ADSL vs Mobile broadband prices in SA

If you get a stand-alone ADSL service from Telkom you have to a pay a minimum monthly subscription of R331.50 before you can download a single megabyte of data.

The cost of an ADSL subscription from a consumer perspective can be broken into three categories: ADSL access, ADSL account, and phone line rental.

But what if you don’t want a landline phone?

Tough. If you want ADSL, you’ll be paying Telkom for the phone line as well.

The monthly fee for that phone line is set to increase to R166.50 per month on 1 August 2014 (up from R157).

Telkom has been asked on many occasions why it doesn’t split its telephone and broadband services to offer so-called “naked ADSL”, to which the company usually responds with an explanation of what it calls its “access line deficit”.

In essence, Telkom says that it actually makes a loss on phone line rentals, which it needs to make up through its other fees (and, by implication, through forcing ADSL subscribers to also pay the phone line rental fee).

The base price of ADSL

What this means is that the R331.50 price mentioned at the start of this article includes 2 Megabit per second (Mbps) ADSL access for R165 per month, and analogue telephone line rental for R166.50 per month.

Some Internet service providers offer slightly cheaper ADSL access fees, but none of the discounts available are large enough to bring your total monthly subscription for a basic ADSL service to under R300 per month.

This goes up to over R400 per month if you want a 4Mbps ADSL service.

Compare this to Telkom Mobile’s Go 10Gigs Big promotion, where you can get 10GB of data to use on their 3G network (with an additional 10GB of “midnight data”) for R299 per month.

ADSL vs 3G in South Africa

The graph and table below show how mobile broadband prices compare to 2Mbps and 4Mbps ADSL access fees, to see at what point it becomes worthwhile to invest in a DSL connection.

ADSL prices are highlighted to set them apart from the mobile broadband prices.

2Mbps, 4Mbps ADSL base prices versus mobile broadband

Disregarding once-off costs such as modems, as well as installation and SIM activation fees, the above graph and table indicate that ADSL only becomes cost-effective when you consume a half-decent amount of data every month.

If all you need is 15GB or less and you’re in a Telkom Mobile coverage area, you may be better off with one of their promotional offerings such as the Go 10Gigs Big 24 month contract, or the 15GB SmartInternet Promo.

Even the non-promotional 5GB contracts from Cell C, MTN, and Vodacom cost less than a 2Mbps+5GB ADSL bundle would cost.

Afrihost’s mobile data deals also offer great value for money compared to ADSL, especially if you consider that they are available on a month-to-month basis, much like ADSL.

One concern about wireless broadband (including mobile broadband) in general is that your connection and data throughput may not be as stable as a fixed-line connection.

While 3G speeds are not always as predictable as ADSL, the MyBroadband Speed Test site shows that Telkom Mobile’s average download speeds are around 3.2Mbps.

Under the right circumstances, 3G speeds can be in excess of 10Mbps.

That said, even if 3G speeds are not a worry in your area, one place where ADSL shines is in high-usage situations.

If you need more than 15GB per month, or an uncapped connection, mobile prices still can’t hold a candle to ADSL.

More ADSL and mobile broadband news

Telkom’s new prices unveiled

Your new ADSL bill from 1 August 2014

Telkom line rental price increase

New Telkom ADSL prices

Afrihost mobile data promotion: good and bad news