Last month, Airtel quietly rolled out a handy little update to the My Airtel app that brought the ability to onboard and manage Home Wi-Fi devices. We covered it at the time, but honestly, the feature felt a little bare-bones. Sure, you could add your router, see its name, check whether your account was active, andβ¦ wellβ¦ that was about it. The βdata balanceβ section was there, but mine politely insisted I had 0KB left. Which, obviously, wasnβt true.
Fast forward to this week, and surprise! The data balance section has finally come alive. I opened the device page and there it was showing my actual remaining data balance. Even better, the figure updates automatically, but if youβre impatient like me thereβs a manual refresh button for instant gratification.
Itβs such a simple but powerful addition. Now, I know exactly how much of my monthly allocation Iβve burned through and can plan my usage without crossing the Fair Usage Policy (FUP) threshold. No surprises. No random slowdowns because I accidentally binged half of Netflixβs catalogue in HD.
And this is where my other ISP, Safaricom, starts to look a little behind.
Like Airtel, Safaricom also lets you add and manage your 5G Home Wi-Fi router from its My Safaricom app. Unlike Airtel, though, thereβs no way to check how much data youβve used or how much youβve got left. This is baffling, especially since all 5G plans have FUP limits. For example, my entry-level Safaricom 5G Home plan (10Mbps) comes with a 250GB monthly cap. Once I hit that limit, speeds get throttled. But thereβs no in-app meter to warn me Iβm getting close.
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That means Iβm left playing a dangerous guessing game. Will my connection slow to a crawl in the middle of a video call or during the final episode of a series? Who knows! I did share this little inconvenience with Safaricomβs support team on X (Twitter), and their response was the usual polite βweβve noted your feedbackβ line. Translation: βMaybe one day, but donβt hold your breath.β
Still, I have a feeling theyβll eventually cave and add it. Why? Because once youβve seen your live data balance update in real-time on Airtelβs app, you canβt unsee it. Itβs the kind of quality-of-life feature that makes you feel like your ISP actually wants you to have a good experience.
For now, Airtel gets the crown for giving Home Wi-Fi users better visibility and control over their data. Safaricom, your move.
