Econet, it’s not an eating challenge

I walked into a fast food joint and was delighted to find out that a coke, three piece chicken and large chips were going for $1.

To my delight I forked out the dollar and got my order. The receipt was clearly written the Terms & Conditions.

I was to finish the food within 5 minutes.

I started chowing the food but heck who finishes all this food within 2 minutes?

As the clock ticked and hit 2 minutes, the cashier glided to my table and yanked off all the food in my plate…

Well the above story is not true and we would all refuse to buy food in such a shop.

However we accept broadband deals or bundles with ridiculous expiry periods.

Take the $1 daily bundle from Econet that gives you 250mb and expires after 24 hours.

Not everyone uses it all up in one day. So why should the unused megabytes be thrown away?

There should be reasonable expiry periods to these promo bundles.
The weird thing is the moment you buy a daily bundle you are planning on using the data right?

You will eventually use all the data in due course. Such promos should be banned or they should be made to offer reasonable terms and conditions.

Econet and all can’t hide behind the ‘its a promo’ mantra to offer deals that are massively tilted in their favour.

Get the hell off my phone! (Not you Econet)

I was shocked when I installed Opera Max an app that helps you save data by compressing the data before it reaches your phone.

My most shocking discoveries where that WhatsApp gobbled up a massive 79Mb in the background and allocated a mere 30Mb of data to the foreground.

Facebook was the next culprit. It sucked in a whooping 50Mb in the background and only 7mb in the foreground!

Apps I had never opened like VivaVideo also consumed data in the background.

What are all these apps using the background data for? You wonder considering that they are allocating more data to the background than foreground?

Most people have accused Econet of stealing their much beloved data bundles but at times its the very apps that we have that are stealing our data.

Opera Max has a fine grained approach to data management. You can block apps from accessing background data or block the apps from accessing any data at all…

This is a nifty feature considering most Android phones do not have a fine grained approach to controlling how your apps are consuming data.

However, one downside about Opera Max is that you have to remember to Connect it again each time you switch your phone off and on.

NetOne Broadband in figures!

NetOne revealed that they process about 2TeraBytes of data a day up from 300Gig a few months ago!

We did a few calculations and gleaned a few insights into the data! However these calculations are assumptions (calculated assumptions) of the goings on at NetOne in terms of broad band!

Assumptions

The main assumption we used is that on average a single user uses 10MB of data a day! Obviously some use more and some less but let’s use that figure.

2 Terabytes = 2000 Gigs = 2000 0000 Mb

Which means that……. If a person uses 10Mb of data a day.

2000 000 Mb divided by 10 Mb = 200 000 users!

Now NetOne may be having 200 000 broadband subscribers per time!

Assuming that each subscriber pays say $1 a week purchase a WhatsApp bundle, then NetOne may be earning $400 000 a month!

Going further with the assumption, NetOne may be earning almost $5 million a year!

However, from the first statement it means…..

300 gig = 300 000 Mb

300 000 Mb/10Mb = 30 000!

It means six months ago NetOne had a measly 30 000 active broadband subscribers per time!

This is some exciting calcs and we hope Telecel and Econet will release their data consumption figures for a compare and contrast!

Econet in Ndebele language boob

Well meaning Econet sent an sms early morning wishing informing its subscribers that they will soon have a new service!

However, they mispelt a Ndebele word! Instead of writing ‘Livuke njani’ they wrote ‘Livhuke njani’!

Anyone who knows the Ndebele and shona language will realise that a shona person wrote the message!

Soon Ndebele folks grilled @econetzimbabwe on Twitter! Econet was seen issuing apologies constantly to an angry audience!

Even well known folks like Cont Mhlanga expressed his disgust and shock at such blatant disregard of a national language!

“I almost slammed my (expensive smartphone) when I saw that message”! Cont fumed.

Felix Moyo the NUST PR Officer also said he was shocked by the disregard of a language by Econet.

Econet has since apologised for this

How recover accidentally deleted data from your memory card

Did you just delete your memory card, flash stick or hard drive and you want to recover the data on them? Then this article will rescue you.

Well, you may have accidentally deleted the photos, music or documents or someone deliberately deleted the card to hide evidence then this method will work for you.

This article assumes you have a computer where you can install applications on.

We had a 4 gig memory card that had data deleted on it and we were supposed to recover the data.

How to

Download either one of these applications (these are Windows Applications, not Android apps)

1. Pandora Recovery
2. Recuva

We personally preferred Recuva. Install the application

Plug in the memory card via a T-Flash (memory card adaptor) or using the phone USB cable connector.

We recommend using a memory card T-Flash

 

Open Recuva and make sure you chose the inserted memory card as the device to recover data from.

You can recover data deleted from a specific folder only or you can recover from the whole memory card.

The standard recover method is basic and is pretty fast. In a few minutes it will be done!

For our situation the standard recovery pulled up only 20 photos that where deleted.

We then chose a more comprehensive (Advanced) recovery of photos only and we recovered 300 photos after about 2 hours of Recuva running.

Some photos were no longer recoverable and Recuva notifies you so and some where partially recovered. Most though were fully recovered.

We then ran the memory card through a full recovery of all data and we recovered 2000 documents after a whopping 8 hours!

However, of the 2000 documents the majority were system log files that where just useless.

However, we were delighted as the recovery picked up over 200 songs, 30 videos and some zipped files that where long deleted.

Please note:

If you want to have an effective recovery of your data, remove the memory card from your phone immediately so that some sectors are not overwritten when you discover you have mistakenly deleted some items.

It is those overwritten sectors that are shown as having non recoverable data.

Verdict

The Good

This is a Godsend and it will open all those deleted files

You can also recover data from your hard drive or flash stick!

It can also recover data from formatted cards.

You can chose to recover only photos, videos, mp3, documents or recover all else!

The bad

Very long recovery time that can go to as long as 10 hours.

Conclusion

Do not save extra stuff on a disk you wish to recover data on as this will make your data unreachable.

How Econet is stealing your airtime!

Would you like to learn the insider secrets to Making Money? Reply to this sms with the word MONEY to start your 7 days of Free Lessons

I recieved the above sms from 31110 and from its wording, nothing says this is a service I will pay for! The word “Free for 7 days” is as clear as the sun!

To unsubscribe send MONEY STOP to 31110

However, a week latter, my airtime started disappearing mysteriously and upon contacting Econet through 111, I was told my Android Phone is consuming my data! Howeverm, they said the would STOP the service within 24 to 48 hours

I then topped my phone with data off and still my airtime vanished! I told them so and they told me that its the service from 31110 that is deducting my airtime at a rate of 25cents!

I kept sending MONEY STOP as per instructions but the messages kept coming in and deducgting my airtime!

I called Econet again after a week and they promised the messages will stop! I sent them a twit and still the messages kept coming in.

So far I now have 40 messages and still the messages have not yet stopped!

I got the shock of my life when I called customer care yesterday!

This is what I was told.

” The messages are coming from a South African company and to stop them I had to send in money Stop”

I was told if you send in MONEY STOP as per the messages instructions the messages wont stop but I had to capitalise only the S in Stop!

So Econet sets upon us companes from South Africa to scam us? So they deliberately send fake unsubscribe messages so that you are kept locked in their scams?

Besides, they deliberately misword their messages with “FREE” so that you get hooked up! So far these are some of the messages I have recieved from Econet

“*****You are lucky****

Reply OK to 30700 0773 *** **8 you have been granted with a personal offer from Econet: 7 FREE Relationship Tips! Reply OK to 30700

That message is worded From Econet but their customer care told me thier are coming from “non Econet service providers based in South Africa”!

******Surprise****** Reply OK to 30600 0773*** **8 here is a nice offer for you from Econet: 7 FREE qoutes! Reply OK to 30600

I am not the only one who has discovered the well oiled machinery called Econet that is shamelessy stealing from Zimbabweans. Here is another article on techzim website

Another pissed off brother also wrote a letter to Econet/Strive Masiyiwa on their systematic way of stealing from the poor and then teaching their customer care agents to lie through their teeth. This brother also noticed that Econet steals airtime from ist subscribers and pretends its your smartphone that is consuming data.

You can read the letter here as it was featured on Southern eye newspaper

Its high time we stood up against Econet. Its high time Econet was shamed in public. Why should Econet pretend to be a God fearing firm when they run scams and theft syndicates in day light?

Even if they donate thousands to Capernaum trust and Higher Life Foundation if its from money stolen from me then am afraid Econet is just as ungodly and needs Potraz to reign them in.

New Apple IPhones to be unveiled on 10 September

Apple will soon unveil its newest flagship smart phone. Most gadgets websites have been awash with rumours of the new devices.

Of interest to us is the Iphone 5C which is rumoured to be a cheaper Iphone for low end markets.

Well these are just rumours and nothing is official so take these news with a biggish pinch of salt.

The Iphone is thought to have dual LED flashlights.

However I have never been a fan of IOS and Iphones. Feature wise Android beats Iphones.

In Android land there is quad core processors, Super Amoled displays and of late, Octa-Core processors. Besides there is Optical Image Stabilisation something unheard of in Apple camps.

Well lets not spoil it for Apple and Iphone lovers. The 10th of September is your day.

Google and Android Fun

Google is realeasing a new version of Android and its named Kitkat a Nestle the name of a Nestle Candy bar.

You will notice that Google seems to be following the alphabet in naming their software versions.

We are now at K.. Kit Kat

Check the first letter of the alphabet of the Android versions below Android 1.5: Cupcake
Android 1.6: Donut
Android 2.0: Eclair
Android 2.2: Froyo
Android 2.3: Gingerbread
Android 3.0: Honeycomb
Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich
Android 4.1: Jelly Bean
Android 4.2: Jelly Bean
Android 4.3: Jelly Bean
Android 4.4: KitKat

We wonder the next version of Android would be called. What do you think the L will bring us.

In more Google news, there are now over 1 billion active Android devices the world over.

Well it means almost 1 in every 6 people owns an Android device.

These are breath taking numbers

New Android version 4.4 coming up as Android Kit-Kat

After rumours made rounds that the next Android version will be Android 5.0 and be named Key Lime Pie Google went on to prove the rumour mill wrong by releasing Android 4.4 named KitKat.

To us Zimbabweans KitKat has no meaning but it is the name of a Nestle made candy bar.

We don’t know what this version has in store for us.

Below are the names of previous Android iterations and their human friendly names.

Android 1.5: Cupcake

Android 1.6: Donut

Android 2.0: Eclair

Android 2.2: Froyo

Android 2.3: Gingerbread
(this is the most popular version)

Android 3.0: Honeycomb

Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwice
(this is the second most popular version)

Android 4.1: Jelly Bean

Android 4.2: Jelly Bean

Android 4.3: Jelly Bean
(this is the latest as of now)

Android 4.4: KitKat

We wonder what features will the new version bring us.

After purchasing Nokia Microsoft shares drop by 5.2 % and Nokia shares rise by 47%

Soon after news of the Nokia Microsoft transaction got out the investors reacted and this saw Microsoft share dipping by 5.2%.

To those who understand business, such a move is a vote of no confidence to Microsoft. The reason being Microsoft is buying a loss making unit for 7.2 billion bucks and as part of the deal Microsoft is also inheriting the more than 30 000 strong Nokia work force meaning low revenue per share to Microsoft.

On the other hand investors have finally approved of Nokias move of jettisoning a lose making unit and they happily rewarded Nokia by buying more shares which led to a phenomenal rise by 47 percent in the share value.

As an aside, this deal shows how poverty riddled Zimbabwe is with all this Zimbabwe has got diamonds nonsense. Imagine, our yearly budget as a country barely scratches $3 billion yet a loss making unit is bought for $7 billion. Zimbabwe, no Zimbabwes leadership need a reality check and. Imagine a single company Samsung makes all of $15 billion in profits and thats just one company in South Korea and Zim brags about diamonds that hardly contribute $100 million per year to the fiscus

End of aside.

Well back to the Nokia issue, I think Microsoft won’t do much to turn the fortunes of Nokia around.