It’s clear working from home is going to be a thing and the question now is which service provider do you go for with the best service. Best is not always about the cheapest. It’s a lot more than that.
In this article we shall be looking at TelOne and Zol, the 2 biggest fixed internet service providers in Zimbabwe and just like the comparison of the best mobile data bundles, these 2 titans will battle it out in 4 categories that include.
Categories
- Network Coverage: Which areas is the service available
- Selection: How broad is the product range
- Perks: What does each one of the packages have that make it attractive
- Price: We all know this one. Cheapest one wins
Ratings
Ratings are out of 5. 1 is a poor score in whatever category and 5 is the best score. At the end, scores of each package from all the categories are added up and the package with the highest score wins. Enough with the formalities. On with the show.
Network Coverage
Zol Fibroniks | TelOne ADSL/Fiber |
---|---|
Largest network by volume of data consumption and number of subscribers | Second largest network by volume of data consumption and number of subscribers |
4 | 3 |
Selection
Zol Fibroniks | TelOne ADSL/Fiber |
---|---|
13 packages to choose from that include: 5GB 10GB 10GB* 40GB 50GB 40GB** 50GB** 100GB 150GB 100GB** Unlimited Unlimited*** Unlimited**** | 12 packages to choose from that include: 10GB 10GB** 15GB 30GB 30GB** 60GB 60GB** 200GB 500GB Unlimited***** Unlimited****** Unlimited****** |
5 | 4 |
Already things start getting a bit complicated so let me give you the details surrounding the asterisks ‘*’
*refers to the bundle having an extended validity period compared to one with the same data cap (Zol)
**refers to a bundle with an additional allocation for night browsing. Allocation has the same data cap as the main bundle. (Zol & TelOne)
***refers to an unlimited package with a speed cap of 30Mbps (Zol)
****refers to an unlimited package with a speed cap of 100Mbps (Zol)
*****refers to an unlimited package with a data cap of 1000GB (TelOne)
******refers to an unlimited package with a data cap of 2000GB (TelOne)
Zol and Telone’s approach to their package structure is pretty different. These differences will be highlighted at the end of the battle.
Perks
Zol Fibroniks | TelOne ADSL/Fiber |
---|---|
Zol on-the-go allows you to use your home balance at any Zol Spot nationwide | 100GB free DEOD Video on demand data with every bundle purchased |
No data cap on unlimited packages | No speed cap on unlimited packages |
Widest Fiber network | More payment options (EcoCash, OneMoney, Telecash, Paynow) |
3 | 4 |
Price Per GB
Zol Fibroniks | TelOne ADSL/Fiber | |
---|---|---|
Lowest | Z$37.86 | Z$8.80 Z$1.30 (Including Unlimited) |
Average | Z$50.46 | Z$35.57 Z$32.61 (Including Unlimited) |
3 | 5 |
Service Quality & Delivery
This one needs your input. Yes you, the reader. What rating would you give your service provider?
Zol Fibroniks
[crowdsignal rating=8863215]
TelOne ADSL
[crowdsignal rating=8863219]
TelOne Fiber
[crowdsignal rating=8863224]
Results
Zol Fironiks | TelOne ADSL/Fiber | |
---|---|---|
Network Coverage | 4 | 3 |
Selection | 5 | 4 |
Perks | 3 | 4 |
Price | 3 | 5 |
Total | 15 | 16 |
Thoughts…
It’s very close. TelOne is a mere 1 point ahead of Zol but this is over details on paper. The service quality and availability will determine whether you pick one over the other.
As you can tell some comparisons are really not as apples to apples as we would want. There are almost no intersecting data packages to make direct price comparisons motivating us to use the price per GB method but even that has its fair serving of anomalies.
Same can be said for the perks section of the tables where the definition of unlimited is not the same for both service providers. Unlimited in business is a myth if you didn’t know and so once you go through the fine print these are their definitions of unlimited.
TelOne Unlimited*
You can download whatever you want with no speed throttling but depending on which unlimited package you are on you have a data limit of either 1000GB or 2000GB (As at 26 June 2020)
Zol Unlimited*
You can download whatever you want with no data cap however if your volume of downloads in a given time is consistently high then your internet connection will be throttled a.k.a internet health. (As at 26 June 2020)
Share your thoughts in the comments on how fair you see this comparison.
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