Afrihost Vodacom Fixed 5G thread

@1am7h30n3: Many thanks for the feedback. Has your G5TS updated to the latest firmware ? I did post some details about this in the Cool Ideas 5G thread.

System > Device Information
Software Version: BD_ARBZAG5TSV1.0.0B03

Do you ever see download speed tests above 200Mbps ? I usually get a good C Grade when my speed tests are above 200+Mbps. My connection often slows down during Office Hours and web pages start to load in bursts and then my Bufferbloat performance starts to deteriorate to as low as an F Grade.

There is a large Office Park (+/-1000 staff ?) right next to the Vodacom tower in my suburb so I would guess that the tower gets quite busy during a normal work day.

Let us know if you notice any improvement in the future.

Here is one of my better speed tests for comparison (a good Bufferbloat C Grade) !

Screenshot_20251011-032625.png
 
Bufferbloat is based on the latency during active upload or download. The 39ms latency in my attached picture is for when the internet connection is not actively downloading or uploading data. The +269 ms latency while downloading is what causes bufferbloat.

If you are getting an F even on fiber at work, that means your active download or upload latency is above 400 ms.

I used rain 5g for the below picture. Was considering the Vodacom Fixed 5G from axxess but it seems like All 5g internet suffers from bufferbloat.

Screenshot 2025-10-17 at 08.02.06.pngScreenshot 2025-10-17 at 08.08.15.png
 
Jake45 said:
@1am7h30n3: Many thanks for the feedback. Has your G5TS updated to the latest firmware ? I did post some details about this in the Cool Ideas 5G thread.

System > Device Information
Software Version: BD_ARBZAG5TSV1.0.0B03

Do you ever see download speed tests above 200Mbps ? I usually get a good C Grade when my speed tests are above 200+Mbps. My connection often slows down during Office Hours and web pages start to load in bursts and then my Bufferbloat performance starts to deteriorate to as low as an F Grade.

There is a large Office Park (+/-1000 staff ?) right next to the Vodacom tower in my suburb so I would guess that the tower gets quite busy during a normal work day.

Let us know if you notice any improvement in the future.

Here is one of my better speed tests for comparison (a good Bufferbloat C Grade) !

View attachment 1856250
Click to expand...
I think you should try using an openwrt router to enable Smart Queue Management (SQM). That seems to be the best opption for 5G internet connections, when it comes to Bufferbloat.
 
Jake45 said:
@1am7h30n3: Many thanks for the feedback. Has your G5TS updated to the latest firmware ? I did post some details about this in the Cool Ideas 5G thread.

System > Device Information
Software Version: BD_ARBZAG5TSV1.0.0B03

Do you ever see download speed tests above 200Mbps ? I usually get a good C Grade when my speed tests are above 200+Mbps. My connection often slows down during Office Hours and web pages start to load in bursts and then my Bufferbloat performance starts to deteriorate to as low as an F Grade.

There is a large Office Park (+/-1000 staff ?) right next to the Vodacom tower in my suburb so I would guess that the tower gets quite busy during a normal work day.

Let us know if you notice any improvement in the future.

Here is one of my better speed tests for comparison (a good Bufferbloat C Grade) !

View attachment 1856250
Click to expand...
Yes I always speedtest above 200mbps download, it was 244mbps when I got the F grade on bufferbloat test.

I'll have a look to see what software version I'm on when I get a chance (at the office now).

dee rage said:
I think you should try using an openwrt router to enable Smart Queue Management (SQM). That seems to be the best opption for 5G internet connections, when it comes to Bufferbloat.
Click to expand...
I have a router that will become spare/unused from the end of this month that seems like it will support openWRT. I plan to test bufferbloat when using it in front (or behind?) my 5G router. It's going to be a bit of a longer term project though, I have to wait for the router to become unused and then figure out how to load openWRT to it, then how to configure openWRT, etc.
 
@dee rage: Many thanks for the feedback from Rain. Do you get that 450+Mbps consistently or does it fluctuate considerably? Have you tried an OpenWRT router on your Rain connection ?

I might implement this in the future but I'm not sure how much improvement it will make when the speeds deteriorate.
 
Jake45 said:
@dee rage: Many thanks for the feedback from Rain. Do you get that 450+Mbps consistently or does it fluctuate considerably? Have you tried an OpenWRT router on your Rain connection ?

I might implement this in the future but I'm not sure how much improvement it will make when the speeds deteriorate.
Click to expand...
It fluctuates big time, sometimes its 500+mbps, but most of the time it averages 200+mbps download. The upload also fluctuates from 15+mbps to 50mbps, never goes above 50mbps on the upload.

I plan on buying a Cudy M3000 router to install openwrt on black friday next month. I do have a TP-link router that has Quality of service (QOS) which is like SQM from openwrt but only works on the upload latency. When I use the TP-link in front of the rain 5G to decrease bufferbolat, I get 30ms for the active upload always. But the download still has bufferbloat.
Screenshot 2025-10-17 at 08.48.05.png
 
@dee rage: OK seems a bit more consistent than my connection !

You might be able to get a coupon from Amazon to use on the M3000 router. Last month I got R250 off my first app purchase using the SPRING250 coupon. They may offer something similar this month.

Cudy M3000 Dual Band 3000 Mbps Multi-Gigabit Mesh Wi-Fi 6 Router : Amazon.co.za: Electronics

Cudy M3000 Dual Band 3000 Mbps Multi-Gigabit Mesh Wi-Fi 6 Router : Amazon.co.za: Electronics
www.amazon.co.za

Let us know if you manage to get a noticeable improvement.
 
Mine running via UniFi router (Definitely can do better need to tweak upload limit)

I do regularly get way above 250mbps but limited it to 150mbps for better stability.

1760699591172.png

Edit: Improved on the upload (all these tests are done in an office with 15 PCs connected and mobile phones
1760700115022.png
 
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dee rage said:
I think you should try using an openwrt router to enable Smart Queue Management (SQM). That seems to be the best opption for 5G internet connections, when it comes to Bufferbloat.
Click to expand...

Opnsense, pfSense or Mikrotik also have the right queueing protocols to fix buffer bloat. Don't forget however that you have to sacrifice some of your throughput in order for the queue management to be effective. Typically 85% of your throughput is recommended. So if you have a 500Mbps line, set the max limit to 425Mbps, etc. If your 5G maxes out at 200Mbps on average then set it to 170. From my experience the performance increase and stability you get from fixing buffer bloat is well worth the sacrifice in throughput. I would rather have a slower connection with excellent latency than a faster connection with latency that is all over the place.
 
Just received my Vodacom SIM card this afternoon to use as a backup LTE connection for my fibre. It's been about 45 minutes now and the sim still won't connect. I've changed the APN to "afrihost" but so far nothing. Anyone else experience the same?
 
deweyzeph said:
Just received my Vodacom SIM card this afternoon to use as a backup LTE connection for my fibre. It's been about 45 minutes now and the sim still won't connect. I've changed the APN to "afrihost" but so far nothing. Anyone else experience the same?
Click to expand...
Hi.
Is the SIM connected now?
 
deweyzeph said:
Just received my Vodacom SIM card this afternoon to use as a backup LTE connection for my fibre. It's been about 45 minutes now and the sim still won't connect. I've changed the APN to "afrihost" but so far nothing. Anyone else experience the same?
Click to expand...
I ordered the 10Mbps 5G option for R199 from Cool Ideas together with the discounted G5TS. The SIM card was already installed and I could access the internet as soon as the router had booted. Afrihost has a guide on using the G5TS with Vodacom, MTN and Telkom which might be helpful.
help.afrihost.com

How to manage the ZTE G5TS router | Help Center

How to manage the ZTE G5TS router
help.afrihost.com help.afrihost.com

Which package have you ordered ? What router are you using ? It will be interesting to see how much improvement you get using SQM.
 
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1am7h30n3 said:
The unused data at the end of a month is supposed to roll over for a month right? Did it work for other people? Mine didn't roll over any unused data that I can see. I'm on the 300Gb package and I started October with 300Gb.
Click to expand...
Well this month my unused data did roll over as expected. Great! I would say it was something related to the first month data, but another person I know had their data roll over on the first month correctly, so that doesn't tie up.
 
Afrigirl said:
Hi.

Please drop me a DM with your account details.
Click to expand...

Thanks to @Afrigirl for her help. My Vodacom sim is now working and the results are awesome:

18428331418.png



I haven't done any queue management yet, this is just a raw test. Got the sim in a TP-Link NX510v with a Poynting external antenna attached, and the TP-Link is connected to my Opnsense router as a failover WAN. I also don't have 5G in my area, so the router is only connected to 4G bands.
 
deweyzeph said:
Thanks to @Afrigirl for her help. My Vodacom sim is now working and the results are awesome:

18428331418.png



I haven't done any queue management yet, this is just a raw test. Got the sim in a TP-Link NX510v with a Poynting external antenna attached, and the TP-Link is connected to my Opnsense router as a failover WAN. I also don't have 5G in my area, so the router is only connected to 4G bands.
Click to expand...

We are still observing some issues with new simcards not activating properly. We are engaging with Vodacom on a permanent solution to this issue.
 
Restarted router. Some kind of update has been pushed to it as it now is Afrihost branded and it refuses to connect to the 5G network.
 
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