We have three kinds of mobile subscribers; the cautious ones that buy bundles on SMS, Calls and Data either on a daily, weekly or monthly cycle or the daredevils that belong in Wakanda, they defy the trends and just go in raw with their airtime and I will tell you about the third kind later.
By now I know you have already identified which side you belong to or you’re still trying to convince yourself that you belong to the daredevil side. No worries, a majority of the population fall under the cautious side because money does not grow on trees.
The Cautious
I fall into this category. I am a Safaricom subscriber, I have my data manager activated and I purchase weekly or monthly data bundles and if one of my stone age friends decides to text me the traditional way, I have to at least buy SMS bundles just to show how cautious I can be with my money.
This method is preferable because it is perceived to be cheaper and that’s what we all aim to do, cut down on cost. We the cautious people have at one point or the other cringed when someone sends a text and you have to buy airtime just to text them back, in your head you are wondering why they can’t just use WhatsApp or any other Instant Messaging service.
I have friends who have Gigabytes of mobile data but never have airtime to reply to a text or call you even if it was an emergency. No one blames them though, this is the life we have come to live. We are digital. We are online. We have WhatsApp voice and video calls, so why invest in having airtime?
The Daredevils
On the other side of the spectrum, we have the dark side – where anything goes. These people don’t even know the price of a data bundle and not because they are post-paid customers, no, that too is too square for them. The people of Wakanda want to be free. They want to do whatever they want without feeling like they are restricted.
The have airtime, always and they don’t need SMS bundles to reply a text, data bundles to DM or Tunukiwa offers to make calls, they just do it all with their airtime. This is the side we all want to be when we “grow up”.
Personally, I have wanted to cross the river to the other side, not once. The only problem being the cost implications that come with living such a care-free life, I can’t. I just can’t. So I had to find an alternative, something that works for me, something that will give me the thrill of living free without the fear of running deep holes in my pocket and I found a new category of mobile subscribers, the Flexers.
Flexers
These Flexible people have no worries of having airtime to text back because they used it all up on data neither do they have the worry of spending too much on airtime because they Flex. A little over a year ago a story is told of how people found flexibility. In the search to live free and still smile at your account balance, I found flexibility in ways that had not been seen before.
I found a bundle. I know, we were trying to run away from bundles but this is not your kawaida bundle, this is slay-queen bundle, if I may say. In my old life, I would buy SMS bundles, Data Bundles and even scout Tunukiwa for call offers just to save a shilling or two. In this new life, I am a daredevil – with training wheels and safety net but still daring. My slay-queen bundle allows me to send texts whenever I want to, browse the internet, send WhatsApp messages, slide into DMs and make calls without the worry of spending too much or having one bundle or the other. I am talking about Safaricom Flex.
Unlike using my airtime to make calls, send texts and browse, Flex gives me up to 40% more value than regular airtime thus being a cost saver. Speaking of cost, Flex’ pricing is as flexible as the name with daily bundles for as low as Kes.50 to weekly bundles at Kes.599 and monthly bundles for as low as Kes.999. On top of this, Flex subscribers get free flex units every time you send money using M-Pesa because why not?
Subscribing to Flex is as simple as dialling *100# for Pre-Paid customers and *200# or Post-Paid customers. Takeaway? Stop worrying about airtime and purpose-specific bundles and just Flex your way to freedom.
