Google Adsense Western Union payment now available to Kenyans

For Kenyan Adsense publishers who have been groaning about cheque payment you no longer have to frown as Kenya has been added to the list of supported countries for Western Union payment.You no longer have to wait for cheques in the mail as all you have to do is visit a Western union agent once the funds have been disbursed.To change your form of payment just login to adsense and you will find payment settings under account settings.A national ID though is required to receive payment form the agent.Here is a list of countries supported so far;

Algeria Argentina Bahrain Barbados Benin Bolivia Bulgaria Burkina Faso Cameroon Chile China (Mainland) Colombia Costa Rica Cote d'Ivoire Croatia Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt Ethiopia Gambia Georgia Ghana Guatemala Iceland Indonesia Jamaica Jordan Kenya Kuwait Latvia Lebanon Libya Lithuania Madagascar Malta

Malaysia Mauritius Mexico Moldova Morocco Mozambique Nepal Nicaragua Oman Pakistan Palestinian Territories Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion (FR) Romania Saudi Arabia Senegal Seychelles Slovenia South Korea Taiwan Tanzania Thailand Tunisia Uganda United Arab Emirates Uruguay Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands (British) Yemen Zambia

3G Wars,still needs more momentum

OrangeKenya launched their 3G network this week and although the public was eagerly awaiting somebody to topple Safaricom from the 3G monopoly,they still have a long way to go if they wish to even put a dent in Safaricom's data market.It looks like we will have to wait for Airtel to launch their network maybe they will have a better chance of shaking some branches.
The orange modem will retail at 6999/= compared to Safaricom's 1999/=(current offer).The orange modem will also be available for 3500/= at Orange caravans.

At the moment Orange are not offering any unlimited data bundles but here is a price list of orange and safaricom bundles.

Safaricom

Data Volume	Price (Ksh)	In Bundle Price  (Ksh Per MB)	Out of Bundle Price (Ksh Per MB)	Validity Period
50MB	100	2.00	8	30 Days
200MB	250	1.25	8	30 Days
500MB	499	1.00	8	30 Days
1.5GB	999	0.65	8	30 Days
3GB	1,999	0.65	8	30 Days
4GB	2,499	0.61	8	30 Days
8GB	3,999	0.49	8	30 Days
20GB	9.999	0.49	8	90 Days
30GB	14,999	0.49	8	90 Days

Orange

Data Bundle	Price (Kshs)	Pay as You Go Offer	IEW Modem Cost
50 MB	100	Ksh 4 per MB on pay as you GO down from Kshs 7 per MB	Kshs 6,999
100 MB	150
500 MB	500
1 GB	750
5 GB	2,750
10 GB	4,990
15 GB	5,990
20 GB	7,990

A price and quality review of some of the local ISPs

Last year I did a review of the best and cheapest ISPs that were available in the market but I have got many requests to post an updated version and so in this post I am going to go over some of the favourite ISPs and give a quick review on their speeds,bandwidth and price.







ZUKU  
Run by the Wananchi Online company Zuku offers Wimax and fibre connection that come come bundled with cable TV.
Price
Wimax-256 kbps @1499      
             512 kbps @2499
             1 Mbps    @4499
Fibre-1 Mbps       @999
         -4 Mbps       @1999
         -8 Mbps       @3499
All connections come with a setup and installation fee of 2999
Pros    
Cheap
Wimax is available in most of Nairobi and Mombasa
Reliable connection

Cons        
Fibre connection coverage very small
Initial setup takes them forever to start(weeks,months)
Customer service isn't the best                              

ORANGE EVERYWHERE 3G+       
Data service that runs on the EVDO network.Orange offers bundles that start with 150 MB and climb all the way to 4GB and if you are like me and don't like being limited you can get the unlimited 7 day connection for 990/=.The modem costs 1999/= and comes with a free week of unlimited Internet and is available at orange shops and select retailers.The speed is really good with downloads speeds of around 120 kbps and bandwidth of around 1Mbps(the orange people will tell you 3.1 Mbps but I am yet to experience such bandwidth)

Pros
Cheap modem+cheap bundles
Fast Internet connection 
Mobile and easy to use

Cons
Limited network coverage     

SAFARICOM 3G    
The only good thing I have to say about Safaricom's 3G is that it is fast and widely available,other than that there is really nothing good about it.I used to get download speeds of around 140 kbps and bandwidth of 1.3 Mbps.They recently introduced a bundle offer that enabled people to get 100% more data but even still they cannot care to the affordability of Orange.By the way they suspended the Bamba Unlimited offer and in a particular safaricom fashion didn't even tell anyone they have to wait for you to call customer care so they can tell you.But bamba unlimited was shit anyway(even thinking of giving me 32kbps and calling it internet) .the modem costs 2999 and if you already have one am sure it is rotting in a desk drawer somewhere like mine(but on the bright side if airtel offer a good deal when there 3G comes out you can unlock the modem and is use it for something useful)         

LOOPNET 
Loopnet is a free ad powered internet service that was offered by KDN but I think is now run by SwiftGlobal(KDN no longer deal with retail and home solutions but now deal with corporate solutions i.e they are the ISP of your ISP).But it looks like since SwiftGlobal started running the show it has lost most of its flare as majority of the base stations were shut down in residential areas were shut down and service outages are common.When it was available I used to get download speeds of around 300-500 kbps and bandwidth of around 5 Mbps

Pros
Its free
Its very fast,when few people are using it

Cons
Shared bandwidth so it is very slow during high traffic times such as mid-day      

More problems with Safaricom 3G

So I recently bought a Safaricom 3G modem because I was tired of waiting for Zuku to bring fibre to the crib(network like the wind Zuku,we need that net).I sadly parted with 3000 to pay for it but at least I got 300mb free(it didn't even last me 4 hrs,I surf like a mad person,16 pages at once).So I thought I'd give the Bamba Unlimited a try so I parted with another 1000 to load up the bundle.So I surfed the whole of Saturday and I was pretty impressed because I was sure I had passed the 300mb limit and I was shocked at how fast it still was.After I passed the 600mb mark the modem disconnected itself and when I hit up the customer care line 100(its been a while,didn't know they got some automation to answer the phone,so as soon as it answered the phone I started talking to it,took me a while to notice it was a comp) and got no helpful info so I hit them up on twitter only to find that I wasn't alone and many more people were experiencing the same thing.Apparently they introduced an offer recently that offered 100% more on the limited bundles which is now interfering with the Bamba Unlimited.Why?because they use the same number 450 i.e texting 999 to 450 instead of giving you 300mb and unlimited 32kbps internet(blazing fast speed if the year was 1994) it gives you 600mb limited internet.Now am no software developer or rocket scientist but you want to tell me that no one noticed the numbers were the same before they though this offer up,I mean seriously safaricom you guys are just taking us for fools now,you really thought no one would notice.I am by no means a person of conspiracy theories but this just stinks of corporate gameplay.You noticed that people rarely exhaust their bundles before getting new ones so you decided to unleash this 100% more offer(notice that in a characteristic safaricom fashion they draw you in with the big numbers i.e 100% more of 10 is 20)so that more people can get the bundle and not notice that they have taken the wrong one,and then you make the offer only a month long(wow,as in seriously only akina Scooby Doo would fall for such crap).Another thing that makes me angry is that no one else in the country have 3G and so their milking us dry while they still have the time(before you comment,what Orange have is not 3G,its EVDO,its like 3G but it isn't).Since I know am not the only one angry the comments section is open for all who want to insult Safaricom,no restrictions,let your angry heart free!

Cheapest fibre optic broadband in Kenya

The Wananchi group has been very busy for the last few months setting up their fibre optic cables so that they can officially release their Zuku fibre triple play service which is going to be a welcome site for many Kenyans.The service will consist of broadband internet,cable tv and VOIP.The service is currently available in only limited parts of Nairobi such as Hurlingham,Kileleshwa and Lavington.the most surprising thing about their service is how cheap it is.
I Mbps-999 per month
4 Mbps-1999 per month
8 Mbps-3499 per month
As usual there is the set-up fee of 2999 and no equipment charges.Another good thing is that they have finally stopped using cheap chinese network equipment and are finally using quality products from Cisco Systems.
They are also offering cable TV that will support HD channels and upto 82 english channels which should give Dstv a run for their money.
For more details and a coverage map you can check out their site here-http://www.zuku.co.ke/b/home/

Send free SMSs to your friends from Gmail

Stumbled on a feature today that has been active for quite a while but never noticed it.The ability to send free SMSs from a Gmail account to any mobile phone(at the moment I can only confirm it works to safaricom lines).Here is how to get it running







1.Log in to your Gmail account
2.Google should detect which country you are from and it will automatically show a pop up menu guiding you through it but if it does not continue to step 3
3.Go to the settings menu in gmail
4.Click on the labs menu and activate two options,text messaging in chat and sms in chat gadget
5.Once you have done this when you type a number in the chat box(the one written search,add or invite) it will give you the option to send an SMS
6.Receiving the SMS is free but a reply will be charged at standard network rates,you are also limited to 50 free sms every 24 hrs

For more details or if you want to sign-up to gmail click here

How to choose the right ISP for you

I got a lot of hits with my previous post about which was the best ISP in Kenya and that post was written a year ago and most likely things have changed so consider this post an update.
1.SPEED
It is the first one because most of the times this is all you need to know.With the 3 undersea cables prices have dropped dramatically even though people don't want to accept it they have and they will continue to so if you are sitting at home with an internet connection you hate its you're fault.
Basically there are two speeds you should know,the upload speed and the download speed.Most of the time the upload speed is irrelevant but its good to know anyway especially if you are getting it for a home office or small business.The average lowest bandwidth you get is 256kbps.Now one thing I always get asked is 'My bandwidth is 256kbps yet my download speeds never go over 40KBps.You may not have noticed but the b in the bandwidth stands for bits not bytes.And 8 bits make 1 byte therefore to determine your average download speed divide your bandwidth by 8.
                                so for 256kbps you will get an average of 32KBps
                                    for 512kbps you will get an average of 64KBps
                                   for 1Mbps you will get an average of  125KBps
Yes I know I have just blown your mind but thats the reality of things.So now you can get a rough picture of the package you will be taking home.

2.PING 
(The time it takes a message to be sent to a device on a network and a reply to be received)
Almost nobody cares about this and I am one of them but if you are a fan of online gaming(PS3,Xbox360,PC)(I have not put the wii beacuse it has the same graphics as my phone and I am a hater) this matters because the higher the ping the slower the gameplay online.But one workaround that is currently gaining speed is the establishment of local servers effectively reducing the ping.I don't know any but I know they are there,if you are running one you can give people directions in the comments section.

3.PRICE
Second most important consideration.For around 1000 ksh/month you can get a 256kbps connection on zuku which is enough for a basic internet user.I won't go into details with this as these prices change almost every month(hehe) so instaed I will give a link to each of the ISPs package details page
Zuku(Wananchi Offline,oh!I mean Online)
BOX(KDN)
Access@Home(AccessKenya)
Surf and Talk(Orange)
These are the main ones if you seek internet for your home
NB:If you live in an area where there are wireless hotspots and have come across loopnet you can use that for free,yes free.Its very fast but is ad sponsored

Comments
Zain internet is crap,don't even think fo it
Safaricom are thieves,everything,even if you have heard they have fast internet,it will cost you...Your life!!!hahaha!okay it won't but its expensive
Zuku is okay for the price and it gets reasonable uptime with few outages
BOX is lightning fast,but you have to pay a deposit 15000 ksh before you can start using it
If you have comments leave them in the comments section below....

How to purchase goods online from Kenya

One question that always storms my comments section is users asking for ways to buy goods from online.One major myth that internet users from Kenya share is that paypal does not work here but this is very wrong.In this post I am going to show you how to sign up for Paypal from Kenya and another usable alternative called Google checkout


PAYPAL
Requirements
VISA debit or credit card
Bank statement
Steps
Go to paypal and sign up for a personal account,input all your information correctly especially contact address and credit/debit card number because this will be used as your shipping information and the card for payment
After sign-up and confirmation is complete you will be asked to verify your account,this is just to prove the account is yours and what happens is they take out around ksh 150 and this transaction will show up on your statement as
                                  XXXXPAYPAL----------------------
Once you ask for verification you will be asked to input a code which is the XXXX on your statement(format might differ with your bank but there will always be a numerical code).You can go to an ATM and get your mini statement or for those with Mbanking you can get it from your phone.Once you input this code into paypal you are ready to go.
Note:You cannot recieve money to your paypal account(yet),the only money paypal can use is the one in your bank account
Shopping
Many online shopping sites accept paypal but you can start with the big dogs Ebay and Ioffer
When shopping online a few tip to getting a good deal is always to check the free shipping box when doing a search because products online are very cheap the only problem is the shipping cost.Once again make sure you input your address correctly as this is the information that will be on the package.On average shipping takes 1-2 weeks.

Google checkout
Google checkout is just like paypal only that you don't need to verify your account and you can start using it straight away,the only problem is fewer sites accept it as a form of payment.The goods thing about google is they have a search engine that searches for products for you,you can check it out here:http://www.google.com/checkout/deals.html

TIPS
I would not recommend doing these activities on a computer at a cyber cafe,just to be safe
Also update your antivirus to protect you from phising viruses

Free internet this christmas from KDN

Don't you just love free stuff especially when there is no catch,this christmas until January 4th next year Kenyans will have the chance to enjoy free internet from KDN via their Butterfly WiFi and DSL.Im using the service as I write this and I am very shocked as it is 10 times faster than the internet I paid for from Zuku(you suck wananchi online).So put all those WiFi enabled laptops to use and get surfing cause you only have like 34 days left(approx).There are many butterfly hotspots around Nairobi so chances are high that you are near one but if not you can always go to a nearby Java and buy a soda and burn some hours.Here is a speedtest of the butterfly WiFi that I am currently enjoying and as you can see its really fast,youtube videos streaming seamlessly and 500 kbps downloads

How to make a network cable commando style

Okay when I say make don't get me wrong,I don't mean fashion some cable out of foil and used up dental floss McGyver style,I was strolling through town the other day and I came to notice that some people are making money out of things that absolutely make no sense.I was at Bloomerg searching for an ethernet crossover cable because the one I had made had backfired so I quite excited when I found out that cable was like 15 bob per metre and so I quickly made the purchase and I presented the good salesman with 15 shillings cash and stood there eagerly waiting to be given a complete cable only to be given the cable and the RJ-45 connectors(you can google it if you aren't sure)[which are 3 bob where I usually buy them but bought them for 10 bob there because I didn't feel like walking far] and told to proceed to there 'workshop' upstairs where I would get the crimping done.

KDN and FamilyBank team up to offer free WiFi internet

The joint venture between Kenya Data Networks (KDN) and Family Bank Limited, will allow the bank’s customers, and the members of the public, to use the free Wi-Fi connections to the internet, within a radius of one kilometre of each of the bank’s 50 branches.Here is a list of some of the branches so you can know if there is a spot near you

Adsense payout now available in Kenya Shillings

Just today I recieved exciting news that Google Adsnse was now offering cheques in Kenya shillings(Credit goes to collins over at Siku-moja for the find)
Here are the instructions on how to change the currency
-When you log in you will see a tip with a green background saying that earnings are now available in euros
-Click on the link and agree to the terms of service
-After that go to My Account then under account settings edit payment details and after selecting check you will see a drop down list from where you can select the checks to be Kenya shillings

Finally a useful wordlwide e-currency

With all the buzz about the growth of internet banks have been in a rush to cope with the online craze and have started offering online banking and stuff like that but the thought of open international money exchange has been a long-time dream of many Kenyans.M-pesa has made favourable headway but it is still lacking in terms of international money exchange.This site is a great solution for people who have money that they would like to invest in online and not have to deal with the usual unscrupulous middlemen.Here is how it works.

Alertpay in Kenya

Since I had previously done a post on how useless paypal is I decided to do a post on alertpay which all the Kenyans seem to be recommending so I looked into the site and here is a summary of what I came across.

Kenya's alternative to Paypal?

Since paypal has totally ignored online banking in Africa people have been forced to seek alternatives,as I was doing my usual speed surfing I came across a site that has a lot of potential called pesapal

A few more kenyan online shopping sites

Following the posts I did a while ago about some of the popular shopping sites i decided to highlight some of the sites that have gone unnoticed.

A good looking kenyan online shopping site

After my disappointment with onlineduka I came across a site that really caught my attention in that it was everything that a online shopping site required.I am not being biased and I have not been bribed to diss onlineduka and then praise this site but if you visit it you can see for yourself.These are the kind of sites I would be proud to promote
UzaNunua

Another disappointing kenyan online store

I always get a feeling of joy when I see a new kenyan website thats innovative and string in concept but I always get disappointed when the idea concept is not fully carried out.Running a website I know is not an easy task but in order for a website to grow it has to provide something that the others don't.

So while I was surfing I cam across this new site called OnlineDuka Kenya.I was at first very pleased with the design and load speed of the website and so i automatically dug deeper to see what the website offered.The homepage is very well designed and easy to navigate and provides a simple navigation bar that is comprehensive.Each page has a hovering serch bar which isn't very effective in terms of advanced search as it only searches for tag words.[something the site admin should work on]
When you click on a product you get a picture of the product plus basic details about the seller and the price,below you get a tab of related items which you might be interested in but immediately i feel that something is missing,no cart or cashout option.How can it be an online duka that doesn't sell anything!then it should be called an online catalogue or online classifieds!
When you click on the seller details you get a nice page with basic info such as company products and the likes,a location map tab was available but many shops had no map.For all web developers out there who are in the dark these days Kenya is covered by GPS if you didn't know and there is always the google maps widget if you want to keep it simple.
Basically the site has so much potential that is going to waste,here is a summary of the pros and cons I came across.
Pros
Nice design
Nice concept
fast page loading
easy to navigate
CONS
Products not detailed
No cart/cash-out option
No advanced search option
Basically if you are going to set-up an online shop don't set-up an online classifieds!Website admins should take a look at the books first website,its not the prettiest website in the world but it gives you everything it promises including delivery options and payment via m-pesa,what more could you ask for(except something other than books)[that was a hahaha moment!,Im out!]

Lets end the debate:Which is the best ISP in Kenya

Read update post here:http://kenyanguru.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-to-choose-right-isp-for-you.html
This is a debate that has been going on for a long time and for some people it has been getting more and more confusing.So I decided to open a post about it on my forum so that people can discuss about it in detail and express there thoughts.
I have also added a poll so that people can vote and in the end we can truly determine which service is the best
Here is the link to the post on the forum.Here
You are also free to leave a comment here if you wish




Here are some speedtests of the local ISPs

1.Butterfly WiFi(KDN)

2.Zuku 256KBps(Wananchi Online)

Iphone now available in Kenya

It is now official,the iphone 3G is available in Kenya under the Orange network.The phone was launched on Thursday and it was an event filled with pomp and glamour,but don't expect any people to be queuing for days on end like when it was released in other countries such as Australia or South Africa as the price is not for everyone.

The phone will be available on either prepaid(ksh 33000 for the 8GB and 42000 for the 16GB)or postpaid(ksh 50000 for the 8GB and 59000 for the 16GB).
On top of that buyers will have to sign a contract for 1 year of which for prepaid users will be ksh.60000.(I am not sure about postpaid users so I will update this post once I get that info)
Personally I think that the phone itself is cheap but the contract is just too much,according to the Apple CEO Mark Jobs when he first released it he said that the price of the phone would be subsidised by the one year contract but in the Orange Kenya arrangement I am not seeing the price difference,the phone is expensive and the contract is also expensive.
The year contract is supposed to allow full access to the Iphone 3G features but instead of 3G orange is offering users EDGE which is much more inferior.Also the GPS function will not be accessible which makes me wonder what exactly buyers will be paying for.
What's the need of releasing a phone which is too expensive to buy,especially for the young adults and teenagers at which the iphone is targeted.