Why is Starlink “Sold Out” in Murombedzi?

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Zowa in Murombedzi

Starlink recently disabled its Roaming service in Africa, leading to a strange phenomenon: the “Sold Out” area on their availability map, initially concentrated around Harare, suddenly expanded to cover a 200km radius, including the sparsely populated rural town of Murombedzi.

This is puzzling because it seems unlikely that a rural area would reach capacity before larger cities like Bulawayo or Mutare

This isn’t limited to Murombedzi. Many areas around Harare, including Marondera, Bindura, and Macheke, are now also showing as “Sold Out.” Similar patterns are emerging in other African countries like Zambia and Kenya, suggesting a link to the Roaming service cancellation.

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Starlink hasn’t explained these changes, leaving us to speculate. One theory is that Harare users, previously relying on Roaming, had their accounts suspended after the 60-day limit. When they tried to switch to a Zimbabwean plan, they found Harare was already full. They may have then tried registering with addresses on the outskirts, gradually expanding the “Sold Out” zone outward until it reached Murombedzi.

However, registering with a Murombedzi address doesn’t mean the service will work in Harare. A technician who assists Starlink users has told Techzim he is helping many people who fell into this trap, needing to re-register their kits through a Starlink Authorized Reseller.

Hopefully, as users correct their registrations, these areas will become available again, allowing actual residents to sign up for Starlink.

22 comments

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  1. Cde Ernesto che guveira

    Starlink might not have anticipated a high turnover in Africa and i think they where caught unprepared. They must create more capacity in Africa because this is where its services is mostly needed.

    1. Anonymous

      I don’t think it is about too much demand, the reason why Techzim came up with this article

      Mask is managing a particular situation

      Mrehwa Sold out before Bulawayo twn or Mutare is not possible

      It looks they are correcting something and order will prevail

      I also feel that does to do with Politicians who may want to fully make money out of starlink as Resellers

      If Harare is full now to Murombedzi how is Chivhayo going to make money with his IMC Communications?

  2. Murambwi

    These are the results of bathing mu bucket since birth. Harare people are selfish and not very smart. How does buying a kit in murombedzi then putting it on roaming benefit the marginalised people of that small area. Thanks Elon for shutting down roaming and restoring sanity.

    1. Anonymous

      Lol

    2. Anonymous

      Here, I see you can learn something here: Ad hominem, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem

  3. Shakespeare Mugwara

    Thank you for this information. It did not make sense that Nyabira would be said “Sold Out”

  4. Jackson tete

    Can srarlink be fitted in gokwe rural areas

    1. Anonymous

      No Gokwe is too far, you cannot have Starlink there.

      1. Anonymous

        😂😂😂Poison

      2. Chasura

        Ah đŸ€ŁđŸ€Ł

  5. Anonymous

    I agree that those still excited by Harare are selfish and self centered. Mbinga tiriko kwa Murombedzi. Takawanda. Mbinga dziri kumaruzevha dzakawandisa kudarika Harare. Usati ini kana ndaneta ne Harare ndokusiya uchiroja imba yangu, iwe woti “Ko kwa Murombedzi Starlink vanodii?”

    1. Anonymous

      Zvirikuzi Murombedzi yazara sei before Bulawayo and Mutare

      Auna kutukwa Ba iwe musoro Bhangu?

      1. Anonymous

        You are proving to be clueless on what sold out means. Let me simplify for you. If there are 100 oranges in Harare and they are sold out. Then there are 20 oranges in Murombedzi then they get sold out. Should there be any conspiracy theories comparing the two locations? The issue is, was the network capacity the same? Those not sold out in BYO and Mutare. fall in the same comparison framework. Saka musoro bangu apa ndiani?

  6. Anonymous

    Folks, calm down and take the feet off the arbitrary speculation pedals. You all don’t know what’s going on at the Starlink side. There is no need for the foul-mouthed rhetorics, when you don’t know or understand what is going on.

    1. Anonymous

      Sorry zvako. My post seems to have been misconstrued as rude. The thing is Harare is just an administrative, logistical and value adding centre. The actual basic production like mining, agric tourism, fishing etc is done out of Harare. Data rinotidiwa zvakanyanya ikoko. In mining for example; prospectors outside Harare use more data than content creators. Same applies to the other mentioned fields.
      There is a danger when you stay in Harare to stay out of touch with the current reality. There are more graduates outside of the cities by far; teachers, doctors, engineers you name it. Those people use data.

      1. Anonymous

        Ah vanhu vekuma towns vavekuda kuita Seve kuJoza. Ukamunzwa achitaura nezve KFC ungatoti anodyako everyday. Iye uchimutengera doro. Ungatoti kuomera asi anenge asina akatosungirira yebhazi yekudzokera.
        Veku UK varinane. Kuzvidazvavo asi vanotenga. At least vakageza chembere nhatu pazuva vaowana inotenga.

  7. Kubs

    There is money everywhere BUT where it should be.

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  12. where are you

    where are the local ISP in an this there is clearly unserviced demand in USD… their business models have to reduce margins and work on high volumes. the starlink is case in point

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