Fake 5G router problem in South Africa

A MyBroadband investigation has found that the catalogues of several major online marketplaces in South Africa contain numerous routers falsely advertised with 5G capability.

We recently searched for the most affordable 5G routers in the country and came across interesting listings of such products priced at under R1,000.

Takealot, Amazon.co.za, Makro, and Bob Shop had dozens of routers with “5G” or “4G/5G” in their titles. Many of these products were portable or so-called Mi-Fi routers.

Two unfamiliar brands that frequently surfaced in the listings were “Set Out” and “Bvot.”

These products initially appeared to be great bargains, considering 5G routers were typically priced over R2,000 from reputable Internet service providers and mobile networks.

However, a closer inspection of the product descriptions revealed that all of the routers only supported 4G connectivity.

Most were listed with a maximum download speed of 300Mbps and upload speed of 150Mbps.

For reference, real 5G routers can support speeds in the thousands of Mbps.

For example, the ZTE MC801A, a popular model among local ISPs, supports download speeds up to 3,800Mbps (3.8Gbps) and upload speeds up to 542Mbps.

The speeds are also poor compared to the latest 4G routers, which can support download speeds of up to 1,200Mbps.

We also found it strange that some of the retailers seemed to give preference to these routers and buried actual 5G routers further down in their default sorting.

For example, out of the top 10 search results for “5G router” on Amazon.co.za, six listings were for routers falsely advertised as having 5G.

Three of the remaining routers did not support any type of mobile connectivity, although they did not advertise themselves with this feature.

The only listing for a real 5G router — the ZTE MC888D — was effectively demoted.

Shoppers could also not buy it directly from the listing and must click through several subsequent pages to add it to their cart.

Amazon disables the quick-buying button for listings that it determines are not competitively priced with other online stores.

Takealot also promoted one of the fake 5G routers in the sponsored section at the top of its search results.

Below are images showing examples of the listings of falsely-advertised 5G routers in the four retailers’ catalogues.

Amazon.co.za

Bob Shop

Makro

Takealot

Mobile 5G vs 5GHz Wi-Fi

We initially suspected the sellers might be getting away with using “5G” in the names of their products because the routers at least supported 5GHz Wi-Fi. However, they didn’t even support that.

Wireless routers in South Africa can transmit connectivity using the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency spectrum bands. These are open frequency bands that do not require a spectrum licence and are used for Wi-Fi connectivity worldwide.

2.4GHz supports greater coverage and better penetration through walls but at slower speeds, while 5GHz’s range is more limited and worse at penetrating through walls but offers faster speeds where there are few or no obstructions.

The ability to use two bands is called “dual-band” support.

Most modern routers from reputable brands — including affordable models commonly priced under R1,000 — support this.

The issue is that the industry has sometimes referred to 2.4GHz and 5GHz simply as “2.4G” and “5G” for short.

This clashes with the use of “G” to refer to a generation of mobile connectivity.

For example, second-generation cellular technology was dubbed “2G”, third-generation “3G”, and so on.

Despite this, many router manufacturers simply attach a “2.4G” and “5G” to the name of the Wi-Fi connections to allow users to distinguish between the two bands.

For example, a 2.4Gz Wi-Fi network with the name “MyBroadband” might be called “MyBroadband_2.4G” and the 5GHz network “MyBroadband_5G.”

While the former is not as problematic, considering 2.4G was never used to refer to mobile connectivity technology, the latter can create the false impression that a user is on a 5G mobile connection.

5GHz support also missing on most of the routers

We found that even the 5GHz defence was not valid for the routers in question, as they also lacked support for this Wi-Fi technology.

That means not only are buyers of these routers not getting 5G mobile connectivity, they are also receiving outdated Wi-Fi tech.

Whether a router supports 5GHz connectivity or not, advertising it with “4G/5G” in its title is misleading.

Using two terms related to mobile connectivity generations — one of which has only ever been used in this context — increases the likelihood of misleading customers.

MyBroadband notified the four retailers of the falsely advertised products on their marketplaces and asked whether they would be taking action against the sellers.

Amazon, Bob Shop, and Makro thanked MyBroadband for making them aware of the issue and said they were investigating.

Bob Shop operations manager Jacques Jordaan said the marketplace had promptly removed the listings and asked the sellers of the implicated products for clarification on the titles they used to describe the devices.

“Where necessary, we may request supporting documents such as proof of authenticity or proof of purchase to verify the product’s legitimacy,” said Jordaan.

“Regarding the confusion between ‘4G/5G’ and ‘2.4GHz/5GHz,’ our team will investigate further to determine if the mislabeling was an honest mistake.”

“Sellers will be given an opportunity to address the issue and amend their listings if appropriate.”

Jordaan added that Bob Shop had a dedicated team that actively monitored listings for inaccuracies or potentially fraudulent claims.

“Additionally, every product listing includes a visible option for users to report any issues, enabling the community to assist in identifying problematic content,” Jordaan said.

Makro said it was in the process of investigating the affected routers with the relevant third-party sellers.

“Appropriate action will be taken thereafter which may include removal of the products from sale and further action with sellers, where appropriate,” Makro said.

The retailer said all its third-party sellers agreed to its terms and conditions, which bound them to comply with all required and relevant regulations, including the Consumer Protection Act.

“Where we are made aware of concerns regarding the products listed on our platform by sellers, we investigate and remove or correct the listing,” Makro said.

Takealot said it conducted an internal investigation and confirm that the product listings were not accurate.

“As per our standard procedure, we have delisted these products and are engaging the relevant sellers on how to correct these listings before they would be allowed to trade them again,” Takealot said.

Takealot said it had a robust vetting process that all sellers went through before they could start trading.

“Sellers are required to provide certain documentation and information, which is checked and validated automatically using a matrix of databases,” the retailer said.

The vetting process is also designed to ensure that sellers have the correct certification and documentation to trade in a particular category.”

“If the seller does not pass the diligence and vetting process, they will not be able to trade on Takealot.”

Takealot said because many of its sellers were entrepreneurs and small businesses, it did allow for a margin of error to help them grow.

“However, any sellers who are found to purposefully or repeatedly try to mislead shoppers through inaccurate product listings on our platform are dealt with urgently and with the seriousness it deserves,” Takealot said.

“The processes we have in place are designed to avoid this from happening, however, on the rare occasion this happens, customers are able to return the product and will receive a full refund.”