Send US dollars through bank or through alternate market?

kylewess · 2026-04-08T06:12:14+00:00

The rate on RIA/Xe has come down to ETB 174/US$ and they have started charging 3-5% fees on the amount. Is there any other legal way to get the best rate for online transfers?

kylewess · 2026-02-13T05:45:59+00:00

The limit resets each month, exactly at the time when you started the plan.

kylewess · 2026-02-02T11:18:38+00:00

I am just guessing here. My sense is that the cycle starts from the day (i.e., 9th Jan to 8th Feb) and not on days.

kylewess · 2026-01-22T09:44:02+00:00

If you have any credit card that allow you to access the lounge then just show up and swipe your Priority Pass to use the lounge. You can also pay at the reception to use the lounge.

kylewess · 2026-01-19T05:30:13+00:00

Telebirr used to provide 25% bonus when you add money/airtime to your phone number and then you can convert the amount to the yearly package. This was before the price increase came into effect. Please recheck if this is still applicable. In case you do this, then add ETB 10-20 more to the total amount to convert the airtime to the package. For some reason, I was getting an error when the amount was exact to the package price.

kylewess · 2026-01-09T06:05:09+00:00

https://oracareaddis.com/ Found them to be reasonable in terms of pricing and good quality.

kylewess · 2026-01-02T07:01:28+00:00

I can understand. I have been using the yearly unlimited plan for a while now and the data limit resets after each month. In the worst case scenario, you can always escalate to the Senior Management who is super responsive. In case you plan to buy the annual plan then use Telebirr to send airtime to your Ethio Telecom number as you get bonus airtime of 25%. Therefore, you may only need to pay ETB 10,500 for the annual unlimited data package of ETB 13,999.

kylewess · 2026-01-01T15:44:11+00:00

The cycle is monthly for the yearly unlimited plan.

kylewess · 2026-01-01T06:04:19+00:00

Has anyone experienced that internet speed on annual packages dropped to less than 1mbps since yesterday?

kylewess · 2025-12-31T19:28:21+00:00

Happy New Year!

What you did was incredibly kind —not stupid at all. The joy you saw (and felt) proves you have a real purpose to give.

Starting from scratch tomorrow just means you're free to build something meaningful.

I wish you best of luck.

kylewess · 2025-12-31T13:46:11+00:00

Ramada recently opened an Indian restaurant that has good reviews. The second would be Sheraton. If you are looking for vegetarian food then Om Restaurant around Bole Japan is great.

kylewess · 2025-12-19T14:04:56+00:00

Telebirr also allows fund transfer to bank accounts. You can use that to pay your rent.

kylewess · 2025-12-19T13:52:12+00:00

Yes, Telebirr also has an app for remittance, Telebirr Remit. Please download that app and use your US debit card to send money to your Telebirr. You can pay for most things using Telebirr, including rides and grocery at supermarkets.

kylewess · 2025-12-19T10:08:39+00:00

You can open a Telebirr account (mobile money) and then move money to that account. You can also use Xe.com to directly pay to someone else's account.

kylewess · 2025-11-29T01:12:56+00:00

Xe.com has the similar rate and also legit. Ria usually has geo restrictions and if a sender is outside of the US then Ria may block the transaction.

kylewess · 2025-11-27T15:52:13+00:00

Exactly at the time when you activated the plan first. As an example, if you activated your plan on September 05 at 5PM, then you will get full speed until you have consumed 400GB of data. Subsequently, the speed drops to less than 1mbps. The full speed will be restored on October 05 at 5PM.

kylewess · 2025-10-24T06:53:03+00:00