How To: Fix A “Invalid Profile” Error With Telstra Connection Manager

18 Feb How To: Fix A “Invalid Profile” Error With Telstra Connection Manager

When connecting to the Internet using a Telstra USB modem, you may encounter a “profile error” or “invalid Profile” error in the Telstra Connection manager. In order to fix this error, it is important to understand why you are receiving this error. All services, whether it is a phone, a tablet or a modem, access their respective carrier’s data network via an APN or Access Point Name.

What is an APN?

An access point name identifies the data access services associated with your particular account. So, simply put, an APN is the exit point from the 4G, 3G or GPRS network into either the public internet or a private customer gateway.

In order for you to be able to access the internet using your service, the APN or profile selected in the Telstra connection manager, must match the user authorisation settings on your Telstra service. Some businesses only authorise their users to access their specific corporate APN and block access to the internet via another APN. These options can only be applied by Telstra and are not user settable. [divider_line]

What are the Telstra APN’s?

Telstra have a variety of different APN’s that enhance or limit a user’s access to the data network.

telstra.extranet (Code:GPTEXB3): allows access to the internet and assigns a dynamic real IP address.

telstra.corp (Code: GPCORPB3): allows access to Telstra wireless IP WAN.

telstra.internet (Code: GPTCOMB3): allows access to the Internet.

telstra.wap (Code: GPWAPB3): allows access to Telstra WAP portal and the internet.

telstra.mms (Code:GPMMSB3): allows access to Telstra picture messaging.

telstra.pcpack (Code: GPPCPAC3): allows access to the Internet with a 15 min idle timeout.

telstra.datapack (Code: GPDPACK3): allows access to the Internet with a 2 hour idle timeout.

All services (provided data access is not barred), are set up with the telstra.internet and telstra.wap profiles (as they are the most commonly used), so these do not need to be defined specifically. Now, as a user if you receive a “profile error” or “invalid profile” error, this means that the profile you have selected in the Connection manager (which is found in the drop down menu) is not the right one configured for your account. This could mean either you are selecting the wrong profile, or you need the correct APN set up on your service.

Example:

If you want to access the internet via the telstra.corp APN, you will need the code GPCORPB3 active on your service.

If you want to access the internet via the telstra.extranet APN, you will need to add the code GPTEXB3. [divider_line]

How To Solve This Issue

For corporate IT departments:

If an end user encounters this error, you or another IT staff member will usually know which APN profile is required to access the internet for all data services on your company’s Telstra account.

First ask the user to open up the drop down list for profiles in the Telstra Universal Connection Manager (or the Sierra AirCard Watcher software) and check to see whether the correct profile appears in the drop down list. If the profile does appear, ask the user to select that and try again. If it doesn’t, you can call Phonenomena to set up the appropriate profile on the service.

For end users:

If you are an end user, the first thing to try is to check whether the profile in the Telstra Universal Connection Manager is set to telstra.internet (as this is the most common APN used) as the profile.

You can check which APN or profile you are currently using by:

Going to Tools > Options > Accounts then checking what is entered into the APN field. If it is not telstra.internet, open the drop down box and view what APN’s are available to be selected.

 

If you are using the Sierra AirCard Watcher software for the USB modem, you can view the APN or profiles available by:

Clicking on the connections icon (or navigating to menu > Connections), which will open the connections window. A list of profiles will be displayed under the ‘Profiles’ section. Open the drop down list from the Profile Name field. If you can connect to the internet using the telstra.internet APN you are good to go, otherwise you will need to speak to your IT department to determine which profile you should be using and they will contact Telstra to set up the appropriate profile on your behalf.