Most popular router brands in South Africa

Asus, TP-Link, Tenda, and Cudy are among South Africa’s most popular router brands, with Asus and TP-Link maintaining a strong presence in the local market for years.

This is according to feedback from Wootware sales head Dimitri Mackor, who noted that the popularity of Tenda and Cudy routers shows a significant shift in customer preference in recent years.

Mackor explained that the most popular models from TP-Link and Asus offer mesh network technology, such as Asus’s AiMesh routers and TP-Link’s Deco series.

“Routers are typically long-term investments, and customers don’t often upgrade annually,” said Mackor.

“However, advancements like mesh systems, which address coverage gaps in homes, and the rising demand for higher internet speeds have kept router sales consistently strong.”

“Asus offers an excellent range of AiMesh routers, including models from their TUF series with AX capabilities. Similarly, TP-Link’s Deco series, particularly those featuring the latest Wi-Fi 7 technology, have gained popularity,” he added.

MyBroadband also asked Dreamware Tech and Titan-Ice for feedback, but they hadn’t answered our questions by publication.

In August 2024, two of the country’s most prominent ICT distributors — Nology and Pinnacle — told MyBroadband that brands like TP-Link, D-Link, Huawei, Zyxel, and ZTE were among the most popular in the country.

Pinnacle noted that TP-Link was the dominant router brand among its customers due to the balance between affordability and reliability for personal and small business users.

It added that Huawei is prominent in the telecoms sector, with its equipment offering advanced technology and having a strong presence in mobile broadband solutions, such as 5G-enabled routers.

Pinnacle said D-Link is relatively popular as it is user-friendly, and its routers offer high performance for home users and small businesses.

Nology said it observed continued high demand for TP-Link and Huawei, followed by Zyxel and ZTE.

Router trends in South Africa

Nology and Pinnacle outlined several significant developments over the past 10 years that influenced router preferences and demand in South Africa.

The gradual move from Wi-Fi 4 to Wi-Fi 5 provided support for higher speeds and more capacity, which was followed by the move to Wi-Fi 6 in recent years.

This was combined with the shift from copper-based connectivity, such as ADSL or VDSL, to fibre-to-the-home, offering much higher speeds and greater capacity.

This enabled households and businesses to connect more devices to their Wi-Fi networks without severely degrading performance.

According to Nology, the average number of Internet-connected devices in South African homes was three to four a decade ago. However, this has increased to 10 devices.

Pinnacle explained that router preference varies significantly for personal and business users.

It said home users prefer routers with more bandwidth to allow 4K streaming, online gaming, and video conferencing.

“This has led to the popularity of dual-band and tri-band routers, which offer better performance in congested networks,” said Pinnacle.

However, it noted that budget remains a critical factor for personal users.

It added that business users’ speed requirements have also shot up. Average business speeds previously ranged from 10 to 50Mbps, but they now often exceed 1Gbps.

This necessitates more powerful and scalable network equipment.

Pinnacle said both business and personal users have increased their focus on enhanced security features in networking equipment.

“There is a growing demand for routers with built-in security measures, such as malware protection, advanced encryption, and secure guest networks,” it said.

For businesses, security has become of paramount concern.

“The discovery of the KRACK vulnerability in WPA2 in 2017 highlighted the need for enhanced security, accelerating the transition to WPA3 protocols across the industry,” said Pinnacle.