Vodafone Uganda, a telecom launched early last year with the best unlimited internet packages we had ever reviewed or experienced. The unlimited internet package was cheap and fast since the previous Fair usage Cap (FUP) was at 256 kbps once the FUP data was depleted.

Some users didn’t even have this cap implemented on their router sim cards after our extensive tests while other had the 256 kbps cap activated and the internet experience was rather bad. It’s not until about 3 weeks ago when I noticed the ‘Unlimited Internet speeds’ were unbearable once one had exceeded 35, 50, 60 GB depending on their package.

A visit to the Vodafone website shows that the document was indeed changed to reflect the new misarable fair usage policy which limits you to 128 kbps. For starters 128 kbps is quite slow but the problem is this is a limit to both downloads and uploads which means you won’t be able to get a download over 100 kbps since this is a shared connection.

In a sample test with 3 MiFis, we realized that getting a download at 70 kbps was hard even after using throttling tools which prevented other programs from using the data connection. At such a speed cap, loading pages in very difficult and streaming audio and video was impossible because buffering was a lot.

This means one either has to purchase a regular 4G bundle at uncapped speeds which is expensive or scout for another internet package like smile whose FUP cap is 512 kbps. Well, their policy states that they have a right to change it at any particular time leaves no defense to the consumer who wasn’t reliably informed.

Below are the terms and conditions Vodafone Uganda applies to the following plans, each of which offers unlimited data (the “Unlimited Plans”):

Product Download Speed* Validity FUP Cap Price (UGX)
Unlimited 2mbps/1 2mbps 24 hours 1.5GB 17,900
Unlimited 2mbps/7 2mbps 7 days 8GB 69,900
Unlimited 2mbps/30 2mbps 30 days 35GB 149,900
Unlimited 6mbps/30 6mbps 30 days 50GB 199,900
Unlimited 10mbps/30 10mbps 30 days 60GB 349,900
Unlimited Nite 2mbps 30 days 50GB 79,900
Day and Nite 2mbps 30 days 35GB 199,900
Day and Nite 2mbps 30 days 50GB 259,900

 

A screenshot of the website showing the new Fair Usage Policy cap

VodafoneFUP

 

4 COMMENTS

  1. the cap has always been 128 kbps from day one at least on paper. I was told they cdn’t implement that lower limit hence capped at 512 kbps back then… So with the slow speeds you see after the cap, they r just implemented what was on paper in the first place

Comments are closed.