So both Econet and NetOne adjusted the prices of their data bundles this week. Naturally that included their ever popular WhatsApp bundles as well as their other bundles. Being the two leading mobile network operators with the bulk of market share between third and Telecel a distant third which one of them is cheaper?
NetOne’s social media bundles
| Name | Price | What you get | Validity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily | $5 | 20MB | 24 hours |
| Daily | $10 | 50MB | 24 hours |
| Weekly | $15 | 70MB | 7 days |
| Weekly | $30 | 150MB | 7 days |
| Monthly | $55 | 300MB | 30 days |
| Monthly | $100 | 600MB | 30 days |
As you can clearly see NetOne has chosen to charge uniform prices for all its data bundles regardless of what service they pertain to. Econet perhaps with an intent to capitalise on the popularity has more bundles.
Econet’s WhatsApp media bundles
| Validity | Cost | What you get | Validity |
| Daily | $1 | 4MB | 1 day |
| Daily | $3.50 | 12MB | 1 day |
| Daily | $5.50 | 20MB | 1 day |
| Daily | $11.00 | 45MB | 1 day |
| Weekly | $13.00 | 65MB | 1 week |
| Weekly | $30.00 | 140MB | 1 week |
| Monthly | $55.00 | 240MB | 1 month |
| Monthly | $85.00 | 400MB | 1 month |
As you can clearly see Econet takes a different approach when it comes to WhatsApp with as many as 4 daily data bundles. Also less popular services such as Instagram and Snapchat have different prices.
Which one is better?
Well it depends on your needs really. If you have a tight budget or maybe you just want to go to the shops and leave your WiFi behind but don’t want to miss on chats you Ecocash has more options for you in terms of daily bundles. For a meagre dollar you can stay online.
However when it comes to the “bigger” bundles NetOne clearly has an edge. Not only are their bundles cheaper with the 20MB bundle going for $5 compared to Econets $5.50, you also get more data with their highest priced daily bundle of $10 which comes with 50MB of data instead of Econet’s 45MB. Add the fact that it’s $1 cheaper and we have a winner.
NetOne is also a clear winner when it comes to the weekly and monthly bundles as theirs are cheaper. It’s important to note that Econet also doesn’t have the 600MB bundle that NetOne has. So the vote is clear, if you can, choose NetOne when it comes to WhatsApp.
A note to those with dual SIM phones
In case you didn’t already know, you can still use NetOne bundles to connect to a WhatsApp account which uses your Econet number and vice versa. This means for example if your WhatsApp number is 0772 111 111 and you buy WhatsApp bundles for 0719 111 111 and use a NetOne data connection you will still chat using 0772 111 111 as your number. The same would apply if the situation was reversed.
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