How To Use Fibroniks On The Go On Zolspots

One of the perks of having a ZOL internet connection is that you get “free” WiFi access on ZOL’s numerous ZOLspots. Connecting using your Fibroniks on the Go credentials will see you using data from home or work account instead of you having to buy a voucher. If you have unlimited account it essentially means you will also have unlimited access to data on ZOLspots.

It is a nice perk to have especially for a person like me who spends a fair amount of time on the go. The trouble with Fibroniks on the go though is that, unless you have an iOS device connecting to a ZOLspot is not as easy as the instructions provided by ZOL themselves seem to suggest. To be fair it’s not very hard but it took more than a few attempts  for me to be able to connect.

How to create a Zolspot login

1. Visit https://myzol.co.zw/ and login using your ZOL ID
2. Click/Tap on Fibroniks on the go
3. Click/Tap on Add User
4. Here you have two options either enter the login id and password manually or allow ZOL to generate these for you
5. I suggest you let ZOL generate the password, so just enter your name and email address
6. The login credentials will be sent to your chosen email address

I suggest you do this as soon as possible even if you have no intention of using ZOLspots. You never know when this will become handy. Creating a Fibroniks account can be a bit of a pain when you do it on the Zolspot itself.

If you want to do this on the ZOLspot itself:

1. First connect to the Zolspot unsecured SSID i.e the one without the lock icon on its WiFi name
2. Once you  are connected you will be prompted to login ,select Fibroniks on the go, the page will automatically scroll down, click on the Go to MyZol button
3. Login and create your account as outlined above

Connecting using Fibroniks on the go

Now if you were connected via the unsecured Zolspot SSID you will need to disconnect and connect to ZOLSecure.

1. Tap on the ZOLSpot connection and select the forget network connection
2. Tap on the ZOLSecure network SSID you will be prompted to enter your username and password
3. Enter these and you should be connected

Now in theory that is all you have to do. For me the reality was quite different, however. When I selected ZOLSecure I discovered that there were an number of authentication methods including PWD and PEAP. ZOL never mention which of these you are supposed to use. Given the fact that there were more input fields than I knew what to do with on the default PEAP I selected PWD but my username and password kept getting rejected.

In fact I could not connect at all no matter what I did or method I selected. Some of the authentication methods were downright baffling. Stumped I logged into my Fibroniks account and noticed my device and its MAC address had appeared and underneath it there was some red text saying user disabled. After a little bit of fiddling I was able to change this to enabled.

Anyway here are the steps you need to follow in order to actually connect:

1. Select PEAP and ignore everything else just enter your username@zolspot.co.zw
2. Enter your ZOLSpot password
3. You might or might not be able to connect it does not matter much at this point
4. Login into your https://myzol.co.zw/ account
5. Select Fibroniks on the go
6. Click on the edit button (pencil icon) next to the user you are trying to connect as
7. Scroll to the bottom you should see your device listed there
8. Click on the edit button next to the device name
9. Choose a name for device, the name has to be acceptable otherwise a red triangle will appear next to the name if you attempt to navigate away from the textbox. This triangle is rather inconspicuous and is easy to miss. You will not be able to save anything unless you choose an acceptable name
10. Check the allow access to this account button
11. Select Save
12. If you were doing this on a ZOLspot disconnect from the unsecured connection as outlined above
13. Tap on the ZOLSecure WiFi name and select PEAP
14. Ignore the other fields and enter your username@zolspot.co.zw and password in the appropriate fields

You should now be able to connect to ZOLSecure. Please note that if you have a capped account data you will be munching on that data. You have been warned. Otherwise expect the same speeds you will get on your home connection although that will also depend on how many people are using the hotspot.