Lovin' my Sun Tattoo Broadband: Unlocking your Globe Tattoo USB Stick

I didn't have a tv set when I first moved into our place in Quezon City.  All I had for entertainment were a few books and a laptop.  Since hubby, who was still my fiancee that time, is based in Singapore, access to the net was always a necessity for the both of us.

Now I couldn't just apply for broadband internet connection, since I was supposed to follow my hubby a few months after to the Lion City (that was then) and the violation of the lock-in period would have resulted in me paying very high fees.

So we decided that I would share internet access with my brother-in-law (would-be at the time), who was conveniently my neighbor as well.  I  would pay BIL around P500 a month for usage.  Not bad considering I am quite a heavy net user.

The first few months were ok.  Internet connection was great!  No heavy lags and fast downloads.  However, as months went by, connection steadily declined.  Add that to BIL's changing work schedule, I rarely got to use the net.

When I finally decided to buy an Asus netbook 6 months back (for convenience), I was also given a free Globe Tattoo prepaid broadband internet kit.  Here, I thought, was the answer to my prayers!  Finally, internet connection at my fingertips - anytime, anywhere.

Connection was ok, not so great as compared to my original connection, but bearable enough for the first few months.  However, it also slowly died (and is still dying) a painful internet death.

So as a last resort, I decided to get a Sun Broadband postpaid sim after learning from my brother that there were no lock-in periods.  What have I got to lose right?  But being the cheapskate that I am (not wanting to shell out Php8++ for a Sun USB stick), I searched for someone in the web willing to unlock my current globe stick for a reasonable fee.

Found one willing to do it for P40 in this ad from Sulit.com.ph.  Was able to unlock my sim with the code he gave and the tips I got from his ad.

So the next step was to get my Sun sim.  The process was surprisingly easy!  I was able to get my sim after a few days (long story, they had to get approval first).  I also had to configure the broadband setting for it as well.

For Sun broadband (postpaid):
APN (static): fbband
Access number: *99#
Authentification Protocol settings: PAP

Now it works perfectly! So happy! =)

Sun!

(Notice that my signal bar now also indicates the current sim provider.)   =)

Now for those who have plans of opening your current broadband stick, please be aware that doing so voids your warranty.  So if there are USB problems you might experience in the future, you could have trouble justifying opening your gadget to whichever your original broadband company is.

Another thing, newer E1552 Huawei models being sold by Globe (in a red box) are harder to configure.  The person who unlocked my gadget mentioned that Globe might have done something to these models to prevent these things from being unlocked.  I was lucky enough to have been given an older Tattoo kit, hence, unlocking it was not problem.

Once unlocked, your USB stick can now be used for any broadband sim provider.  Just make sure you have the proper broadband network settings.  The internet is chockful of them!  Here are just some of the ones that came up from my search:

For Smart Bro broadband (prepaid):
APN (static): internet
Access number: *99#
Authentification Protocol settings: PAP

For Sun broadband (prepaid):
APN (static): minternet
Access number: *99#
Authentification Protocol settings: PAP

For Globe Tattoo/Visibility broadband (prepaid):
APN (static): http.globe.com.ph
Access number: *99***1#
Authentification Protocol settings: CHAP

For Globe Tattoo/Visibility broadband (postpaid):
APN (static): internet.globe.com.ph
Access number: *99***1#
Authentification Protocol settings: CHAP

Enjoy!  =)