4 ms·

Kenya has pretty good rates for prepaid data, approx 1 US cent per MB if you buy a 500Mb bundle: http://www.safaricom.co.ke/personal/internet/data-plans/prepay

by AmirS2 12y ago

Kenya has pretty good rates for prepaid data, approx 1 US cent per MB if you buy a 500Mb bundle: http://www.safaricom.co.ke/personal/internet/data-plans/prepay-data-bundles http://www.safaricom.co.ke/personal/internet/data-plans/prep... 500KSH for the 500Mb bundle, current FX rate is 90KSH/USD. Even the smallest bundle, 4Mb, is hardly more expensive per MD, at only 5 KSH (5.6 cents). Are these prices unrepresentative of other African countries?

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
4ad 12y ago
1c/MB is a huge price even for me in a western country. For me, it's between $1k and $2k a month! For Africans the cost is even higher.
- eitally 12y ago
  You probably wouldn't use nearly as much data if the speeds were only 2G/3G.
- calinet6 12y ago
  Was in Senegal a few years ago, frequently bought 100MB for 5,000CFA (about $10). At least that's what I remember. Is Orange just cheaper or is that about right?
ybalkind 12y ago
That bundle price in Kenya is pretty good by African Standards, but I do not think its representative. And even if it is, the masses do not have 5$ to put towards data bundles (bare in mind that they also have to buy airtime bundles just to use voice and SMS), so they end up paying the out-of-bundle data rates, which are about 20 times higher than the in-bundle rates.
lifeisstillgood 12y ago
God damn I just "topped up" my paltry 1GB per month in the UK at a cost almost twice that. I don't care if information wants to be free, but I want my bandwidth to be free :-) Edit: more seriously is control over the bandwidth usage. I notice my phone does a lot of background work that I either don't have control over or might do but is so diffuse to control I cannot be bothered. A few tens of dollars a month is annoying but it's not making me choose between food or bandwidth as it might in other areas. I would hope that phones like the locked down android become more widespread or some other approach (can you write an app that controls other apps bandwidth?)

by AmirS2 12y ago

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

4ad 12y ago

1c/MB is a huge price even for me in a western country. For me, it's between $1k and $2k a month! For Africans the cost is even higher.

eitally 12y ago
You probably wouldn't use nearly as much data if the speeds were only 2G/3G.
calinet6 12y ago
Was in Senegal a few years ago, frequently bought 100MB for 5,000CFA (about $10). At least that's what I remember. Is Orange just cheaper or is that about right?

ybalkind 12y ago

That bundle price in Kenya is pretty good by African Standards, but I do not think its representative. And even if it is, the masses do not have 5$ to put towards data bundles (bare in mind that they also have to buy airtime bundles just to use voice and SMS), so they end up paying the out-of-bundle data rates, which are about 20 times higher than the in-bundle rates.

lifeisstillgood 12y ago

God damn I just "topped up" my paltry 1GB per month in the UK at a cost almost twice that. I don't care if information wants to be free, but I want my bandwidth to be free :-) Edit: more seriously is control over the bandwidth usage. I notice my phone does a lot of background work that I either don't have control over or might do but is so diffuse to control I cannot be bothered. A few tens of dollars a month is annoying but it's not making me choose between food or bandwidth as it might in other areas. I would hope that phones like the locked down android become more widespread or some other approach (can you write an app that controls other apps bandwidth?)