I’ve said this fact so many times on this site that it probably shouldn’t be an article. But one thing made me pay blatant attention to it : using RTGS pricing, NetOne is more expensive than Econet. In some cases, ridiculously so such as RTGS hourly bundles where Econet charges $2220 while NetOne costs $13,332, 6 times as much as Econet and over double as much as it’s USD pricing. All this from the second place, supposed “value champion” of our mobile network providers. And well, as much as it sucks it just brings this title back into focus: in Zim you always need alternatives. Not when it comes to your romantic partner, but definitely when it comes to which line you use in your phone.

The questioning of your dating life aside, we really are serious about needing more than one line in this country. Just recently we were questioning why we didn’t all flood to NetOne when Econet was giving us terrible service throughout May and parts of June. Ironically I guess this article is an exact answer to that : NetOne itself to put it colloquially, inombomara. They have no loyalty . Clearly we can’t trust them to have a good run for more than 5 minutes because they rush to hiking prices. And as we continue to say, Telecel simply isn’t a part of the conversation anymore. Which is why to add onto our original thoughts in the last article – Zimbabwe needs for you to have both lines. Or maybe even more if you are willing to embrace the likes of ZOL, TelOne and Africom for data especially. Each provider has areas they excel and suck at naturally, but even more so, neither of they main two is above abusing their power when they feel they’re in an OK position. So switching between the two is unfortunately still best.

Now is a dual-Sim lifestyle easy? Not really. After all it’s often picking and choosing where you get something. For example Econet for data and NetOne for calls. But while it’s not easy it’s getting easier. After all with eSim now available from Econet, even the iPhone can become a dual SIM machine. Same applies for multiple Android flagships like Google’s Pixel devices or the Newest Galaxy S devices which tend to be hard to find in dual Sim variants. This simply means you could put an Econet eSim and use a NetOne, ZOL or TelOne physical SIM as your second line. As for splitting where your funds go? Well that part is up to you, the user. That and checking who has the best deal at the moment. Right now NetOne is pricier if you use ZWL, but Econet isn’t great if you buy USD bundles. So based on how much of each currency you’re willing to spend, you can decide which one is for you.

And this is all without considering one more thing that you’re all well aware of : where you live and which provider works best there. Because let’s face it, in Zim, that’s another huge factor. Econet might be perfect in your CBD work environment but you know once you take a left deep into your outskirts neighborhood, NetOne tends to be better. And ironically I’ve found my ZOL line working better than both for data in my home personally. It’s all confusing, and annoying honestly. But time and again I keep seeing that if you can find this balance between two lines or so, you’re less likely to suffer the bullying of any of these companies.

And that’s really what all this is about. Not being at the mercy of the greed, flaws, or shortcoming of any of our providers. They all have them. But you don’t have to be a slave to them. And once you don’t have to. You’ll have a much better experience of using your phone in Zim. Let’s hope some of you actually decide to adopt a new line bae just to keep your main one in check.

Seriously though, don’t cheat on your partners.

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