Impact of Eskom power cuts on 5G vs fibre

[Jan]

5G vs fibre during Eskom power cuts in South Africa

While 5G broadband products are now available to many households in South Africa, consumers should be aware the technology is not as resistant to load-shedding as fibre.

Three mobile network operators are offering uncapped or high-cap fixed-5G products in the country — MTN, Vodacom, and Rain.

 

[TofuMofu]

MTN, Cell C and Telkom are dead when the power goes down in my area. Don't have a Vodacom SIM to check.

Luckily I have fibre connectivity that's always on during loadshedding (except that one time RSAWEB screwed up their backup power during Stage 6).

 

[Cumulus]

5G vs fibre during Eskom power cuts in South Africa

While 5G broadband products are now available to many households in South Africa, consumers should be aware the technology is not as resistant to load-shedding as fibre.

Three mobile network operators are offering uncapped or high-cap fixed-5G products in the country — MTN, Vodacom, and Rain.

As recent fibre converts we have not had any issues since installing FTTH. We have backup power, despite this the cell based service would fail shortly after a power cut. Fibre is better.

 

[McGuywer]

And Cell C? The Duracell AAA batteries they have does not work after 2minutes of loadshedding.

 

[*SynergyX*]

my rain 5g hasnt worked since october when i signed up.

 

[Yskasmetnstoof]

Also: a relatively cheap UPS ( round R1000) can keep fibre connection active (thus wifi in the house) during loadshedding. Rain routers, however, has a different voltage than most routers and cannot run off these small UPS's.

 

[noxibox]

Rain routers, however, has a different voltage than most routers and cannot run off these small UPS's.

Which Rain ones don't run on 12V and what voltage do they use instead?

 

[itareanlnotani]

And Cell C? The Duracell AAA batteries they have does not work after 2minutes of loadshedding.

Not the cellphone companies fault, they do install batteries, then those batteries get stolen.

Blame criminals.

 

[AstroTurf]

5G vs fibre during Eskom power cuts in South Africa

From someone who lives in a place where there is no fibre and likely will not be fibre for at least the next decade I will say Vodacom (LTE/4g as 5g will also take a very long time to arrive here due to population density) do a very very good job 95% of the time.

We are on the edge of the towers range but even with extended power outages (days sometimes) we still have reliable signal.

My neighbours have tried MTN and telkom in the past and some still stubbornly hang on, better signal when there is power, zero signal when there is not.

 

[McGuywer]

Also: a relatively cheap UPS ( round R1000) can keep fibre connection active (thus wifi in the house) during loadshedding. Rain routers, however, has a different voltage than most routers and cannot run off these small UPS's.

I use this:

Takealot

The Rain outdoor unit actually wants 19v but works fine on 15v
I run a Rain Outdoor CPE, Mikrotik and Unifi AP from this. Lasts about 6 hours.

Which Rain ones don't run on 12V and what voltage do they use instead?

The outdoor units want 19v.
As above, I run mine on 15v.

 

[McGuywer]

Not the cellphone companies fault, they do install batteries, then those batteries get stolen.

Blame criminals.

That is not really my argument here. I need to take some time and port away from Cell C to a network that keeps the connection up during loadshedding. I understand the "cellphone companies" do what they can but still, Cell C doesn't really have a major benefit or advantage over other "cellphone companies".

 

[tbzmike]

I never run of out coverage on my R999 5g in my area, since not all towers switch off during various stages of loadshedding, one or two is always there to connect me, up to 4km away,
I might be paying more than most fibre users but it's very much worth it, 380 to 400 Mbps download speeds and 80mbps uploads, 9ms (coverage dependant) latency, I bet I would pay way more on fibre with uncapped 5g speeds
I use the Ellies power inverter 700watts to keep my internet 24 hours running