{"id":252,"date":"2020-07-13T23:42:22","date_gmt":"2020-07-13T20:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/ent\/?p=193"},"modified":"2020-07-13T23:42:22","modified_gmt":"2020-07-13T20:42:22","slug":"internet-providers-freelancers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niabusiness.com\/entity\/internet-providers-freelancers\/","title":{"rendered":"Internet providers and data bundles in Kenya I use for my online freelance work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>To be able to do my online <a href=\"https:\/\/niabusiness.com\/ads\/\">freelance work<\/a>, having access to reliable and affordable internet is very important.<\/p>\n<p>In this post I am going to show you some of the data bundles I use whenever:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I want to go online to look for work<\/li>\n<li>I am working on jobs clients hire me to do<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Popular internet service providers used by freelancers in Kenya<\/h2>\n<p>Here is a list of some of the providers <a href=\"https:\/\/niabusiness.com\/ads\/\">freelancers<\/a> turn to when they need reliable internet connection in order to be able to find jobs online &amp; work on the projects \/ tasks outsourced to them to completion.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Safaricom<\/li>\n<li>Airtel Kenya<\/li>\n<li>Telkom Kenya<\/li>\n<li>Faiba<\/li>\n<li>Zuku<\/li>\n<li>Liquid Telecom<\/li>\n<li>Equitel<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What I use (internet providers I rely on to do my work)<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Safaricom<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With Safaricom I like the daily 1GB Giga Bundle which goes for Kenya Shillings 99.<\/p>\n<p>I also like buying Safaricom Tunukiwa data bundles from time to time. The items on the menu change (and I know they are tailor made to every user) but I will find myself buying the 2GB bundle (lasting 2 hours) at KSh 50 or the 1GB bundle that costs KSh 50 and lasts up to midnight.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes I also buy the 30 day bundles offered by this telco. The KSh 500 bundle (2GB) or the the KSh 1000 bundle (5GB).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Airtel Kenya<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With Airtel I like their 2GB daily bundle at Kenya Shillings 99.<\/p>\n<p>When not using that bundle, I always find myself gravitating towards their monthly bundles for certain tasks I do online. The bundles I buy the most include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The KSh 300 3GB bundle and<\/li>\n<li>he KSh 500 5GB bundle<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Telkom Kenya<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With Telkom, I could buy their daily bundles in order to be able to some things <a href=\"https:\/\/niabusiness.com\/ads\/tools\/\">online<\/a>. For example I would purchase their KSh 50 400MB daily for certain task, but only if I was in a place where the Telkom network was strong.<\/p>\n<p>For this reason alone, I usually just rely on the two providers above. I have good things from many others recently concerning Telkom data bundles. And yes, the speeds do vary from place to place. If I am in a place with a good network coverage, I can even consider buying the 30GB bundle at KSh 1000.<\/p>\n<p>Airtel Kenya is usually fast enough for me, though on Twitter I always see lots of complaints about their speed.<\/p>\n<p>If I need something much faster, I usually just switch to Safaricom.<\/p>\n<p>Also note that sometimes I buy bundles from both Airtel and Safaricom.<\/p>\n<p>So, I might have a monthly bundle on Safaricom then sometimes set the SIM card aside and purchase the 2GB bundle by Airtel.<\/p>\n<p>Other times, I have a monthly bundle on my Airtel line then switch to Safaricom whenever I see a great offer in the Tunukiwa internet bundles menu.<\/p>\n<h2>What devices do I use when browsing the web (or doing my work online)<\/h2>\n<p><strong>USB modem<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I use two both by Safaricom. One is unlocked, so I can use any SIM card in it. I can use a Telkom or Airtel line on it and still access the internet on a laptop \/ desktop computer. The other modem is locked, so I can only use it with a Safaricom SIM.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mobile Hotspot \/ WiFi<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is what I use mostly since I bought a smartphone. I just buy a <a href=\"https:\/\/niabusiness.com\/ads\/tools\/\">data bundle<\/a> on my smartphone (a dual SIM smartphone carrying both my Safaricom and Airtel lines) then tap on the Mobile Data and Hotspot option on the Google Android device.<\/p>\n<p>Then I just connect a laptop to the network and I am able to do my work on a much bigger screen.<\/p>\n<h2>How I make my bundles last longer<\/h2>\n<p><strong>I avoid sites \/ content that consume a lot of data<\/strong> such as videos. While working online as a <a href=\"https:\/\/niabusiness.com\/ads\/\">freelancer<\/a> is great there are times when you will be requires to learn a few things in order to be able to successfully deliver on a task outsourced to you.<\/p>\n<p>I mostly avoid video content whenever I can and just rely on <a href=\"https:\/\/niabusiness.com\/ads\/tools\/\">ebooks<\/a> &amp; article tutorials. If I can&#8217;t I will just lower the resolution of a video so that my data doesn&#8217;t get eaten fast.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I turn off the Mobile Data option off<\/strong> even when I leave the Mobile Hotspot option turned on. I do this whenever I take breaks.<\/p>\n<p>Or when I have loaded a tab and don&#8217;t need to be connected to finish a task. For example, when writing an article, I can load up all the pages a client wants me to reference in different tabs, then switch off the internet and just concentrate on completing the article.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I watch for auto updates<\/strong>. It is not easy to do sometimes but generally I like to defer updates (on my computer \/ smartphone) to times when I feel I have enough data. It sickens me sometimes when 3 or 4GB of data just goes to computer updates in a matter of 1 to 3 hours.<\/p>\n<p>So, I read a bit about how to make Microsoft Windows 10 operating system consume less data and implemented a few changes to make the bundles I purchase last longer.<\/p>\n<h3>Other things you should know<\/h3>\n<p>There are times I have had to rely on the internet provided in cyber cafes to work on client projects.<\/p>\n<p>I am telling you this so you know that sometimes you don&#8217;t need to buy your own data bundles in order:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>to bid on jobs<\/li>\n<li>to find potential clients and send them email pitches<\/li>\n<li>to do the work outsourced to you<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You can just do a cafe and use their computers and internet to get and do <a href=\"https:\/\/niabusiness.com\/ads\/\">online jobs<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Safaricom has a &#8216;recover expired bundle&#8217; feature. So, for example if you don&#8217;t finish a 30-day bundle you buy, you can buy a similar bundle and then use the Expired Bundle option to recover all the MBs you didn&#8217;t use.<\/p>\n<p>Simple things like where you decide to sit in a room when doing your work can affect your internet speed whether you are using Safaricom or Airtel (in a modem or your smartphone \/ tablet).<\/p>\n<p>So, figure out the best location to set up your working space. Place your desk and chair in a place that gives you steady download and upload speeds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To be able to do my online freelance work, having access to reliable and affordable internet is very important. In this post I am going to show you some of the data bundles I use whenever: I want to go online to look for work I am working on jobs clients hire me to do<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_rtcl_gb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nb-classifieds"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/niabusiness.com\/entity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/niabusiness.com\/entity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/niabusiness.com\/entity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niabusiness.com\/entity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niabusiness.com\/entity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/niabusiness.com\/entity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/niabusiness.com\/entity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niabusiness.com\/entity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niabusiness.com\/entity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}