Free Internet speed upgrades during lockdown in South Africa – All the details

South African Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and fibre network operators are working together to upgrade Internet speeds for free during the national lockdown in South Africa.

Vumatel first announced that it would upgrade the line speeds of existing users on its fibre network at no additional cost from 1 April until 31 May 2020.

To further assist ISPs, Vumatel and its interconnect partner have agreed to increase the bandwidth capacity of Network to Network Interface (NNI) at no additional charge for March, April, and May.

Other fibre network operators followed Vumatel’s example. Frogfoot said fibre-to-the-home customers will receive a free upgrade between 1 April 2020 and 30 June 2020.

The line speeds of current customers will automatically be increased from 1 April, while new customers will benefit from this speed upgrade from when their service goes live.

Link Africa also upgraded its fibre line speeds between 17 March 2020 and 17 July 2020 through participating ISPs.

MetroFibre has remotely upgraded its subscribers’ FTTH packages with a bandwidth increase to help cope with increased daily demand.

The upgrade will be at no cost to subscribers and will be in effect for two months from today, ending on 25 May.

MyBroadband asked Openserve whether it would offer free speed upgrades for customers, but the company did not respond.

Participating ISPs

South Africa’s largest ISPs, including Afrihost, Axxess, Webafrica, Cool Ideas, RSAWEB, Vox, and MWEB, all confirmed they would offer speed upgrades to their subscribers.

Afrihost told MyBroadband that it is finalising the logistics with fibre providers and that their clients should look out for communication regarding the upgrades.

Cool Ideas informed their subscribers that they will be offering them double their normal Internet speed during the lockdown.

“We believe that this will assist with the higher Internet demand families face during this period when adults work from home, and the kids are busy streaming movies,” Cool Ideas said.

Axxess informed its subscribers that its free Vuma Fibre upgrades will be effective between 1 April and 31 May.

Line speeds will be doubled, with all 4Mbps, 8Mbps, and 10Mbps subscribers receiving 20Mbps lines during the period.

The tables below provide an overview of the speed upgrades which subscribers can expect from their ISPs.

Now read: Free Vumatel fibre speed upgrades