MWeb uncapped and unshaped fibre, explained

"Uncapped", "unshaped" and "unthrottled" get used as if they're the same thing. They're not, and the difference decides whether your line feels fast when you actually use it.

• Uncapped is about quantity: no data limit. You can download a terabyte and nothing cuts off.
• Unshaped is about traffic type: the ISP doesn't slow one kind of traffic to favour another. Your game download isn't deprioritised so someone else's video call goes first.
• Unthrottled is about speed over time: your line isn't slowed once you cross a hidden usage threshold.

A line can be "uncapped" and still feel slow if it's shaped or throttled. That's the catch our guide on whether uncapped fibre is really unlimited digs into.

On fibre, MWeb ticks all three boxes. Its lines are uncapped, and MWeb states there's no traffic prioritisation against streaming or gaming - so the connection isn't shaped, and there's no fair-use throttle quietly slowing you down after a certain point in the month.

In plain terms: the 100 Mbps you pay for is the 100 Mbps you get, whether you're on a Netflix binge, a Steam download or a work video call, at midday or at peak evening. That's the standard most of the big SA ISPs now hold themselves to, and MWeb is among them.

The exception is LTE. MWeb's wireless plans are sold as "uncapped" but run on a Fair Use Policy: a large full-speed allowance, then a step down in speed for the rest of the month. That's normal for mobile-network products and it's clearly published, but it's a different promise to fibre.

So if "no asterisks" matters to you, fibre is the one to choose where it's available. We compare the two directly in MWeb LTE vs fibre.

If your home streams in 4K, games online, backs up to the cloud and runs a few video calls at once, shaping and throttling are exactly the things that ruin the experience at 8pm. An uncapped, unshaped fibre line means you're not rationing usage or planning big downloads for the small hours.

It's also why the headline speed alone doesn't tell the whole story when you compare ISPs. Two 100 Mbps lines at the same price aren't equal if one shapes traffic and the other doesn't.