Why the new uMAX internet packages are great deals!

A few days ago uMAX the company announced some changes. Here are some extracts from the announcement:

musheMAX customers are now entitled to 15GB data allowance with an additional 15GB of Midnight Express browsing from 00h00-06h00 every night. That’s all included in the standard $45 per month service fee. If you require more data within the same month, simply top up and continue browsing at the same rate as your regular plan. That’s $3/GB.

monthlyMAX customers are now entitled to 40GB data allowance with an additional 40GB of night browsing including the Chill Out period from 22h00-00h00 and Midnight Express browsing from 00h00-06h00 every night. That’s all included in the standard $75 per month service fee. If you require more data within the same month, simply top up and continue browsing at the same rate as your regular plan. That’s $1.88/GB.

skyMAX is the latest and fastest service plan from uMAX offering 150GB data allowance with free night browsing (22h00-06h00) all for $150 a month! skyMAX offers a MAXimum altitude speed of 5Mbps. Still need more data in the same month? Simply top up at your standard rate of $1/GB and continue browsing.

There are some key things about the uMAX’s adjustment which put the uMAX deals amoung the best on the market. I’ve already emphasised it in bold above, but let me quickly compare the two it to other fixed internet packages on the market:

1. musheMax – $45 a month for 15GB + 15GB night browsing. To up at the same rate of $3/GB
   • Compared to TelOne:
     – $42 buys you 25GB. However no night browsing.
     – Once you have exhausted the initial package you can’t buy per GB. Only option is buy another $42 bundle.
     – TelOne’s speed is up to 2Mbps which doesn’t promise any minimums. While uMAX used to emphasize 1mbps minimum speed, they had skipped that altogether now.
   • Compared to ZOL:
     – The closet wireless package is the $49 WiMAX package. My experience with it was not the best and I take care not to recommend it to anyone who wants stable internet. Definitely didn’t compare to the stability I got on my uMAX when I used it.
     – ZOL’s fibre is good and starts at an entry price of $39 for 15GB, which seems cheaper until you install it and realise super fast internet also means super fast depletion of that 15GB.
     – No night browsing. You midnight data eats into your 15GB
     – Once the 15GB is exhausted, you start buying at an expensive high $7 per GB.
   • YoAfrica:
     – No package around $40
     
   • Telco Velocity:
     – Starts at $42 for 18GB of data but no night browsing
     – Not clear what the top up model is
2. monthlyMax – $75 a month for 40GB + 40GB night browsing. To up at the same rate of $1.88/GB
   • Compared to TelOne:
     – $89 buys you uncapped browsing at 1mbps. I personally would choose this over capped internet. Having never used this package yet though, I have no idea how the “up to 1mbps” holds up.
   • Compared to ZOL:
     – $89 buys 30GB of data
     – no night browsing so you’re eating into your data even at night
     – when you exhaust the 30GB, you start buying at $7 per GB, again this is very expensive in comparison.
   • YoAfrica:
     – $70 package offers uncapped internet for a maximum of 2 people. Yes, they mention that it’s for 1-2 users, which made us very curious about the quality. No minimum speed spec.
     
   • Telco:
     – The $63 for 39GB is the closest deal and we are very curious to get more information on this deal as it seems to compare very favourably.
     – Top ups are available per GB but again no prices mentioned which is not helpful.

A transparent unchanging price per GB

Form our first quick analysis (and no doubt we will be getting emails from people providing us more data) the uMAX deal is something everyone should seriously consider but I think only the musheMAX and monthyMAX are candidates for serious considering. It’s clearly cheaper than ZOL’s fibre packages and only losing to the TelOne $89 package which I’m personally yet to sample.

Some of you will ofcourse say it’s apples and oranges to compare uMAX wireless to a ZOL’s fibre but the fact that the fibre is capped takes away the speed advantage completely. In fact, speed becomes your enemy – a small mistake (leaving torrents on for 30 minutes) means no more internet, or fork out $7 for a gigabyte, which itself will be depleted in 5 minutes if you don’t fix whatever is eating the data.

That point there is the biggest reason the new uMAX deals should be seriously considered. When you buy 15GB internet for $39, quickly exhaust it and are surprised to realise the price has changed from $2.6/GB to $7/GB you feel the price was deliberately designed to lure you in then hammer you hard. Yes you were supposed to read the full pricing and consider all scenarios except most of us buy with our optimist hat on!

By having an unchanging price per GB, the uMAX pricing feels transparent. Whether that was incidental or deliberate, we have no idea; we’re just happy they did and most internet customers will likely appreciate as well.

Why would I want skyMAX?

That said, the $150 for 150GB skyMAX package is not making any sense yet as a new deal that’s supposed to appeal to the internet service buying person in Zimbabwe. The only situation I can think of where skyMAX would be the better deal than, say, ZOL’s $149 uncapped package, is if you don’t have fibre in your area. But considering the last I checked uMAX was itself only available in medium to low density suburbs – where liquid has laid fibre – chances are slim it would ever be the better deal.