Fastest fixed Internet neighbourhoods in South Africa

Randpark Ridge in Gauteng boasts the fastest fixed broadband speeds in South Africa, according to research by Analytico.

The market research and network intelligence firm analysed thousands of Internet speed test results measured MyBroadband’s Speed Test platform in the third quarter of 2024.

The analysis used speed tests that were performed with users connected to Wi-Fi, which will mostly be when they are using a fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), fixed-LTE, or fixed-5G connection.

Analytico found that Randpark Ridge had the highest average download speeds of any neighbourhood in South Africa during the period, at 75.79Mbps.

The Randburg-based suburb is considered upmarket and is mostly made up of residential properties with a few commerce nodes.

The suburb’s proximity to the Randburg city centre and Sandton make it highly popular, although it has problematic rush-hour traffic.

Both of the country’s two biggest fibre network operators — Openserve and Vumatel — offer connectivity in the suburb.

That is likely to have contributed to its high placement, considering FTTH boasts high and consistent speeds at affordable prices.

Randpark Ridge just edged out Wierdapark in Centurion in download speeds.

The second-placed suburb in the City of Tshwane recorded 75.02Mbps as its average download speed.

However, Wierdapark’s average upload speed was higher than Randpark Ridge’s — at 53.27Mbps compared to 48.09Mbps.

Third-placed Noordwyk in Midrand had the highest upload speed of any neighbourhood in the top 10, at 76.72Mbps.

This was particularly noteworthy, considering its download speed was slower at 72.51Mbps.

The tight relationship between downloads and uploads suggests that the area has a high penetration of FTTH customers using symmetric connections.

In many cases, fixed-LTE and fixed-5G will have slower upload than download speeds.

Randpark Ridge also had substantially higher average latency than other neighbourhoods in the top 10.

Its 40.98ms was over double the average across the top 10.

Unlike download and upload speeds, higher latency is worse, as it means the travel time of data packets is slower.

That could suggest more residents in Randpark Ridge are using higher-latency broadband technologies such as fixed-wireless access or fixed-LTE. It could also be the additional latency caused by home Wi-Fi routers.

FTTH and fixed-5G typically have sub-20ms latency, although this can vary with the latter depending on connectivity strength.

40ms latency is still very usable, although it is not ideal for fast-paced online gaming where fractions of a second can mean the difference between winning and losing.

Gamers in Eldoraigne in Centurion have it really good in this regard, with the lowest average latency of 11.22ms.

42% download speed jump in two years

One noteworthy finding from the analysis was that there had been a drastic improvement in fixed Internet performance in South Africa over the past two years.

The average download speed of all top 10 neighbourhoods was 66.98Mbps, over 42% faster than the 47.08Mbps average in the third quarter of 2022.

The 10th-placed Milnerton Rural’s average download speed of 59.89Mbps was higher than the 53.03Mbps of the 1st-placed neighbourhood in Q3 2022.

Furthermore, average upload speeds had increased 18% from 45.89Mbps to 54.37Mbps, and average latency was slashed 38% from 32.67ms to 20.23ms.

Another interesting finding was that Noordwyk and Glen Marais in Kempton Park were the only two suburbs that had retained places in the top 10.

In addition, the analysis found that eight out of the ten fastest suburbs — including the entire top five – were in Gauteng.

Only two were outside the province — Claremont and Milnerton Rural — both of which are located in the Western Cape.

The table below shows the neighbourhoods with the fastest fixed broadband speeds in South Africa in Q3 2024.