Afrihost MTN Fixed LTE-A Thread

Yeah that will always remain a big issue with wired. There are far more areas and ways it can go wrong compared to wireless. At any given moment there are hundreds of areas where Fibre is down. It's a 24/7 maintenance job.

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@Afrigirl hope you’re keeping well 🙂

I sent you a PM regarding an ongoing Afrihost Fixed LTE MTN issue I’ve been struggling to resolve through support.

I’m trying to have my service restored to the tower closest to me, which I was previously connected to, but I’m now being forced onto a much further tower, resulting in significantly lower speeds.

My MTN mobile phone connects to the closest tower and consistently achieves 70–100 Mbps, confirming the tower is operational and providing LTE. My Fixed LTE service, however, is configured to a distant tower and only delivers 10–30 Mbps.

What’s been most frustrating is the inconsistent and contradictory explanations from multiple support agents. I’ve been told that:
  • The closer tower is not operational
  • The closer tower is 3G-only
  • LTE is only available on the distant tower
  • The fixed LTE router sim automatically connects to the “best” tower
All of these directly contradict real-world performance and tower data I’ve provided.

Much appreciated.
 
ibanez said:
@Afrigirl hope you’re keeping well 🙂

I sent you a PM regarding an ongoing Afrihost Fixed LTE MTN issue I’ve been struggling to resolve through support.

I’m trying to have my service restored to the tower closest to me, which I was previously connected to, but I’m now being forced onto a much further tower, resulting in significantly lower speeds.

My MTN mobile phone connects to the closest tower and consistently achieves 70–100 Mbps, confirming the tower is operational and providing LTE. My Fixed LTE service, however, is configured to a distant tower and only delivers 10–30 Mbps.

What’s been most frustrating is the inconsistent and contradictory explanations from multiple support agents. I’ve been told that:
  • The closer tower is not operational
  • The closer tower is 3G-only
  • LTE is only available on the distant tower
  • The fixed LTE router sim automatically connects to the “best” tower
All of these directly contradict real-world performance and tower data I’ve provided.

Much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Take it from someone that has spent a lot of time on cellmapper, locking my router to every single tower in the area. The router really does connect to the best tower available, and if it doesn't, then that tower isn't operational. It's as simple as that, whether MTN will fix it, is up to them. I have waited a full day and a half for MTN to fix the tower in my area, while I was stuck on 0.01 mbps (quite literally) with -105dbm. Afrihost is not trying to trick you
 
Anyone experiencing limited speeds? We were throttled last month from downloading games to play over the xmas period and hit 600gb for the month so had to enjoy super slow internet for xmas and NY.
However, new month now but today back to 8mbps speed on a 100mbps with 6mbps upload. There google data center or other issues about?
 
bradza said:
Anyone experiencing limited speeds? We were throttled last month from downloading games to play over the xmas period and hit 600gb for the month so had to enjoy super slow internet for xmas and NY.
However, new month now but today back to 8mbps speed on a 100mbps with 6mbps upload. There google data center or other issues about?
Click to expand...
FUP 1767646572792.png
 
bradza said:
Thanks, has it always been at 250gb or that something new the past few months? Only used 40gb though sofar... estimate for the month is a touch over 250gb... so the throttle operate on the prediction?
Click to expand...

Are you using LTE, or 5G?

It looks like the 250GB thing has been around since around July last year, since Afrinatic posted this in July.

AfriNatic said:
These will be the FUP for the uncapped packages. We will adjust them as needed but yeah the goal is to get clients off LTE and on to 5G as you may know that is what MTN said. Get your subscribers onto 5G asap.

Uncapped Thresholds and Throttling
  • 50Mbps - Subject to a monthly threshold of 150GB. Once you’ve reached your monthly data limit, your connection speed will be limited to 4Mbps for the remainder of the month.
  • 100Mbps
    • Once you reach 250GB usage, your connection speed will be limited to 20Mbps.
    • Once you reach 500GB usage, your connection speed will be limited to 10Mbps.
    • Once you reach the threshold of 1TB, your connection speed will be limited to 1Mbps for the remainder of the month.
  • Wireless Plus
    • Once you reach 250GB usage, your connection speed will be limited to 50Mbps.
    • Once you reach 500GB usage, your connection speed will be limited to 20Mbps.
    • Once you reach the threshold of 1TB, your connection speed will be limited to 4Mbps for the remainder of the month.
Click to expand...
 
Jason-ZA said:
Are you using LTE, or 5G?

It looks like the 250GB thing has been around since around July last year, since Afrinatic posted this in July.
Click to expand...
Bugger, thats just when I signed up, so I had probably read the FUP prev to that if that is the case? I'm using MTN Fixed LTE. Hmmm. But are they taking from the estimated? @Afrigirl this correct? Surely it should be from actual use?
 
bradza said:
Bugger, thats just when I signed up, so I had probably read the FUP prev to that if that is the case? I'm using MTN Fixed LTE. Hmmm. But are they taking from the estimated? @Afrigirl this correct? Surely it should be from actual use?
Click to expand...

Last year there was an article about MTN implementing a "safety net" where they throttle based on usage in a 30 day rolling window. Sounds like this is completely seperate to Afrihost's FUP, so there is both MTN & Afrihost's FUP to consider.

I think it only applies to LTE, and not 5G.

@cavedog explained it at the time: https://mybroadband.co.za/forum/thr...ling-fixed-lte-products.1322143/post-33979767
 
Last edited:
Jason-ZA said:
Last year there was an article about MTN implementing a "safety net" where they throttle based on usage in a 30 day rolling window. Sounds like this is completely seperate to Afrihost's FUP, so there is both MTN & Afrihost's FUP to consider.

I think it only applies to LTE, and not 5G.

@cavedog explained it at the time: https://mybroadband.co.za/forum/thr...ling-fixed-lte-products.1322143/post-33979767
Click to expand...

There are a lot of simcards on MTN safetynet throttle level 4 since the 1st if Jan and this is likely due to high network data usage over the festive season.
 
Yeah you signed up at the worst time. MTN is by far the worst to get for 4G right now because of their insane throttle policy.

We use to take it super slow using about 10-15Gb day between 4 people with 720p streaming with a 500GB FUP. Once we were near end of month, I'd grab a game or two off Steam. This type of usage is pointless now because of how their throttle policy works. I'm permanently getting 10mbit during the day so there is no longer an incentive to use the 500GB sparsely. I'm on 100mbit but I've not seen that since the Battlefield 6 Beta release.
 
HerZeLeiD said:
Yeah you signed up at the worst time. MTN is by far the worst to get for 4G right now because of their insane throttle policy.

We use to take it super slow using about 10-15Gb day between 4 people with 720p streaming with a 500GB FUP. Once we were near end of month, I'd grab a game or two off Steam. This type of usage is pointless now because of how their throttle policy works. I'm permanently getting 10mbit during the day so there is no longer an incentive to use the 500GB sparsely. I'm on 100mbit but I've not seen that since the Battlefield 6 Beta release.
Click to expand...
Skill issue
 
I have noticed all my fixed wireless services using previously approved LTE routers are no longer performing Carrier Aggregation, they stick to one band now, this is in different areas, some 200km apart.

However, when I put the SIM from any one of my fixed wireless LTE routers into a 5G approved router it performs Carrier Aggregation on LTE in the same area(s).

Seems MTN are forcing us to move to 5G routers now. Which is an expensive project when you have multiple services. It's really a dirty tactic.
 

Your SIM card has been permanently linked to your 4G router.​

As of 01 January 2026 MTN implemented a new rule. SIM cards used in 4G routers that are four years or older have been permanently linked to their current device.​

This means that if your SIM card is lost or damaged and requires replacement, your existing 4G router will no longer be able to reconnect to the MTN network using a new SIM. In this case, you would need to purchase both a new SIM card and a new router.

Because your current router is an older 4G model, now is an ideal time to upgrade to a device that provides faster, more stable and more reliable connectivity. Please visit our website if you wish to purchase a new 5G router.

@Afrigirl what is this please? Seems like a pretty poor taste way to force us to buy newer hardware?
 
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