A couple of weeks ago, some local mobile internet users expressed their disappointment (on various social media platforms) with telecom operators’ slowness in introducing a data management tool. The service, which has proved its usefulness to a lot of people, has only been available for Safaricom customers.
The Safaricom exclusivity is now a thing of the past as Kenya’s third largest mobile operator, Telkom, has introduced the feature for its ever-growing pool of mobile internet users. It has not adopted any fancy name for purposes of being different, hence the My Data Manager moniker.
For those who may not be aware of what the feature does, it basically means that your airtime will not be consumed to service your internet activities once data bundles have been depleted. It is a handy tool because, in the past, people have been victims of unplanned consumption of airtime for those online activities. Telcos were forced to introduce warning messages (like when your data bundle has hit the halfway mark, or when it is almost depleted) but that did not stop unnecessary airtime consumption.
Safaricom swung in with the data manager tool (obviously from the hue and cry of its millions of users), and while its early manifestation was far from perfect (the tool was plagued by too many pop-up messages even when an internet connection was off), it has since been refined to exercise its functions as intended.
Telkom’s version is available on the *544# access code, followed by package identifier number 8, and includes a brief description (This is a service that that ensures that you are not charged from airtime when browsing. Data charges will only be from data bundles), activation/deactivation and status. Once activated, a text message will be pushed for confirmation.
Airtel, which has also received a fair share of complaints has the ball rolling on its court, but we are certain it won’t be long before it rolls out a similar tool.
