Econet introduces unlimited Facebook access for $3 a month
Posted inBroadband Social Media

Econet introduces unlimited Facebook access for $3 a month

65Posted inBroadband, Social Media

facebook-unlimitedThis is ofcourse something we have wished for a long time now that mobile operators would do. It just makes business sense; social business for us subscribers that is! Econet announced yesterday that they have introduced an unlimited access to Facebook promotion that will last until the end of February next year. As part of the promo, subscribers will eat all they can of Facebook for either 95 cents a week, or $3 a month.

Access will be be via special Facebook bundles which can be bought through USSD ( *143# ) or from Econet shops.

With over 1.2 million Facebook users in Zimbabwe, and the bulk of those with Econet lines, this is really a big deal. Especially for those that consume and contribute lots of pictures, sound and video content on the social network. Using Econet’s out-of-bundle data tariff of 15 cents in comparison, $3 would just afford you 20 megabytes of surfing on Facebook. 95 cents would give you 6 megabytes. And even if we’d take Econet’s average price per MB of 5 cents (which by the way is pretty much the same as that of Telecel but higher than NetOne) the $3 would give you just 60 megabytes. I know I use at least half a GB on Facebook monthly.

Econet says in the announcement yesterday though that this doesn’t apply to access via Opera Mini. We’re guessing this means Opera Mini data is harder for them to distinguish because it comes compressed from Opera servers and not straight from Facebook. Now considering most people with feature phones use Opera Mini to save data, either people will use a separate browser for Facebook, or ditch operator mini altogether.

Anyway, it’s official, Econet offers the cheapest access to Facebook in the country. And the beauty of it is other operators will have to respond leaving subscribers all a little happier.

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65 Comments

  1. ic0n1c
    October 21, 2013,

    Dude half a gig on FB!!! Wow, you really are gonna benefit from this promo big time… Anyway hopefully competition will respond, might even consider playing on FB more often.

    Here is a thought, what if Telecel responds by offering the same promo, only this time it will be for twitter!!! …. then again they probably wouldn’t…. 🙁

    • Muti
      October 21, 2013,

      In Zimbabwe we don’t use twitter because its confusing & i dont want to know what our celebrities are doing.lol

      • Kwani
        October 21, 2013,

        Plenty Zimbos are on twitter, believe you me and its not celebrities

        • Muti
          October 21, 2013,

          Being on twitter & using twitter are diff thinks , i have a twitter account but its been 2years now since i used. if someone asked me to follow him?her on twitter , i follow. that’s the only thing i do.

          • Lol
            October 21, 2013,

            You are under utilizing a very powerful platform by following useless wannabe friends. If you are a professional, student or hobbyist, you can follow people and organisations along subject lines such that you are always up to date with any developments in your field… example @Newsdayzimbabwe is one of many Zim news streams.

            • Farai Sairai
              October 21, 2013,

              I think it’s just that people have no clue what twitter is all about compared to Facebook. I know plenty people who have never heard of it, know of it but have not used it and others who simply created an account and fell off the twitter planet. Education of the twitter platform will increase its usage I believe, especially from the socialites, media personalities or politicians. Am sure we will get there!

          • ﻖﺸﻋ ﺮﯿﻤﻧ ﺰﮔﺮﻫ
            October 21, 2013,

            its a pity you have a shallow view of twitter, or maybe you just don’t use it that often to appreciate it. I spend more time on twitter than facebook becuase i like news in real time about things that matter to those i follow. To get that amount of information on Facebook I will need to befriend close to 20 000, and that will be mainly pictures or I’m at KFC status updates. Or maybe thats what you enjoy

            • Muti
              October 21, 2013,

              My Friend, On Twitter its called Follow
              On Facebook Its called Like. You can like a news page on Facebook & you can still receive any news live. Just because yo 20000 friends are annoying , doesn’t mean Fb is annoying. also you don’t need to have friends to like(#follow) a page.lastly what are theose #@ retweet thingy?

              • Member
                October 21, 2013,

                aiwa hamawe, twitter is not yet widely in use locally. on the popular chat there you would find that most of the participants are tech enthusiasts or zimba riripadiaspora

              • Guest
                October 21, 2013,

                You guys don’t think that if you aren’t doing something then everyone is likewise. Twitter is far better than Facebook in both currency and content. It’s so difficult to like individual’s pages because they then have to confirm they know you. Half the time they reject you, hid their profile from Facebook search, limit followership, etc yet you would need updates from them. One other thing that Facebook has copied from Twitter is the Hashtag. People are free to follow preferred hashtags and get to create them. Pretty cool way of sharing info. I bet Muti you aren’t on Instagram, Vimeo, Flickr, G+ etc. These apps just let you expand your social network experience. Twitter let’s you get real time updates on trending hashtags/topics better than Facebook.

              • Muti
                October 22, 2013,

                Facebook Bought Instagram.I dont want certain people to know what im doing on my wall unless if they are my friends. Can you do that with Twitter? I dont want to be followed by anyone (pedophiles)

      • Lenni
        October 23, 2013,

        There are plenty of Zimbos on twitter , hashtag #NdebeleTwitter , #Twimbos

        • Muti
          October 23, 2013,

          Let me guess the number of zimbo following that hastag …5000 to 10000 people? On face book chinos page has 300000 likes.

  2. Muti
    October 21, 2013,

    i dial *143 & its says sorry the service is not available yet until the 27th .

    • Kudzai M.Mubaiwa
      October 21, 2013,

      Confirmed, been trying since yesterday too. Maybe they were testing the market?

  3. observer
    October 21, 2013,

    how many people in this country do facebook for real business??

    • Muti
      October 21, 2013,

      Facebook does a lot of things ie watch videos, send email, skype , twitt etc

      • ﻖﺸﻋ ﺮﯿﻤﻧ ﺰﮔﺮﻫ
        October 21, 2013,

        wow which facebook you using to send email, skype, twitt etc. Is that the facebook we all have????

        • Muti
          October 21, 2013,

          Are you saying you just use your Facebook to post bible quotes & poke pretty girls?

        • Member
          October 21, 2013,

          i send emails, skype and twit through facebook bro

          • NM
            October 21, 2013,

            how do u skype, send email, twit on FB nhai Muti,musataure zvamusinganzwisise

          • tichaitonga
            October 22, 2013,

            are u sure u use that @facebook.com email?

              • tichaitonga
                December 22, 2013,

                So you are hinging all your online life on one account. That does not sound safe to me. If your fb account is hacked your entire life is hacked. uuumh

              • Muti
                January 6, 2014,

                Yes because when i die ,people will remember me.lol

        • Lol
          October 21, 2013,

          You can have addons that integrate with FB and allow you to do all these things bro

  4. allforone
    October 21, 2013,

    will this work for facebook android app on a 3g connection?? i.e tablet or smartphone?

    • Muti
      October 21, 2013,

      that is a good question, because its useless to browse on Opera mini.

    • anthonysomerset
      October 21, 2013,

      i suspect it will as the app communicates with facebook.com directly rather than via opera servers which opera mini does

  5. tapiwa
    October 21, 2013,

    Hi. Anyone know if this works with Facebook apps or just through the browser ?

  6. frontrowzim
    October 21, 2013,

    I was hoping for something along the lines of 0.facebook.com – free facebook. If I’m not mistaken Airtel did that in Zambia.

    • tinachiga
      October 21, 2013,

      I would rather prefer this if it covers access to pictures and videos than 0.facebook which does not and starts charging once you click a lick to any media.

  7. Buffdaddy
    October 21, 2013,

    What a waste of advertising for a product that is not active. my response on trying it – we are experiencing high call volumes. try again later. thanks for nothing Econot.

  8. Member
    October 21, 2013,

    And i cannot post or like on facebook right now, is it me only???

    • Rachel Stewart
      October 21, 2013,

      I can’t either and I am using ZOL at the moment on my laptop

  9. Rachel Stewart
    October 21, 2013,

    if you dial *143# it just says service not available till October 27. False promises again

  10. Sadombo
    October 21, 2013,

    With Telecel’s $5 I get 150MB and $3 I get 80MB so this Econet thing its trash

  11. purple
    October 21, 2013,

    Might just try it out…..

  12. purple
    October 21, 2013,

    Will be usefull when I am broke, bored and with sparetime on my hands

  13. ic0n1c
    October 25, 2013,

    I still maintain that a promo like this targeting twimbos on twitter will get a good following and generate some pocket change for Telecel… Not everyone like facebook

  14. fourwallsinaroom
    October 28, 2013,

    Tested and working for both app and regular phone browser. An unexpected bonus did pop up 🙂 If i put my line in my dongle and connect i can go to facebook and only facebook with the bundle and no airtime.

    • Muti
      October 31, 2013,

      So you saying , if you have no airtime it will still open facebook?

  36. Tony
    November 29, 2016,

    My 3$ monthly unlimited Facebook bundle is running out saying I have 44M of 220M left. Is this correct ?

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