The average Kenyan spends Kshs 600 per month on Airtime. A busy (from the word business) Kenyan on the other hand spends an upward of Kshs 3000 per month on Airtime – that’s a lot of money. If the busy Kenyan were to forgo mobile communication, the Kshs 3000 could buy her a decent dress, or dinner for two at an executive lounge, or a decent mobile accessory like premium power bank or bluetooth speakers. Or better still, thanks to OCharge, a discount on furniture, wardrobe, food and drink, entertainment … and the list is endless. That’s true, you now have a way to redeem your Airtime thanks to Ocharge.
OCharge doesn’t provide direct free Airtime as you may think – to check the details of how OCharge works, head to the Ocharge article via this link. That article was written before OCharge was officially launched, but now that OCharge has been in the market for a while, we can now share with you step by step guide on How to get free Airtime using the App.
- First Step – Head to your play store (Google Play Store) and download the App. I haven’t been able to verify whether the App is available for iOS and Windows devices.
- Second Step, Sign UP. Although the App hasn’t enabled signing up via Facebook or Twitter, the process is quite simple. You’ll only need to input your name, phone number, and email address.
- Recharge Airtime. To Recharge Airtime you’ll have to press on the OCharge Logo that is well placed at the bottom right of home screen (it is big enough and red in colour – see featured image above), select recharge, enter the phone number to recharge, then proceed to MPESA Lipa na MPESA procedure to complete the payment. The image below provides you with the instructions.
- Enjoy your points by Picking on discounted offers according to OCharge points that you have accumulated.
The reason we say OCharge gives you free Airtime is because for every amount spent on Airtime, you can redeem the same amount by purchasing products and services from partner vendors. For example, if you buy Airtime worth Kshs 1,000 through OCharge, you will get 1,000 OCharge points. With the 1,000 points, you can confidently head to Infotech Business Solutions located at Rahimtulla Trust Building, Moi Avenue, Ground Floor, Shop No. B5, and buy a smartphone. With the OCharge App in hand, your 1,000 points will give you a free glass protector and phone cover (usually worth Kshs 500 each).
OCharge is not the only App that gives people free Airtime (or redeemable Airtime if you like), we also have ExtraValue. Too bad I am unable to give you the step by step guide on how to purchase Airtime via ExtraValue mainly because I was unable to sign up – a tedious sign up process if I may say so. This is because even after inputting all the details in the sign up form, the sign up icon was still inactive. I am not the only one who has experienced the sign up problem. If you head to ExtraValue Page on Google Play Store, you will be greeted by the following reviews:
Filled all the required slots but yet can’t sign up
Am trying to register to no avail
Other reviews are to the effect that users could not get their credit reflected on their phones. The other thing I was unable to do is to view the discount offers that one can get via the App. On OCharge, one doesn’t have to sign up in order to view the products and services on offer, they are easily available simply by scrolling down from the home page.
Anyway, a friend was able to register, and according to feedback I obtained from him, the App doesn’t really give you free Airtime. This is because instead of opting for the Till Number of option that is typically cost free, the App opted for Pay Bill option that attracts charges, and going by the screen shots of his MPESA transactions, for every Kshs 100 bought via the App, the user parts with Kshs 22 Pay Bill charges.
