Goodbye Powertel, hello…

So you have read about my niggardly thoughts on Powertel’s bundles. I really hate not knowing what I am going to spend on my internet connection in advance. The good news is that I know exactly how much I am going to spend on my internet next month: $50.

After Powertel’s switcharoo I went out and found rebound love in the arms of iWayAfrica’s rocket mobile internet. Rocket has been around for a while now, we wrote about it last year. It is rather surprising therefore that no one has done a review of the service up until now.

This is an EVDO (an evolution of  CDMA) based service just like Africom, Powertel and, I am told but have never been able to verify, Telone.

Rumor is that iWayAfrica’s Rocket service makes use of Powertel and Africom’s network boosters but provide their own bandwidth in addition to using their own network boosters, an arrangement that has given them extensive coverage in a short space of time. I or the folks at the iWayAfrica desk could not confirm the rumor however.

According to the folks at the information desk Rocket Mobile internet covers the following areas:

• Harare: Causeway, Ardbennie, Msasa NRZ, NRZ, Kopje, Pockets Hill, Westgate, Moffat Heights, ZESA, Warren Control,Kamfinsa, Kuwadzana, Belgravia, High Glen, Zengeza, Waterfalls, Warren Park, Helensvale, Kopje Plaza, Sports Club, Chisipite, Arundel, Aspindale, Good Hope, Century House, Msasa ( Has no utility power) and Airport
• Bulawayo: NRZ, Montorose, Nkulumane,Pumula, Cowdry Park, Lobengula, UBH (Has no Utility Power), Highlanders, CBD and Power Station.
• Chitungwiza: Makoni, C-junction, Zengeza,Pinewood and Aquatic Complex
• Mutare: Dangamvura, Cecil Kopje and Fidelity.
• Gweru, Bindura, Chinhoyi, Marondera, Kwekwe, Kadoma, Ruwa, Rusape and Norton.

As far as I could gather this is a list of the network boosters that they can make use of. It would be nice to have all this information on a colour coded map showing exactly where you can get a signal and make use of the service but it seems Zimbabwean ISPs have an aversion to that practice.

If you live within the vicinity of any of these areas you should be able to get a signal. The service makes use of EVDO Rev A which has an approximate base station signal coverage of about 29km so if you live in Harare you should be able to get a signal pretty much anywhere. For example I live in Epworth ,12 km from the Airport and 8 km from Ruwa as the crow flies, so I am able to make use of both base stations.

The service will cost you $50 per month and you do not have to go through this bundles nonsense. Their USB dongle costs $35 so you have to pay an initial cost of $85 for the first month.

It is also possible to use your Powertel (my Africom dongle appears to be locked to their network) dongle with the service but you will still have to purchase their dongle nevertheless. I have discovered however that ZTE USB dongles do offer better results when compared to Huawei dongles on sale at iWayAfrica so if you have one of the former you would do well to switch the new SIM card into it. As usual this is a prepaid service.

Although their website says the set up is so easy, it could be done by a child, is not exactly true. Perhaps because their Huawei modem does not allow for great service provider customization you will have to enter some of the settings manually.

I have found out that Google’s DNS service is much better than their inhouse DNS. The service also uses Mweb South Africa as the internet gateway so you might have trouble/luck when dealing with IP-based services like name.co.zw and selfservice.dstv.com.

The speed is nothing to write home about but it is decent during peak hours and can be awesome during off-peak hours. It is not at all unusual for the connection to yield speeds of 2 Mbps during this period.

Speeds are tolerable when using a download manager.

Rocket might be a safe haven if you are running away from bundles, require an affordable internet connection without fretting about how much you have used or bundle messes and just want to pay a fixed amount for an internet connection that is usable and mobile.

iWayAfrica also provides you with a customer login portal to change your email password and check your balance, a feature that appeals to my parsimonious self.

Have you used iWayAfrica’s Rocket mobile internet? What area are you in? How has the service been for you?