Internet at Home in Nairobi; What the Neighbours Think

Last Saturday night there was a party in the apartment block I live in. It was lots of fun. The children got to jump in the bouncing castle, ride a horse, eat lots of good food, cake and sweets.

The adults congregated around an improvised mini-bar, enjoyed the drinks and meats from the barbecue. Conversations ranged from the high property prices, Kogelo, work, Serbia, corruption and fluency in Hindu.

I was however most intrigued by what the neighbours thought about their home Internet connection. At least 5 of the 14 houses, currently occupied in the apartment block, were represented at the party. Most people were unhappy with the service they have;

• Most people use modems from Airtel, Orange and Safaricom; 
• Orange used to be fast but is now slow;
• Credit loaded on Airtel and Orange gets used much faster these days; and
• The person with an Access Kenya wireless connection lamented that it took two days to download a module of the War of Warcraft game for his son.

With all this unhappiness, I was surprised that none of the people present had signed up or seemed to be considering the Zuku fibre to the home Internet service which is now available in the apartment block.

There are the two apartments that have signed up with Zuku but neither was at the party. Our host told us his brother, in another part of town, had signed up and says the service is really good.

Zuku have lots of potential customers and have already invested lots of money to lay the fibre optic cable in the whole apartment block. It is strange Zuku are not doing more to close the deal and sign up more people.

For those wondering why I have not signed up, I did accept a form from the Zuku sales person but want to buy a desktop at home first and then truly enjoy the unlimited connection. On my old laptop I am content with Safaricom.