To set your router to the default factory settings, use your internet browser and enter fritz.box or 192.168.178.1 in your browser address field.
• Log on to your router with your username and password.
• In the ‘Overview’ menu on the left of your screen, select the ‘Systems’ option and then click on ‘Reset’.
• Click on ‘Factory Settings’ on the top of the page and then click on the ‘Load Factory Settings’ button.

You can visit our Online Shop to buy online and have the device and service delivered to your door, or you can call our customer care team on 0720 100 100 from any network or 100 (FREE) from any SmileVoice number, or you are welcome to visit our Smile Shops.

Your account will not be debited for used SmileON bundles on your next top-up. SmileON is free to qualifying customers. The negative sign indicates that your SmileON usage allowance is depleting.

Whenever you load data bundles you get a 30-day validity period starting from the date you subscribed for each data bundle. However, if you still have monetary airtime on your Smile account and you have allowed the ‘Out-of-bundle’ usage option you will still be connected, although your internet connection will continue using up your airtime directly. Please note that the monetary airtime in your account never expires.

You can calculate your estimated data requirement using the Smile data calculator located on the Smile website.

You can call the Smile Customer Care helpline on 0720 100 100 from any network or 100 (FREE) from any SmileVoice number. Email us at customercare@smile.co.ug stating the reason for a SIM replacement, i.e. stolen, misplaced or damaged, and you will be assisted.

The router is a plug and play device. You only need an Ethernet cable to connect your computer to any of the four LAN ports and you can start using the internet, or you can connect to the wireless name to start using the internet.

No. A Smile email service with smile domain will not be provided with Smile 4G LTE broadband. You may use other free hosted email services such as Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail or any other Web-based email host/provider.

You need your personal ID if the intended purpose is for domestic use or a certificate of incorporation for business entities which will be used to register you as per the Uganda Communication Commission guidelines. For further details, please call the Customer Care helpline on 0720 100 100 from any network or 100 (FREE) from any SmileVoice number.

Yes, if you are connected on to our service, you would need to have an SMTP relay. Please contact our call centre on 0720 100 100 from any network or 100 (FREE) from any SmileVoice number and our technical team will be glad to get you set up.

The Smile 4G LTE service functions as a shared connection, but has the intelligence to manage and offer good quality of service to a large number of users.

Yes, Smile 4G LTE broadband provides high-speed broadband internet access; you can even play HD games on the internet.

Smile’s service is available on any handset, tablet, laptop or computer that is Wi-Fi enabled. If you are within the coverage area of a Smile hotspot, or if you have a router with a Smile SIM card, our network is available to you by means of any Wi-Fi enabled device.

In addition, Smile’s SIM cards can be used on any router, laptop, phone or tablet that supports 4G LTE. Since 4G LTE is still a new technology, and devices may not be readily available in all countries, Smile’s SIM cards are sold with 4G LTE-enabled devices from Smile.

Smile is the first and only Internet service provider to launch 4G LTE in Uganda. It has also launched its services in Nigeria and Tanzania and also has plans to have a wider coverage in Uganda.

Smile has rolled out a 4G LTE broadband service using Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology. 4G LTE, put simply, is the next generation of technology and is therefore higher-speed internet technology compared to 3G internet technology. For example, what would take five minutes to download on a phone, tablet or laptop connected to the internet via a 3G network, would take 60 seconds on a device connected on a 4G LTE network.

Smile Uganda believes that corporate social responsibility is an integral part of our business – we provide high-quality communications, and seek to make an impact in the countries where we are present. Smile is aware that it must contribute to the community in which it operates. We would appreciate it if you could email charity project suggestions to: community@smile.co.ug

Simple steps that will get you to ‘Smile’ as you become a greener citizen:

o Unplug appliances when you are not using them.

o Set computers and laptops to energy-saving settings and make sure to shut them down when you’re not using them for a long time.

o Try to save paper by keeping files on computers instead of in filing cabinets (this also makes it easier to make offsite backup copies or to take them with you when you move to a new location).

o Never throw away your old electronic equipment (handsets, laptops, PCs) in the trash – find out where to dispose of e-waste in your community.

To reset your router, log in in to the router’s interface by typing http://192.168.1.1 in your browser’s address field. Select the ‘System’ tab as shown in the figure below, and choose the ‘Reboot’ or ‘Restore’ option. Either option will set the router for re-initialisation and your router will be reset. Alternatively, with the aid of a pointed object, you can press and hold down for 3 – 5 seconds the ‘Reset’ button located between ‘WLAN’ and ‘WPS’ on the right side of the router. All the status icons on the front panel of the router will blink at the same time, which signals that the router has been reset.

Access your router’s interface and click on the ‘General Settings’ menu, then choose ‘WLAN Settings’ and type your chosen password (using no less than 8 characters) in the box labelled ‘WPA-PSK’. Finish by clicking ‘Submit’.

To access your router’s interface simply type the URL http://192.168.1.1 into your browser. The default password is ‘admin’.

Your computer is connected to the router when the LED light on the ‘Mode’ icon of the router is blinking blue and your computer ‘LAN’ icon or wireless SSID is highlighting the ‘connected’ status. When the ‘Mode’ icon on the router is blinking red, this indicates there is no connectivity, and when it’s blinking white, this indicates that the router is in the process of accessing the wireless network.

You can configure the router to restrict access by IP, MAC address and URL options. You can also restrict Wi-Fi access to the router by a laptop/desktop. Please call our Contact Centre on 0720 100 100 from any network or 100 (FREE) from any SmileVoice number for further assistance on how to set this up.

Smile GBs are now 1 024MB, although this is not consistent with the standard definition of a GB. Smile conforms to the International System of Units (SI), which defines a gigabyte (GB) as 1 000 000 000 bytes or 1 000MB, a megabyte (MB) as 1 000 000 bytes or 1 000KB and a kilobyte as 1 000 bytes.

The appropriate prefix for multiples of 1 024 units is GiB, which is equivalent to 1 024 MiB, while MiB is 1 024 KiB, and KiB is 1 024 bytes. Operating systems like Windows©, Apple’s IOS and Android™ use multiples of 1 024 when displaying file sizes and storage space, but instead of using the appropriate prefixes (KiB, MiB, GiB), they instead use KB, MB and GB.

Smile values the opinions of our customers, so we have decided to align with the operating systems use of these prefixes. A Smile GB is now 1 024 MB and a Smile MB is now 1 024KB, which is the expectation of some of our customers.

Integrity is one of our core values. We have a dedicated team of trained and specialised engineers who thoroughly review and check the accuracy of our system on a regular basis. Our Customer Care agents are always happy to discuss individual usage one-on-one with our customers to answer their questions.

In some limited cases, part of your day’s usage may reflect on our systems on the following day, especially any usage that is close to midnight. This happens when your session continues into the next day. When that happens, we are still able to accurately show you the actual usage per individual days using our more detailed records. Our Customer Care agents are always happy to take you through the more detailed transaction history.

All custom parameters are restored to default values.

If the router is powered off unexpectedly during the configuration, the parameters may be restored to default settings.

We recommend that you export the parameter settings after you set the parameters, so that the router can be quickly restored to the previous status using the export settings.

o While downloading a file, your computer may also be serving/uploading already-received portions of the file to other users, as well as serving other complete files resident on the computer.

o It is advisable to remember to close the BitTorrent client application every time you’ve finished downloading. We also suggest you limit the upload speed under bandwidth settings within the client.

o BitTorrent client applications enable users to share large files over an internet link, without a dedicated central file server, but rather a user computer-to-user computer exchange. BitTorrent clients manage the file transfer sessions.

o Typically a file to be distributed is divided into smaller pieces, for example a 1GB file may be divided into 1 000 pieces of 1MB size each. This approach makes it possible to pause and resume download at any point in the file’s overall download life cycle. It also makes it possible for many users (known as ‘peers’ if they possess only a portion of the file, or ‘seeders’ if they possess 100% of the file) to contribute various pieces simultaneously to the downloading computer, making downloading much quicker.

o While downloading a file, the user’s computer (known as a ‘downloader’) also becomes a ‘provider’ (peer) of the pieces they have already downloaded to other users’ computers (downloaders) while downloading the same file.

o Downloaders may also have access to other complete files resident on the customer’s computer. However, customers may not be aware that they are indeed serving to other downloaders, and with Smile LTE superfast uplink speeds, this costs them gigabytes of data.

Skype:

o Skype voice-only calls: Recommended speed is 100kbps (although Skype will allow the call to degrade to 30Kbps, before dropping it) – average volume consumed is 29.3MB/hour.

o Skype video calls: Recommended speed is 500kbps (video calling can degrade to 300Kbps, before dropping) – average volume is 200MB – 225MB/hour.

The router records total data transfer to and from connected computers to the network. This can be viewed on the Web UI, under ‘Online meter’ . Please note the following:

• An idle Windows PC may still use data for background activities like Windows update checks and downloads, and the presence of some applications like Skype, etc. To help understand what individual background applications or processes are using the bandwidth, we recommend bandwidth monitoring applications like NetLimiter 3, which shows a list of all applications communicating over the network, their connections and transfer rates. NetLimiter 3 can be downloaded here: http://www.netlimiter.com/download.php

• Please also note that, at the point of logging off the internet, the customer’s account has not yet been billed for the final data usage. The final usage may be billed up to five minutes later, after the customer has switched off their router or client PC. In SCP, the correct bundle balance is what will be displayed six minutes after switching off the router (remove the SIM card while the router is powered on). If the customer only has Smile 4G LTE broadband internet to access SCP, they will never know their actual final balance at the time of switching/logging off.

• At the point when the customer resumes the Smile 4G LTE broadband internet service, 20MB will automatically be deducted from their SCP account balance. The balance displayed in SCP is always less by the reservation volume of 20MB, in the current configuration. 20MB is not lost, but rather taken into reservation for use in the new/current data session. That explains why customers seem to think they lost 20MB when coming from an inactive mode.

o Example: The customer checks their SCP bundle balance just before switching off their PC/router, and finds a balance reading of 100MB. In the meantime, there’s a reservation of 20MB of which 14MB has been consumed, 14 MB gets billed three minutes later and 6MB is returned. The new bundle balance is now 106MB, but the customer does not get to see this. The customer switches their router/PC on, resumes internet services and quickly checks their SCP account for the bundle balance and this time sees a balance of 86MB (106MB – 200MB new reservation). The customer thinks they have lost 14MB while they were not using the internet.

• For absolute bundle balance view in SCP, the customer should select ‘Disallow All Usage’ under ‘Account Status’, wait for six minutes and refresh to view the final bundle balance. Then the customer can log off or disconnect from the router/dongle, etc. The balance should remain unchanged even when they reconnect to the router/LTE network as volume reservation will not be possible. Customers will have to enable ‘Allow All Usage’ to access the internet once more.

• The routers do not use any data when no customer devices are connected to the routers – tests have confirmed this.

• The Smile 4G LTE broadband service cannot originate a transfer or communication session directly with the customer’s PC. PCs are shielded from the LTE network, in the router’s private network – LAN. If there are any readings on the bandwidth meter tool on the customer’s PC, then an application on the PC initiated a data session. No pings, etc. from the LTE network side, destined for the customer’s PC, are possible.

Wi-Fi routers can admit up to 32 (Huawei B593) and 18 (FRITZ!Box 6810) concurrent customer Wi-Fi connections, but in reality the number of customers it can serve simultaneously also depends on the number of sessions per customer computer. For example, one customer who is BitTorrenting would normally render the router unusable by other connected clients.

o The blinking ‘Power’ LED indicates that the router is unable to open the LTE connection with the Smile LTE service

o If the LTE LED is lit but flashing green (FRITZ!Box), flashing white (Huawei router), or steady purple (Huawei) then the router is either still searching or cannot find the Smile LTE service.

o Confirm that the antennas are not damaged, or that the SIM card is not missing/not properly inserted/faulty.

o Make sure the problem is not coverage-related (have you connected to the LTE network before in the same location?)

o Find out from Networks if there are any outages in any areas.

o Log a Jira ticket and escalate to the Networks and Products teams.

o In some cases the SIM card has registered the Smile LTE service on the forbidden list. This happens usually in poor coverage locations, whereby the router has been rejected by the network on several attach attempts – escalate to Device Support.

If you are certain that the passphrase is correct, make sure you have selected the WPA encryption type. Right click on the router Wi-Fi, select ‘Properties’ on the pop-up window, click on the ‘Security’ tab, and for ‘Security type’ select ‘WPA’.

You may also follow the passphrase/key reset procedure described below.

If some computers support only older encryption methods like WEP, then you may enable a second SSID broadcast and enable it to support only WEP.

You will be disconnected and unable to access the internet when your internet bundle runs out. However, if you still have airtime on your account and have allowed the ‘Out-of-bundle’ usage option, you will still be connected, though your internet connection will continue using up your airtime directly. Please note that the airtime in your account never expires.

Log in to MySmile with your customer username and password.

o On your ‘My Account’ page, check to see if your ‘Airtime Balance’ is sufficient to purchase the internet bundle required. If not, first top up your airtime using PayWay.

o On the MySmile home page, click on the ‘Buy Smile Bundle’ tab.

o Click on the ‘Purchase’ button next to the bundle you wish to purchase.

o A confirmation page will be displayed. Click ‘Confirm’ on the confirmation page to proceed or click ‘Cancel’ to cancel the bundle purchase.

o Your newly purchased internet bundle will be shown in your ‘Data Bundle Balance’ on your ‘MyAccount’ page.

Smile’s internet access service offers unparalleled superfast speeds and because of this you may find your bundles being used up at a different (faster) rate than you had previously been used to. This is quite normal as Smile wants to provide you with an improved service offering and experience, superior to any of our competitors in Uganda. Smile can also recommend simple on line tools which can help you see how your bundles are being used. Please contact us on 0720 100 100 from any network or 100 (FREE) from any SmileVoice number for more details or alternatively write to us on our website ‘Contact Us’ page (click here to go to the Contact Us page) and also through our Smile Facebook page.

Smile has rolled out 4G LTE internet using Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology. 4G LTE, put simply, is next generation mobile technology and offers the highest-speed broadband technology compared to 3G broadband. For example, what would take minutes to download on a phone, tablet or laptop connected to the internet via 3G would take seconds on a device connected to Smile's SuperFast 4G LTE network.

In order to minimise ‘unwanted usage’, there are a number of precautions you can take to ensure that you can maximise the management of your data usage. Sometimes, programmes can run in the background which will use data. If you see this happening, please check the following in order to protect against unwanted usage:

1. Always be very wary of torrents. Torrenting is illegal and you can unwittingly be acting as a seeder for other internet users if you download and leave torrenting software open. Your operating system/antivirus programs may be running automatically in the background. To get around this, you can disable automatic updates.
2. Always close your web browsers and other tabs if you are not using your computer.
3. Always ensure that your computer is clear from viruses, worms and trojans to avoid running any superfluous processes.
4. Exit from any download manager that you are running on your computer in order to avoid active download processes. Smile can also recommend simple online tools that can help you see how your data is being used.

Our Customer Care team is on hand to provide you with further advice on how best to avoid unwanted data usage.

Chat with Smile for more details (call us on 0720 100 100 from any network or 100 (FREE) from any SmileVoice number, or email customercare@smile.co.ug .

No, there would be no requirement for a technician on-site to install your Smile service. Smile's 4G LTE internet offers devices that are plug-'n-play, customer-friendly and easy to use. However, in the event that you need assistance with the set up of your Smile service you are more than welcome to call our customer care team on 0720 100 100 from any network or 100 (FREE) from any SmileVoice number and they will gladly assist you.