIM before - proceed to checking your IoGT platform, but it's possible your SIM card needs to be activated or registered by your MNO
- If the website that you tried to access loads, then try another website without free access from your MNO - if they both load, then
- One possible cause would be your phone using some network connection other than the MNO SIM card. To troubleshoot this take these steps:
- Make sure you are disconnected from WIFI
- Turn off Bluetooth
- Remove any secondary SIM card in your phone so that only the Free Basics MNO SIM is in the phone
- Try loading the website again again
- If you are still able to load the website, it's likely that you have some data bundle or credit still remaining on your SIM card
- One possible cause would be your phone using some network connection other than the MNO SIM card. To troubleshoot this take these steps:
Check that your IoGT platform is accessible
- In your web browser, try to access your IoGT platform
- If you see your platform - then your MNO is zero-rating your platform successfully
- If you see a message that you don't have sufficient data or credit - then your MNO is currently not zero-rating your platform
- If you see an error that you can't connect to the internet
- If you've never successfully accessed the internet on this SIM card, it's possible you need to activate/register your SIM card and you should contact your MNO's customer support
- If you have successfully accessed the internet on this SIM card in the past, then your MNO is currently not zero-rating your platform