Ladies and gentlemen, Airtel Kenya has turned its back on all the faithful UnlimiNet subscribers out there. The UnlimiNet you knew is no more. What is left is a marketing gimmick that uses the same name but delivers a totally different package. To make matters worse, the company did not have the audacity to send SMS notifications to its customers of the impending change. No notice was given whatsoever!
What a Christmas present from Airtel Kenya! Airtel Kenya has conspired to ensure all UnlimiNet subscribers do not end the year with a smile. What happened to Christmas been a time of making merry and being happy?
From now onwards forget about Unlimited browsing once you deplete your allocated data bundles. Forget about continued 3G access to WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and Instagram after you deplete your allocated data bundles.
Airtel UnlimiNet is now limited to the data bundles you get allocated. Once you exhaust the allocated bundles the company offers you an extra 100 MB. ONLY 100 MB. This extra 100 MB can ONLY be used to access Facebook, WhatsApp and the free site Twitter. You won’t be able to access any other site. Once you exhaust the extra 100 MB, you will have to purchase another bundle if you so wish to access the internet.
If you are an avid user of Airtel UnlimiNet then you will realise that the company offers two options:
- UnlimiNet
This is the option that most mobile subscribers opt for. It is the one that offered you Data bundles, SMS and talk time with respect to the package you subscribe to. It was more luxurious since you could continue to access the internet at cupped speeds once you exhausted the allocated data bundles. Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter and Gmail were accessible at full speeds for the duration of your data bundles. Unfortunately that is not the case anymore. Each package is now limited to a specific data volume. Once you exhaust this you get an extra 100MB to access only three social sites.
- UnlimiNet Modem
This option only offered users data bundles. Many users have not tried it given that the UnlimiNet option above was more luxurious. This was tailored specifically to data consumers.
This week I tried out the Daily UnlimiNet Modem. More specifically I subscribed to the Daily offer at Ksh.50. With this purchase I was promised 200 MB + unlimited whatsapp + Facebook + twitter. The main aim was to determine if the three sites were truly Unlimited after data exhaustion. It is also worth noting that previously the only Daily UnlimiNet Modem option available was worth Ksh.99. On further examining the UnlimiNet Modem option I realised that it was also reviewed with new cheaper options introduced. The table below highlights the changes.
After close to 12 hours of usage I decided to check my data manager app to know how much data I had consumed so far. I was astonished to realise that I was in excess of 2GB. This prompted me to disconnect my data connection first. On reconnecting I tried to access a couple of sites and my attempts were successful. Though I realised access to other sites was throttled. Next I streamed a couple of feeds via Facebook Live for close to an hour and my connection was smooth. No buffering at all. I checked WhatsApp and the connection was OK. Twitter loaded fast.
It was only after 24 hours that my connection was disconnected. That is on expiry of my subscription. I will subscribe to the same option next week and see whether it was a hitch in the system or UnlimitNet Modem is the new Unlimited option. If so then UnlimiNet Modem takes the previous mode of operation of UnlimiNet minus the talk time and SMS extras. If you are solely interested in Unlimited data connection then the UnlimiNet Modem option, *544# option 8 will work for you. If you were in for the juicy talk time and SMS extras then you are not as lucky as UnlimiNet Modem does not come with those extra bits.
UnlimiNet Modem
Price | Data Bundles | New Bonus | Old Bonus | |
Daily | Ksh.50
(new) |
200 MB | unlimited whatsapp + Facebook + twitter | – |
Ksh.99 | 500 MB | unlimited whatsapp + Facebook + twitter | unlimited whatsapp + Facebook + twitter + Gmail | |
Weekly | Ksh.250
(new) |
1 GB | unlimited whatsapp + Facebook + twitter | – |
Ksh.699 | 5 GB | unlimited whatsapp + Facebook + twitter | unlimited whatsapp + Facebook + twitter + Gmail | |
Ksh.999
(new) |
10 GB | unlimited whatsapp + Facebook + twitter | – | |
Monthly | Ksh.2,999 | 20 GB | unlimited whatsapp + Facebook + twitter + Gmail | unlimited whatsapp + Facebook + twitter + Gmail |
Given that the Daily option at Ksh.50 offered me Unlimited Internet albeit at cupped speeds, we can assume that all the options above follow suite.