LTE vs fibre: which actually fits your home?

The honest answer to "should I get LTE or fibre?" is: it depends on your address, and anyone who answers without asking where you live is guessing. Here's how we walk customers through it.

Start with what reaches your house

Fibre is the better product where it exists: symmetrical speeds, no signal variables, no per-gigabyte anxiety. But it only exists where an operator has trenched your street. LTE and 5G reach almost everywhere the networks have towers, which is most of the country.

So the first step is never a product comparison; it's a coverage check. Do that here, fibre answers come back within one business day.

The cost picture

At the entry level the two are closer than people expect: our 30/50Mbps fibre starts at R533, while uncapped LTE starts at R388 plus a once-off router. Over a year, LTE's total cost is usually lower; fibre wins on cost-per-Mbps as you climb the speed ladder.

Load-shedding changes the maths

An LTE router on a small DC UPS (around R666) rides through a stage-4 slot easily. Fibre needs both your router and the operator's street equipment to have power, some areas hold up well, others drop. Neighbours with fibre are your best data source; ask them what stage kills their line.

When we recommend what

• Fibre, if it's live in your street and you stream, game, or work on video calls daily. It's the calmer product.
• Uncapped LTE, if fibre hasn't reached you, you rent, or you want to be online this week rather than after an installation.
• 5G, if you're in a covered suburb and want fibre-like speeds without the wait, check the coverage disclaimer honestly, though: it falls back to 4G at the edges.

Still unsure? Send us your address and household size on WhatsApp and we'll give you one recommendation, not a brochure.