RUTENDO CHIRUME
MASVINGO-There is an outcry over Econet services which some twitter users described as atrocious as it is affecting business and social life despite charging in USD.
Customers this morning started venting their anger against the Strive Masiyiwa owned biggest mobile network operator in the country as early as 5am when they took to Twitter with some throwing obscenities.
More than 8 000 Econet customers took to Twitter today mocking the service provider for taking customers for granted with some calling on the Government to open the sector to other competitors.
Buhle Matsha tweeted, “Econet showed me flames today. Their network has been atrocious. Like Strive does not want me to thrive”
“Econet needs to understand that some of us we’re in long distance relationships,” tweeted Whitney.
“Econet is just a pile of steaming shit,
“@CalvinTeddy posted In Zimbabwe, your phone will literally fail to download 157KB image on LTE, with full bars. Our internet service providers are literally damaging our batteries by unsteady internet connections. Imagine in Zim in 2 months an iPhone 13 Pro can drop 3% Battery life.
“@ImicimbiKaFofo I thought it was mine only 😭🙌🏽,
Boarding_Master posted ‘Zesa and Econet watching you getting into a long distance relationship’ implying how it is next to impossible to maintain a stable long distance relationship under veracious power cuts and network glitches in the country.
Ba Fiffie complained over the opportunities he missed due to poor network and tweeted ‘RIP to the opportunities we missed because Econet vavasingade ne network yavo,’ while username Darlz replied with a laughing gif and captioned ‘You’re still using Netone and Econet?’
“@TanakaChaza Haaa network yedu 😭🚮🚮 International_Hov,
“@Will_l3x Econet has to go!,
“@R_peels In Warren Park 1 network is so bad you can’t even YouTube,Kuzoti CBD yacho futi 🗑 Econet,”
“@kingdro_ching Where can I get starlink guys I am tired of Econet 👀👀👀👀👀,” reads most of the tweets.
A vendor from Mucheke F, Rejoice who does door to door food deliveries in town said that the poor network is seriously affecting her business since she has to receive orders through a WhatsApp group or calls which are dropping frequently.
“The issue of Econet and poor network is not something that has started today. I do food delivery and my clients order food through WhatsApp platforms but with the poor network I am losing some of the clients who would be trying to put through their orders.
“Sometimes it gets worse that you cannot even place a call. We hope that Mr Strive Masiiwa will fix this problem because it is costing us big time,” she said.
A young lady from Rujeko who refused to be named complained the impromptu cutting of communication by their service provider and said they are fed up by meaningless apology messages in this digital era where technology is no longer a luxury.
“Network yeeconet yakadhakwa (econet network is very bad) you can hardly spend the day without facing glitches. But the worst thing is how they fail to apologise when there is a technical problem. You go for several hours desperately trying to establish a working network and when you have finally given up you receive a pop up message with an apology. It is annoying because their communication skills is just incompetent. In this global era where everything is digitalized, it is embarrassing to depend on such a poor network,” she said.
Econet Holdings communications and public relations director, Fungai Mandiveyi said he could not speak when he was contacted for a comment.
“Sorry can’t talk now,” texted Mandiveyi.
