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The internet upgrade South African homes are choosing to finally fix bad Wi-Fi
If you live in South Africa, there is a good chance you know the Wi-Fi shuffle. Standing in hallways, lifting your phone in the air, and moving closer to the router, all in the hope that the signal behaves for five minutes. In bigger homes, townhouses, or places with thick walls, even expensive fibre lines often fall short once the signal leaves the router.
A newer fibre option is starting to change that conversation. Fibre-to-the-room, or FTTR, is quietly gaining attention among households that are less worried about headline speeds and more focused on strong, reliable Wi-Fi in every room.
Why normal fibre still struggles indoors
Most fibre-to-the-home connections only bring fibre as far as the optical network terminal inside the house. From there, Wi-Fi or copper Ethernet cables do the heavy lifting. In large homes, this usually means adding repeaters or mesh systems to reach dead zones.
Ethernet cables can solve some of these issues, but they are thick, visible, and not exactly decor-friendly. Fibre cables, by contrast, are thin, translucent, and far easier to hide along walls and skirting boards. That small difference turns out to be a big deal for homeowners who care about both performance and aesthetics.
A tech demo that stuck
The idea behind FTTR is not brand new, but it caught serious attention in 2022 during a demonstration by Huawei at Mobile World Congress. A mock home layout showed how fibre running directly into multiple rooms could deliver fast, stable wired and wireless speeds everywhere, not just near the router. That demo planted the seed for what would later launch locally.
By 2023, Openserve rolled out FTTR in South Africa in partnership with Huawei. At the moment, it is the only fibre network operator in the country offering this type of setup.
Who is actually using it
According to Openserve, interest has been strongest in upmarket residential areas, where large homes and multiple connected devices expose the limits of standard Wi-Fi setups. Feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive, especially around consistent coverage, smoother streaming, and better performance when several people are online at once.
Social media chatter around FTTR tends to follow a familiar theme. Less excitement about raw speed numbers and more relief that video calls no longer drop in the bedroom or home office.
It is no longer just for gigabit homes
When FTTR first launched, it was tied to a 1Gbps fibre product with monthly costs of around R3,000 on a long contract. That made it feel like a luxury add-on rather than a realistic option.
That has changed. Openserve now supports FTTR across multiple lower-speed tiers, and some internet service providers offer it on a month-to-month basis. This opens the door for households that want excellent in-home Wi-Fi without paying for extreme internet speeds they do not need.
What it costs in the real world
One of the first providers to detail pricing is Platinum Broadband. The structure is simple.
There is a starter kit at R199 per month, which includes a master ONT with built-in Wi-Fi. Each additional access point costs R99 per month. Installation is a once-off R2,999 and includes connecting the main unit and one extra access point. Cancelling within 36 months triggers a clawback penalty.
Extra access points can be added later at R999 each, which covers both the device and the extra fibre cabling.
Your normal fibre subscription sits on top of this. On Openserve’s main residential network, Platinum Broadband’s packages start at R469 per month for a 25Mbps symmetric connection.
That puts the entry-level FTTR setup at R767 per month, including fibre, the main Wi-Fi unit, and one additional access point.
FTTR package pricing snapshot
| Package speed | FTTR starter kit monthly | Extra access point | Fibre subscription | Total monthly price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25/25Mbps | R199 | R99 | R469 | R767 |
| 50/25Mbps | R199 | R99 | R649 | R947 |
| 100/50Mbps | R199 | R99 | R849 | R1,147 |
| 200/100Mbps | R199 | R99 | R1,099 | R1,397 |
| 300/150Mbps | R199 | R99 | R1,299 | R1,597 |
| 500/250Mbps | R199 | R99 | R1,499 | R1,797 |
A once-off installation fee of R2,999 applies, with R999 per additional access point beyond the first.
A quiet shift in how we think about home internet
What makes FTTR interesting is not raw speed. It is the shift toward treating Wi-Fi coverage as part of the fibre service, not an afterthought left to routers and extenders. In a country where remote work, streaming, and smart devices are now everyday realities, that change feels overdue.
Openserve says it is actively onboarding more service providers, encouraging them to use FTTR as a way to offer a premium connected-home experience. If uptake continues, fibre-to-the-room could become less of a niche upgrade and more of a new standard for homes that are simply tired of bad Wi-Fi.
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Source: MyBroadband
Featured Image: MediaTek
