Most affordable uncapped 50Mbps Internet for people without fibre

Many South African households without fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connectivity in their area have plenty of uncapped Internet plans running on alternative broadband technologies at their disposal.

FTTH is generally considered the optimal connection type in terms of reliability, speed, and value for money.

However, many fixed-LTE, fixed-5G, and unlicensed spectrum fixed-wireless access (FWA) products offer similar performance at highly competitive prices.

Taken together, these technologies cover a much larger percentage of the population than FTTH.

FTTH has grown substantially in recent years to reach more than half the households in South Africa and has recently started expanding into less affluent areas.

However, many smaller towns, remote areas, and less wealthy neighbourhoods do not have fibre.

MyBroadband looked at some of the most affordable non-FTTH home broadband options available in November 2024, with speeds of up to 50Mbps.

This speed was chosen as many fibre network operators sell 40Mbps or 50Mbps packages as their entry-level products.

We found the most affordable package was available from Internet service provider RSAWeb, which was selling a 50Mbps fixed-LTE package running on MTN’s network for R345 per month.

As is the case with all fixed-LTE products, this comes with a fair usage policy (FUP) that throttles speeds after a certain amount of usage in the month.

Unlike FTTH, with vast capacity supported by fibre optic networks, mobile broadband relies on much more constrained radio frequency spectrum.

Cellular networks have to structure their uncapped plans to discourage excessive use, which could degrade the experience for heavier users.

In the case of this particular entry-level product, subscribers can only consume 100GB before their speed is throttled down to 2Mbps.

The same FUP applies to the 50Mbps MTN fixed-LTE package sold by Axxess, the second most affordable plan, priced at R369 per month.

For around R500, there are several other packages that offer more relaxed FUPs allowing for greater consumption before throttling.

For example, Vox’s MTN fixed-LTE 50Mbps package for R499 per month allows for up to 500GB consumption in a month before throttling speeds down to 1Mbps.

Its primary downside is that Vox charges R1,994 for a compatible router, about R500 more than RSAWeb and Axxess’ router prices.

Those who don’t want to be concerned about any speed throttling and want a router included with their package will have to spend over R500 per month.

The most affordable option with no FUP is a Supersonic Air Fibre 50Mbps package priced at R799 per month.

This product uses a system called Tarana Wireless and relies on a dedicated antenna installed on the customer’s roof, which transfers data to and from radio equipment on an MTN tower.

Air Fibre uses unlicensed Wi-Fi spectrum instead of relying on mobile network capacity, similar to what wireless Internet service providers offer.

According to Supersonic, its noise reduction tech can help ensure that users get a consistent throughput close to the advertised speed, whereas fixed-LTE and fixed-5G packages have “up to” a certain maximum speed.

Unfortunately, other fixed-wireless products are significantly more expensive than Air Fibre, with no 50Mbps packages available for under R1,000.

Below are the most affordable 50Mbps uncapped Internet packages available from major ISPs in South Africa.

It should be noted that several of the ISPs below also provide faster packages with more lenient FUPs at prices competitive to FTTH, but we focused on the most affordable 50Mbps plans in their product ranges.