Vodafone Uganda joined the fierce telecom market in Uganda in November last year. They launched with relatively affordable internet devices consisting of USB Modems, Mi-Fis and routers.
Vodafone Uganda’s data pricing structure was carefully aligned with the competition except for the daily data bundle that was priced at a crazy UGX 2,400 for only 50MB. However Vodafone instantly recognized this miscalculated move and re-calibrated its daily 50MB data bundle to be in line with the market. It now goes for UGX 1,000 just like Africell (formerly Orange Uganda).
While introducing voice SIM cards, Vodafone added the unlimited internet tier to its family of data packages — something that other players like MTN Uganda, Airtel Uganda have strategically avoided. That leaves us with Africell Uganda and Smart Telecom Uganda and Uganda Telecom both of whom are offering unlimited internet bundles.
But how do these four stuck up against each other?
| Unlimited Internet Uganda | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Telecom | Data volume | Duration | speed | price |
| Vodafone Uganda | Unlimited | Monthly | 2mbps | UGX 149,900 |
| Smile Uganda | Unlimited | Monthly | 2mbps | UGX 179,000 |
| Uganda Telecom | Unlimited | Monthly | 1mbps | UGX 210,000 |
| Africell Uganda | Unlimited | Monthly | 0.5mbps | UGX 299,000 |
| Smart Telecom | Unlimited | Monthly | 2mbps | UGX 479,000 |
Disclaimer: For the sake of simplicity, we like to use price as a common denominator while comparing data service plans. However pricing alone is by no means the sole determining factor when selecting a provider. You have other factors such as data speeds, coverage, installation, reliability and customer care to consider. We obtained information presented here from the respective operators’ websites at the time of publishing this post. Therefore we are not liable for any information provided here.
Now you can see that Vodafone Uganda unlimited internet bundle costs UGX 149,900 for speeds of 2mbps. The magic number here is 2mbps. That’s really fast for unlimited internet plan. The telecoms usually provide these kind of speeds for capped or bundled data plans such as the daily 50MB or monthly 2GB data plans.
Now to drive the point home, lets compare Vodafone Uganda unlimited internet plan to Africell/Orange Uganda unlimited internet package. Africell is offering unlimited internet for a price of UGX 299,000/month but for only 0.5mbps internet speeds. That’s four times slower than Vodafone Uganda yet at twice as much! But make no mistake, Africell’s capped packages aka MBs have fast internet speeds that go as fast as 5mbps.
| Unlimited Internet Uganda | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Telecom | Data volume | Duration | speed | price |
| Uganda Telecom | Unlimited | Monthly | 0.5mbps | UGX 105,000 |
| Smart Telecom | Unlimited | Monthly | 0.5mbps | UGX 199,000 |
| Africell Uganda | Unlimited | Monthly | 0.5mbps | UGX 299,000 |
Uganda Telecom unlimited internet packages are also quite interesting. UTL is offering unlimited monthly plans of UGX 105,000/0.5mbps, UGX 210,000/1mbps , UGX 250,000/3mbps. Still Vodafone seems to offer faster speeds for less although UTL beats Africell and Smart when it comes to both price and speed.
If you however wish to go as fast as Vodafone Uganda, then Smart Telecom Uganda unlimited is your choice. However,Smart Telecom Uganda unlimited internet package costs a whooping UGX 479,000/month for the same speeds as Vodafone. For same speeds of 2mbps on Smart, you have to pay about 3 times as much as what you would part with on Vodafone. Unless you have a thing for Smart Telecom, it totally doesn’t make economic sense to put your money there.
Vodafone Uganda has daily, weekly and monthly unlimited internet packages costing UGX 17,900, UGX 69,000, UGX 149,000 respectively all at 2mps speeds. Smart Uganda on the other hand has UGX 25,000 weekly unlimited plan and several monthly plans determined by varying internet speeds.
Read more: Vodafone vs Smile vs Africell Uganda unlimited internet package, who’s the best?
Keep in mind that you will have to incur device and installation costs before you get plugged into any of these unlimited internet packages. For instance for Africell/Orange, all you need is a simple USB dongle while for Vodafone, you’ll have to purchase 4G LTE Mi-Fi. Smart and Uganda Telecom will require site surveys and then one-time fee for internet devices or Consumer Premises Equipment (CPE) that will hook you up to their network. These CPEs are usually Fixed devices like your TV external antenna which means you won’t move around with them the way you do with Mi-Fi or USB dongle.
The winner is clear — Vodafone Uganda seems to have a vision of forever saving us from the plague of capped internet aka MBs. But don’t take our word for it, let us know what your choice would be in this poll or in the comments
Links
Vodafone Uganda unlimited data,
Uganda Telecom unlimited data,
Africell unlimited data.
Image: conversation.which.co.uk