These are the best and worst mobile networks in South Africa

MyBroadband Insights has released its Q3 2020 Mobile Network Quality Report, highlighting the best and worst mobile networks in South Africa at the moment.

The report is based on 334,257 speed tests conducted by users of the MyBroadband Speed ​​Test app nationwide between July 1 and September 30, 2020.

Research shows an average mobile download speed of 29.16 Mbps and an average upload speed of 11.46 Mbps across all networks.

MTN had the highest average download speed at 55.11Mbps, followed by Vodacom at 29.80Mbps, Telkom at 23.60Mbps, Cell C at 17.82Mbps, and Rain at 10.02Mbps.

“During the last quarter, the average network speed of South African mobile operators increased despite the increase in network traffic,” said MyBroadband.

“This was possible thanks to the time spectrum that was issued to mobile operators during the lockdown.”

MyBroadband said that this temporal spectrum helped mobile networks increase their network capacity and improve their average speeds during the lockdown.

There was one exception: Rain. Average download speed on Rain’s network dropped significantly during crash due to congestion issues.

Before the lockdown, Rain’s average download speed was 15.20 Mbps. After the lockdown began, the average speed plummeted by 30%, to 10.02Mbps, showing the impact of increased traffic on the network performance.

The best mobile network in South Africa

To determine the best mobile network in South Africa, a “Network Quality Score” was calculated for each network using download speed, upload speed and latency.

The Network Quality Score of 10 shows how the network performed relative to other networks.

MTN reigned supreme with a Network Quality Score of 9.68, followed by Vodacom at 5.99, Telkom at 5.16, Cell C at 4.27 and Rain at 3.74.

The following table provides an overview of the ranking of mobile networks in South Africa.

Read: MTN Launches New YelloBucks Rewards Program