Entry-level fibre price comparison — 8 providers compared

Several fibre network operators recently increased their entry-level prices, and MyBroadband analysed the tariffs at the top eight ISPs operating on the four largest open-access FNOs in the country.

Some fibre network operators (FNOs) also increased the line speeds of their entry-level packages to offer customers better value to go with the price hike.

We have collected the prices for entry-level 50Mbps lines (and similar speeds) from Axxess, Afrihost, Cool Ideas, Mweb, RSAWEB, Telkom, Vox and Webafrica.

When deciding on an Internet service provider (ISP), finding out which FNOs have infrastructure in your area is essential. You can then make a decision about which ISP to choose.

Openserve and Frogfoot offer asymmetric lines of 50Mbps download speed and 25Mbps upload speed (50Mbps/25Mbps), and 60Mbps/30Mbps, respectively.

Vumatel and MetroFibre offer symmetric lines of 50Mbps and 75Mbps, respectively.

If Openserve is your FNO, the cheapest option is a 50Mbps/25Mbps connection from Mweb, costing you R509p/m until December.

Mweb warns customers when signing up that this price is promotional and will increase to R609 at the end of the year.

Axxess has a deal where your first two months will cost you R395, but it will revert to R595 p/m afterwards.

Those considering using one ISP’s price promotion for several months and then switching to another should carefully read the terms and conditions for cancellations and line migrations before doing so.

If Vumatel is your FNO, the most affordable package is also from Mweb, priced at R659 for a symmetrical 50Mbps connection (50Mbps/50Mbps).

Mweb provides Frogfoot’s most affordable ISP package at R565 for a 60Mbps/30Mbps line.

However, Mweb’s prices are all promotional until December 2024.

If your FNO is MetroFibre, Webafrica offers the cheapest package at R719 for a 75Mbps symmetrical line.

However, customers should consider that Webafrica charges a flat R999 cancellation processing fee across all its products. On the flip side, it does not charge fees when downgrading packages.

The following table summarises the entry-level prices of eight different ISPs on South Africa’s top open-access fibre operators.