William1102
Expert Member
The costs and potential of this is great that one can just give it a shot it is cheaper than most entry level fibre services and one cannot get even a 50mb package at that price
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MTN Airfibre
- Thread starter ajax
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The costs and potential of this is great that one can just give it a shot it is cheaper than most entry level fibre services and one cannot get even a 50mb package at that price
Yes price wise it's the best priced uncapped, unshaped no FUP service that beats any fibre line price.
Anyways the contractor is assigned and they scheduled with me for Sunday to install.
It will be interesting how the install looks & what type of dish or antenna they use.
I'm also covered here in Rietfontein.
Good to know this before signing up.
Used an LLM for this
The important terms I found are:
Used an LLM for this
The important terms I found are:
- Month-to-month: The AirFibre-specific T&Cs explicitly say the service runs on a month-to-month basis. The 80 Mbps package in your screenshot is currently R499/month for up to 80 Mbps down / 25 Mbps up.
- Cancellation: Cancel within the first 12 months and MTN charges R2,000 as a cancellation/infrastructure recovery fee. After that initial 12-month period, the R2,000 clawback no longer applies. MTN's general month-to-month guidance recommends giving one calendar month's notice, so I would give a full calendar month in writing and keep the cancellation reference/proof.
- The 7-day "cooling-off" period has an unusual catch: AirFibre's terms say you can cancel within seven days of activation, but you must return the equipment and still pay a R2,000 "cancellation and infrastructure investment recovery" charge for removal of the equipment/infrastructure.
- You do not own the equipment. The router, mounting kit, PoE injector and outdoor receiver/node remain MTN's property. When you cancel, MTN arranges collection/removal. If equipment is lost, stolen or damaged while in your possession, you can be charged its replacement value.
- Installation is currently promotional. The live MTN page still advertises free standard installation, and MTN's recent promotional material lists the waiver through 7 September 2026; the normal advertised installation value is R499. Non-standard/additional installation work may still cost extra.
- You pay the first month upfront. MTN states that the first month's subscription is payable before installation, with normal billing starting when the service has been installed and activated. Billing is in advance.
- Moving house could be expensive. The AirFibre terms currently list a R3,309 incl. VAT relocation fee, subject to a coverage/capacity check at the new address. If new infrastructure is needed, further installation/clawback charges may apply and a new agreement term can start.
- Installation is more permanent than LTE/5G. They install an outdoor receiver/antenna, cabling, PoE equipment and normally drill into the property. MTN specifically says property-owner/landlord consent is required.
- It really is uncapped. The AirFibre-specific T&Cs state there is no Fair Usage Policy and no traffic shaping; MTN's current product page also describes it as uncapped, unshaped and unthrottled. That's considerably better than many "uncapped" LTE/5G packages with FUP thresholds.
- The advertised speed is not guaranteed. MTN calls it a "best effort" service. On the R499 plan, 80/25 Mbps is the maximum package speed; actual performance can vary with network capacity and environmental conditions.
- Coverage on the website isn't final approval. MTN says AirFibre availability is verified after the order and installation is subject to network coverage and technical feasibility at the exact property.
- R499/month isn't necessarily guaranteed forever. AirFibre incorporates MTN's Subscriber Agreement, which allows MTN to change charges with advance notice.
Good to know this before signing up.
Used an LLM for this
The important terms I found are:
- Month-to-month: The AirFibre-specific T&Cs explicitly say the service runs on a month-to-month basis. The 80 Mbps package in your screenshot is currently R499/month for up to 80 Mbps down / 25 Mbps up.
- Cancellation: Cancel within the first 12 months and MTN charges R2,000 as a cancellation/infrastructure recovery fee. After that initial 12-month period, the R2,000 clawback no longer applies. MTN's general month-to-month guidance recommends giving one calendar month's notice, so I would give a full calendar month in writing and keep the cancellation reference/proof.
- The 7-day "cooling-off" period has an unusual catch: AirFibre's terms say you can cancel within seven days of activation, but you must return the equipment and still pay a R2,000 "cancellation and infrastructure investment recovery" charge for removal of the equipment/infrastructure.
- You do not own the equipment. The router, mounting kit, PoE injector and outdoor receiver/node remain MTN's property. When you cancel, MTN arranges collection/removal. If equipment is lost, stolen or damaged while in your possession, you can be charged its replacement value.
- Installation is currently promotional. The live MTN page still advertises free standard installation, and MTN's recent promotional material lists the waiver through 7 September 2026; the normal advertised installation value is R499. Non-standard/additional installation work may still cost extra.
- You pay the first month upfront. MTN states that the first month's subscription is payable before installation, with normal billing starting when the service has been installed and activated. Billing is in advance.
- Moving house could be expensive. The AirFibre terms currently list a R3,309 incl. VAT relocation fee, subject to a coverage/capacity check at the new address. If new infrastructure is needed, further installation/clawback charges may apply and a new agreement term can start.
- Installation is more permanent than LTE/5G. They install an outdoor receiver/antenna, cabling, PoE equipment and normally drill into the property. MTN specifically says property-owner/landlord consent is required.
- It really is uncapped. The AirFibre-specific T&Cs state there is no Fair Usage Policy and no traffic shaping; MTN's current product page also describes it as uncapped, unshaped and unthrottled. That's considerably better than many "uncapped" LTE/5G packages with FUP thresholds.
- The advertised speed is not guaranteed. MTN calls it a "best effort" service. On the R499 plan, 80/25 Mbps is the maximum package speed; actual performance can vary with network capacity and environmental conditions.
- Coverage on the website isn't final approval. MTN says AirFibre availability is verified after the order and installation is subject to network coverage and technical feasibility at the exact property.
- R499/month isn't necessarily guaranteed forever. AirFibre incorporates MTN's Subscriber Agreement, which allows MTN to change charges with advance notice.
Yeah I went through the terms and also screnshot it.
Seems more than fair. 12 month cancellation fee seems standard. On fibre it's usually around R1000 within 6 months to 12 months so not that out of the ordinary.
So hopefully it works for me then I will keep it for at least 12 months.
William1102
Expert Member
Would like to see ping, routing and speeds
Routing is going to be pretty much same as MTN mobile as they use Bayobab but yes since I'm in PTA it would probably go Randburg or Germiston and from there on to the internet.
Will see what happens Sunday I guess.
The MTN guys are here and unfortunately the tower that I thought was the one is not a Tarana tower.
The MTN tower is a bit further away but signal stats are still good. 29.4/30 so basically full signal.
The MTN tower is a bit further away but signal stats are still good. 29.4/30 so basically full signal.
So far looking good. They managed to get the signal stats to 29.6/30 which is the best they could get it. They did a speedtest with the guest/test account and got 820Mbps download and 110Mbps upload.
I took the cheapest packages for now so my speeds are as expected.
I'm like 400m from the tower with some trees in the way.
Attachments
It's pretty decent. The lowest local latency from PTA(premise) to JHB is 10ms. Probably wireless adding the extra latency. I'm ~400m from the tower and no clear LOS.
Very stable and getting my max speeds on pretty much everything.
Routing is MTN so you either go via London or Amsterdam for all international which is fine. Instead of getting like 169ms to london I get around 179ms due to the little bit extra last mile latency which seems fne.
It took them about 2 hours from start to finish a they were doing signal tests first which takes some time.
Overall pretty decent and the MTN guys are pretty decent we had a nice conversation. They do about 3 to 4 installs a day of this Air Fibre.
They say it's especially popular in townships with no fibre or ones with fibre but Vuma Reach as this is cheaper so it's very popular.
So for me time will tell how reliable it is but I expect it to be very good in general because the entire area has fibre with MetroFibre and Openserve so the uptake in my area and specifically this tower will probably be very low.
Very stable and getting my max speeds on pretty much everything.
Routing is MTN so you either go via London or Amsterdam for all international which is fine. Instead of getting like 169ms to london I get around 179ms due to the little bit extra last mile latency which seems fne.
It took them about 2 hours from start to finish a they were doing signal tests first which takes some time.
Overall pretty decent and the MTN guys are pretty decent we had a nice conversation. They do about 3 to 4 installs a day of this Air Fibre.
They say it's especially popular in townships with no fibre or ones with fibre but Vuma Reach as this is cheaper so it's very popular.
So for me time will tell how reliable it is but I expect it to be very good in general because the entire area has fibre with MetroFibre and Openserve so the uptake in my area and specifically this tower will probably be very low.
It's a Tarana G1 POE node. I didn't get the specs of it before they mounted it but here is the info
Tarana G1 6GHz Remote Node (RNv) | TAR-G1-RNV-6G
Tarana G1 6GHz Remote Node (RNv) with mount and PoE injector included for reliable, high-performance fixed wireless broadband.
miro.co.za
DTBA
Executive Member
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2011
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- 5,509
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- 888
Pretty good range. The priceIt's a Tarana G1 POE node. I didn't get the specs of it before they mounted it but here is the info
Tarana G1 6GHz Remote Node (RNv) | TAR-G1-RNV-6G
Tarana G1 6GHz Remote Node (RNv) with mount and PoE injector included for reliable, high-performance fixed wireless broadband.
Used a github app to capture the pppoe username and password. Reset the router and reconfigured it now. Now I have full access to the router to change my wifi name, password and forward ports because you get a public wan IP which is nice.
App link please
App link please
GitHub - guillermodotn/pppoe-retriever: A tool to extract PPPoE credentials from ISP-locked routers.
A tool to extract PPPoE credentials from ISP-locked routers. - guillermodotn/pppoe-retriever
github.com
Also seems this step is pointless because once they mark the order as complete you get an email with the pppoe username and password anyways.