DStv Premium vs Naked ADSL and Netflix

DStv has continued to lose Premium subscribers in South Africa as high-speed Internet becomes more affordable and the content selection on online streaming services become more attractive.

Many South Africans have cut the cord – stopping or downgrading their DStv Premium subscription in favour of taking out an uncapped Internet connection paired with a Netflix account.

This has historically been more difficult for ADSL customers to do, as they were paying for both their Internet package with their ISP and for telephone line rental from Telkom.

Following the long-overdue launch of naked ADSL in South Africa, however, customers with copper broadband no longer have to pay for a telephone line they do not use as part of their Internet package.

This has made the pricing of uncapped ADSL and VDSL packages far more competitive, and it may convince more DStv Premium subscribers in areas without fibre coverage to switch to online streaming services.

With an uncapped ADSL or VDSL package and Netflix subscription, users can stream content at home across multiple devices at will.

Netflix offers a ton of excellent series and movies for subscribers to enjoy, but it is important to note that it does not offer live sports, which is one of the biggest attractions of DStv Premium.

To determine whether it was cheaper to pay for a DStv Premium subscription or uncapped naked ADSL with Netflix, we compared the following products:

• DStv Premium + Access Fee
• DStv Compact Plus + Access Fee
• Netflix Standard + 10Mbps Uncapped ADSL
• Netflix Premium + 20Mbps Uncapped VDSL

DStv Premium vs Netflix

DStv Premium is the top package on the platform with 156 channels, while Compact Plus is the second-best offering and includes 142 channels.

The biggest difference between the two is that Compact Plus does not include the following “high-value” channels: SuperSport 1, 2, 5, 6; M-Net and M-Net Movies Premiere; and Bloomberg.

These channels are particularly valuable as they are among the most popular and air a selection of unique content.

Netflix Standard offers access to all the content on the platform, along with full HD streaming.

Netflix Premium adds support for UHD streaming resolution.

For this reason, you will need a faster connection to stream in UHD resolution and fully take advantage of Netflix Premium.

10Mbps ADSL will be more than enough to stream Full HD content, while a 20Mbps VDSL line will be sufficient to stream UHD content.

The table below details the monthly pricing of the packages, using DSL pricing on Openserve from Afrihost’s Pure DSL offering.

Now read: Concern over imminent ADSL shutdown in South Africa – What you need to know