Internet service providers (ISPs) in Kenya almost always tend to advertise their monthly internet plans as “Unlimited”. This is a pretty straight forward definition. However, home internet providers in Kenya tend to stretch this definition. The “Unlimited” package tends to have a data usage limit that when exhausted your internet speeds are throttled. This is what is referred to as a fair usage policy (FUP).
Basically, even with unlimited plans, there’s often a cap on high-speed data.
What is Fair Usage Policy (FUP)?
FUP is form to data cap. It is an intentional limit on the amount of data that can pass through a network. There are hard and soft data caps. When one buys internet bundles especially for mobile data, they tend to have hard caps. Hard caps cut customer internet connection off completely when data is depleted.
FUP is more of a soft cap, this type of cap leaves a customer connected to the internet once the data limit is reached. The “punishment” is that the internet speeds will be throttled to speeds well below your subscription. If towards the end of your 30-day subscription cycle, your experience slow internet speeds, your might just have exceeded your FUP limit.
Read: List of Home Internet Service Providers in Kenya with 2023 Packages
Notably, fair use policy limit represents a fixed data allowance assigned for each billing cycle (mostly 30 days). Unlike data bundles, these limits cannot be carried over to subsequent periods.
Why is the Internet Data Cap Necessary?
ISPs know that FUPs are unpopular, so why do they have them? In Kenya for example Safaricom Home Fibre was launched without FUP. However, after a few years of service, the company introduced the data limits.
For starters, most Fiber to the Home (FTTH) connections in Kenya are shared. The opposite of this is Dedicated internet access (DIA), a premium, high-speed internet service that provides a private connection to the internet customers. In a shared connection, the FUP is put in place to ensure fair sharing of network resources among users. The limit is set to help avoid network congestion.
Shared connections are not just subject to the data limit, customers also have to contend with varying allocation of internet speeds. Usually, a 1:4 contention ratio is the norm. What this means is, in instances of heavy network traffic, users may experience download speeds up to 25% slower than advertised.
Internet Resellers
Secondly, the soft cap is used to discourage resellers. Indeed, there are genuine customers that need heavier bandwidth such as large families that have a ton of devices. However, there are some unscrupulous persons who pay for a small package and seek to resell it, masquerading as a small ISP in residential areas.
This practice is actually against the terms and conditions of most Wi-Fi service providers. For example, Safaricom writes, “You shall not use and shall ensure that no other person using your access to the Services uses the Services: (I) for resale or redistribution to any other person or entity.”
Reselling a shared connection will ultimately lead to congestion and greatly hamper the quality of Internet for home Internet subscribers. If left uncheck without FUP limits, the resellers will constantly be exceeding what should be typical or average subscriber usage of the Internet service.
FUP is Based on Data
Poa Internet analysis has shown that their customers use on average 200 Gb monthly. Safaricom stated in 2021 that most of their home fibre customers average 300 GB. In a recent Press briefing, Airtel Kenya CEO said on average usage is now at 500 GB monthly. So basically, you may never surpass your allocation.
So, what are Kenya ISPs actual FUP limits?
Finding the actual limits within an unlimited data plan can be tricky, as transparency varies among providers. Not all providers clearly communicate their fair usage policies and data limits. In a good number of brochures that are circulated, this information is often lacking or vague language is employed.
READ: How to become an ISP in Kenya
Whenever considering an internet service provider in Kenya, look for mentions of data caps, throttling, or fair usage. Look for providers that clearly outline their policies and data thresholds. Check online reviews and forums to see other users’ experiences. If you’re unclear, contact customer support for clarification. Do all these in order to avoid unpleasant surprises when your internet slows down.
Let’s have a look at some of the local internet companies and their data cap terms.
Zuku FUP Limit
One of the biggest ISPs in Kenya is Zuku of the Wananchi Group. An early entrant in the FTTH market, Zuku does implement a fair usage policy. Its FUP is not capped monthly but based on daily volume.
Zuku has designated peak usage hours that are mainly in the late mornings until early evening hours (e.g. from 11am to 10pm) on working days. For weekends and public holidays, the peak hours tend to start a little earlier in the morning to until midnight.
The company says, “for users who have downloaded an excessive volume of international data in course one day’s use, which can limit the connection speed – during heavy peak hours – in order to ensure that others who have not downloaded their fair share of international data on that day are not affected.”
During this peak hours Zuku’s system reduces the speed for those customers who have already consumed large volumes (in Megabytes) during the respective day. Essentially, the more you use, the less speed priority you get at peak time.
The more volume a customer has already downloaded during the day and month, the more his speed priority is decreased during peak usage hours. This volume is reset to zero after a month.
JTL Faiba FUP
Faiba implements FUP which the ISP does not clearly outline. The company says it monitors usage of client’s internet service.
JTL Faiba write, “If in our reasonable opinion, the use of your internet service is excessive or unreasonable (e.g. you have reached the fair usage level of the service as specified by us from time to time), we may manage access of the internet in a reasonable manner (for example, lowering your priority to access the service or our network resources or restricting the throughput or amount of data transferred)”.
Without outlining data caps for any of their internet plans, Faiba state that the fair usage policy implemented helps identify and manage excessive data usage among customers during peak network congestion periods.
Airtel 5G Fair Usage Policy
The recently launched Airtel 5G has a fairly elaborate FUP plan. The telco states that, “Fair Usage Policy (FUP) means that the plans have a data limit of 1TB, 1.5TB & 3TB respectively”.
This is based on Airtel 5G 3 monthly plans of 10 Mbps, 20 Mbps and 30 Mbps. To be fair to the company, this is outlined in the marketing brochure and not hidden away.
So, what happens, when you exhaust your limit? “You will continue to access the internet at slower speeds of 2 Mbps until you renew your plan” adds Airtel Kenya.
For the clients, a good thing is that they can always check their usage progress on the Airtel mobile app. Other than FUP, the Airtel 5G router limits connections to 64 devices.
Safaricom Home FUP
The Safaricom Home Fibre plans are also not “unlimited”. Safaricom home FUP begins to throttle speeds once the data limit is reached. The FUP limit for Safaricom Home bronze package of 10 Mbps is 500GB. The speed will be throttled to 1 Mbps. For the 20 Mbps Silver plan, Safaricom has a 1 TB FUP limit and throttles speeds down to 3Mbps. The Gold and Diamond plans are also throttled to 3 Mbps after a data limit of 1TB is reached. Via the USSD *400#, Safaricom Home customers can check their internet usage.
READ: Safaricom Home Fibre Usage Cap Explained
Despite being priced differently and exposed to different speeds, Safaricom Home fibre customers in three different bands suffer the same fate. This may seem a bit unfair on the consumers who pay more. Safaricom Home Fibre router also limits device connections to 32 at a time.
POA Internet No FUP
Poa the low-cost home internet service provider has a 5Mbps monthly plan. The company says the unlimited plan, “has no slowdowns, and no data-caps, meaning you can download or watch as much as you want”.
Poa Internet does have an Acceptable Use Policy which gives binding guidelines between Poa Internet and its customers.
Read: How Kenyans connect to the Internet from Submarine Cable Infrastructure, ISPs to Personal Devices
Liquid Home Fibre
Liquid Home fibre does implement a fair use policy. Liquid Telecom to monitor client’s usage of the internet. Users of Liquid Telecom’s Network share the available system capacity that connects them to the Internet. The company says it has established a “digital rush hour” that is from 8am to 6pm. Unfortunately for Home fibre clients, during rush hour, Business clients get priority on the network.
Liquid terms say, “Remember – our business users have paid a premium to get onto the Liquid Telecom Fibre Digital Super-Highway during the busy time – so their traffic will get the priority. That means a Home User will usually have to allow a Business User to go past.”
Starlink’s Fair Use Policy
The satellite company that is growing in Kenya does also have FUP. Starlink says it have finite resources and hence, implements standard plans and priority plans in order to balance supply and demand.
The Standard Service Plan provides unlimited data for residential use. However, to ensure fair service for all customers, Starlink may temporarily reduce speeds during network congestion caused by excessive data usage, particularly from bandwidth-intensive activities like streaming, gaming, or large downloads. The KES 6,500 residential plan is an example of a standard plan.
Starlink standard users typically experience download speeds ranging from 25 to 220 Mbps, with most users seeing speeds above 100 Mbps. Upload speeds generally fall between 5 and 20 Mbps. The speeds are however, not guaranteed.
For the Starlink Priority Service Plans, the company offers a dedicated data allowance for high-demand users. These plans prioritize network access, ensuring faster and more consistent speeds compared to Standard plans. Once Priority data is depleted, service reverts to the Standard plan with potentially slower speeds.
The satellite company did launch the KES 1,300 package in Kenya. However, this package has a hard cap of 50 GB.
Conclusion
ISPs implement peak hours limits and some have a data cap. As a user one has to decide if they can leave themselves to low internet speeds during peak hours or trust they won’t exceed the monthly FUP limit. This should be your consideration when choosing an internet service provider in Kenya.
