After fibre network operator (FNO) Octotel revealed that it would bring South Africa’s first 10Gbps home-fibre line to the Western Cape as of tomorrow, it left us hanging with no price in sight. We never expected it to be cheap, but now ISP Vanilla has confirmed Octotel’s multi-gigabit pricing as well as our fears.
Until further notice, the FNO’s coverage will only include Cape Town’s Southern Suburbs, the CBD, Atlantic Seaboard, and Blouberg. That list will continue to grow as the FNO determines demand and receives feedback from the ISPs offering the service, including Afrihost, Atomic Access, Mweb, and Webafrica — though Octotel expects Cool Ideas, RSAWeb, and Vox Telecoms to join in on the fun eventually.
Vanilla’s got moral 10Gbps fibre
If 10Gbps speeds feel like overkill, there are three packages to choose from. The cheapest features speeds of 2.5/2.5Gbps (download/upload), while the second ups that to 5Gbps — but keeps the 2.5Gbps upload speed. At the top-end sits the 10Gbps option, coupled with the same 5Gbps upload speed. Customers will be charged according to whether they pay month-to-month or serve a longer contract.
Month-to-month customers can expect to pay R2,200/m (incl. VAT) for the 2.5/2.5Gbps package, while the 5/2.5Gbps will set them back R2,880/m for the privilege. Available in 12- and 24-month contracts, it’s unclear what Vanilla will charge for these, though MyBroadband reports prices will drop to R1,500/m and R2,070/m respectively. Month-to-month and 12-month customers will be charged an additional R1,150 installation fee.
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Customers chasing down the 10Gbps speed will have no such installation fee, though a month-to-month package isn’t available. Vanilla will only offer the top-end speeds through a 24-month contract, and charges R4,000/m (incl. VAT) for the line rental, likely bringing the final monthly fee up to roughly R4,600/m. Vanilla’s website doesn’t freely talk about pricing — instead, it invites those interested to get a quote first.
These packages are expected to be available for purchase from tomorrow, 28 November. As for the other ISPs confirmed to offer Octotel’s multi-gigabit fibre-to-the-home packages, pricing has yet to be revealed.
