Best 4G mobile speeds in Gauteng’s biggest shopping malls

MyBroadband tested Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, Telkom, and Rain’s 4G network performance in Gauteng’s biggest malls, and the results were mixed.

Vodacom was the best in Brooklyn Mall and Mall of Africa, Cell C was top in Menlyn, Centurion Mall, Eastgate, and Sandton City, and MTN was the best in Fourways Mall and Rosebank Mall.

For this testing, MyBroadband visited all the top shopping malls in Gauteng on 9 and 10 October 2024 and walked through them with two test benches.

For the 4G testing, MyBroadband used a test bench with five identical Samsung A34 5G smartphones.

These devices were locked to 4G technologies and below, which creates an accurate picture of the speeds the average consumer should be able to get.

Each phone in the test bench performed a speed test every minute using a custom version of the popular MyBroadband Speed Test App.

MyBroadband’s speed test servers are hosted in Teraco’s vendor-neutral data centres to ensure a neutral testing environment.

NAPAfrica provides all network operators at its peering points a free 10Gbps connection to the MyBroadband Speed Test platform.

This extensive testing enabled MyBroadband to get a clear view of the coverage and network performance inside the shopping malls.

While considering the results below it is important to keep in mind Cell C has network agreements with MTN and Vodacom.

Our tests were conducted as Cell C prepaid customers, which means we were using a network built and operated by MTN.

Cell C previously explained to MyBroadband that the deal means its customers can use all of its radio frequency spectrum and roam on MTN’s network when needed.

As part of the exchange, MTN gets access to a minority portion of Cell C’s spectrum to pool with its own.

Brooklyn Mall

Vodacom was the clear winner in Brooklyn Mall, with an average download speed of 121Mbps and an average upload speed of 26Mbps.

Telkom scored second place, while Cell C and MTN recorded nearly identical download speeds. MTN recorded double Cell C’s upload speed in the mall.

Menlyn

Cell C surprised us in Menlyn with the fastest average download speed of 85Mbps.

MTN came in second place with 83Mbps and recorded higher upload speeds of 15Mbps compared to Cell C’s 14Mbps.

Mall of Africa

Vodacom was the clear winner in Mall of Africa, with an average download speed of 51Mbps.

MTN and Cell C once again traded blows in the mall, with MTN having slightly higher download speeds and Cell C slightly higher uploads.

Rain was the only network that struggled for coverage inside Mall of Africa, completing significantly fewer tests than the rest.

Fourways Mall

MTN is the fastest 4G network in Fourways Mall by quite a stretch, recording an average download speed of 114Mbps and an average upload speed of 17Mbps.

Cell C took second place with 84Mbps, and Vodacom was third with 63Mbps.

Both networks recorded average upload speeds of 12Mbps.

Centurion Mall

Cell C surprised everyone by taking a clear lead in Centurion Mall, with an average download speed of over 100Mbps and an average upload speed of 27Mbps.

MTN is in a close second place with download and upload speeds of 96Mbps and 22Mbps, respectively.

Vodacom, Telkom and Rain lagged far behind with download speeds in the 20-30Mbps range.

Eastgate Mall

Cell C again took a clear win in Eastgate Mall, with a download speed of 46Mbps.

MTN came in second with a slightly higher upload speed of 9Mbps, with Vodacom in a comfortable third place.

Telkom struggled with coverage in Eastgate Mall, completing significantly fewer tests than the other networks.

Rosebank Mall and The Zone @ Rosebank

MTN and Cell C performed great in Rosebank Mall, with MTN recording slightly higher average download speeds.

Vodacom, Rain, and Telkom all performed poorly in comparison, with average speeds less than half of those of the top two in the mall.

Sandton City

Cell C took another win in Sandton City, handily beating MTN with an average download speed of 64Mbps compared to 55Mbps.

Vodacom was not far behind for third place with an average speed of 45Mbps.

All three networks had decent upload speeds of around 16Mbps.