Rain hikes prices and removes streaming limits

Rain has increased prices and removed streaming quality limits on several of its uncapped 4G and 5G products.

The mobile network operator sent messages to customers over the weekend, informing them of the price changes made “in line with inflation”.

Rain told MyBroadband the changes would reflect on existing customers’ December invoices for their November services.

The updated fees have been live on Rain’s website for new customers since Saturday, 1 October 2022.

The price differences from the old packages range between R15 and R40, equating to increases of 4%–7%.

The company’s popular uncapped 24/7 4G for any device now costs R499, a R20 increase from the previous price of R479.

While this package’s maximum download and upload speeds have been kept at 10Mbps, the much-criticised 360p streaming cap has been removed.

Many users have complained about this limit since Rain first introduced it, as 10Mbps is sufficient for streaming full HD quality video on services like YouTube and Netflix.

Rain told existing customers on this package that they could now choose the quality of their stream.

It did not specify a new streaming cap, suggesting the quality would now be determined by the connection’s performance.

Rain’s off-peak 4G package price has increased from R250 to R265, while its 4G for phones product is now R319 per month, up from R299. The latter also sees its 360p video streaming quality limit scrapped.

The only package not getting a price increase is the 5G Premium service, which remains R999 per month.

The entry-level 5G offering — Rain 5G Basic — will now go up to a speed of 30Mbps, compared to the previous 25Mbps.

Although a streaming upgrade was not explicitly mentioned, the previous 720p (HD) streaming cap is also absent from Rain’s marketing material.

One MyBroadband forum member with a Basic package confirmed he was able to stream at 4K resolution following the change.

Rain’s 5G Standard package speeds have been bumped from 50Mbps to 60Mbps with “upgraded” streaming quality, although the company does not explain the nature of this upgrade.

Previously, this package was throttled to 1080p (Full HD) quality on one device.

The table below summarises the old and new features and prices of Rain’s 4G and 5G packages.

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