Solving Opera Mini and UC Browser Connection Problems

Connection Error Message

Configuring GSM phones so that data aware Java applications like gMail, UC Browser and Opera Mini can connect to the Internet is a total disaster. Opera Mini is an amazing mobile browser that gives almost any phone iPhone like Internet capabilities. But many people have trouble getting it to work. They download it from mini.opera.com, it installs without error but when they try to run it they get the error “Failed to connect to the internet“. The same thing often happens with the UC browser, gMail, Picomail, Google Maps, eBuddy Nimbuzz and other mobile Java applications. Because the user can surf the web with the phone’s built in browser, they clearly have a connection to the web. So why doesn’t the app work? Although it’s natural to blame the app, in almost all cases, it’s a setup issue caused by brain dead GPRS data configuration model.

Many mobile operators who are more than happy to sell you an “unlimited” data plan deliberately put roadblocks in the way of using 3rd party data aware applications to reduce data traffic on their networks. Even setting up unbranded, unlocked phones is a hassle. Phone manufacturers do a terrible job of documenting how to configure handsets so that Java applications can connect to the network. The terminology and menu options vary from one phone to the next even from the same manufacturer.

This post is an attempt to demystify the process by explaining the concepts and providing links to sources of operator and phone specific setup information.  You won’t find instructions on how to set up your phone here but I’ll try to point out the best resources for finding the right settings for your phone and operator.

First of all you need a phone that can run Java, meaning that it has a Java runtime (JVM) installed in firmware. Most recent GSM phones have Java, but many CDMA carriers including Verizon, MetroPCS, Cricket and US Cellular in the US use Qualcomm’s BREW application platform rather than Java. There’s nothing technically wrong with BREW but its security model is completely hopeless when it comes to installing 3rd party applications. The only way to get BREW applications is to buy them from your carrier, there are no free BREW applications. My advice, if you want to be able to run free, state of the mobile applications like gMail and Opera Mini, is to avoid the BREW carriers. GSM phones from most operators, CDMA phones from Sprint and iDEN phones from Sprint/Nextel and Boost Mobile all support Java.

Unlike GSM phones Sprint and Boost Mobile CDMA and iDEN handsets don’t require or allow any sort of user data configuration. Java applications usually just work on these phones. When Opera Mini or another Java app installs but won’t connect on a CDMA or iDEN phone, it means that packet data is not provisioned on the carrier side. There’s nothing the user can do except call and try to convince customer support to escalate the issue to a data specialist who can actually fix the problem.

GSM phones, in addition to requiring provisioning by the carrier to turn on data, have many data configuration settings that all have to be correct for data aware applications to work. Having a working browser is not an indication that data is set up correctly. Many built in mobile browsers connect to a WAP/GPRS access point or gateway that doesn’t provide the direct socket or http connectivity that applications need.

Just about all GSM phones support multiple data profiles, each of which is a collection of settings which can be assigned to the built in browser, MMS or applications. Different phone manufacturers call these profiles by different names. Common ones are:
Nokia: Access Points
Samsung: Browser Profiles
Motorola: Data Sessions
LG and Sony Ericsson: Internet Profiles
Blackberry: TCP Settings

A data profile contains dozens of settings, most of them optional. The ones we need to be concerned with are:
Profile Name: A user selected unique name for the access point.
APN or Access Point Name: the hostname or IP address of a switch or server within the carrier’s network which routes data between the mobile network and the Internet.
Bearer: The type of connection like CSD or GPRS.
Username: often but not always blank.
Password: blank if the username is blank.

WAP Gateway IP address and port: Required with some low end and older phones.

Some carriers also require data traffic to pass though a proxy server which has an address and a port.
Proxy Address: The IP address of a proxy server.
Proxy Port: The HTTP port used by the proxy server.

There must be a data profile assigned to your applications. How this is configured varies from phone to phone. There might be a menu option within the data profile setup called Packet Data Access Point or Default Access Point or the profile might need to be set in an Application Manager’s context menu or in an Options menu at the individual application level. Motorola’s are unusual, Java applications will look for and use a data session named Java Session.

Your carrier or phone manufacturer may be able to push all the required settings to your phone. This is the easiest and usually the best way to configure your phone, if it’s available. I recommend trying the carrier first as they should always have the most up to data settings. Check the support section of the carrier’s web site, looking for “send settings to your phone” or something similar.  The carrier may offer a choice of several different types of settings like WAP, MMS, Internet or GPRS Data. For applications you generally want Internet or GPRS Data if they are available and WAP as a last resort. When in doubt have all the settings sent.

A few phone manufacturers including Sony Ericsson and Motorola can also send settings for many different carriers.

Recent Nokia phones have a built in Settings Wizard containing settings for most operators. Instructions on using the settings wizard are at here.

Many times having the settings sent to your phone is all you need to get Opera Mini working. If it doesn’t work with your carrier’s settings try the manufacturer settings and vice versa. If Opera still can’t connect don’t give up. It’s possible to enter the settings manually. here’s how:

1) First you will need to find the right settings for your carrier and data plan. Usually they can be found on the carrier web site or by calling customer support. Many third party application vendors sites provide lists of settings for operators around the world.  Some good ones include:  Opera, eBuddy and Nav4All. It doesn’t matter whether you are using the vendor’s app or not, the settings are the same for any Java or native application. If you can’t find your operator’s settings anywhere else, try doing a Google search for “<Operator Country> GPRS Settings“, i.e. MTN South Africa GPRS Settings.

For US users here are the current settings for the national GSM operators AT&T and T-Mobile:

AT&T:

APN or Access Point Name: wap.cingular
Bearer: GPRS.
Username: <leave blank>
Password: <leave blank>

WAP Gateway IP address: 66.209.11.61

Proxy Address: <not required>
Proxy Port: <not required>

T-Mobile USA:

APN or Access Point Name: wap.voicestream.com or epc.tmobile.com
Bearer: GPRS.
Username: <leave blank>
Password: <leave blank>

WAP Gateway IP address: 216.155.165.050

Proxy Address: <not required>
Proxy Port: <not required>

2) Once you have the settings, enter them on your phone manually.  The process varies from phone model to phone model.  The phone manual should have this information, but often it doesn’t.  eBuddy has step by step guides for setting up popular phone models.

Some mobile operator’s sites including, AT&T, O2 and Sun Cellular also have good instructions for setting up many phones. These operator guides are helpful for figuring out the often arcane setup menus. Of course, if you are using instructions from an operator other than your own you need to substitute the actual setting values specific to your operator that you found in step 1 for the ones provided.

If you can’t find setup instructions for your specific model try looking through the instructions for similar models from the same manufacturer to find one that has the same menu structure. For example all Nokia s40 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th edition phones have the same setup menus and are set up the same way. For obscure phone models you might have to resort to a Google search for “<phone make phone model> GPRS setup”.

Note: If you have a Nokia S40 phone and your operator’s settings specify a proxy IP and/or proxy port, manual set up may not work because Nokia stupidly does not provide any way to enter the proxy settings.  If this applies to you try doing the setup without the proxy settings, as in some cases including AT&T and T-Mobile USA, the proxy isn’t actually necessary.

If  the proxy really is required, you must use the Nokia setup wizard, if it exists on your phone. or have the settings sent to the phone by your operator or phone manufacturer.

It is also possible to send the proxy settings to your phone yourself using Bluetooth.  It’s a somewhat complicated process and requires that your phone support Bluetooth and that you have a  Bluetooth equipped computer or computer plus a second Bluetooth phone.  The procedure is documented on the web at:  Howard Forums, NXG and Mobilomania. I’ve never actually had to do this myself so you are on your own if you try this.

If you have tried everything and you still can’t get it to work I recommend asking for  help on one of the many mobile users forums like The Opera Mini Forum, Howard Forums, Mobiledia, Esato or country specific forums like Nairaland for Nigeria or Talk.ph in the Philippines.  When using forums it’s important to follow forum etiquette to avoid being “flamed”. Before posting a help request, use the forum’s search function to be sure your question hasn’t already been answered. If you do post asking for help on a forum be sure to give as much information as possible including, make and model of phone, carrier, country, the name and price of your data plan and the exact text of any error messages.

You can also leave a comments on this post if you get stuck.  I try to answer as many questions as possible. I’m not able to answer questions about settings for specific operators or phones as I do not have them. Comments asking for operator or phone settings will be ignored. You need to do your own research using the resources in this post.

Please don’t ask me for “cheat” codes or other ways to enable free browsing. Comments asking how to browse for free will be deleted.

Last Updated: 15-Mar-2012 – fixed some link rot.

1,271 thoughts on “Solving Opera Mini and UC Browser Connection Problems

  1. sir.i have opera mini 6 and my phone is nokia 5530. I can’t connect to internet and my operator is mtn from iran. And i can connect by opera mobile. Tnx

  2. sir i have sansung corbyPoP gt-c3510 opera mini works on my phone.But ucweb browser not works.It gives connection error.please help me.I use Airtel gprs in india(punjab).Please mail me.

  3. sir i have question when i download na operamini 4.2 and done download and it install say FAILED T_T what is the reason of this…..

  4. Sir,my operamini 4.2 is asking me to change my ip address. How would i do it? Help.

  5. i can’t use opera mini in my country and i think my carrier is blocking opera mini, ebuddy and nimbuzz, is there any way i can use it?
    please email me the way?

  6. my phone cant connect to the internet,,,,can you give a packet data access point for opera mini? thank you

  7. i use a spice M940n mobile.opera 4.2 works very well but 5.1 says ‘unable to connect’.what could be the problem.

  8. hi sir i have a problem in my opera mini, i am getting an error message as”verification to server connection failed” my mobile is nokia2700classic,i already have settings. plz tell me how to solve this problem.

    • If the settings really are 100% correct the only other possible cause is that packet data is not active on your account either because on insufficient funds or because your operator has not activated it.

  9. hi i cant run my opera mini 4.2 it says “failed to connect to the internet” and i installed it already on my phone. BTW my phone is Samsung c3303 or Samsung champ please help

  10. Im using socket as for now because when im using HTTP server,it fails to connect to the internet so…no choice but to choose socket and…..

    What do you mean to fire them sir?

  11. Hello sir,my opera mini always stop loading…example ” loading 18kb / 108 kb ” then it says “error loading page”

    could you help me to fix this problem?

    • Most likely a network problem like a bad tower in your neighborhood. You could try switching between socket and http in Opera Mini advanced settings and see if one is better than the other. If the problem persists complain to your operator or fire them.

  12. sir what is the right config for my operamini 3.1v nokia 6500s please help me sir…

  13. I am facing a problem with my samsung 5722 duos mobile, i am able to surf on my phones defult browser but many sites are unopen with the above browser so i installed Opera mini. But whenever i open opera, it shows an error- Connection failed. i am from maharastra (India) and having service of Idea and Bsnl. Thanks and do some needful to me…

    • I don’t have settings for those service providers. You need to read the post again. It tells you how to find the settings for your service provider and phone.

  14. im opening my opera mini 4.2, it always says unable to connect to the internet, please help me. What is the correct configuration settings??
    Im using w760a. Thank you sir.

  15. hi im philippines… my opera mini4.2 doesnt work…. my phone is w760a… please help me…=(

  16. i do normally experience ;network failure,files not applicable,no network,application not verified,as i try to install operamini 5.1 using tecno 0707(china product)

  17. i have nokia 5800 and my opera mini 5.1 doesn’t work

    What shoul i do to work this thing?

  18. Sir,I realy need your help.. i have a iphone, when im opening opera mini its “Connection failed! Unable to Connect.. Please review your Network Settings” please help me to setup my Network Setting,What is the right Network settings? pls help me… pls pls… tnx.

    • The “right” settings depends on your country and which operator and data plan you are using.
      I don’t have settings for any operators except the ones I use; T-Mobile and AT&T in the US.
      Read the post for some tips on finding the right settings for YOUR operator and plan.

    • If you would read the post you would know that:

      “I’m not able to answer questions about settings for specific operators or phones as I do not have them. You need to do your own research using the resources in this post.”

      There is no generic way to configure the connection settings that Opera Mini uses.
      Every make and model of phone is different. You need to do study the phone manual or follow the links in the post to databases of phone setup information and experiment to learn how to set up your phone.

  19. i cant installed opera mini 4.2 in my samsung s3310i , when i tried to installed ,it come out with a result “internet connection fails” say i need to connect with p.c browser. is there any way to make it work? Is some of my settings wrong,what do you say?

  20. I realy need your help. I use a palm treo windows mobile & I downloaded opera 5, it installed sucessfully but dint connect,tho I guess its because I dint know the settings then I uninstalled it & took it out of my device totally. I have downloaded another one,three different types & they are all refusing to install. the message I get is try reinstalling or one or more component is missing.

    • If you are using the Java version, perhaps you deleted the JVM (Midlet Manager). Try reinstalling it or better yet just use the new native Windows Mobile version of Opera ini.

  21. my phone model is samsung gt s3370 and im trying to find how to make my opera mini work..pls help me

  22. where can i find the exact working ip for my samsung champ?i’m using opera mini 4.2, my network provider is globe.

  23. i d0wnloaded an o.m4.2 but still cant find how to set it..:( can you help me? where i can find d setting and how it to be set? thanks al0t..

  24. I have 15 kinds of opera mini and there are so many d’ffrent kinds of versi0n was installed in my phone on last n0v/ 09 so n0w 3 s0mes of versi0n are w0rking pr0perly. Im using globe network, til n0w… Im from valenzuela metro manila. NTT NETwork telec0mmunicati0n techn0logy. CISCO

  25. im using opera mini 5.0 and my network is globe. Im started free browsing 1st of feb/2011 and it work verywell. Handler 5.0 UI

  26. Sir my phone is 5320Xpressmusic when i open opera mini 5.1 beta is “loading” only and sometimes it shows “unable to connect” pls help me

  27. I have a metro pcs lg optimus m, I downloaded opera mini and it worked fine for two weeks all of a sudden it stop working I dont know what to do I need help, my regular metro web works fine but would love to have opera mini instead

    • I’d first try shutting off the phone and removing and replacing the battery. If that doesn’t help un-install Opera Mini and reinstall it from the Android Market

  28. please help me..i have opera mini and my internet settings are ok. im from philippines. i cannot run my opera mini. my phone is n76. please email me at … please help me. thanx

    • Does your built in browser work? If it does and Opera Mini doesn’t then your settings are wrong. I have no idea what the correct settings are for any operator in the Philippines. You need to read the post and follow the instructions on how to research the correct settings for your phone and network. Research is time consuming. You either have to do it yourself or pay a local phone shop to set it up for you.

      If the built in browser doesn’t work then there is something wrong with the data option on your account. You must have data activated on your account and enough money in the account to cover the data charges.

  29. i have opera 5.1, but when ever i try to use it,the loading will show,and it will write installing.after about some few seconds it will stop loading n write cannot connect check internet settings

  30. hello sir….i have problem with my opera mini 5.1 beta….it cannot connect to the internet even i inserted the correct proxy address,port and access name…please help me.

  31. Sir i have nokia 2700c phone. The phone has a preloaded opera mini 4.1 broweser. when i instal opera mini 5.1 an error occur i.e- end call first. Please tell me some solution for this on my email id

  32. i have my mini opera 4.2 on my 3110c..
    and then when I open mini opera on my phone..i think it’s ok.
    but when i’m trying to connect with some site like ‘FACEBOOK’ or ‘GOOGLE’.. the word connecting… appeared then.. i wait for almost 10 mins. and nothing happen. why is it?….

  33. Sir, in my mobile samsung GT B5722 opera4.2works very well.but there is problem for ucbrowser.like connection failed errorcode8

  34. I tried typing in “config:” into the address bar and even that times out. Same “unable to connect” message appears. I also tried “config:Opera” and “opera:config” and nothing works. I have also tried installing 4.2 and uninstalling it after it also had the same problems.

    Do you think this is a problem with Opera or my Storm 2?

    • It is config: for Opera Mini’s Power User Settings. And it does require connectivity which you said you had at some locations. The settings you make in config: are persistent so you should be change the timeout when you can connect and it will still apply in the problem area.

      My guess is that the real issue lies with your mobile operator. The towers in the problem areas may not be handling packet data correctly or may be overloaded and rejecting packet connections in favor of voice.

      As for the issue of Opera Mini not recovering when data is restored after an outage, I used to have that lot when I had a BlackBerry 7100i years ago. It only happened with Opera mini 4.2 not 3.1 (this was before 5 came out). The only way I found to recover was a battery pull. I believe that there is now a BB app that will reboot the phone which might avoid having to pull the battery.

    • Dennis, thank you for your help. I was able to access the power user menu once I got good connectivity. I assumed the issue is with the time out. I changed the timeout to 3600. I will have a chance to test it tomorrow.

  35. I have been using Opera Mini 5.1.22303 on the latest 5.0.0.1015 device software of Blackberry Storm 2 (9550) using BIS on O2 Ireland. When I am in locations with good coverage or WiFi (such as home, around town in open areas, etc.), Opera Mini works fine. However, when I am at work where the wireless coverage is not great, Opera Mini will not work even though the Blackberry browser is working at the same time. For example, I will lose BIS connection occasionally during which no internet applications or services will work. When I get BIS back, Facebook will work, emails will come in, and the Blackberry browser can access websites. However, Opera Mini cannot connect. It tries connecting for 2-3 minutes then times out. It simply does not work.

    I have tried changing APN settings from open.internet to blackberry.net, I have tried changing all settings in Opera Mini, I have tried different websites, battery pulls at work, changing device software but nothing works.

    What do you think is causing Opera Mini not to access web sites when Blackberry browser can? It is frustrating that I can still access web using the BB browser but I want the functionality of Opera Mini and it should clearly work. How can I fix this problem?

    (I know the wireless coverage is bad because I occasionally miss phone calls without hearing them, text messages come in late, BIS loses connection, etc.)

  36. please help me, i need auth code for opera mini 2.00. im using samsung corby s3653w

    pls email me at [removed]

    tnx tnx

  37. Hi, my phone cant install opera mini-says failed to connect or contact service provider for internet settings but using default browser all is fine. Could it be have anything to do with java? Phone is samsung galaxy s

    • If you downloaded from the Android Market it should work without any special settings. Try installing while your connected with a strong WiFi or cellular signal.

  38. Hi i m from Punjab(India).Please help me. my OPERA mini 4.2 doesnt work and it says VERIFICATION OFSERVER CERTIFICATE FAILED. PLEASE CHECK THE DATE SETTING IN YOUR DEVICE. :( how can i access again on my Opera Mini? many thanks and godbless! My phone is MICROMAX X510. thank you!My email Id is [removed]

  39. Hi. I have Opera Mobile and Opera Mini both on my nokia 5800.
    I am able to browse easily on Mini. But on Mobile, the connection is not getting established. Im having 3G connection. THe 3G icon appears, but the connection state remains ‘inactive’. No bits/bytes get transferred. and after a while it says “bad request” or some such error. Pls help. btw my access point settings are perfect.

  40. Im from philippines. Please help me. my OPERA mini doesnt work and it says VERIFICATION OFSERVER CERTIFICATE FAILED. PLEASE CHECK THE DATE SETTING IN YOUR DEVICE. :( how can i access again on my Opera Mini? many thanks and godbless! My phone is NOKIE5130. thank you!

  41. Just go to browser settings go to java section and add in gprs apn your service providers apn..

  42. when im opening my opera mini 5.1, it always says unable to connect to the internet, please check your internet settings. What is the correct configuration settings??
    Im using Nokia 6300. Thank you sir.

    • If you had read the post, you would know that:
      1. The settings vary depending on who your mobile operator is.
      2. I don’t have settings for any operators except the two I use.
      3. I explain in the post how to find the settings for your operator and handset.

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