Mazda Demio Expenses Sixth Year

In 2018 I purchased a 1300cc second hand ex-Japan Mazda Demio (manufactured in 2011). I have continued tracking the expenses, but been somewhat tardy this past year. This post is an overview of the expenses during the past six years and the changes to the assessed value of the car for insurance.

Assessed Car Value

The purchase price for the Mazda Demio in 2018 was KES 700,000 but the assessed value for comprehensive car insurance was KES 750,000. During the next three years, 2019 - 2021, the assessed value of the car dropped by about 12.6% each year. Then oddly in the last 4 years it has maintained its value at KES 500,000. 

It cannot be a coincidence that KES 500,000 is the lowest value for a car to be covered under comprehensive insurance, third party insurance for cars valued for KES 499,999 and less. Not altogether frustrated by this as I would rather have comprehensive car insurance even though I am paying much more as the annual premium doubled in 2023.

Last word on the value of the car, assuming that the shipping, taxes to the Kenya Revenue Authority and fee charged by the importer of the car in 2018 accounts for KES 400,000. Then the value of the car in Japan was approximately KES 300,000. If this is accurate then the car is artificially priced much higher in Kenya with little or none of that value attributable to ‘market forces’.   

Distance Driven

The total distance I have driven the Mazda Demio in the last six years is approximately 26,146 km. However between Sep 2023 and Aug 2024 I only drove 3,014 km, an average of 251 km a month. 

I no longer drive any of my daughters to school and live very close to the office. The car is parked at least 23 hours a day and the majority of the time only has one occupant. Very uneconomical but it is still the most efficient way to get to work each day. Just as well that I own a ‘cheap’ car.

Expenses

KES 812,662 spent in the last 6 years on vehicle running expenses, excluding the purchase, logbook and new number plate costs. This works out to approximately KES 11,286 a month, an increase from the five year expenses average of KES 10,720.

The spending by category is fuel (40.5%), car service (26.6%), insurance (20.5%), car wash (6.1%), parking (3.4%) and accessories (2.8%).

No major issues with the car this past year and the dash board warning light issue was resolved after I replaced the car battery in December 2023. I may however have an issue with the steering rack, it was thoroughly lubricated during the service done in July 2024. In the next few months it will be clearer whether the significantly more expensive option of replacing the steering rack is unavoidable.

Safaricom FTTH Optical Network Terminal

Dying FTTH Terminal

Safaricom is still my home internet service provider, with good speeds - about 80 Mbps according to Open Speed Test. Quite the increase from the 10 Mbps that I was thrilled about 8 years ago. The service is reliable with very good up-time, albeit the occasional degrading during peak internet traffic in the evenings when all the neighbors are home. 

I noticed a few months ago that the terminal (modem and router) was taking longer to power up and some of the lights were not working. Interestingly Safaricom retains the ownership of the device after it is installed irrespective of the duration of the FTTH internet service subscription. They had previously replaced a terminal once, at no cost, due to a major drop in the speed of the internet which I had not associated with a problem with the terminal. 

Excellent Service by Safaricom

My request to Safaricom for help using Twitter DM (or is it X) early on a Saturday morning, led to a call from someone at customer service who said a technician would come to check out the terminal. That afternoon the technician came and after a simple assessment replaced it with a Huawei EchoLife EG8145V5 Optical Network Terminal (ONT). He asked me to select the name for the WiFi network name aka SSID (Service Set Identifier) and a password. He then asked me to wait for about 30 minutes and try to log on and start using the internet. During this downtime Safaricom sent me a 5GB data bundle on my phone to use, as well as offering their apologies. Truly excellent service by Safaricom. 

WiFi Device Connection Mystery

Once the service started working I decided to reset the password using the Safaricom *400# USSD service. Oddly when I got to the place to select the WiFi whose password I wanted to change there were two options with the same name. I selected option one and completed the process.

I was able to log onto the WiFi with my laptop right away and my youngest daughter did so too on her phone. However when my wife tried to do so on her phone she got an error message and so did I when I tried to connect my phone. Very strange as I was certain the password was correct. Later, her attempt to connect an older phone to the WiFi was successful. The rest of the evening I pondered on this and thought to try again the following morning. 

The next morning, I checked the bottom of the Huawei EchoLife EG8145V5 ONT, which has lots of information including an IP to use to connect to the device, the password and WLAN key. Interestingly there are two SSID listed, one at 2.4G and the other 5G frequency. As the morning wore on I thought to try reset the password on the second WiFi name option using the USSD *400#. As soon as I did that my phone and my wife’s were able to connect to the WiFi.

That solved the problem but leaves me wondering whether there are two WiFi networks from the ONT at the 2.4G and 5G frequencies. If so, is this by design or accidental.

NIV Bible App by Tercata Retired from Google Play Store

 Mobile phone applications (apps) do not have a sell-by-date. At least I do not recall seeing such a date for the NIV Bible app by Tercata when I purchased it for USD $5.99 on 18 Dec 2011 from the Android Market (now called the Google Play Store). So I was surprised and frustrated to see a message on my phone that said “ … app has been retired (removed from the Play Store) and has been replaced by our NEW Life Bible app.” 

The (classic) NIV Bible app which worked offline was first released on 6 May 2010 and true to their claim it was fast and easy to use. On the app information there were 5 million downloads of the app. The last version of the app was version 8.0.2 updated on 8 Sep 2020 and seems to have received its last minor (bug fixes) update on 22 Jan 2024.

The recommended Life Bible by Tercata does not work offline, it seems to have most of the navigation features of my old NIV Bible app but does not look the same or as good. Upgrading to the premium version will cost KES 800 (USD $6) per month or KES 8,400 (USD $65) per annum. That is a very bad deal, a worse app at a much higher cost. I must say I did not explore the option of registering an account with Tercata which would have enabled me to “ … transfer my purchases and data …” as it sounded I would be moving items purchased in the app rather than get the new app for free. 

I need a Bible app that I can use offline as I do not want to see ads in the app. So I have opted instead for the other NIV Bible app by Tercata which has the option of paying for a offline download at a one time cost of KES 1,035 (USD $8). A slightly better deal than the Life Bible but I am still disappointed as it is not as good as the app I have been using for the last 13 years. I am also grateful to the developers of that app and that they sold it for a modest sum and have continued to support it for so many years.

My fingers are crossed that the NIV Bible app will not also be retired as I will most certainly not be paying for the Life Bible app.

Kwaheri DStv

As 2023 drew to a close, I said kwaheri (goodbye) to DStv. I walked into the Multichoice shop, asked for a GOtv kit (decoder, antenna and accessories), paid for it and the GOtv SUPA+ package, without mentioning anything about my DStv Premium account.

For more than 15 years, I have enjoyed watching the widest selection of sports one can imagine on the SuperSport channels on the DStv Premium package. Excellent picture quality too with the HD decoder for the past 9 years. Having lived in Australia briefly and in the United States of America there is no doubt as to the excellent sports coverage provided by DStv. When there were children in the household, the numerous cartoon channels provided immense competition to the SuperSport channels, in third place were the Movie Magic channels.

Signing up to the Safaricom home (FTTH) internet connection 8 years ago brought much joy and peace to our household, it marked the end of fights about the insane consumption of the data bundles on the Safaricom 4G modem. The FTTH reliable internet connection, initially on a 10 Mbps connection then later upgraded to 20 Mbps, brought even more joy as it opened the door to other entertainment offerings. Netflix, Apple Music, Showmax, Spotify, other Jazz music streaming websites, DStv stream, RugbyPass TV and most recently YouTube Premium which includes YouTube Music. 

The majority of these entertainment options through the internet are direct competition to DStv Premium. The wide variety also resulted in a situation where each member of the household watched what they enjoyed on their own device rather than us all gathering around the TV. As I have grown older, the amount of time I watch sports on TV has reduced somewhat, to about an hour each evening and possibly four hours on Saturday and Sunday. This is partly influenced by my schedule and the knowledge that I can catch up on the highlights of any game or other sports event on YouTube, Twitter or Instagram. 

The increase in the DStv Premium monthly subscription over the years has been significant, by December 2023 it was almost KES 10k. There have also been additional payments, albeit much lower, paid for Netflix, Apple Music and YouTube Premium monthly subscriptions.

The trigger for the move from DStv Premium was however a technical challenge that has frustrated me for many years. The downside to living in a storied apartment building is that the DStv satellite dish is mounted on the roof and connected to the decoder through tens of meters of coaxial cable. The majority of this cable is outside the building, hence it suffers the effects of the sun, wind and rain. Twice I have had to replace all of it. On the odd occasion items have fallen on the dish or someone doing something on the roof will hit it causing it to move and lower the quality of the signal received from the satellite. The technician I call is a wonderful man and very reliable, each time he will fix the problem at hand and my joy with the restored service exceeds the pain of the required payment. 

One however gets tired of the routine of repair, enjoy, problem, repair, enjoy, problem etc. The loss of signal strength as months go by is frustrating. So I kept pondering on a longer term solution. Moving to a house where I can place the dish a shorter distance to the decoder was not an option. So the solution seemed to be a switch to GOtv whose antenna is terrestrial and it can be mounted inside the house. However any mention of this was met with much opposition by the technician and DStv customer care folks. When I made the move in December 2023 it was so easy to do the set up myself. The 55% signal strength I get is more than adequate, the picture quality is good enough, even though it pales in comparison to the amazing DStv HD picture.

The GOtv SUPA+ subscription is a third of DStv Premium. When I add the subscriptions for Apple Music, Netflix and YouTube Premium I am still saving about 40% of what I was paying for DStv Premium. Therefore the recent DStv offer to reconnect to Premium, pay KES 10,500 for one month and get one month free was not attractive.

The introduction of DStv Stream and GOtv Stream shows that Multichoice are well aware of the competition they face. It will only get steeper in the coming months and years. The new Showmax debacle with sports restricted to mobile phones and the backward step with M-Pesa payments highlight how far behind Multichoice are in the internet entertainment space. I had hoped the GOtv Stream would work as well as DStv Stream so that I could watch live sports on my computer when traveling but I keep getting error messages. 

Three months later I am happy with the decision I made to switch from DStv Premium to GOtv SUPA+. There is a better balance between the amount I pay each month and what I watch. That's not to say that I do not miss watching F1, cricket, baseball and more live rugby. But I can find the highlights of these events online when I want to and if I have more time on my hands in the future I may pay for DStv again, but bypass the whole satellite dish and decoder setup if I can and just watch on my computer. Assuming of course that Multichoice can accommodate that.

Jam and Marmalade - Ma Cuisine, Bio Food and the Dutch Connection

Buy Kenya, Build Kenya

In late 2010 I made what I thought was a noble decision to prioritize buying products made in Kenya. The products had to be good quality and value for money. They ranged from food products like jam, ketchup, butter to clothes. Tomato ketchup was easy as there really wasn’t much difference in taste to me, between Peptang Tomato Ketchup and Heinz Tomato Ketchup, but the price disparity is huge. That was an easy win-win; buy Kenya, build Kenya and save some money.

Ma Cuisine jam and marmalade

Next was jam and marmalade, after trying several Kenyan options that weren’t great I found the Ma Cuisine range of sweet and tart spreads. The quality of the jam and marmalade was excellent, and the label indicated it was natural with no preservatives. Ma Cuisine Limited was a small company, established in 1986. They made “ … high quality handmade products using natural flavors of local ingredients.” They were proudly Kenyan and had a Buy Kenya Build Kenya sign on the label of the products.

In 2011 they were located at the Mac Naughton Centre off Ngong road near Lenana School. A few years later they moved to Loresho Ridge road, behind JD's supermarket, a location that for some reason I had difficulty finding and hence never visited them. 

Perhaps because Ma Cuisine Limited was a small company and hence very sensitive to managing their costs, they encouraged the return of the empty glass jars. To quote them at the bottom of the back label was this message; “To recycle after use, please return your empty bottles to MaCuisine.” This strongly resonated with me and I made sure to wash the empty jars, and store them. When I had a box or several boxes of empty jars, I would call the good people at Ma Cuisine to arrange to return them. They were very kind on several occasions to ask their driver in their delivery vehicle to pick the jars from my office. At other times I would arrange for someone to drop them off for me, once a boda boda (motorcycle) rider.

The most memorable incident was returning about twenty empty jars in September 2018 and also placing an order for two jars of strawberry jam directly from Ma Cuisine. Not only did they pick up the empty jars and deliver my jam but to my pleasant surprise they gifted me four other jars of marmalade including the Seville Orange and the Ginger and Orange flavors.  

Over the next 10 years I became a very loyal Ma Cuisine customer. And why not as the jam and marmalade were excellent, they were made in Kenya, the price was reasonable and Ma Cuisine were environmentally conscious.

Small Business Struggles, and the Acquisition with a Dutch Connection

I however wondered if Ma Cuisine wasn’t struggling as a company, particularly in distributing their excellent product. This is because the stores where you could buy the jam and marmalade kept on reducing. By 2019, there were only two stores I could find Ma Cuisine jam and marmalade; Marketways Limited, the small supermarket at Valley Arcade and Gourmet Meat Products Ltd, the butchery at Yaya Center. Marketways Limited would later close down in March 2023 after operating for 56 years, they announced their closure in a sad letter titled end of an era. 

I have heard people say that one of the challenges for small businesses in Kenya is the asymmetrical relationship with supermarkets. That many small businesses are treated unfairly by many supermarkets, through delayed payments after their products have been purchased by customers in the supermarket. This is disastrous for cash flow. Ma Cuisine Limited was a small business, confirmed by their turnover in 2018 of KES 12,422,127, according to a notice by the Competition Authority of Kenya in January 2020. 

So I was not altogether surprised when in late 2020 I found out that Ma Cuisine had been acquired, and was now part of Bio Food Products. There was no formal announcement, at least none that I was aware of then. I learned about the change in ownership in February 2021, when I went to buy my favorite strawberry jam and it was in a different shape and size of jar. The colors on the label were different and there was a Bio Food Products logo. I checked directly and a representative of Bio Food Products confirmed that yes they were in the process of transition.

What surprised me was to learn that the Ma Cuisine Limited acquisition was by TBL Dairy Ventures B.V., a Dutch company, which had earlier acquired 100% of the shares of Bio Food Products Limited in 2016. In the Competition Authority of Kenya notice of that earlier acquisition, the annual turnover of Bio Food Products Limited in 2015 was KES 445,895,569. 

The Embassy of the Netherlands in Kenya on 22 November 2016, had communicated “We would like to announce that TBL Dairy Ventures BV is now fully involved in BIO Foods Ltd, a high quality dairy processor for fresh milk, yoghurt and other dairy products. The Dutch Good Growth Fund is one of the financing partners for this project.” 

The Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF), is part of the Government of the Netherlands in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It provides investment funding in businesses in emerging markets and developing countries. The The DGGF had provided a loan of €2,700,000 (approximately KES 300 million) and a guarantee of a maximum of  €1,680,000 (KES 187 million) to TBL Dairy Ventures B.V. The investment titled Dutch Dairy Impact Nairobi – DGGF115/KE/3, had a term of 7 years from August 2016 to August 2023. The development impact of this project by TBL Dairy Ventures B.V., through its recent acquisition Bio Food Products was employment (300), transfer of knowledge and production capacity. There would be an increase in supplying farmers from 40 to 500 and 126 farms would be bio-certified. 

Changes after the Ma Cuisine Acquisition 

The first change mentioned above was the change in the size and shape of the jar. The net weight of the jam in the new cube shaped jar was 300 grams. The older cylindrical jar was 440 grams. Annoyingly the new jars were significantly more difficult to open the first time. So much so that I have frequently had to wear one of my workman gloves to twist open the lid. It was also much harder to scoop out all the jam from the new jar for those that are averse to waste. 

A positive change for many, was that the jam and marmalade was now available in all leading supermarkets. That would most likely have to do with the ability of Bio Food Products, a larger company to negotiate better payment terms with supermarkets and or have the ability to wait longer for payments as they would have more money in the bank and not struggle as much with cash flow challenges.

In mid 2022, the colors of the label of the jar of strawberry jam changed again from blue and red to white, gold and blue. A picture of strawberries was added and the Bio Food Product logo was now more prominent. For other products, the picture was for the main ingredient or source of the ingredient.

Around the same time, I noticed that the smell and taste of the strawberry jam was different. I asked about this change and received an apologetic response from Bio Food Products. They explained that since they had a strawberry jam of their own prior to the acquisition of Ma Cuisine, they had made changes to the ingredients so that the new strawberry jam was a blend of the two. They said they had done lots of testing to try to work out a midday point that the new jam would be acceptable to the consumers of the two jams. I told them that it still tasted good and all I had noticed was the change.

The range of Ma Cuisine products, which earlier also included a few relishes and sauces, increased significantly as Bio Food Products moved all their non-dairy products to the Ma Cuisine brand. These include ketchup, honey, mayonnaise, salad dressing, and tartar sauce. I am not 100% but I think the raspberry jam was one of the new products that became a favorite of my youngest daughter. Sadly, they also did away with some of the older products, one that I liked was the ginger and orange marmalade.

Another change in 2022 was advertising campaign for Ma Cuisine jam and marmalade using billboards. Such a contrast to the approach of the older small Ma Cuisine Limited which most likely had no money for advertising. An article in Food Business Africa, in September 2021, suggests that Ma Cuisine “grew tenfold in the first year after the takeover”, under the leadership of then Bio Food Limited Managing Director Eelco Weber. 

Waste, Recycling and Complexity

The change I have struggled with the most after the acquisition is not one that I anticipated. This is the marked change in attitude toward recycling of the jars by Bio Food Products. When the label of the jars changed in late 2020 early 2021, Bio Food Products retained the recycle logo but did away with the message asking users to return empty jars for recycling. However since I was so used to washing and storing the jars with the plan of returning I continued doing so. 

In September 2022, I asked Bio Food Products if they take back and recycle the glass jam jars. Their response was to thank me for my concern for the environment and let me know that they had a take back project in partnership with TakaTaka Solutions. But I could not find the Take Back Bin they directed me to at Chandarana Adlife Plaza as the staff at the supermarket did not know about a Taka Taka recycle bin or a Take Back Bin for empty Ma Cuisine glass jars. 

After several months and having accumulated several boxes of empty glass jars, I made a trip to Kitengela Glass. To my frustration, the folks there said they have way more glass than they need and hence were not eager to take more household glass for recycling. They were however kind enough to allow me to leave what I had carried. 

My interim solution to this frustration has been a significant reduction in my consumption of Ma Cuisine strawberry jam or marmalade. I have found a bread that tastes good enough with just butter. I am however still a customer of Bio Food Products as I love their mango yogurt which I take with granola! 

I realize that yogurt is packed in plastic containers which are more of a hazard to the environment. But I have a higher expectation of recycling glass jars than plastic containers. This is because the small company Ma Cuisine used to do it and Coca Cola did it for decades with their glass bottles.

My original goal to buy more Kenyan products and build Kenya has been shown to be overly simplistic, as I am certain some if not most of the profits made by TBL Dairy Ventures B.V. make their way back to the Netherlands. The world is too interconnected for a small company in Nairobi with an excellent product not to attract the notice of oversea investors. Kenya still benefits immensely or so I hope! 

Mazda Demio Expenses - 5 Years

It has been two years since my last blog post on the expenses incurred on my Mazda Demio. I have continued tracking the expenses and this post is a summary of the 5 year expenses since I bought the car in 2018.

Purchase Price (With No Loan Interest Cost)

In September 2018 I purchased a 1,300cc second hand Mazda Demio (manufactured in 2011) for KES 700,000. It was imported from Japan in mid-2018 and the seller had already registered it in Kenya. This was paid for from funds from the sale of the car I previously owned and savings. I paid the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) KES 2,615 for the transfer of ownership and issuance of the new logbook.

Had I borrowed this money from a SACCO at an interest of 12% per annum for 3 years. I would have incurred an additional loan interest expense of KES 137,001 and been making monthly payments of approximately KES 23,250.

Depreciation

The assessed value for the Mazda Demio was KES 750,000 for the insurance cover. One year later, in Sep 2019, the assessed value was KES 670,000 so it had depreciated by KES 80,000 (10.67%). By Sep 2020 it had further depreciated by 22.4% and was valued at KES 520,000. Oddly in the last 3 years it has maintained its value as it is currently valued at KES 500,000.

The loss due to depreciation, if considered an expense, is KES 200,000.

Distance Driven

The total distance I have driven the Mazda Demio in the last five years is approximately 23,132 km.  An average of 386 km a month.

The majority of my daily one-way trips are no more than 3 - 5 km as home, work, school A and shopping centers are in close proximity. The longest trips were 20 km to school B for about one and half years.

Expenses

KES 643,241 spent in the last 5 years on direct expenses, excluding the purchase and logbook costs. This works out to approximately KES 10,720 a month.

Parking - KES 23,840
The expenses for the first two years are estimates. I do not pay for parking at work so these costs are mainly at malls and the occasional airport entry fee.

Accessories - KES 21,185
Fortunately the seller had tinted the front windows, added a fancy wide rear view mirror and radio expander. As I am very lazy about adding accessories to a car. I reimbursed him KES 5,035 for these extras. I did however buy blue kikoys as seat covers, rubber floor mats and a windscreen sun shade for KES 1,950.

The expander became faulty earlier this year so I bought a new radio and had it fitted at a total cost of KES 11,250. Dennis who did the installation work was amazing, incredibly skilled and a master of his trade.

Car Wash - KES 39,306
I like my car clean and tidy so I get washed at least thrice a month. Happy to pay the kind people who do this for me. The monthly payments have been just less than KES 700.

Insurance - KES 118,721
The annual premium payments have dropped in tandem with the valuation of the car but the next payment will be a huge increase to approximately KES 48,000 due to significant changes in vehicle insurance in Kenya. Cars below KES 500,000 now only qualify for third party insurance whilst premiums for comprehensive insurance for vehicles valued at more that KES 500,000 will more than double. 

Fuel - KES 271,568
My fuel bill spiked in 2021 and 2022 due to longer trips to my daughters school, then in 2023 because of the hike in prices. The average amount spent each month, from 2021 to 2023 is KES 5,582.

Service - KES 168,621
This is primarily the two scheduled services at the garage I have been taking my cars to for more than 20 years. In 2019 I replaced the tires. Earlier this year I replaced the air flow sensor, which was identified as the cause for a major problem. I could not drive the vehicle to the garage rather had to have it carried there on a flatbed truck. 

Since the end of 2022 there has been an intermittent I-stop warning sign but that does not cause any other problems. I suspect the reason is the aging battery as the charging system of the car seems fine. I have not replaced the battery since I bought the car.

Safaricom Internet Data Roaming USA

In late April 2022 I made an unintended overnight visit to Chicago, the stay was comfortable at the Hyatt Regency courtesy of KLM. Unintended because 24 hours earlier I had departed Nairobi late Friday night, on KLM for a flight to Charlotte via Amsterdam and Atlanta. However due to chaos at the Amsterdam airport caused by ‘holiday travel’, shortage of workers and an ongoing strike, and I suspect overbooking by KLM, I missed my connecting flight and was delayed in Amsterdam for 7 hours.

KLM rebooked me on an American Airlines (AA) flight from Amsterdam to Chicago, arriving 26 hours after my departure from Nairobi. KLM had the audacity to then book me on AA flights to Charlotte, North Carolina via Denver, Colorado to arrive at my original destination at 0603 ET Sunday morning. I declined the opportunity to spend 6 more hours flying across the United States of America in my fatigued state. The AA representative, on behalf of KLM, acceded to my strong request to spend the night in a hotel Chicago that Saturday night and rebooked me on a 2 hour direct flight from Chicago to Charlotte on Sunday morning.

With my Hyatt Regency accommodation and meal vouchers in hand, the next step was to make my way to the hotel and get some much needed sleep. In a city I had never been to previously, I figured the best way to get to the hotel was to call and to ask if they have shuttle buses between the airport and hotel or if I should take a taxi. I turned on the data on my roaming Safaricom postpaid mobile phone and searched for the telephone number of the hotel on Google. Perhaps because of my fatigue or that it was 4.59 AM in Kenya, it did not occur to me to consider what the data costs would be when roaming or even to check what network I was roaming on. At 5.03 AM (Kenya time) I called the Hyatt Rosemont hotel and they confirmed the Hyatt Regency had shuttle buses running between the hotel and airport. I then made my way to the pick up spot at the airport and 12 minutes later I was at the massive hotel.

 
Only a month later, when I received the Safaricom mobile phone bill, did I realize it cost approximately KES 40,000 (USD $350) to use 21,534.68 kb (21.5 mb) of internet data when roaming - the charges before taxes were KES 29,920.64 and the taxes (20% excise and 16% VAT) were about KES 10,000. It is needless to say how frustrated I was. Please note that I realize that some of this data may have been used by other applications on the phone and not the browser but I am sure I did not do any updates as I was only online for about 3 minutes.

One year later before setting off on another work trip to the USA I did some research on roaming costs as I was determined not to incur another large bill. To their credit Safaricom have very good information on roaming their website. I then double checked by sending them a tweet and they confirmed that data charges when roaming with Safaricom in the The United States of America on AT&T is KES 5 / mb. A very fair rate even in comparison to the rate of 0.20 KES / mb on the no expiry bundles I use in Kenya. It was however shocking to see that if I accidentally selected T-Mobile, the cost spikes to KES 1,980 / mb. (I have included the rates for data roaming in the Netherlands for comparison.) 

Safaricom also sends an SMS with the roaming rates upon arrival in a different country and connecting to a new mobile network. The key is to be alert to what network you are connected to, double check the rates and if not favorable either switch manually to a network with better roaming rates or do not use the roaming service if the rates are prohibitive.

I loaded KES 2,000 on my personal prepaid Safaricom mobile phone and that was sufficient for all the internet data I required when using Uber and any other application I needed to use for a one week visit when connected to AT&T.