South Africa’s fastest mobile broadband speed tests of 2024 — Including one test over 1.3Gbps

The fastest mobile broadband download speed recorded in South Africa in 2024 was a blistering 1.3Gbps.

This honour goes to a Samsung Galaxy S21+, which reached this download speed on the Vodacom network in Noordwyk, Midrand.

To put this into perspective, while this is a ‘peak’ speed and was not necessarily maintained over an extended period, it is theoretically enough bandwidth to download a full HD movie (1.5GB) in under 10 seconds, or a 4K (20GB) movie in around two minutes.

This finding is based on data collected through South Africa’s most popular network speed test app, MyBroadband Speed Test, which is used by millions of South Africans annually.

MyBroadband Insights analysed millions of mobile broadband speed tests conducted throughout 2024 by real-world users across the country.

The benefit of this real-world data is that it gives a great idea of how South Africans experience mobile network connectivity in actual situations.

Users can check performance across metrics like download speeds, upload speeds, latency, and signal strength.

If you want to see how your area compares or test your own connection, the MyBroadband Speed Test app is ad-free and available for free download on Android and iOS.

A closer look at the data reveals that Samsung dominated the results, with every one of the top 20 peak mobile broadband speeds being recorded on Samsung smartphones or tablets.

Specifically, Samsung’s flagship S-series dominated, capturing the top five positions and 16 out of 20 in total.

18 of the top 20 peak speed test results were also accomplished on Vodacom’s Network. They were mostly across Gauteng, while the 16th and 17th places were in Bloemfontein and Krugersdorp, respectively.

Furthermore, the top three fastest download speeds of 2024 were all recorded in Noordwyk, Midrand and on the Vodacom network.

It is worth noting that this is in close proximity to the Vodacom Offices, where a lot of network testing is done.

These top three results were 1,300.9Mbps, 1,234.0Mbps, and 1,200Mbps — on a Samsung Galaxy S21+ (#1) and two Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s (#2 and #3).

MTN dominated in the Western Cape, as the only two top-20 speed tests from the region were on the MTN network. Both were in Table View, Cape Town.

Interestingly, a handful of non-flagship devices made it into the top 20.

This includes the Samsung Galaxy A34, the Samsung Galaxy A54, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE+, showing that fast network speeds are not only for elite, R30,000+ smartphones.

Mid-range devices are holding their own, and are even able to deliver gigabit-level network speeds in areas with good coverage.

The table below provides an overview of the top 20 speed test results recorded in South Africa in 2024.