Internet game changers - True revolution in Tanzania

Sometimes it can be painstaking when searching for the right Internet Service Provider (ISP) and your choice can make an enormous difference in your online experience – choose the right one and you are happy and likewise choose the wrong one, and you are left frustrated.

But what tickles your decision making? When I needed an ISP, I asked myself – Is it a good bargain? Are they charging me too much for what I’m getting? Do they provide faster speed? Are they easily available? Will I get online when I need to?

Like handsets, TVs or pair of shoes, you may have a range of ISP choices in your area and trust me I had a whole list of them. Then I realised, ultimately it all dawned back to two crucial things when it comes to internet – accessibility of service and price. I wanted a great bargain but it better work!

A lot of ISPs throw in extras to give you comfort you're getting a great value, free Wi-Fi hotspot access for experience, discounted or lowest packages, good customer care however don’t you agree none of these features matter if you can't use the service when you need to? Like the famous saying, cheap is expensive.

So it’s no wonder I find myself wanting to look at the revolution of internet services in Tanzania. One ISP caught my interest, Smile Communications. It does not represent the country as a whole of course but has been my personal bombshell.

If you recall, the coming of Smile Communications to Tanzania in 2012, for the first time Tanzania got the real taste of internet with no buffering or loading and immediately change came to Tanzania. With its promise for speed, quality and reliability, Smile set the trend of internet experience in a whole new level however their premium internet packages were quickly ridiculed in the market. Shortly after there was this noise about total internet freedom with the ISP’s launch of Unlimited packages with no data caps. You and I know where that went – now everyone can get unlimited bundles – total revolution I say!

Let me ask you something, if you had Tsh 1.4 Million today, imagine the hundreds of things you can use it for – family weekend in Zanzibar, buy one of the latest smartphones, or better yet buy a bodaboda or just crazy and change your wardrobe. But what if I were to ask you instead to recharge your mobile today with the 1.4 million worth of internet bundle, I am crazy right?

This is what it meant getting on SuperFast internet service in Tanzania. But I understand those are now days gone and forgotten. I bumped into an advert just the other day – Bei ya Ndizi – and I was like huh! Is there a new banana price in town? So I did some digging only to discover it’s another one of this ISP surprises. Smile was restructuring its bundle prices with a reduction of up to 80%.This one time bundle worth Tsh 1,400,000 for example is now a mere Tsh 275,000. I got to tell you, it knocked me off my feet. I had to verify it so I checked their website and behold, there it was! I even see you get some as low as Tsh 2,000.

I’m going to start some semi-regular series of “internet game changes”. These articles will largely follow my own buying decisions. The goal here is to dig into the specifics of buying habits of internet services and what drives that decision. Send me your questions and views on what works for you or what you think I should be searching for. I’m not (usually) going to make a specific recommendation however when I see one that speaks to me, well I feel obliged to show you what could be the best.

As an internet user, what’s your take? Talk to me.