I recently moved house and as much as I love my new house there is a massive problem: there is no ADSL available in the area which means I’ve been shopping around and checking out all my options – and as such I will be bringing you some reviews of alternative Internet options in South Africa.

First up we have the Vodacom LTE which was kindly supplied for reviewing purposes by Vodacom SA. In the box that arrived was a Vodafone LTE 4G USB stick and a Huawei HG659 home router.

Ease of Use

Unfortunately the first delivery was a bust as the USB stick just wouldn’t work with the Huawei router.  It worked perfectly plugged into my computer but for the life of me I just couldn’t get it to work with the supplied router or any of the other 4 3G routers I had in the office. Eventually I admitted defeat and contacted the PR lady who quickly organised a swap out.

A new box arrived with the exact same objects inside but this time it worked perfectly right off the bat. You plug the USB stick into the side of the router and then power the router up and in under 2 minutes you are blitzing along the Information Superhighway…we should bring back that term.

So for ease of use, when the equipment isn’t faulty it gets a full 5/5.

Speed and Coverage

One of the biggest issues around any mobile Internet solution is coverage so off I headed to the Vodacom LTE coverage page and took a look.. and it didn’t look good.

The little red pin is around about where my house is. The purple square in the right corner is where the Vodacom LTE coverage ends according to their map. However we all know these maps are just an approximation so we tried anyway. I played around a bit with location and upstairs near the windows I could average a 23mb/s download with a 6mb/s upload and 20ms ping.

Unfortunately the wifi from there doesn’t reach my office downstairs very well so I moved it back down  and on average we get between 10mb/s and 16mb/s download speeds and 4mb/s uploads.

On my lamp... like a boss

The latency fluctuates between 20ms and 35ms which is still more usable when playing games online. But these are local pings and tests, when I test against a server based in Manchester the ping times increase to 194ms with the download dropping to 3Mb/s and the upload to 1Mb/s which is still usable but definitely not flying anymore.

Stability and Streaming

So it worked well for gaming. Yes, it could be better but if you are playing games that don;t require lightning-quick reflexes then it works great – and I could still top the leaderboard in a few Call of Duty games. The major latency problems with 3G and other wireless providers don’t seem to affect LTE at all which was my biggest worry.

You can also use the connection to stream Netflix, Hulu and the like as long as you sign up with Unotelly. In my house we cancelled DSTV a while back and a normal evening would see 2 or 3 streams being watched simultaneously without any issue.

So download stream works well and when placed properly, and with some solid coverage I was able to stream to Twitch in full HD. I definitely noticed my ability to play dropped a bit with the streaming adding latency to the game, but if you are interested in streaming Hearthstone or other games like that then it works perfectly.

Price

And this is where the LTE problem comes in for all of us. When I was on my ADSL line I used around 300Gb a month due to our heavy streaming and at the current Vodacom LTE rates that would work out to be around R7000 a month which is obviously not viable. But if you don’t watch streams and just need a fast and reliable internet for general usage then you can get a 10Gb package, with an extra 10Gb at night for R499 which is definitely affordable.

Last Updated: March 2, 2015

Vodacom LTE
The Vodacom LTE with Huawei router is a perfect Internet connection for anyone who doesn't require a lot of data but does require a solid and stable Internet connection
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117 Comments

  1. Pariah

    March 2, 2015 at 14:39

    4 Stars? Where’s the red/orange/green? WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

    Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      March 2, 2015 at 14:40

      I know right? I didn’t bother reading, just scrolled to the bottom for the number. And then there are stars instead of numbers. What the hell man!?

      Reply

      • Pariah

        March 2, 2015 at 14:42

        It’s like I don’t even know which site I’m on any more… What happened to this place, it used to be awesome…

        Reply

        • Blood Emperor Trevor

          March 2, 2015 at 14:45

          Are you supposed to use maths to make the stars equal a number out of 10? So it’s an 8/10? Because then what’s the point of getting this when 7 of the 10 games listed in the side bar are better? O_o

          Reply

          • Pariah

            March 2, 2015 at 14:47

            It’s so vague. How can I make an informed buying decision? These stars confuse me.

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            March 2, 2015 at 14:50

            Are we supposed to know astrology in order to understand the review?

          • Pariah

            March 2, 2015 at 14:51

            What sign is it? Libra? Which way do the scales tip? Who the f&^% knows?!

          • Hammersteyn

            March 2, 2015 at 14:47

            The numbers Mason, where are they???

          • ReaperOfSquirrels

            March 2, 2015 at 14:52

            You two are just being difficult lol

          • RinceThis

            March 2, 2015 at 14:58

            It’s Trev, what do you expect?!

      • RinceThis

        March 2, 2015 at 14:54

        My eyes!

        Reply

    • Sageville

      March 2, 2015 at 15:07

      Stars? How does that relate back to Metacritic?

      Reply

      • Pariah

        March 2, 2015 at 15:16

        I HAVE NO IDEA! IT’S ALL JUST CRUMBLING AROUND ME!!!!

        Reply

        • Sageville

          March 2, 2015 at 16:39

          RAAAAAWR!!!

          Reply

      • Gavin Mannion

        March 2, 2015 at 15:40

        stars relate to metacritic as 1 star = 20 points…

        HOWEVER Metacritic doesn’t rate hardware so it really means nothing

        Reply

    • Gavin Mannion

      March 2, 2015 at 15:41

      I preferred the 3 levels we had but apparently rating hardware with 3 levels is hard so the team forced me to implement stars

      Reply

  2. Umar

    March 2, 2015 at 14:40

    R499 for 10gigs….Dayum…….

    Reply

    • Pariah

      March 2, 2015 at 14:41

      I’ve JUST escaped that with getting ADSL. I was paying R499 for 9gb of 3G data through MTN. For a long time that was my only option. Being able to actually use the internet is fantastic. 😀

      Reply

      • Umar

        March 2, 2015 at 14:49

        Haha, nice! ISP?

        Reply

        • Pariah

          March 2, 2015 at 14:50

          Afrihost in the end. Capped package, 75gb+75gb, and it costs me R600 all inclusive. Big jump from 9gb @ R500, and it’s more stable than 3G.

          Reply

          • Umar

            March 2, 2015 at 15:02

            Nice, 75 should suffice if you’re not gonna download anything big

          • Pariah

            March 2, 2015 at 15:06

            Well it’s 150GB’s actually, the extra is just normal data. No time restrictions. 🙂

          • Matthew Holliday

            March 2, 2015 at 15:28

            odd, Im on a 4mb 120gb+480gb for about R500 at webafrica

          • Admiral Chief

            March 2, 2015 at 15:29

            Link? I’d like to look at pricing packages…

            Also, are they stable with good customer service?

          • Matthew Holliday

            March 2, 2015 at 15:32

            they had a wobbly bit a year+ ago where my latency was terribad.
            recently havent had any issues with them

            customer service, depends on who you get, sometimes its easy, sometimes its like talking to a wall.

            sliding scale is pretty usefull.
            http://www.webafrica.co.za/home/adsl/

          • Pariah

            March 2, 2015 at 15:32

            Including line rental? Also, Web Africa’s sales experience was horrid… Tried to speak to their consultants and 40 minutes later, with frustration abound, I decided to go with someone else. Afrihost in the end was my choice. 5 minutes later, everything was done, setup and ready to go.

          • Matthew Holliday

            March 2, 2015 at 15:35

            consultants are a waste of time, their website is super easy to use, and honestly, you’re probably more qualified to talk about dsl than their consultants.

          • Pariah

            March 2, 2015 at 15:39

            Um. That’s great – so if there’s an issue I can’t rely on them to do anything because they’re all idiots? Yeah that’s not the company I want to be with…

          • Matthew Holliday

            March 2, 2015 at 15:41

            yeah, but their ticket system is pretty reliable though, if theres something you cant do, submit a ticket and it’ll be solved in about the same amount of time as a phonecall to competant consultants.

            and their console can solve MOST of the problems you’ll encounter anyway.

            ive only ever needed to do a line reset, which can be done via the console or the ticket system.

            i was also talking about consultants everywhere other than afrihost.

          • Pariah

            March 2, 2015 at 15:44

            Lol. I’m fine with my choice, thanks. 🙂

            Webafrica can suck it. Bad sales, bad experience, they lost themselves a customer. Simple as. 🙂

          • z1n

            March 2, 2015 at 17:14

            Everyone’s an idiot relative to us keyboard warriors. Seriously though all of the consultants are idiot (afrihost inc). Mostly they just have a webpage where they can ‘manage’ things on your account (like reset ports etc). Webafrica just let you do that yourself. Any other issues and you’re gonna have to escalate anyways from my experience (Source: 15 years of phoning telkom)

    • Matthew Holliday

      March 2, 2015 at 15:25

      with a 23mb line, +-2mb/s download, dangerous.
      wouldnt last me a day.

      Reply

    • Michelle

      March 5, 2015 at 14:59

      I know right.

      Reply

  3. Brady miaau

    March 2, 2015 at 14:41

    A) congrats on the new house, always fun.
    B) am Extremely interested to see where this goes, because I spent some time trying to sort out proper internet without ADSL and I never was truly happy.

    LTE is just too expensive for the types of things we (most gamers, I suppose) do on the net. Also, the amount of content my wife watches is quite high, training videos and review and stuff. I get you on the high cost of bandwidth, I really do.

    Reply

  4. Xcalibersa

    March 2, 2015 at 14:43

    How was the speeds during peak hours? At 1800 to about 2200?

    Reply

  5. Kromas Votes LAG WCMovie Event

    March 2, 2015 at 14:46

    Still suggesting you go WiFi. Stable everything including price.

    BF4 ping of 9ms and that even beats some of my dsl friends. 😛

    Reply

    • Norm

      March 2, 2015 at 14:51

      Which WiFi is this?

      Reply

      • Kromas Votes LAG WCMovie Event

        March 2, 2015 at 14:53

        Wifi enabled internet using a wireless bridging device. Normaly something from Ubiquity (in my case a rocket M5 (notssuplied by my Wisp as I installed it myself)).

        more info at http://www.wapa.org.za and they can even assist getting you in touch with Wisps in your area.

        Reply

        • Norm

          March 2, 2015 at 14:54

          Many thanks man!

          Reply

          • Kromas Votes LAG WCMovie Event

            March 2, 2015 at 14:58

            No problem. With enough research you can get a 4mb uncapped wifi connection at about 600-900 bucks that will closely resemble a similar dsl product with less contention on it.

  6. Splooshypooh

    March 2, 2015 at 14:46

    Would love to see everything you try, i also live in an area where they dont supply ADSL in JHB.

    Reply

  7. Matewis Jubilai

    March 2, 2015 at 14:47

    The best price/cap ratio that I’ve seen is 8ta’s R1800 deal: 60gb anytime + 60gb nighttime. It last about 3 months for me, but my connection has the horrible tendency to just cut off from time to time, and then I have to wait anything from 10 seconds to a minute or more for it to come back. Can’t wait to get adsl again 😛

    Reply

    • Morne Nell

      March 2, 2015 at 14:50

      But do you have external antennas, I have the same solution in an area where there is not suppose to be LTE. With the Telkom router you link external antennas and point it to the tower directly. This gives you an directional signal and the latency is then gone as well

      Reply

      • Matewis Jubilai

        March 2, 2015 at 14:52

        Unfortunately no, all I have is a little USB dongle 😛

        Reply

        • Morne Nell

          March 2, 2015 at 15:00

          I had those only to test signal strength and test different providers. At the end you need a descend router the best one around is the B593. The advantage is the double antenna functionality

          Reply

          • Sageville

            March 2, 2015 at 16:45

            Yeah, the B593 router is the best.

          • Matewis Jubilai

            March 2, 2015 at 21:58

            Thanks man! 🙂

  8. Hammersteyn

    March 2, 2015 at 14:48

    Thinking of moving so thanks for this Gavin.

    Reply

    • Loftus

      March 2, 2015 at 14:57

      also house hunting at the moment with the fiance, i secretly check what is the internet coverage before viewing a house in that area

      Reply

      • Gavin Mannion

        March 2, 2015 at 15:39

        Internet connectivity is a must when buying a house

        I didn’t put in an offer until checking that they had a 10mb ADSL link… BUT when we moved in their port had been reassigned to another house… so you really can never tell

        Reply

        • z1n

          March 2, 2015 at 17:07

          I put in an application even though Telkom said there were no more ports. ADSL line installed in a week. Possibly my first/only positive experience with Telkom.

          Reply

        • Loftus

          March 3, 2015 at 09:32

          *Gives matches and petrol to Gavin*

          #youknowwhatyoumustdo

          Reply

  9. Morne Nell

    March 2, 2015 at 14:48

    Went through this exercise a while ago, my best solution was the b593 Router. The reason is you can attach 2 external antennas. This gave me an awesome stable reliable network no matter what the conditions.
    Also the best price is still Telkom 60gig + 60Gig for R1800 and it expires in a years time.

    Reply

  10. Norm

    March 2, 2015 at 14:49

    Thanks for this review.
    I am busy looking for an affordable alternative to Telkoms fixed line ADSL.

    Reply

  11. ReaperOfSquirrels

    March 2, 2015 at 14:51

    We get up to 33mbps on LTE at our office, which is about what I get on my phone (4G) while sitting at Hoot… uhm… a restaurant I sometimes go to. I only get up to about 16mbps on my phone at home, granted it’s only 4G and not LTE, but it’s faster than my ADSL.

    Reply

    • Pariah

      March 2, 2015 at 14:52

      4G is LTE. lol.

      Reply

      • Kromas Votes LAG WCMovie Event

        March 2, 2015 at 14:56

        Still not approved as actualy 4G. Just everyone calls it that.

        4G = mobile Wimax and LTE Advanced.

        Just some useless info for you to read. 😛

        Reply

      • ReaperOfSquirrels

        March 2, 2015 at 14:57

        Vodacom’s LTE isn’t rolled out to the phones, they only support the above router.

        4G isn’t LTE though… just saying.

        Reply

      • HvR

        March 2, 2015 at 15:37

        Nope, it will probably with WiMax be described as 3.5G; just like GPRS was called 2.5G.

        Happens when you have stupid declaration and requirements of what a new generation data technology independent from actual technological development.

        Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      March 2, 2015 at 14:54

      Probably because you have an extra antenna at the restaurant.

      Reply

      • Loftus

        March 2, 2015 at 14:55

        i swear is wasn’t at that restaurant !

        *glares at the Admiral*

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief

          March 2, 2015 at 15:01

          ENGRISH BRO?

          Reply

          • Loftus

            March 2, 2015 at 15:06

            yes master…sorry master…me no moar dumb master…i is goes better with words for master

          • Admiral Chief

            March 2, 2015 at 15:28

            XD

      • RinceThis

        March 2, 2015 at 15:24

        0_O

        Reply

  12. Morne Nell

    March 2, 2015 at 14:52

    You must rember you need two antennas for LTE, here is the reson and the solution I have

    Reply

  13. Futureman

    March 2, 2015 at 14:54

    I had this Vodacom LTE, nice fast HELLA EXPENSIVE, rather put in an ADSL than ever going back to LTE, or well Vodacom

    Reply

  14. RinceThis

    March 2, 2015 at 14:55

    I swear Gavin has more fun changing stuff around here than any one else. Stars now?! Still. Nice review. OvG was thinking of getting one of these. Still, R500 for just 10 gigs (place night time) is rather expensive.

    Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      March 2, 2015 at 15:00

      If he needs a door stop, why doesn’t he just get a brick?

      Reply

      • RinceThis

        March 2, 2015 at 15:07

        He uses the Xbox One for that.

        Reply

        • Blood Emperor Trevor

          March 2, 2015 at 15:09

          The whole thing? Does he live in a barn? Or did you mean just the power brick?

          Reply

          • RinceThis

            March 2, 2015 at 15:11

            Just the power brick. The rest of the unit serves his neighbours as a balcony.

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            March 2, 2015 at 15:18

            You mean the disk tray on the dvd/bluray/whateverithas right? They live inside the Xbox.

          • RinceThis

            March 2, 2015 at 15:26

            You are crazy!

          • HvR

            March 2, 2015 at 15:39

            I hear they have awesome TV reception.

      • ReaperOfSquirrels

        March 2, 2015 at 15:11

        He has a door stop already, it’s called a PS4. *RUNS*

        Reply

    • Sageville

      March 2, 2015 at 16:42

      I get 20Gig for R598 with Afrihost

      Reply

      • RinceThis

        March 3, 2015 at 07:20

        I suppose if you have no access to ADSL it’s necessary.

        Reply

  15. Admiral Chief

    March 2, 2015 at 15:03

    Is that a blurred out swimming pool full of nekkid wimmins? Or is it a top secret firepool…

    Reply

    • Gavin Mannion

      March 2, 2015 at 15:37

      nekkid wimmins.. obviously

      also.. I didn’t blur any pools, only street names because you lot freak me out

      Reply

      • RinceThis

        March 2, 2015 at 15:38

        good call…

        Reply

      • Admiral Chief

        March 2, 2015 at 15:47

        To the left of your “house”…

        Reply

  16. Lardus-Resident Perve

    March 2, 2015 at 15:03

    My issues with lack of ADSL are well documented in the comment section of this site. I am on Telkom LTE. Great speeds and stability. Problem is the price of data 🙁

    Reply

  17. Sageville

    March 2, 2015 at 15:04

    I went the MTN LTE route myself for the same reason as Gavin’s of Vodacom’s out-dated and inaccurate coverage map, also because Telkom are no longer upgrading ADSL infrastructure.

    Note: there is no way to test LTE without buying a package and equipment (as told by Vodacom call center).

    For me, I get 3 of 4 bars signal with Afrihost as ISP on a B593 Router, I went with them as I they offered the cheapest, biggest package at the time and also hard capped your data once you ran over your cap (This is hella important when you have download speeds in excess of 20mbs). Currently the package offering is a bit more pricier since MTN bought them out – Vodacom/Telkom probably offer the cheaper packages, just watch out for the cap issue).

    Personally, This has been a life saver, although not without problems, sometimes “Someone” fucks with my connection and I can only connect at 3G speeds until I whine at the call center for them to “reset stuff.”
    Still perfect connection stability during thunderstorms and no having to call Telkom out every 2nd month can’t be under-estimated.

    Reply

    • Morne Nell

      March 2, 2015 at 15:09

      Testing was my biggest issue as well, I bought pre-paid cards with small amounts of data to test.
      But then later found the modem was my biggest concern so therefore went for the best that was available.
      LTE is not cheap, but I don’t have any infrastructure in my area for anything else so LTE was a life saver.

      Reply

  18. Morne Nell

    March 2, 2015 at 15:06

    If you want to do this properly you also need to understand how LTE, 3G, cell phone signals work. Take your phone and install an app that shows you the tower it is connected to, now move your phone and see how it jump between towers.
    Your cell phone jumps to wherever the strongest signal are, but that is not always the most stable or reliable signal. With directional antennas you can force a signal to link to a specific tower. Therefore more stable

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      March 2, 2015 at 15:14

      “strongest signal are”
      O_O

      Also, good points raised

      Reply

    • Gavin Mannion

      March 2, 2015 at 15:36

      Yeah I looked into getting an antenna.. but that wouldn’t have been a fair average user review which is what this review is targetted at

      Reply

      • Morne Nell

        March 2, 2015 at 16:00

        Totally understandable, just feel there is an additional aspect that people don’t know about. You need super fast speed but also stable reliable speeds. It is like having an ADSL line with a crappy modem.
        My investigation took 6 months with this, I use it purely for Gaming on the Ps4. I found that Vodacom block some ports needed for gaming, MTN and Telkom was the best. MTN however also had a lot of issues with NAT settings.
        It will however be different in different areas. Telkom is currently the fastest due to the monopoly in frequencies that is available to them.

        Reply

  19. Admiral Chief

    March 2, 2015 at 15:14

    What about fibre to home?

    Reply

    • Morne Nell

      March 2, 2015 at 15:15

      Still need infrastructure

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief

        March 2, 2015 at 15:18

        There are a few areas that already have it, sadly, not where I stay

        Reply

    • Gavin Mannion

      March 2, 2015 at 15:35

      R8k per month is my quoted rate

      Reply

      • Pariah

        March 2, 2015 at 15:39

        Holy shit. No, thank you.

        Reply

        • Gavin Mannion

          March 2, 2015 at 19:25

          apparently our residents association is viewing options by two fibre providers.. so there is a light at the end of this tunnel

          Reply

          • Brady miaau

            March 3, 2015 at 08:42

            Nice pun.

      • Admiral Chief

        March 2, 2015 at 15:46

        What is the fibre made of? #StayStrongUmar’s tears?

        Reply

  20. Matthew Holliday

    March 2, 2015 at 15:24

    23mb speeds on a 10gb package.
    sounds dangerous.

    alternatively, you could get a 4mb, 120/480gb capped account for the same price/cheaper.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      March 2, 2015 at 15:24

      He has no ADSL in his new area…

      Reply

      • Matthew Holliday

        March 2, 2015 at 15:27

        i did read that, for him, sure.
        but realistically for anyone else, 10gb cap is not viable for anything else other than facebook and emails and certainly doesnt justify having 23mb line speed.

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief

          March 2, 2015 at 15:28

          Agreed. You have supercar speed but only for two or three kilometers…

          Reply

          • Matthew Holliday

            March 2, 2015 at 15:30

            23mb sounds delicious though.
            but dat R7 000 / month
            wasnt there selective areas with fibre for R1500 around somewhere?

          • ReaperOfSquirrels

            March 2, 2015 at 15:33

            Yeah, a super car and R50 for petrol, and the engine only works flat out.

          • Greylingad

            March 2, 2015 at 15:35

            A binary switch on an accelerator….that sounds daring…

        • Greylingad

          March 2, 2015 at 15:34

          You have a very good point, about 2 years ago I started a Cellc contract for R200 a month and its a 5 + 15GB option, I find now that games are just hopelessly too bloody big to try and download, especially with steam deciding when, what and how much it’ll download whenever it wants to…

          Reply

          • Matthew Holliday

            March 2, 2015 at 15:38

            AAA games are now more than double the size of your total cap account, ouch.

          • Greylingad

            March 2, 2015 at 15:47

            Yeah… that does hurt… in particular a game coming out on the 14 of April…

  21. SlagywaG

    March 2, 2015 at 16:04

    That price, is that locked into a 24 month contract?

    Reply

    • Gavin Mannion

      March 2, 2015 at 16:37

      yes it appears so.. you can do monthly but then the price goes up.. which makes little to no sense

      Reply

  22. Ngoc Anh

    March 2, 2015 at 20:54

    Relax with the entertainment you here okay.

    Thank you. Wish you a very effective working days.

    Friv 4 School

    Didi Games Online

    Reply

  23. Vince

    March 3, 2015 at 08:27

    Just a note, maybe im just nitpicking but I cant help it! “23mb download with a 6mb upload” – Basically refers to the download size rather that the speed. Although im sure we all know what you mean, there might be people who read this who dont. As a factual review this really should read 23mb/s download and 6mb/s upload.

    Reply

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