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Internet Everywhere 3G+ and KDN price drop.

Clearly, the bandwidth wars are with us since SEACOM went live a couple of weeks ago. Last week Orange Kenya launched its Internet Everywhere 3G+ for a set-up fee of approximately Kes. 4,000.00, including 25 megabytes (only?) of free data. This pricing is approximately the same for Safaricom’s 3G modem offer although there is no free data with their package for the time being. Safaricom is however pushing a major campaign and competition to get users on their service.

In other news, Kenya Data Networks (KDN) have reduced their internet bandwidth charges by as much as 90% since they connected to the SEACOM high speed under sea cable. KDN is largely focussed on the Internet Service Provider (ISP) market and large companies who use their network for data countrywide so they will be the main beneficiaries of the price drop. It will be up to the ISP’s to pass on these savings to their customers so don’t expect this to happen immediately.

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31 Comments

  1. mike-mo
    August 6, 2009 at 9:07 am — Reply

    that 25mb with orange has to be a joke,the problem with these 3g connections is that they are ridiculously expensive,i’m still waiting for other isps to offer good broadband unlimited and cheap.

  2. Justin
    August 6, 2009 at 4:31 pm — Reply

    Too bloody right! I don’t think that I’ll be getting that new Orange thing. Anyway I’ve been looking at getting another 2GB Orange bundle for August only to find it is now worth ksh 3900, not ksh 2000. My last one was in June. Survived on office ‘net’ for July.Tomorrow I’m shifting to Zain (or whatever they call themselves these days if they haven’t re-rebranded). I heard tell that they have unlimited internet for ksh 3000? Really? That’s the direction Orange ought to be taking.

  3. murithi
    August 7, 2009 at 3:31 pm — Reply

    @justin Zain is unlimited but is only edge (don’t think they have 3G yet). I would still go with Safaricom 3G anytime. However, I have not tested the 3G+ from orange.

  4. Njiiri Kiiru
    August 8, 2009 at 12:11 am — Reply

    Zain is unlimited but a little bit slow and you struggle sometimes to connect,since i bought it it doesnt seem to work especially between 9pm and 6 am.Its a good back up plan for safaricom 3G which is fast but expensive.

  5. August 8, 2009 at 2:19 am — Reply

    The main advantage of Orange 3G+ (+?! should be minus- since they do not offer true 3G) is that they seem to be able to extend existing 2G/ EDGE stations quickly. Already covering a lot of rural areas where Safaricom are still only offering 2G (and they have far too many users in this areas to offer a reliable connection).

  6. fly
    August 13, 2009 at 5:05 am — Reply

    last week 4th-9th August KDN offered its butterfly service for free.
    Men it was so fast that I watched/streamed the FA Community Shield Live on my laptop….i could download at over 400 kbps constant….

    So i went and bought a 30 day card unlimted access , it cost me
    Ksh 2900 so now i get constant speed of only 34 kbps from 200-400 kbps..

    Is anyone expriencing this, and what speeds do u get

  7. fly
    August 13, 2009 at 12:12 pm — Reply

    Yes is true, I would recommend Butterfly, i think its the cheapest
    internet service out there. no set up fees ,just need a wifi enabled device.

    • stark
      September 22, 2010 at 4:28 am — Reply

      Fly have you posted twice answering your question above. Do you work for KDN?? From my experience KDN customer support is horrible and you should be working to improve your service instead of stalking web forums.

  8. August 18, 2009 at 10:13 am — Reply

    With KDN dropping its prices by 90%,Kenya will be the leading country in besides Morocco to have cheap broadband. Any clue where I can KDN prices off the kdn.co.ke website ? South Africa and its monopolistic Telkom will put South Africa behind the Kenya – sigh –

  9. hezron4k
    September 29, 2009 at 6:59 am — Reply

    @fly, u mean all I need to access the butterfly internet service is my laptop? as in NO set-up fees at all or hidden charges? I checked their website and it is written KES 2000 + VAT unlimited. So it never goes below 34KB/s (as in not kilobits per second i.e. kbps) during the day? If so that is seriously bandwidth heaven. BTW, where do I get their scratch cards and do you know which areas they currently cover as in their hotspots? Sorry for the many questions, their site lacks info. – their phone numbers are not working and their email addresses are being moderated by a moderator who seems not to be doing his/her job – No reply for 3 days now, I was just informed that a moderator will have to approve my email before replying it. Why provide contact details if they are irrelevant/not working to begin with? Anyhu, thanx in advance. BTW, anyone can answer these questions if you have the answers.

  10. Wazza
    October 26, 2009 at 3:38 pm — Reply

    Hi, am also subscribin to it. What are the procedures?

  11. Bernard Baraza
    November 1, 2009 at 10:40 am — Reply

    Orange telcom is like it is gearing up to reap from its customers and solve all their financial wooes by shifting most of their unlimited offers to data bundles. I was a good customer to telkom wireless and was hoping to purchase an EVDO coz it was broadband unlimited only to learn that it had bn changed to data bundles, to hell with their EVDO, 3G+ and 1x, im giving my 1x, and cdma phone free to any1 who wants it, wish safcom enters to the unlimited internet zone, i will buy their 3G modem soonest they start. Unfortunately buterfly is available in very few areas but it is amont the best, however lucky r these who can connect to loopnet, coz they will have free unlimitet broadband internet!

    • November 14, 2009 at 4:55 pm — Reply

      @ Bernard please hook me up wit the CDMA phone and 1x modem. . (if you were serious that is) kuld use them when I visit ocha cheers. . N is loopnet free for anyone?

  12. 50k
    December 23, 2009 at 5:30 am — Reply

    Loopnet is totally free and no hidden charges at all!

    • tonrix
      December 25, 2009 at 12:36 am — Reply

      been using free internet (broadband) for over 4 months now. Loopnet is totally free and unbelievably faster than the commercial broadband!!

      • Marto
        January 2, 2010 at 6:44 am — Reply

        How do I connect to loopnet. I see it on my laptop wi-fi but it cannot connect. Thanks.

      • Morris
        January 30, 2010 at 12:30 pm — Reply

        Please kindly send me the ips,dns,proxy if any for loopnet internet. I got a very strong signal but settings arent auto

  13. Mann
    January 18, 2010 at 1:57 pm — Reply

    What exactly are the settings for loopnet wireless…proxy and stuff. My computer can see it but settings keep letting me down everytime.

  14. knyankid
    January 27, 2010 at 1:16 pm — Reply

    loop net WAS free…. but very unreliable; it hasnt worked in about 5 days tho… 🙁

  15. harryS
    March 19, 2010 at 9:47 am — Reply

    I also see loopnet trying to connect on my laptop, bu fails after and after….
    I heard on news that KDN will be giving its clients reduced fees Intrnet,(wi-fi) BUT am not sure if i buy their package, I’ll be able to use it in parts of western kenya (KISII)
    do they have hotspots around there??

  16. Robert Gitau
    April 26, 2010 at 3:35 pm — Reply

    buying 3g+ modem is cheap but using it is much much expensive. this is the main reason why many of it’s users drop using it

    • Tonrix
      August 15, 2010 at 7:53 am — Reply

      You’ve said it…. the “data bundles” thing is what makes internet so expensive in Kenya. Am lucky to be getting free internet though…two free services… But if i were to choose a commercial one i would go for butterfly, it’s cheap, it’s everywhere and its “seriously” fast. Safaricom will tell you they have the fastest, but they won’t say it’s the most expensive.. YU charges 1000/- per month for unlimited internet, it’s not that fast but at least you can download a lot in a month.

  17. Kevin Ouma
    May 3, 2010 at 1:07 pm — Reply

    I’ve been using Zuku from Wananchi for a coupel of months now. It works pretty well; the prices are reasonable for the bandwidth package that one choses. And, oh, regradless of the package you opt for, you are offered ulimited downloads at limited speeds.

    To me, it works great.

  18. Tonrix
    May 6, 2010 at 5:08 am — Reply

    Loopnet is still not connecting to the network so i switched to another free hotspot called wezeshaNet, am not sure if how long it will be free but its serving me well.

  19. barno
    June 23, 2010 at 11:55 am — Reply

    guys,lemme clear out the confusion u guys have between 3G and EVDO(3G+) offered by safcom and telkom wireless respectively.The thing is they are both 3rd generation offering high speed broadband connectivity with burst ups of upto 3MB/s on downlink and 1.8MB/s on uplink.The difference is that 3G is an evolution on GSM platform and EVDO is on CDMA platform and in fact the GSM 3G is on WCDMA!Practically,they are equally fast but safcoms marketing prowess makes ordinary man believe that it has an upper hand.I have both modems(huawei E160 on GSM and ZTE AC2726 on CDMA)and my judgment is that EVDO is practically faster due to minimal congestion in its networks!

    • December 21, 2011 at 1:37 pm — Reply

      I NEED THE IMEA NUMBER FOR THE ORANGE MODEM

  20. 8araza
    July 17, 2010 at 6:29 am — Reply

    @berno we understand what 3G and EVDO blah blah… Is all abt, the problem is the selling of the soo expensive data bundles that all the telcomunication industry is madly rushing to, Do you know that the cost of downloading an antivirus program on the net is soo expensive than the actual cost of the antivirus? Now add the two!, Even after the landing of the fibre optic cable, no big change in the cost. We are slowly being pushed to the cyber cafes from our houses

  21. Mwangi Noel
    November 13, 2010 at 3:32 pm — Reply

    Hi guys, I was wondering if its possible to use a different R-UIM card (e.g. the yu card) in the ZTE AC2726 modem? Can one unlock it? The orange costs are too high and are digging alot in my pocket. Pliz help

  22. Jraw
    May 22, 2011 at 7:56 am — Reply

    mwangi send me your modem IMEI No and i’ll send u the unlocking code

  23. December 21, 2011 at 1:38 pm — Reply

    I REALLY NEED IT GUYS

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