Telkom 5G price shocker — demolished by Rain and MTN

Telkom’s uncapped fixed-5G packages are much more expensive than rival services offered by Rain, MTN, and several other ISPs.

The telecoms company recently published coverage and prices for its first uncapped fixed-5G products, which are only available on contracts over 24 or 36 months.

Three main packages are available — up to 50Mbps, 100Mbps, and best-effort speeds. All three include a router that becomes the subscriber’s property once the contract is paid up.

Telkom supplies the TD Tech Max3 router, which also supports outdoor usage in cases where coverage might be limited.

It charges extra for an outdoor installation on a pole or bracket fitted to the exterior of the customer’s home.

With the outdoor option, the main 5G router receives the signal and is connected via wire to an additional Wi-Fi mesh router inside the user’s home.

The infographic below illustrates the different setups for the indoor (left) and outdoor installations (right).

MyBroadband compared the prices of Telkom’s uncapped 5G packages with those of Afrihost, Axxess, MTN, and Rain.

Telkom often differentiates itself from competitors by beating them on price. But in this instance, it repeatedly came in last place.

The cheapest package available from Telkom is its 50Mbps 5G Unlimited indoor product, which starts at R878 per month over 36 months or R979 over 24 months.

For the same speed, you can get an Afrihost Pure 5G package on MTN’s network for R749 month-to-month.

In this instance, however, you will have to provide your own router or buy one from Afrihost at a discounted price of R1,999.

But with the savings of R230 per month compared to Telkom’s package, you could recoup that cost by the ninth month.

Alternatively, if you don’t want to pay for a router upfront but are willing to sign up for a contract, you can get a MyMTN Home Uncapped 5G package for R799 over 24 months.

However, the router provided in this instance is only free to use, meaning it remains MTN’s property and must be returned once the contract lapses.

Telkom’s FUP makes things difficult

Another area where Telkom falls short of its competitors is its fair usage policy (FUP) thresholds.

On the entry-level package, Telkom starts throttling speeds down to 4Mbps after just 500GB of usage, and 2Mbps after 550GB of consumption.

With MTN and Afrihost’s entry-level services, throttling only begins after the month’s first 700GB or 1TB is consumed.

Rain’s nearest-comparable package by speed is its Unlimited Home 5G Standard product, which goes up to 60Mbps and costs R739 per month — the cheapest of all the options in that category.

It is also available month-to-month with a free-to-use router and has no FUP thresholds.

Moving up to Telkom’s 100Mbps and best-effort fixed 5G packages tells a similar tale.

At R1,129 per month for the indoor option over 24 months, Telkom is substantially more expensive than Afrihost’s R849 month-to-month deal or the MyMTN contract for R999.

It is also more expensive than Axxess’s Pro+ 5G package at R959, which offers up to 500Mbps speeds.

As with Afrihost, however, you will have to provide a router or buy one from Axxess at a discount.

Telkom’s top-end fixed-5G best-effort service costs R1,229 over 24 months, making it more expensive than similar packages from Afrihost, Rain, and Supersonic.

Its only advantage over Afrihost and Supersonic is a FUP threshold of 2TB compared to 1TB.

However, Rain’s 5G premium product has no FUP and costs R230 less per month with a free-to-use router as part of the deal.

The table below compares the prices of all the fixed-5G services available in South Africa.

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