Bars & Disappointments: My Network Provider Experience

With the advancement of technology today and the rising use of social media, everyone in this world need internet connectivity. Without internet access, you’re just going to have a phone or laptop that you don’t really have much use for. For most people, they’d rather not have an electronic gadget than have one without internet access.

It’s safe to say internet connectivity is more like an essential thing in our lives today because there’s a lot we do on the internet on the daily basis which are very important to us all. If there’s one thing I’ve been battling with over the years, it would be good internet connectivity. I’m surprised at how I don’t first check how strong the internet connection is when I’m to move into a new place but then, it seems I’m not always lucky when it comes to internet connectivity in all the places I’ve stayed so far.

In Ghana, we have about three network providers, MTN, Vodafone/Telecel and AirtelTigo. As obvious as it is, everyone knows that MTN is the leading network provider in most countries. The only problem is that their prices are very high and I’d like to believe that’s because they think they have the best services which is actually true .Vodafone was also the second best network provider in the country until the transitioned to Telecel and since then, it’s been one story after the other. Today, I can say with my full chest that Vodafone has become one of the worst service providers to ever exist in Ghana over the past year.

One thing about Vodafone is that they are known to have the cheapest data bundles in Ghana but sometimes you don’t even get to use this data bundle because the network sometimes just ups and goes blank. A few days ago, I went through so much stress just to join some meetings I had which were very important . Eventually, I had to switch to MTN because I needed to be in these meetings. Even on a normal day at home, I’m unable to use the internet or do anything at all because internet connectivity is very slow here. I don’t know why, but when I move to other places it gets better and I’m able to use the internet with ease.

Currently I use two sims from two different network providers which are MTN and Vodafone because you never know when one might decide to fuck up. Mostly, I use Vodafone for only internet but when it gets extremely bad, I switch to my MTN which I mostly use for calls. I’d like to believe almost everyone in Ghana uses MTN for calls because it’s a lot more stable. At this point, I really don’t have much of a choice when it comes to network providers so I’m just going to manage with the two best ones we have in my country currently until another good one decides to show up and change the game.

all images belong to me.