One service that was tucked in Econet’s latest battery of broadband changes was an option listed on its *143# menu as Out of Bundle Browsing.
Like every other subscriber when we attempted to access the service we weren’t successful. According to Econet, the feature, though listed already, hasn’t been activated yet but it will be any day from now.
Econet executives who spoke on the sidelines of the launch of the telecoms operator’s new brand explained how Out of Bundle Browsing provides subscribers with an option to access the internet only through broadband bundles and not their voice airtime balances.
When you register for the service you can opt to restrict internet access to broadband bundle options.
Should the bundles expire or run out, your remaining airtime balance won’t be accessed to maintain an internet connection or access any other broadband service. Its internet through bundles only.
For subscribers, that’s a bit of good news considering the huge price difference between the cost of broadband within bundles and out of bundle data.
Econet’s Daily Bundles, for example, will guarantee 250 MB for $1. If that allocation runs out or the bundle expires after its 24 hour validity period, a broadband connection then costs $1 for 10 MB.
Though Econet sends a pop-up notification when your bundle is about to run out or expire, as well as when this does happen, if you aren’t quick to buy another bundle you’ll slip into an aggressive pricing schedule that snatches the airtime you still want to use even to buy another bundle.
Not worrying about that eventuality has clear advantages for every broadband subscriber. For Econet, this is also a win, encouraging an increased spend from subscribers that consistently buy bundles just to keep a download going or to watch another YouTube video.
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10 comments
Great news
I have been waiting for this long for some tym. This is great news now.
Is Econet giving daily data bundle subsribers a raw deal? When ever I subscribe to a daily data baundle my network drops from 3g to edge most of the time.This usually happens when I am out of town espeacially at home in Mabelreign or Budiriro where I work.I use a samsung note 5 and with Edge you cant even open a single web page.I dont know if this is happening only to me.
You are not alone! I experience the same! I can’t even browse after purchasing the bundle! It will be super slow
Got the same experience on my econet data subscriptions… My daily bundle would expire without any meaningful utility from them. I decided to move to telecel but had the same issue (though slightly better). I recently moved to Netone (1 week) and am loving it. Acceptable and stable speeds all the time.
Thank you I will try netone and see.
Great job, long overdue. To be honest I’m surprised they are doing this because I’d think they would be making money from people inadvertently using airtime after bundles are gone. Kudos to you for being honest!
I’m guessing they have weighed the money they get vs the subscribers they may be losing because of the disappearing airtime thing – something which happens with ALL networks but somehow you mostly hear complaints about it from Econet subscribers: so much so that it’s earned them the ECOTSOTSI nickname. The way people are jumping to NetOne these days, Econet cannot afford to keep bleeding subscribers over such issues.
at least they gave us the content bundle first while sorting out this. it has helped a lot to save our air time
iused to have the same problem wen i stayed in greencroft, bt if your fone is LTE capable then your worries will soon be over. i use a samsung A5. you simply drop down yo notification bar and toggle to the mobile data icon that u long touch. it wil enter ther the Mobile Networks menu, from there u open network mode wer you can change to LTE