What are these complex internet settings about ?

[Guest cartierv]

Sorry this is a bit noobish, but I never actually understood this at all.

Some (all?) network providers seem to have extra settings for things called access points, and that their name needs entering manually.

What is that all about ?

Why doesn't a phone just connect to GPRS or 3G or whatever and you just use the internet that way. What are these extra access point settings about ? And sometimes I've seen them included with enormous and lengthy instructions about 'setting up the internet' on a particular phone model.

thx

[Guest vinokirk]

The Access Point is the address that the phone used to connect and authorise the connection... I think. And you need these setting to connect to a 3G network.