We know you love keeping in touch with your family, friends and loved ones through your cell phone. Our mobile service providers claim to have the most affordable calling and SMS rates for you.

Are they telling us the truth?

Are you on the right mobile network?

On this week’s face-off Friday segment will do a comparison on the prepaid calling and SMS rates by our different mobile operators and give the opportunity to decide for yourself if you are on the network with the most ideal rates.

Safaricom

The mobile network with the largest subscribers in Kenya. Did you know that calling Safaricom to Safaricom (On-net calls) between 8am to 10pm costs you 4 Kshs, and 2 Kshs between 10pm to 8am. I guess that explains why your bamba 50 airtime doesn’t last you as long as it did a couple of weeks back, right? They did revise their calling rates.

Then calling Safaricom to other networks (off-net calls) all day costs you Kshs 5.00

Safaricom’s sms rates are 1 Kshs for on-net texts and 2 Kshs for off-net texts.

Safaricom Prepaid customers can enjoy unlimited SMS for as little as Kshs 10 daily by simply subscribing through dialing *188# and also enjoy sending free tweets via SMS through the same subscription.

Airtel

You must give these guys the benefit of a doubt, they’ve really tried to seize Safaricom’s share of the market by all means possible. They have a standard calling rate of Kshs 3.00 for both on-net and off-net calls all day on their New Tariff. In addition to this, they also have a standard SMS rate of 1 Kshs for both on-net and off-net texts all day.

Airtel subscribers under the Feelanga Free tariff enjoy an on-net calling rate of 1 Kshs from 6am to 6pm through subscription into the service by dialing *111*1# with an attractive fee of Kshs 1 per day.

Under the Club 10 tariff Airtel subscribers enjoy unlimited calls from 10pm to 6am and unlimited Airtel to Airtel SMS all day and all night for only 10 Kshs. To subscribe to the service simply dial *120#

Yu Mobile

The young kid on the block but a force to reckon with. Yu prepaid subscribers under the Amua Tariff enjoy free Yu to Yu calls from 6am to 6pm and are later charged Kshs 3.00 for on-net calls from 6pm to 6am. Under this tariff Yu subscribers are charged Kshs 3.00 for off-net calls all day and all night and also enjoy a flat SMS rate of 1 Kshs. all day to any network.

Here’s the catch, Yu will charge you 2 Kshs on the first minute of your yu to yu call, though you will be billed per second with no daily access fees.

Orange Mobile

The international network with global coverage. Orange prepaid customers under the Pay as You Go tariff are charged 2 Kshs for On-Net calls and 4 Kshs for Off-Net calls all day. The SMS rate for on-net texts is 1 Kshs and 2 Kshs for off-net texts all day.

Under the Usinyamaze plan Orange subscribers enjoy free calls from 10am to 5pm to all customers on the Orange and Telkom family. After these hours, the rate resumes to the standard rates of 2 Kshs on-net. This plan attracts a subscription fee of Kshs 100 for 30 days

Under the 20 Bob all day and night plan, Orange subscribers enjoy 200 on-net minutes and 100 on-net sms and 10Mb data. Customers have to subscribe for this on a daily besis.

Day time On-Net calling rates comparison

Yu to Yu calls are free all day

Night time On-Net calling rates comparison

Off-Net calling rates comparison

On-Net SMS rates comparison

Off-Net SMS rates comparison