No more Smartbiz? These services may be for you.

So by now we all know the news, Econet discontinued its old Smartbiz service, replaced it with a bunch of terrible alternatives that inevitably make you spend a lot more money for less or the same as before, and left many users scrambling on what to do next. It’s all frustrating at the very least, and devastating at its worst. But while we would usually spend hours bringing up Econet’s monopolistic behavior (and we do a bit in the video below), we know you guys need something more useful than that. So below you’ll find a list of good alternatives for fairly affordable UNLIMITED internet (or high data cap alternatives) to the now deceased Smartbiz.

The golden rule – Do your research

Whenever I’m asked “what’s the best internet service,” I always ask a simple follow-up question: Where do you live? And that’s because in Zimbabwe: location is very important in finding the correct internet solution. I for example, live in Kuwadzana, where due to no Fibre, ZOL /Liquid Home wouldn’t be an option for me unless I had crazy amounts of money to pull Fibre to my area. The same applies for TelOne. And while their respective Wibroniks and Blaze plans reach my area, testing found them to be slower, which is why I had defaulted to Smartbiz at times. This is why, if you can, you should ask your neighbor what solution they use for internet, as if it’s good for them, it will likely be pretty good for you too. It’s not a perfect solution, but trust me when I say it’s worse than paying a month’s subscription for something (let alone installation), only to find out it’s terrible.

Powertel Unlimited

On paper, Powertel’s $30 plan should be the immediate solution for former Smartbiz users, as it’s also a line you put in your phone that provides unlimited internet with a 1TB Fair Use Policy (FUP) condition. And honestly, if you live in a supported area, it’s more than good enough. The problem is that supported areas are still a weak point for Powertel, as even those listed as supported can have outright terrible reception. The Warren Park area, for example, has great reception, along with some parts of the avenues and CBD. Head over to other parts of Harare, however, and the service can almost be unusable sometimes. So unfortunately this may be the option that requires the most research into finding out how well it works in your area. But if it does work, use it immediately.

TelOne’s Home 75 and Home Unlimited ADSL plans

Now based on the subtitle, you already know that this package is only available if you can get TelOne ADSL at your home. Which again, sucks, but if you CAN get it, then their new ADSL plans are a must to get in these new conditions. Their home 75 plan gives you 75GB for $15 (compared to Econet’s $50 for 50GB) while & $30 just outright gives you unlimited internet, again with a 1TB FUP agreement. TelOne’s infrastructure limitation here is the only downside, as again, not everyone will be able to access this. That’s why Econet is so keen to mess with its pricing. Because it knows all it’s competitors have a handicap of some kind. Still it shouldn’t stop u from using this offer if it’s available, as it’s one of the best deals TelOne has produced in a while. Now if only they could bring something similar for their Blaze LTE offerings, as the current $75 Unlimited plan could at least be slashed to $50.

There is also a $40 TelOne Fibre plan. But TelOne Fibre areas are even more scarce than ADSL ones, so if you’re lucky enough to live in one, look one up.

The new blood – TagTel + Dolphin Telecom

Honestly, either one of these newer providers is at least worth taking a look at if really cheap internet is what you want. Due to their very young status, however, they are limited by infrastructure and use a combination of modern technologies like virtualisation to give users internet access. Due to such approaches, however, they each have a handicap.

TagTel is immediately the most attractive with a $10 Unlimited data plan, but after testing it in at least 4 separate areas in Harare, it honestly barely works most of the time. This may be because, as an MVNO (using Liquid’s infrastructure) , TagTel simply has its speeds and bandwidth deprioritised by Liquid, meaning it’s only fast when fewer people are using Liquid. Not exactly a great deal, as most of you can probably tell.

Then there’s Dolphin Telecom. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to use it myself, but what I have heard is more promising. They have a $55 LTE plan, which would be the most applicable in this situation from a price point perspective, while a Fibre plan for $70 is also available, along with a free router. The Achilles Heel with Dolphin, however, is also coverage, as both their plans are limited in capacity in Harare, let alone elsewhere in Zimbabwe.

The big question – NetOne

I’ll go on a limb here and outright say it, another reason Econet was able to shut down Smartbiz is because NetOne STILL does not have a direct Smartbiz competitor. This is still surprising to us, as yes, that would obviously cost the company, but should also be a huge opportunity for growth, especially at times like this, where Econet has outright started pushing those who can switch away. But to this day, NetOne still doesn’t have a direct answer for Smartbiz, even in its new form, where an internet router is required to run the line. And that’s just money they are letting escape them.

The expensive options

It should be noted that price was the biggest factor in making this list, hence why most entries were aiming for the $45 price point Smartbiz had, while also supplying unlimited internet, or at least the closest comparable plans to it, so expensive options like Liquid’s $90 Wibronix or Utande’s $100 plans were automatically going to be disqualified.

This is also the moment where we’ll mention Starlink’s cheap $33 and $50 plans, but with a minimum $250 kit purchase entry price, you should at least be aware of the (honestly worth it) high barrier to entry cost.

TechZim specifically has a list that includes a lot of pricier options here if you want to check it out, but as for key takeaways, here’s mine: if you can, switch from Econet. There likely will be some extra switching costs, but chances are they don’t compare to the terrible new conditions its Smartsuite bundles offer. And chances are, if more competition were to rise up, Econet might ease up on the abuse a bit. ( Yes, I called it abuse Econet, that’s exactly what it is!). And even if it doesn’t, at least some of you get better internet deals out of it. And isn’t that what you came here for to begin with?

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