Did you end up pulling the trigger?
-
Join the MyBroadband community
South Africa’s biggest forum. Discuss, discover, and connect with thousands of members.
-
Question of the Day: Which is the most hair-raising South African mountain pass you've driven?
2TB Anytime data
- Thread starter coolp
- Start date
Did you end up pulling the trigger?
ajax
Executive Member
Not until BF end of November. Keeping all my options open.
ajax
Executive Member
Pulled the trigger on this today, pity it did not feature for BF.
Still early but I did see some cell IDs pop up on my Huawei B618s-65d that I did not see before on the 180+180, and these towers' performance were abysmal, i.e. SINR of -3dB, yes, that is negative SINR. Will keep an eye, maybe just bad luck. Fortunately it's month-to-month. If this does not work, I will go back to fibre. (Would need something else then that's portable and big data).
The data multisim I had on the 180+180 got deactivated
but I expected as much. You can however transfer 1 GB per day to a prepaid sim (limited to 10 GB per month).
Still early but I did see some cell IDs pop up on my Huawei B618s-65d that I did not see before on the 180+180, and these towers' performance were abysmal, i.e. SINR of -3dB, yes, that is negative SINR. Will keep an eye, maybe just bad luck. Fortunately it's month-to-month. If this does not work, I will go back to fibre. (Would need something else then that's portable and big data).
The data multisim I had on the 180+180 got deactivated
but I expected as much. You can however transfer 1 GB per day to a prepaid sim (limited to 10 GB per month).Forum Reader
Expert Member
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2019
- Messages
- 1,975
- Reaction score
- 1,451
Is there a problem with this package currently? Since last night I'm losing connection after a few minutes. Restarting the router fixes it for a little while but then I lose connection again.
Meanwhile the Vodacom data contract I cancelled just over a month ago, that supposed to be cut off last night, is still working:
Meanwhile the Vodacom data contract I cancelled just over a month ago, that supposed to be cut off last night, is still working:
ajax
Executive Member
Where are you located? I've had issues since last night (Stellenbosch). Disconnections, reconnect but then sporadically working, some sites not opening.
Seems to be a bit better this morning.
Note I tested with a prepaid sim too and that had the same issues.
So I don't think it's just on the 2 TByte package.
Forum Reader
Expert Member
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2019
- Messages
- 1,975
- Reaction score
- 1,451
ajax
Executive Member
Working nicely since I got it a few days ago. Cannot see any difference in performance between this package and my 180+180.Pulled the trigger on this today, pity it did not feature for BF.
Still early but I did see some cell IDs pop up on my Huawei B618s-65d that I did not see before on the 180+180, and these towers' performance were abysmal, i.e. SINR of -3dB, yes, that is negative SINR. Will keep an eye, maybe just bad luck. Fortunately it's month-to-month. If this does not work, I will go back to fibre. (Would need something else then that's portable and big data).
The data multisim I had on the 180+180 got deactivated
I am able to avoid the bad SINR tower by locking my Huawei B618s-65d to band 1800+2100 MHz with upload set to 2100 MHz using the Huawei band tool.
EDIT: Correction, the bad SINR was due to the tower going down. Went down again briefly just now. None of my band changes helped. 3G was also very poor. Confirmed with another router and prepaid sim and it had the same poor performance. Back up now.
Last edited:
Forum Reader
Expert Member
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2019
- Messages
- 1,975
- Reaction score
- 1,451
Does Telkom still offer this contract or are there better deals? I can't see this on their site anymore. I'm still on this but my contract has ended so I'm on month to month. It costs R779pm.
Not sure what else would be better. I tend to use around 500GB per month at most. It's my primary/only connection now. I expect to be moving and will have fibre from December. So just need something usable till then.
I tried Rain and MTN supersonic a few years ago but those were terrible so I had to return the sim and device (think around 2021).
Not sure what else would be better. I tend to use around 500GB per month at most. It's my primary/only connection now. I expect to be moving and will have fibre from December. So just need something usable till then.
I tried Rain and MTN supersonic a few years ago but those were terrible so I had to return the sim and device (think around 2021).
ajax
Executive Member
Very interesting, it looks like they updated their site today (16th Feb).
The 2TB used to be under "see all LTE solutions". It was still there about 2 weeks ago when I was scratching around on their site.
Now I could not find it.
Using AI search to get the direct link, gives a 404.
I took the 2TB month-to-month sim-only in December 2025 and pay R699. Maybe you could just call them and ask to "update" your contract to sim-only? Else I would say you should be eligible for a new router.
There is another provider still offering this at R699, well at least according to their site, but they probably just resell... https://www.dsltelecom.co.za/telkomlte
I'm in the same boat as you. I use about 500 GB per month and love the mobility of the connection. Also transferring data to my family's dual sim phones.
But I am leaning towards one of the Cool Ideas Vodacom 5G packages.
The 2TB used to be under "see all LTE solutions". It was still there about 2 weeks ago when I was scratching around on their site.
Now I could not find it.
Using AI search to get the direct link, gives a 404.
I took the 2TB month-to-month sim-only in December 2025 and pay R699. Maybe you could just call them and ask to "update" your contract to sim-only? Else I would say you should be eligible for a new router.
There is another provider still offering this at R699, well at least according to their site, but they probably just resell... https://www.dsltelecom.co.za/telkomlte
I'm in the same boat as you. I use about 500 GB per month and love the mobility of the connection. Also transferring data to my family's dual sim phones.
But I am leaning towards one of the Cool Ideas Vodacom 5G packages.
Forum Reader
Expert Member
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2019
- Messages
- 1,975
- Reaction score
- 1,451
Those Cool Ideas packages look decent enough, especially since they're month to month. Has anyone here used them before?
I'm considering the R359pm package. Seems like I have coverage. 50Mbps will be faster than my Telkom 2TB package. I rarely ever get more than 20Mbps.
Yup I'm using this package. Just get it as a short term solution. Not location locked & not speed locked. I can pull 250mbps download up to 400mbps in early hours of the morning.
What iv heard also is not capped.
Also using one of the Cool Ideas Vodacom packages. Definitely one of the most affordable 5G options at the moment particularly if you want an unlocked 5G router. The router discount ends at the end of the month if you are still on the fence. You can choose between Vodacom and MTN.
ajax
Executive Member
I also get around 20 Mbit/sec. I think my tower is quite busy during the day. At 3am I get 120 Mbit/sec then from about 5h30 it starts to slow down gradually to around 15-20 Mbit/sec. Strangely, it picks up after 17h30 so that in evening peak I get around 30 Mbit/sec. So it seems many people are using this package for work like I do.
Since I have to send large files quite often, I can say at least my upload has been constant at 20 Mbit/sec regardless of time of day.
My connection has been very stable. No drop-outs for weeks. No break-ups during Teams calls which are very important for my work.
Not sure what to do now. If I cannot get this package back after downgrading/cancelling...
Think you should move your router to a better location.
Forum Reader
Expert Member
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2019
- Messages
- 1,975
- Reaction score
- 1,451
I ordered the Cool Ideas 50Mbps 450GB FUP. Will be picking it up tomorrow and testing till the end of the month. If it works fine I'll end my Telkom 2TB package.
The Telkom 2TB is still fine but I never use that much data. If the Cool Ideas 50Mbps works, I'll save about R4k till the end of the year.
Last edited:
ajax
Executive Member
Already did.
It improved my upload from around 10 Mbit/sec to 20 Mbit/sec.
But download speed did not improve much.
Congrats let us know how it goes.
A cool feature of this ZTE router is that it supports bridge mode.
So you can connect another internet connection to the router on the WAN port. It will the share both the 5G connection and other internet connection you added and output one. (Speed increase)
Forum Reader
Expert Member
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2019
- Messages
- 1,975
- Reaction score
- 1,451
Congrats let us know how it goes.
A cool feature of this ZTE router is that it supports bridge mode.
So you can connect another internet connection to the router on the WAN port. It will the share both the 5G connection and other internet connection you added and output one. (Speed increase)
Holy hell, first speedtest. I thought it would be capped at 50Mbps:
I've never had speeds anywhere close to these ever. My previous best speeds with Vodacom/Telkom were not even a 10th of these.
Not sure where/how to check how close I am to the 450GB FUP though. Can't see anything in the coolzone client area (website).
Last edited:
Incredible that's excellent speeds. Im sure you will be very happy now.
PS. That little router "For now" is not location locked will work across the country.
And some people say not capped either.