Hands On: Telkom Kenya’s Data Calculator for Effective Control Over Data Plans

Over the last couple of years, the boom in smartphone adoption has forced key players in the industry to increase the value of their services in a bid to reap revenues from the said popularity. Mobile carriers continue to drop the prices of their data plans, which is a welcome idea when such gains are complemented by robust coverage. For the moment, only one Kenyan operator has managed to conquer this niche, but that does not mean others are not trying.

For the better half of 2017, Telkom Kenya fought to make itself a household name with its data offerings. Its focus still is based on data products, which it continues to improve with additional 4G zones (you can check if your area is covered on its website as new locations are added). On the whole, this is a good thing as it offers users a number of options, a feat that Telkom has managed to delve into thanks to its multiple data-related plans.

Amid these array of products (users can be spoilt for choice, but the target is to curate plans that fit a subscriber’s demands, be it a casual user or those that consume huge amounts of bundles) is a confusion to pick the best package. From a personal perspective, my data use is sporadic at best; some days, I’m hardly on mobile data either because a Wi-Fi network is within reach (which is the case most of the time) or I’m on transit, for which mobile data comes in handy. As a result, it would not make sense to buy bigger plan, and end up not using in the long run. On the other hand, having the peace of mind that a data subscription will serve you for a foreseeable future is always a welcome idea.

Some may argue that a bigger data plan is better, and if it is not exhausted within the validity period, Telkom allows users to roll it over by purchasing another plan (some plans such as Daily options are restricted to that period, unfortunately). However, large purchases are not everyone’s cup of tea because of financial constraints. This also introduces another variable, which is the science to accurately predict data usage patterns.

Use

Fortunately, there is a handy tool at Telkom Kenya’s website that can help users determine the volume of data consumed based on activity. Its purpose is to help users predict consumption, and apply it to pick the most fitting package. The tool has a slider that can be adjusted to reflect values, although a better implementation would have adopted a table-like format to key in numbers.

Now, I will use my pattern as a case study. I spend a better part of my day browsing the web, which I’ll approximate as 6 hours per day, adding up to 180 hours in a 30-day month. I’m a big fan of online music streaming, with my preferred service being Spotify. Roughly, I spend 5 hours checking new tunes within the app in a normal day, which adds up to 150 hours in a month. Also, say I spend one hour per day on YouTube (at 480p, which is okay for me on mobile data), I would have spent 30 hours streaming video content for the same month. Lastly, I receive about two serious emails per day with attachments, sometime more – and that is approximated as 100 emails on a busy month.

These metrics can be set on Telkom’s Internet data calculator to approximate the amount of data consumed in a month. The preceding use dictates I secure a 3 GB package, which I could pick by opting for a 1.5 GB + 1.5 GB Freedom Monthly package for KES 500. It should be noted that the extra 1.5 GB is availed for 4G users ly.

The idea here is that users can leverage the offerings of this handy tool to ensure that whichever package they select is consumed exhaustively, rather than spending more to buy data that will probably expire, or too little to see you through a month of internet use.