Vumatel has a R1760 installation fee to bring the fibre into the home. This is a permanent fixture and adds value to the home. Beware any ISP that offer this installation free - you will be. Activation, Courier & Router Fees. Important information: Note that the full install fee and hardware costs will be charged as a penalty fee should the application be cancelled within 30-days of applying. Once-Off Installation, Activation, Courier & Router Fees.

Are you trying to choose the best home fibre internet in South Africa? We’ve put together this guide to help you learn the important jargon, and answer the biggest questions everyone has about fibre internet.

From fibre coverage maps, to wifi to throttling and fair usage policies, it’s all here.

Jump to a section:

1. What’s The Difference Between Fibre Network Operators (FNO) and ISPs
2. How To Check Fibre Coverage
3. How to Choose A Fibre Network
4. How Fast Do You Need Your Fibre
5. How Much To Pay For Fibre
6. Myth Busting – Caps, Throttling and Shaping
7. Home WiFi Setup For Fibre
8. What To Look Out For In A Fibre ISP

1. Getting to know the landscape – The Difference Between Fibre Network Operators (FNO) and Internet Service Providers (ISP)

In the world of Fibre Internet there are Fibre Network Operators (FNOs) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

FNOs build and operate fibre network infrastructure and ISPs provide internet access services.

Normally companies do not build the fibre networks and sell internet access. They usually specialise in one or the other: infrastructure or services. There are some exceptions, notably Telkom and Cybersmart, but Open Access fibre networks like Octotel, Frogfoot and Vumatel do not sell internet. This is where ISPs come in.

In most cases, you buy your internet from an ISP. The ISP will arrange for your fibre line to be installed. They pay a fibre line fee on your behalf, deliver your WiFi router and are responsible for helping you get set up.

If you have a choice of more than one fibre network operator you definitely want to choose an Open Access network so you can choose from lots of different ISPs, or change ISPs after you have had your fibre installed. Having a choice gives you options and freedom to change between ISPs.

What about Fibre trenching? Will all FNO’s (network providers) be laying fibre lines in all areas?

The short answer is they shouldn’t. Open Access Fibre networks like Frogfoot, Octotel and Vumatel should, in theory, do not trench in the same area as they compete with each other on price and should be roughly similarly priced. On an Open Access network the consumer has the choice of many ISP’s who are also competing. However sometimes they do trench in the same areas so if you survived your garden being dug up a few times you are lucky enough to have the choice of more than one Open Fibre Network. With that said it is fairly common in dense urban areas to have an Open Fibre network along side Telkom’s Openserve.

2. Do Not Pass Go – Until You Check Your Fibre Coverage

Fibre internet runs through fibre optic cables to your home. No fibre cables to your area means no fibre internet.

I learned early on that not just any fibre provider will be available in your area. e.g. Octotel, DFA, Openserve etc. @ Andre

How do you check which fibre networks have coverage in your area? Best to check on the fibre network websites. As of time of writing there are over 30 fibre networks and here are the links for some of the bigger ones:

– Octotel – https://www.octotel.co.za/coverage-map/
– Vumatel – https://vumatel.co.za/coverage
– Openserve – http://openserve.co.za/open/fibre/
– Frogfoot – https://www.frogfootfibre.com/frogfoot/myaccount/home/frogfoot/coverage.jsp

There are usually four possible states to your fibre-ability: Live, Under-Construction, Planned and Not on the Map.

Live: You may be in a “Live” area in which case you are good to go, unless there is an exception. The most common exception is the fibre network not having permission to install in your building because your building managers are still using horse-drawn carts to get around. If this is the situation with your building, find out who manages the body corporate, start getting the other tenants and owners on board to install fibre. Motivate this upgrade with your body corporate. They need to sign a “Land Owners Consent” agreement with the fibre network operator.

Under-Construction: Perhaps you are not in a “Live” area then you could be in a zone where Fibre is “coming soon”. This is also referred to as “in-progress”. How much longer do you have to wait? A good rule of thumb is, if you see fibre network cars and vans in your road you’re probably in for another 2-3 months of waiting. Depending on what stage your area is in joining the relevant fibre network Facebook group is normally a good idea to get updates.

Planned: The fibre network will get around to laying fibre in this area in the near future. They may be waiting to get other areas live first, or getting permission from city council, or something else. When you start seeing the under construction areas go live, then start looking out for the fibre network trenching in your area.

Not on the map? What if you are in an area that’s not planned? All is not lost. Contact the fibre network with the closest live coverage and ask them to install. If you are in a housing estate or block of flats with over 150 units this will help your chances, but you’re still in for a wait unfortunately.

3. Which Fibre Network to Join?

If you are lucky enough to have a choice of fibre network operators you’ll find that there are a few variables that might influence your choice. What’s important to you?

As of the time of writing there are over 30 fibre networks. Join a fibre network of reasonable scale and choose one that’s been going for a long time.

These factors will influence the time to deliver service and how responsive they are to fixing problems.

Also look at price. Currently Openserve (Telkom) and Vumatel are more expensive than Frogfoot and Octotel, and so ISPs will have to charge more, or less, for connecting you to the network you choose.

4. How Fast Do You Need Your Fibre?

You want fibre and you’re in a live fibre area, what’s next? How fast do you need your fibre internet to be?

Megabytes and Gigabytes, Megabits or Gigabits. Wait, what? A useful starting point is getting to grips with the metric that are used in the biz.

There are 8 bits in a byte. e.g. 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) means you can theoretically download at 12 Megabytes per second. Get it? ?

When dealing with internet speeds the metric used is “Bits” usually measured in the millions (mega) or billions (giga) Bits per second. This is easily confused with Bytes, but divide Bytes by 8 to get the number of Bits.

Now that’s out of the way, when do mega mega download speeds help? As usual it is not cut and dry, so here are some activities that require a lot of bandwidth:

Downloading apps
Updating software and games
File transfer
Downloading/Uploading files; large documents, presentations, videos and audio
Video streaming
4K video streaming (this deserves its own line item!)

Another important factor to download speeds is how many people are going to be connecting simultaneously and how important internet connectivity is to you.

A rule of thumb is to work to the lowest common denominator: With a decent router 6-8Mbps per person should cover most scenarios, unless you need 4K video streaming.

More people means more bandwidth. Got lots happening on your network? An HD movie streaming in the TV room, a teenager playing an online game, granny using VoIP to call a friend, and a few mobile phones Facebooking and YouTubing? There is no right answer here but more simultaneous users means you need more bandwidth (download speed).

Working from home? Uploading or emailing big files can take a while and if you’re working to a deadline, waiting can lead to unnecessary stress. Avoid delays and sluggish internet and consider a “symmetrical” line where your upload speed is the same as your download speed. For example if you want a 20Mbps service, skip the 20/5Mbps and get a 20/20Mbps service.

The easiest way to avoid remorse would be to choose an ISP that makes it easy to upgrade or downgrade your line speed.

5. What About The Costs Of Fibre?

There a

Vumatel Isp Free Installation