1 Gbps Fibre The Cheapest Megabits
Gigabit is where rand-per-megabit bottoms out, and the cheapest gigabit line costs less per month than a typical 500 Mbps one. Two things to read before you order: most packages in this band are not symmetrical, and almost nothing in your house can actually receive a gigabit over Wi-Fi.
| Metric | Value | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest line | R699 | 1000/250 Mbps · RSAweb |
| Fastest line | 2500 Mbps | R995/month · Octotel |
| Best value | R0.40/Mbps | 2500 Mbps at R995 |
| Symmetrical | 25 of 76 | packages upload at download speed |
Live 1000 Mbps fibre deals
76 1000 Mbps (or close) fibre deals across the 5 ISPs we track, on 28 networks. Sorted cheapest first.
Prices checked 1 November 2026 · price-per-Mbps shown on every deal
- Free-to-use router
- Free install promo
- Free-to-Use router
- Free-to-use router
- Free install promo
- Free-to-use router
- Free install promo
- Free-to-use router
- Free install promo
- Free-to-use router
- Free install promo
- Free-to-use router
- Free install promo
- Free Wi-Fi router
- Free install + activation
- 60 free voice mins (Vobi)
- Promo: first 3 months
- Free-to-use router
- Free install promo
- Free Wi-Fi router
- Free install + activation
- 60 free voice mins (Vobi)
- Promo: first 4 months
1000/250 Mbps Uncapped
1000/1000 Mbps Uncapped
1000/200 Mbps Uncapped
2500/2500 Mbps Uncapped
1000/500 Mbps Uncapped
1000/500 Mbps Uncapped
1000/1000 Mbps Uncapped
1000/500 Mbps Uncapped
850/850 Mbps Uncapped
1000/250 Mbps Uncapped
Showing 10 of 76 deals · Prices indicative · Sign-up via the listed ISP · Affiliate links may earn us a commission on referrals
The speed-tier value cliff
Fibre gets cheaper per megabit the faster it goes, and the drop is steep enough to invert the sticker price. This is the top of the ladder, so read the last row: it is what a typical line one tier down costs against the cheapest line here.
| Tier | Packages | Median price | Median R/Mbps | Cheapest one tier up | Difference | Beaten by it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Mbps | 20 | R447 | R39.90 | 20 Mbps at R249 — RSAweb on Metro Nexus | −R198 | 20 of 20100% |
| 20 Mbps | 85 | R525 | R19.95 | 40 Mbps at R299 — RSAweb on Octotel | −R226 | 84 of 8599% |
| 40 Mbps | 140 | R697 | R13.43 | 100 Mbps at R99 — RSAweb on Octotel | −R598 | 140 of 140100% |
| 100 Mbps | 150 | R879 | R8.69 | 200 Mbps at R299 — RSAweb on Octotel | −R580 | 149 of 15099% |
| 200 Mbps | 120 | R1 110 | R5.04 | 500 Mbps at R699 — RSAweb on Vumatel | −R411 | 116 of 12097% |
| 500 Mbps | 91 | R1 297 | R2.59 | 1 Gbps at R699 — RSAweb on Vumatel | −R598 | 90 of 9199% |
1 Gbps fibre, by network and over two years over two years
There are 76 1 Gbps packages in the table above, spread across 28 fibre networks. They are not interchangeable: the cheapest way onto Vumatel is R699 a month, while the same question on TT Connect starts at R2 029. Which networks reach your address is usually decided for you, so the useful comparison is within a network rather than across the whole list.
| Network | 1 Gbps packages | Cheapest | Speed | Best R/Mbps, any plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vumatel | 8 | R699/mo | 1 000/250 Mbps | R0.70 |
| Cybersmart | 1 | R879/mo | 1 000/1 000 Mbps | R0.88 |
| Octotel | 6 | R899/mo | 1 000/200 Mbps | R0.40 |
| Openserve | 4 | R997/mo | 1 000/500 Mbps | R1.00 |
| Frogfoot | 10 | R999/mo | 1 000/500 Mbps | R1.00 |
| Evotel | 4 | R1 145/mo | 850/850 Mbps | R1.35 |
| Metro Nexus | 4 | R1 239/mo | 1 000/500 Mbps | R1.24 |
| Unifybr On High | 1 | R1 297/mo | 1 000/200 Mbps | R1.30 |
| Balwin Fibre | 4 | R1 309/mo | 900/500 Mbps | R1.45 |
| Zoom Fibre | 4 | R1 319/mo | 1 000/500 Mbps | R1.32 |
| Metro Nova | 3 | R1 329/mo | 1 000/250 Mbps | R1.33 |
| Comtel Fibre | 2 | R1 339/mo | 1 000/1 000 Mbps | R1.34 |
| 16 smaller networks | 25 | from R1 397/mo | various | see table above |
The last column is the best rand-per-Mbps available anywhere on that network, at any speed — not the unit price of the cheapest line beside it. The two are rarely close, and the gap is the argument against buying on headline price. The entry tier in this segment is R699 for 1 000 Mbps on Vumatel, which is R0.70 per Mbps; the best unit price in the whole segment is R0.40 per Mbps. Paying a little more for a much faster line is usually the better deal; paying the minimum almost never is.
| Monthly | 12 months | 24 months | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Promotional rate, if it never ended | R699/mo | R8 388 | R16 776 |
| Standing rate after promo | R1 375/mo | R16 500 | R33 000 |
| Once-off fee | R250 once | R250 | R250 |
| What you actually pay | R1 283/mo avg | R15 398 | R31 898 |
The first row is the number that gets advertised, and it is the one to ignore. Vumatel is discounted from R1 375 to R699 for the first 2 months, then steps up by R676 a month — a 97% increase on the rate that sold you the line. Over two years that is R31 898 rather than the R16 776 the headline price implies, which works out at R1 329 a month rather than R699. Budget on the standing rate and treat the discount as a rebate on the first few months. The totals above include the R250 once-off charge this line carries, but not a router you buy outright. Cancellation terms are the other cost that does not appear in a monthly price: no fixed term is not the same as no cancellation fee, and several ISPs here claw back a waived install if you leave inside six or twelve months.
Looking wider than this segment? Compare every fibre deal we track puts the full catalogue in one sortable table, and the cheapest fibre deals ranks the whole market on price and rand-per-Mbps rather than within one network.
Rand per megabit at 1 Gbps
Same speed band, 76 monthly-billed lines, ranked on the only figure that makes two different prices comparable.
| Package | Monthly price | Download | Price per Mbps |
|---|---|---|---|
| RSAweb 2500/2500Best value | R995 | 2500 Mbps | R0.40 |
| RSAweb 1000/250 | R699 | 1000 Mbps | R0.70 |
| MWeb 1000/1000 | R879 | 1000 Mbps | R0.88 |
| RSAweb 1000/200 | R899 | 1000 Mbps | R0.90 |
| RSAweb 1000/500 | R997 | 1000 Mbps | R1.00 |
| RSAweb 1000/500 | R999 | 1000 Mbps | R1.00 |
Ready for 1 Gbps?
Webafrica sells this tier with free standard install and a free Wi-Fi router. Check your address first - coverage is street-level, so the deal you qualify for depends on which networks reach your door.
Or see the cheapest fibre deals at any speed, not just 1 Gbps
The advert, and the first year
RSAweb 1000/250 advertises R699 and costs R15 148 over twelve months; MWeb 1000/1000 advertises R879 and costs R10 548. The cheapest 1 Gbps advert is R4 600 dearer over the year than the cheapest 1 Gbps bill.
| Dimension | Cheapest advertised | Cheapest over 12 months |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | RSAweb 1000/250 - R699/mo | MWeb 1000/1000 - R10 548 |
| #2 | MWeb 1000/1000 - R879/mo | RSAweb 1000/250 - R15 148 |
| #3 | RSAweb 1000/200 - R899/mo | Webafrica 1000/250 - R15 408 |
| #4 | RSAweb 2500/2500 - R995/mo | Afrihost 1000/200 - R15 564 |
| #5 | RSAweb 1000/500 - R997/mo | Webafrica 900/500 - R15 708 |
What 1000 Mbps actually gives you
Real-world expectations for a 1000 Mbps fibre line, based on average device count, codec efficiency and SA peering as of 2026.
| Activity | Verdict | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Uploading large video projects | Great | The single best reason to buy this tier, and only on a symmetrical package. A 200 GB project archive goes up in well under an hour instead of overnight. On an asymmetric gig line you get half that or less. |
| Whole-house cloud backup | Great | A first full backup of several hundred gigabytes completes inside an evening rather than running for days. |
| Game downloads and patches | Great | A 100 GB install lands in around fifteen minutes, which is fast enough that it stops being something you schedule. |
| Many simultaneous 4K streams | Great | Forty concurrent 4K streams would still not fill the line. Streaming stopped being the constraint several tiers ago. |
| A house full of heavy users at once | Great | This is what the tier is actually for: total capacity across many people, not peak speed for one. |
| Getting a gigabit over Wi-Fi | No | Not on any normal setup. Wi-Fi 6 in the same room with a good client might reach two-thirds of it; a phone across the house will see a fraction. If you buy this tier and keep a bundled router you are paying for capacity that stops at the router. |
| Getting the full line rate on one device | No | Gigabit Ethernet itself tops out fractionally below 1 Gbps once overhead is counted, so a single machine cannot quite receive the whole line. On the 2.5 Gbps package you would need 2.5GbE end to end, which almost no home has. |
| Lowering your ping | No | Latency is set by routing and the network, not by capacity. Moving from 100 Mbps to gigabit will not reduce your ping - if that is the goal, this is the wrong purchase. |
Who 1000 Mbps is built for
Gigabit / Top of the Ladder, best for large uploads, many heavy users, future-proofing. Here's where it shines and where it falls short.
Best for
- People who upload for a livingVideo and post-production, photography, 3D and CAD, anyone pushing finished work to clients or cloud storage every day. On a symmetrical gigabit line a day's rushes go up while you make coffee. Note carefully that this is the case for a symmetrical package specifically, and that they are the minority of this band - the cheap entries are usually not.
- Households where the line is genuinely shared and busyTen or more active devices, several people working, someone gaming and someone else streaming 4K, all at once and all day. At this speed the connection stops being a resource anyone in the house has to think about or negotiate over.
- Anyone whose price-per-Mbps matters more than their billSort the table by price-per-Mbps rather than by headline price and this tier wins by a clear margin over every rung below it. That is a real finding and it is why the cheapest gigabit line beats a mid-priced 500 Mbps one on absolute rands too. It is still a different question from whether you can use a gigabit.
- People upgrading rather than buying moreIf you already pay a mid-market rate for 200 or 500 Mbps, the value cliff below may mean gigabit costs you less than you pay now. Check that block before you assume the faster tier is the dearer one - on this ladder that assumption is frequently wrong.
Not for you if
- You are buying it to make one laptop or one phone faster - no single device receives a gigabit over Wi-Fi, and this tier only pays back across many users at once
- You need upload as much as download but are buying on price - most of the cheap lines in this band are asymmetric, which removes most of the reason to buy gigabit
- Your router is the one the ISP bundled; it will be the ceiling long before the line is, and replacing it is far cheaper than this tier
- Your devices connect over gigabit Ethernet - that caps a single machine just below the line rate, and on the 2.5 Gbps package well under half of it
- Nobody in the house uploads large files and there are fewer than about six active devices; 100 or 200 Mbps will run everything you do for a lot less
- You want a service-level agreement, a guaranteed repair window or a static IP, none of which residential gigabit includes
- Coverage is the real constraint - fewer networks carry this band than carry 100 Mbps, so check your address before comparing anything
The case for 1000 Mbps
The lowest price-per-Mbps on the ladder
Monthly prices climb far more slowly than speeds do, so each rung up buys cheaper megabits than the one below. Gigabit is where that bottoms out - the median price-per-Mbps in this band is comfortably under the 500 Mbps band's, and the best line in it is a fraction of what an entry-level package charges per megabit. Every row in the table shows its own price-per-Mbps and the value-cliff block computes the medians from the live catalogue, so you can check that rather than take it on trust.
The biggest value cliff on the ladder is the step into this tier
The cheapest gigabit line we track costs less per month, in absolute rands, than the median 500 Mbps line - and the gap is wider here than at any other rung. If you are currently paying a middling rate for 500 Mbps, the faster tier may be the cheaper one. The value-cliff block computes the current figure in both directions from the live pool; if it favours the upgrade, the slower tier is simply the worse deal.
Most gigabit lines are not symmetrical, which reverses the tier below
This is the least obvious thing on the page and the one most likely to cost you money. At 500 Mbps the majority of packages are symmetrical. At gigabit the majority are not: most of this band is sold with an upload well below the download, commonly half or a quarter of it, and the cheaper entries are disproportionately the asymmetric ones. If upload is why you are buying gigabit, filtering on headline speed alone will hand you a package that does not do the job. The table lists both figures on every line - compare the pair, not the headline.
Your home network becomes the product
At 100 Mbps almost any router copes. At gigabit the hardware in your house is the ceiling in nearly every case. Gigabit Ethernet cannot quite carry the full line, Wi-Fi will not come close except in the same room on modern kit, and a single old switch or powerline adapter anywhere in the path caps everything behind it. Test on a cable before blaming the ISP, and be honest about whether a better router would have been the cheaper upgrade.
The same speed varies by more than three times in price
The most expensive gigabit package we track costs over three times the cheapest, for the same headline speed. Almost all of that is which network reaches your address, not which ISP you buy from - so coverage is not a footnote on this tier, it is the main determinant of the price. Check the map, find your network, then filter the table to it.
One package faster than a gigabit, and it is not the dearest
The pool holds a single package above 1 Gbps: a 2500/2500 line on Octotel, in Cape Town only. It is listed in the table on this page because that is where a reader searching for the fastest available line will arrive, and it is worth knowing that it is priced below a number of ordinary gigabit packages. Receiving it needs 2.5-gigabit networking end to end, which is a separate and non-trivial purchase.
Frequently asked questions
Get 1 Gbps fibre via Webafrica
Free standard install, free Wi-Fi router and uncapped 1 Gbps speeds. South Africa's #1 Netflix-ranked ISP.