{"id":85255,"date":"2013-08-26T23:00:01","date_gmt":"2013-08-26T21:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=85255"},"modified":"2013-08-27T08:36:46","modified_gmt":"2013-08-27T06:36:46","slug":"afrihost-mobile-tested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/reviews\/85255-afrihost-mobile-tested.html","title":{"rendered":"Afrihost Mobile tested"},"content":{"rendered":"

Afrihost<\/a> launched its first mobile data product on 20 August 2013, offering subscribers 5GB of mobile data for R145 per month on a month-to-month contract.<\/p>\n

To sweeten the deal, Afrihost threw in a free MiFi device for the 8,000 existing Afrihost clients who ordered the service on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

MyBroadband was also in the queue to receive Afrihost\u2019s newly launched mobile data product, and the company did not disappoint.<\/p>\n

Ordering and delivery<\/h3>\n

Ordering Afrihost\u2019s mobile data service over the Internet was easy \u2013 especially as an existing Afrihost client. The simple online forms made the process smooth and straight forward.<\/p>\n

MyBroadband received the Afrihost package a few days after ordering it. The package included the Afrihost branded Huawei Mobile Wi-Fi E5331 device and an MTN<\/a> SIM in Afrihost branding.<\/p>\n

The packaging and branding was professional, and although Afrihost uses an MTN SIM the strong branding made it clear that this was an Afrihost product.<\/p>\n

\"Afrihost<\/a>

Afrihost Mobile bag<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Afrihost<\/a>

Afrihost Mobile Huawei Wi-Fi device<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Afrihost<\/a>

Afrihost Mobile starter pack<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

RICA<\/h3>\n

One of the most unpleasant parts of purchasing a new mobile product in South Africa is the laborious RICA<\/a> process.<\/p>\n

To remove most of the frustration associated with RICA, Afrihost used the courier service which delivered the package to collect all the needed RICA forms.<\/p>\n

When the courier service arrives to deliver the package, they verify the ID documentation in person and collect a copy of the person\u2019s ID book and proof of residence.<\/p>\n

This means that Afrihost clients do not have to go to a cellular shop or another outlet to RICA their SIM.<\/p>\n

Using the service<\/h3>\n

To start to use the service was simple: put a SIM in the Huawei Mobile Wi-Fi E5331 device, put the battery in the device and switch it on.<\/p>\n

No PIN or any other setup steps were required. It connected to the MTN network, and Wi-Fi access was immediately available using the SSID and passphrase listed on the inside of the device.<\/p>\n

\"Afrihost<\/a>

Afrihost Mobile MiFi device<\/p><\/div>\n

Afrihost Mobile network performance<\/h3>\n

Afrihost uses MTN as its network provider, and testing Afrihost Mobile is therefore the same as testing MTN\u2019s network.<\/p>\n

The performance of any mobile network depends on many factors, including signal strength and the area in which the tests are performed.<\/p>\n

It is therefore advisable that potential users first investigate MTN\u2019s coverage in their area before ordering Afrihost\u2019s mobile data product.<\/p>\n

MyBroadband tested Afrihost\u2019s mobile data service in Centurion\/Midrand during business hours.<\/p>\n

Download speeds typically ranged between 2Mbps and 4Mbps to both South African and international locations.<\/p>\n

Upload speeds ranged between 0.8Mbps and 1.1Mbps, and again the server location did not make much of a difference.<\/p>\n

\"Afrihost<\/a>

Afrihost Mobile speed tests<\/p><\/div>\n

Local latency ranged between 150ms and 200ms, while international latency typically ranged between 350ms and 500ms.<\/p>\n

\"Afrihost<\/a>

Afrihost mobile latency<\/p><\/div>\n

Final thoughts<\/h3>\n

Afrihost Mobile\u2019s first data product is exactly what people want: affordable mobile data which works exactly as expected.<\/p>\n

Considering that it is Afrihost\u2019s first mobile data service, they have done well to iron out all possible bugs which could cause frustration to customers.<\/p>\n

Afrihost Mobile articles<\/h3>\n

Afrihost Mobile \u2013 the inside story<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Afrihost\u2019s R22 million mobile bet<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Afrihost mobile pricing benchmarked: how cheap is R29 per GB?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Afrihost Mobile: R29 per GB<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MyBroadband took Afrihost\u2019s new mobile data service for a spin, and the results were excellent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[1669,20917,35,42],"class_list":["post-85255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-afrihost","tag-afrihost-mobile","tag-headline","tag-mtn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85255"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85255"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85309,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85255\/revisions\/85309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}