Internet speeds have increased significantly in recent years, but users may not realize it. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
- Internet speeds have improved significantly in South Africa in recent years.
- However, ordinary users will not notice any difference.
- SA has fallen back in the world rankings for speed in one category.
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South Africa's internet speeds have improved significantly, but most people won't be able to notice the difference.
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has released the State of ICT Report, which compiles the past five years of internet speed test data from speed test site OOKLA.
Speed test data showed that fixed and mobile broadband internet speeds increased sharply during this period. OOKLA obtained median internet speeds based on speed tests conducted through the site.
Mobile broadband allows people to access the Internet through cellular networks and from large areas where the network operates. Fixed broadband services can only be accessed in a fixed location, such as your home, shopping mall, or office.
Despite speed increases in both categories, South Africa's international rankings moved in different directions in each category.
South Africa slipped slightly in the fixed broadband OOKLA rankings, but gained several places in the mobile rankings.
Please note that this number was obtained through speed tests on the OOKLA platform, and while it helps show trends, it does not necessarily reflect the national median speed.
While the increased speeds are good on paper, Wireless Access Providers Association executive committee member Paul Colmar explained that most people are unlikely to notice much of a difference from the increased speeds.
He explained that speed differences at the lower end of the scale, below 5 Mbps, make a noticeable difference to users.
“At 1 Mbps, it takes about 3 seconds to download a web page. At 2 Mbps it's even better, at 3 Mbps it's even better, at 4 Mbps, and even better at 5 Mbps. But at 5 Mbps… Between 6 Mbps, all of a sudden there's a difference.'' It's minimal, and between 6 Mbps and 10 Mbps it's negligible,'' he said.
Colmer explained that all you actually need to stream in HD is a 5 Mbps line, while a 25 Mbps line will allow you to stream 4K content.
According to Colmar,
Why would you want to go any faster? Because there is nothing an individual would want to do that requires that amount at that speed. If you want speed, reduce latency. Don't worry about speed. That's something to be proud of.
He said faster bandwidth is important when there are a large number of users.
He added that South Africa's priorities are to lower prices and expand network access so more people can access the internet.