Airmobile vs MTN performance

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nadeem_k

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Hi

I am comparing mtn to afrihost again. Is the performance the same? Same coverage for 5g, same overall network speed, etc
 
Please note that WiFi calling is not functional on Airmobile. As for the other aspects, I don't believe there's a significant difference, although you can anticipate better support from Afrihost.
 
So you do get 5g coverage on airmobile? Their support team were totally confused by my question
 
nadeem_k said:
So you do get 5g coverage on airmobile? Their support team were totally confused by my question
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Yes you do. I am generally connected to 5G on my S23FE. Speeds do vary upon location. At home in Centurion it goes up to 500mbps. At work in Sandton I am lucky to get to 100mbps.

It does not matter though. How much bandwidth do you need on your phone for regular usage?
 
nadeem_k said:
and any update on when international roaming will be active?
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None of the MVNO's offers international roaming, it is too much admin as you need to have roaming agreements with other out of country networks and that also costs money. That is why MVNO's costs in general are cheaper as they do not have all the spectrum licences and infrastructure needs etc.
 
nadeem_k said:
Cant the MVNO use the same network the MNO offers?
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Only in a perfect world. MTN does not allow MVNO's to use VoLTE VoWifi. It is a way to try and hamstring people to use their services instead of a MVNO
 
Interesting feedback from Afrihost

Hi Nadeem Airmobile sim is powered by MTN but the SIM is LTE-compatible, 5G is on the network pipeline
 
Got both Afrihost is slower, with more jumps from 5G to 4G.

Afrihost also no voice over LTE.
 
nadeem_k said:
Interesting feedback from Afrihost

Hi Nadeem Airmobile sim is powered by MTN but the SIM is LTE-compatible, 5G is on the network pipeline
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I am on AirMobile and get good 5G speeds.

Overkill and I have no need for 500mbps on my phone.

I feel the same about 1gbps fibre lines. It's a status symbol and not an actual need.
 
Can you summarise the comparison?

Which is cheaper for your xGB required per month?

Which is faster - 5G vs LTE etc?

Which did you choose?

For me, I'm on a data share MTN SIM- I'm convinced my ping and speed is slightly slower than the primary account holders experience even when in the same areas. I can only imagine an MVNO experience would be worse than straight MTN too?

That basically leaves price as the differentiation - how much cheaper should they be to justify the switch??

If I wasn't sharing an MTN Black Friday deal I'd probably be with Airmobile...

I've been asking Afrihost why they don't launch a version of Telkom's Fusion (Fibre + Mobile Bundle) - no adequate response to that yet. That'd be a switch worth making!
 
Budza said:
For me, I'm on a data share MTN SIM- I'm convinced my ping and speed is slightly slower than the primary account holders experience even when in the same areas. I can only imagine an MVNO experience would be worse than straight MTN too?
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This could be the case. Your data share sim is probably running at the same priority that a prepaid sim would. The main sim is probably running at LTE QCI 7 which has a max latency of 100ms and the data share sim could be running at LTE QCI 8 which has a max latency of 300ms.

Wireless carriers prioritize customer's data depending on what type and how valuable of a customer they are. Police, security companies, ambulances, critical government workers, etc might have the highest priority. Customers on postpaid plans might be next. Prepaid right after. Then MVNOs after that.

The carriers view MVNOs as a way to monetize any excess network capacity so you will usually always have a lesser experience than a native. of course, this only really applies if you happen to be in an area that is congested though.
 
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