Orange Kenya’s “Unlimited Data Bundles” are Limited at 64Kbps

Orange Kenya launched its unlimited data bundles last week. There was a disclaimer which the company looked to hide as much as possible. First things first. In the “unlimited data bundles”, Orange is offering an unlimited data bundle for 7 days at Ksh 990 and one for 30 days at Ksh 2,990.

There is a fair usage policy disclaimer which means that if you are a heavy data user, your usage will be limited in quality. That means that if you download or upload more than the threshold set on the network, your download and uploads will be limited to a certain speed. Orange , we have discovered, throttles the data at 64kbps. Now that is EVIL.

Speed tests done in Nairobi over the Orange link shows that when you consistent demand more speeds on the Orange network, your data will be capped at 64Kbps.

When did you last use a 64kbps connection? I tell you that not even yuMobile‘s GPRS network would be so boring. When you have a 3G dongle, it is simply unimaginable that any operator would limit users on their “21.1mbps network” to only 64kbps. That is just about 0.3% of the capacity of their network.

The last time I used a 64Kbps network was in 2003 I think. I really would not expect even the most backward of providers to cap data speeds at 64Kbps, leave alone 128Kbps. The minimum which I will also fight is 512Kbps. It is simply deceiving and I believe that CCK should look on how they measure quality.

I might also have to go to my call that Kenya must have minimum data speeds providers have to deliver to achieve national development goals. 64Kbps is simply dragging Kenya backward.

The second evil thing which Orange Kenya does is simply to steal your data bundle. THIEVERY!! The operator says that all its limited data bundles expires after 30 days. After that period, you will get a grace period of another 30 days. If you don’t renew your data bundles after that, you loose it. PERIOD. The honest thing about this THIEVERY by Orange is that they openly state that they will STEAL your data.

You know that Orange Kenya has capacity to beat any data provider in Kenya hands-down. The only problem is that its managers are so much interested in cosmetic changes than addressing real issues and exploiting heir true potential. Orange Kenya is like a beautiful woman with good education and from a good family who instead of looking for a decent job or harness family resources to better her life, has resorted to prostitution for easy money.

Safaricom has unlimited data bundles offer which is throttled at 512Kbps. Most users want the speed to be capped at 1Mbps. While we understand that unlimited data bundles affect voice quality, it is not fair to boast data speeds of up to 21Mbps but not be able to offer even 10% to the heavy users. While announcing its financial results last year, Safaricom CEO said that only 10% of its mobile data clients brings 85% of the revenue. They are the heaviest data users.

Airtel Kenya is still testing its 3G network (we don’t know if it will ever be launched). It has only 30 days unlimited package at Ksh 3,250 and is still not capping data speeds. They might be avoiding the speed caps because not many users know that Airtel Kenya has a 3G network running in Kisumu, Nairobi and Mombasa and so the traffic on it is not that much.