Fibre is fast. Vodacom’s home fibre packages range from 25 Mbps to eye-watering 1000 Mbps download speeds. fibre is also reliable. It uses robust fibre-optic technology – unlike ADSL, which uses copper-based infrastructure, making it susceptible to theft, corrosion and bad weather. Fibre’s fibre-optic cables are made of thin, flexible glass, giving it high bandwidth capacity and low latency. Based on those factors alone, fibre is the smart choice for your home Internet connection. 

But there’s more to fibre than just speed and reliability. Here are some other factors to consider when you’re choosing a Fibre connection.  

Coverage

Before you can decide which fibre package to choose, you’ll need to confirm whether your property (home or business) falls within the fibre network. South Africa’s great fibre rollout started in the major metros before expanding into bigger towns and villages – so if you’re in a big city or suburbia, or in a reasonably-sized town out in the sticks, you should be OK.

It’s best to be sure, though. Check on this coverage map. 

Bandwidth 

We said up top that fibre is fast. But there’s a world of difference between 25 Mbps and 1000 Mbps. A 25 or 50 Mbps line is fine if your household is using three or four devices, but if you’re a family of four and everybody is streaming, gaming and video calling at the same time (and all in HD or 4K), then a 100 or 200 Mbps line is a better bet. If you’re running a small business where the network needs to support more than 10 high-demand users, then 500 or even 1000 Mbps is more appropriate.  

Here's something nobody will tell you, though: some laptops have built-in ethernet that can only handle a 100 Mbps connection… so if you want the fastest fibre available, make sure your hardware can handle it!  

Throttle 

Some Internet Service Providers will intentionally slow down users’ connections to limit the amount of bandwidth being consumed. There could be any reason for this, but it’s usually because of high traffic demand. The thing is, though… If you’re paying for a 100 Mbps line, it’s reasonable to expect 100 Mbps speeds. Vodacom’s fibre internet deals are unshaped and unthrottled, so you get what you’re paying for.  

Router 

Your router is your bottleneck. It’s the hub through which your fibre connection runs, and anything that impacts the performance of your router will also affect the connection speeds you’re getting on your devices. Remember to place your router in a central place in your home, with as few barriers (walls, appliances, etc) as possible between it and your device. If you’re using stationary devices like a desktop computer or a big-screen TV, consider running ethernet cables directly from your router to the device to ensure the best possible connection.  

Make sure you’re using a router that gives you the speeds you need. You’ll get a free router with your Vodacom Fibre installation, so if you need one, have a look at our offers.