TelOne launches its $36 Fibre to the Home service along with WiFi hotspots

Nigel Gambanga Avatar

Yesterday we spoke about TelOne’s new corporate identity and how the telecoms operator would be launching a couple of new products at an official corporate event.

The event which is being held in Harare, is far from over, but other than the new logo shown above, we have managed to glean some important details about TelOne’s products.

TelOne Fibre To The Home (FTTH)

The star product tonight has been the new TelOne Fibre TO The Home offering. Initial deployement will be in Harare in areas like Mt Pleasnt Heights, Westgate, Madokero, Ruwa and Zimre Park. According to TelOne these areas have the capacity to connect over 15,000 homes. The TelOne FTTH has also been crossed over to Norton, Zvishavane and Ngezi.

What’s the cost?

There are 3 packages available. The entry package, dubbed the Starter Package, is priced at $36 with speeds of up to 5 Mbps and a download cap of 20 GB. This goes head to head with the ZOL Fibroniks package set at $39

The Boost Package is set at $70 for speeds of up to 10 Mbps and a download cap of 50 GB.

The Intense Package is the leader of the pack with unlimited downloads and is pegged at $118 with speeds of up to 20 Mbps. Installation of fibre will set you back $50.

TelOne Metro City WiFi Hotspots

TelOne has introduced WiFi hotspots around the city of Harare and 10 sites have been cited as being online already. These sites are

  • Mupedzanhamo
  • TelOne Centre for Learning
  • Julius Nyerere Way
  • Runhare House
  • Cleveland House
  • Roadport/ Amtec
  • Montagu Heights
  • TelOne Shop Harare Showgrounds
  • TelOne Shop Joina City
  • TelOne Shop Borrowdale

The Metro City WiFi project is being rolled to other parts of Zimbabwe, but, just like the FTTH we are yet to get definitive dates on when this will show up in other corners of Zimbabwe.

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41 comments

  1. Anthony Somerset

    I wonder how long it will take them to update there literature and websites/social media etc

    but its 3 years late to the fibre party though, lets see if they actually compete

    1. Duma Mtungwa

      Better late than never haha! wonder when fibre is coming to Bulawayo

  2. macdchip

    With my recent experience with Zol, l will give them a try if its available to my house. Zol looks like they are outsourcing support to PowerTel.

    1. Rayavo

      Please kindly send us mail to support@zol.co.zw, detailing the problems that you experienced so that we change our way of doing things to make your experience better.

  3. TelOne Client

    Hate or critisise them, TelOne products are the best, affordable and reliable, liquid, zol and powertel are just giants bt in terms of service provision their service is worse. TelOne ndozvo, kuseri kwekuseri kwekumberi

    1. GESTO

      KUSERI KWEKU SERI NDOKWAUNENGE URI IWE SAKA UKATAURA UCHITI KUSERI KWEKU SERI URIKUTAURA PAUNENGE URI

  4. ISPGeek

    Zol are pretty much useless since they implemented Sandvine along with the FUP which totally sucks ballz. They should put back their old shaper, Anyway enuff of ZOL and their 7 deadly sins….. I have been using the Telone Fibre (don’t ask how) and I get a constant stream of 2.2/2.5Mbps on their Intense Package….. So guys, I highly recommend you try the TelOne FTTH. Call them to find out if it’s available near you. It will be coming!

    1. cool

      2.1 up and 2.2 down? huh looks bad, that’s 10% of their max attainable speed (with the current package u r using). hope u didn’t wrote that comment in order to tarnish telone’s image. as for zol, that’s ridiculous to filter http downloads, what do u expect people to enjoy? if its torrents its OK bt no nononono nt http or ftp too , zol should consider building up a larger data center local not tht small lunch box filled with Unix only.

      1. blaz

        There is a huge difference between what they say you can get as download speed and what you actually get.If you measure you UP and Downloads you will notice most range on average at 2mb/s because the E1 or T1 which most of the providers in zimbabwe use only give you 2mb/s….
        Whatever rubbish they tell you get on the advert is just to get you hooked.

    2. Another unhappy ZOL Customer

      ISP Geek,

      I read with interest your comment above. I had a IPTV device, which worked like a charm till about 6 months ago. Then all of a sudden, it’s just unwatchable, and allways buffering.

      Am wondering if this is about the timeframe that they introduced their new shaper. Do you know what they were using before ?

      Regards

  5. Onestone

    Telone are on track.They seem to be catching up with competetion.I wonder though when this service is availed to high density surbubs,DZ,Mufombi,Kambumu…

  6. Onestone

    Fact is,we have folks who are keen to have these services and can afford it too.The sooner the better.

  7. Mukundi

    TelOne FTTH is far better than that of Zol. The speeds are great. And it is much cheaper. For a $149 unlimited package offered by Zol, which has a very notorious customer service by the way, I get that package at $118 from Telone.
    For Telone to compete it has to leverage on the customer service standpoint, it has to got to be unparalleled compared to the sick service Zol customers receive.

    Now for those who don’t know why Zol has such poor service, that CSC, customer service centre is staffed with drunkards. Most of those guys will be drinking on duty, day and night, smoking pot at the 8th Floor of Eastgate Complex.

    Customers get a rotten deal at Zol.

    1. macdchip

      Im not sure about them drinking on duty, bt maybe it explains why l was getting the type of answers l was getting.

      Their tech support are so horrible and unknowledgeable, they sound like pple you would pick from Mbare and ask them to answers tech questions.

      They dont have a clue of the product they are supporting, most of them dont even have a fundamental basic understanding of how networks functions.

      1. Rayavo

        Please kindly send us mail to support@zol.co.zw, detailing the problems that you experienced so that we change our way of doing things to make your experience better.

      2. Langton

        Its because they look for cheaper non-tech young marketing guys! They basically use ageism!

  8. Denny Marandure

    It’s all just fanfare. Never mistake activity for achievement…ZOL Zimbabwe walks the talk and continues to set the pace and the rest follow!

    1. So not ZOL

      Typical Zimbabwean business attitude. Customers on this platform complaining of your poor customer service at ZOL and all you can do is to throw empty statements and ridicule competitors. Sighh….. now for that Tel-One number……

    2. Anonymous

      Its now 7 weeks since I paid and no installation has been done at my house. I wonder what you mean by walk the talk

    3. Mukundi

      There is no need to throw empty and rhetoric statements, Denny. The fact is that the organization you lead has a poisoned customer service culture. Indeed, you are bringing numbers and you are connecting more homes to fibre than ever before, but the fact is that Zol will not be able to sustain that growth, especially from the customer service delivery standpoint.
      Zol remains the worst ISP in Zimbabwe. Customers are taken for granted. The leaders inside the organization are a vindictive lot, thriving on threatening staff, and this is amplified on the customers who in turn get a frastrutating service.
      The chickens have come home to roost and it is not a secret that customers love Telone and have only connected to Zol because of the Fibre speeds. Anyone who has tried to engage a client who is on TelOne to cross over to Zol will admit that it is not an easy task.
      Now that Telone has its own fibre, especially in areas like Ruwa and Zimre Park that Liquid fibre is not yet live, then this is real and true competition for Zol.
      It takes ages for clients to be connected and meanwhile, they get political statements when they enquire about the progress of their connection.
      Yes, I definitely REMEMBER THE LAST TIME THE ADSL COMPANY MADE ME REALLY HAPPY. It’s not an ADSL company, anymore, it’s now A FIBRE COMPANY.
      If Telone incentives their Direct Sales Agents well, they will soon be bringing numbers. More than 300 homes will be connected in a week, if the fundamentals are right for salespeople.

      PASI NE ZOL. PASI NAYO!

      1. Anonymous

        Hmmmmm, ana Mukundi! You have a big mouth for things that you do not have facts on! I have been a loyal customer with ZOL from day 1, and I have NEVER had a complaint that was not handled efficiently with the utmost of professionalism! Isu zvedu zvirikufaya kunoku! TelOne yekuita sei?! HATIUYEKU ISU!!!

        PS: Car Door Tea Care Moon.

        1. Anonymous

          Look, the fact that Zol has a poor customer service is widely known and recognized. There is no need to post and defend their sick service. Even those who belong to Zol, the employees of the organization know that Zol short changes them on that front. Zol remains the worst ISP In Zimbabwe, it is a fact that is widely recognized, so why dispute?

  9. Anonymous

    hapana apa

  10. Anonymous

    ZOL WIMAX Disappoints

  11. Anonymous

    Big UP Telone

  12. Henri

    I also abhor ZOL support.
    I’m on their WiMAX and since way before Liquid, I couldn’t stand it. Especially those stupid “You got a virus” servers/scripts if multiple requests are made to a domain (as is the norm in internet cafes, where I was an admin & threatened to quit til my employer switched ISP… which they promptly did). Liquid is easily the best option, but to have to wade through the last mile mud that is ZOL is almost unbearably painful & annoying!

    And that is not even to mention their daytime throttling! Throttled for 30+mins from 1Mb/s (my WiMAX package) to unsuable 128kb/s after a minute of updating your antivirus, never mind doing anything of worth between 8am and 6pm…

  13. Benjy Eliav

    Any idea when (if ever) Mutare will get Telone Fibre? And I agree, ZOL sucks, countrywide. Their speed measurement is to a server WITHIN their network, never touching the Internet as such. The open secret lol!

    1. MY BOI

      we called, hapan fibre apparently, saka, i can’t be sure these people are lying to us.

  14. Marex

    Im on ZOL fibroniks in Westgate, we are not complaining. Service has been excellent.

  15. Happy ZOL Customer

    And for those that wonder why their area does not have ZOL/Liquid fiber presence, perhaps you may find it worthwhile checking the relationship between TelOne and Harare City Council! This is sabotage and bias all the way.
    TelOne will, as history has proven countless times, choke because of capacity issues. We’ve all been there, done that. TelOne looks promising but it’s just the usual mantra- nothing long term!

    1. Happy TelOne Client.

      Am glad you appreciate that TelOne looks promising. Not only does it looks promising, it is the future. You mentioned the relationship between Harare City Council and Telone. Telone is a state entreprise and it has the leverage to roll out its infrastructure without going through the cumbersome approval timeline for trenching that are subjected to private players like Liquid and Telco.
      The only company that is choking because of capacity issues is Zol, which can not even adress simple and pertinent customer enquiries . Zol customer service is a pain in the ass, and not one sane person will think otherwise.
      It all starts from unknowlegable customer service people, data throttling, all the way to extortionist tendencies, Zol is just messed up.

  16. Jan Van Der Voort

    I’m using ZOL WiMAX at home (Suburbs, Bulawayo) and am quite happy with it. I used Powertel dongle at the office (CBD Bulawayo) but the dongle seems to be incompatible with my new MacBook Pro. So I decided to get a ZOL WiMAX indoor unit instead. Since I use internet at the office mainly for email I opted for another Home Plus package (49$) since the basic business package of $115 is way too much for what I need. Nobody told me about the throttling… I would accept download speeds to drop, but not even being able to send emails???? Totally unacceptable. And all that overly polite marketing talk that they give me now. I’ll try TelOne ADSL next…

  17. Anonymous

    I see there are some telone and zol marketing teams here. Anyways i wanna give telone a try with this fibre since im on their adsl. I was about to jump ship to zol becoz of speed issue. I ll wait and
    see. I have had no problems with the adsl save for the low speed.

    1. Anonymous

      which zol package are you on ? i wanted to find out how the 2mbs option performs in real time

  18. christopher nowa

    bring wifi zone to chinhoyib pliz

  19. phil

    i have been using ZOL paying them loads of money on the home enhanced package but what do i get? “Your speeds are being throttled down as we are giving preference to those on Business packages so i would advise you to get on that package for better speeds”. Like for real, you not giving me this net for free, i am paying you $99 and that doesn’t count at all. They came dug up my lawn in Msasa Park, for what? to pay them $300 for fibre installation in Msasa Park when Borrowdale, Mt Pleasant and other low density suburbs are getting free installation. Where will someone in Msasa Park get $300 for setup costs? Kana va serious tichaisa fibre yavo but for now i am going Telone route.

  20. Anonymous

    how can we inquire for our balances for the fibre thing at home what if someone gets t knw my password and uses my wifi while i dont knw

  21. Zol is Still Pulling Our Leg

    We have been using ZOL fibroniks for more than two years and lately their service has just spiralled alarmingly. We were using a package for 20 users at around 10mb/sec which however only delievered 1 to 1.5mbs per second at midnight speeds. Mostly during the day we could even suffer speeds of 1kbs and calling them would just result in some superflous reasons being given that we were overusing our “bandwith” and that our usage of an alleged “200+ Gig/month” was abover what our “UNLIMITED” package allows. We eventually upgraded to a bigger package which was supposed to deliver at 20mb/s and around $490 per month which however resulted in the exact same delivery on a package that was half as much as the latter one. Calling ZOL again we were told we are being “SHAPED” because of our (200Gig+) usage at almost 10gig per day where the actual speeds would be no more than 10-50kbs and there would be no electricity for much of the day anyways. I have always been a ZOL loyalist, but well I believe they have now lost it. I also hope they have a training campaign for their Reps in the pipeline – their Call Center Reps are some of the most ignorant Tech People I have ever encountered. If they improved their service delivery and cut out “hidden clauses” in their service provision they would no doubt be one of the best providers around. But until then, i’m looking elsewhere for better value for money

  22. clicks

    as for tel-one please we would like you to expand your fibre zone not only to the so called developing new areas …every area needs internet and besides i think an area where people are already settled would’ve been your easier to attract people than those of people who are still in progress of building their homes

  23. jepha

    Ehe ka

  24. samuel kapindu

    If Zol does not take critics serious, they will not improve their services.
    I had a rude answer from the sales person Called Dereck at Zol when I was inquiring for the Zol fibronics i queried why i have to wait for 30 minutes on an on line chat.I think they thing they are too big, Keep up the pace Tel one we need an alternative , better service than an arrogant provider who says take it or leave it.

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