MWeb LTE Deals 2026
No fibre on your street yet? MWeb's LTE range puts a plug-and-play router on a mobile network so you can get online without a trench. Here's how the uncapped plans really work, and when LTE makes sense over fibre.
- No fixed line needed
- Free-to-use router
- Month-to-month
- Works where fibre doesn't
| Metric | Value | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest wireless, 24 months | R7 656 | Uncapped 20Mbps Pure LTE (on MTN) at R319/month, once-off not published |
| Cheapest MWeb fibre, 24 months | R7 656 | Openserve Web Connect 10/5 at R319/month, once-off not published |
| Cheapest fibre advert, 24 months | R19 038 | RSAweb Octotel 100/100 at R99 for 2 months, then R845 |
| Operators we cannot price | 1 of 6 | Supersonic publishes no price server-side at all |
How MWeb LTE works
LTE is fixed-wireless internet. Instead of a fibre cable, a router picks up a mobile signal and shares it over Wi-Fi to your home. There's nothing to install in the wall, so you can be online the day the router arrives.
That convenience is the whole point. If the fibre networks haven't reached your address, or you're renting and can't dig up the garden, LTE gets you connected while you wait. Plenty of households also keep a small LTE plan as a backup so an area fibre outage doesn't knock everyone offline at once.
The catch is how "uncapped" works on a mobile network. You won't hit a hard cap that cuts you off, but each plan has a Fair Use threshold: a generous amount of data at full speed, then a slower speed for whatever's left of the month. The numbers are published, so there are no surprises once you know where to look.
Uncapped, but with a Fair Use Policy
Here's the part most LTE pages bury. These are MWeb's published Fair Use thresholds - the data you get at full speed before the line steps down. Pick the plan whose full-speed allowance comfortably covers a normal month for your home.
| Plan | Full speed for | After that |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Mbps Uncapped | First 100GB at up to 10 Mbps | Next 20GB at 4 Mbps, then 2 Mbps to month-end |
| 20 Mbps Uncapped | First 500GB at up to 20 Mbps | Next 50GB at 4 Mbps, then 2 Mbps to month-end |
| 30 Mbps Uncapped | First 600GB at up to 30 Mbps | Next 50GB at 4 Mbps, then 2 Mbps to month-end |
| Unlimited (MTN) | First 1000GB at full network speed | 4 Mbps for the rest of the month |
Thresholds per MWeb's published LTE Fair Use terms. For live pricing and the current plan line-up, see MWeb's LTE page - prices move with promotions, so the live page is the source of truth.
Router, contract & what's included
On qualifying LTE plans the router is free to use for as long as you stay subscribed. You don't buy it - MWeb owns it, and you hand it back in working order if you cancel (keep the box). That keeps your upfront cost down to the first month rather than a few thousand rand for hardware.
Plans run month-to-month, so you're not locked into a two-year contract the way some fixed-LTE deals demand. If fibre lands on your street next quarter, you can switch over without a penalty. When you do, our MWeb fibre deals page lists every uncapped line MWeb sells, our MWeb Wi-Fi deals guide has the full router and pricing detail, and MWeb coverage shows which networks are live at your address. Got questions before you switch? See MWeb's contact details for the sales line.
What 12 and 24 months actually cost
A monthly rate is the wrong unit for this decision. Fixed-wireless plans carry once-off SIM and activation charges, some commit you for a published term, and the cheapest fibre advert on our catalogue is a two-month promotion that reverts to R845. Here are the five entry plans we hold a first-party price for, each totalled over both horizons, against fibre.
| Plan | Per month | Once-off | 12 months | 24 months | Published term |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uncapped 20Mbps Pure LTE (on MTN) | R319 | Not published | R3 828 | R7 656 | Month-to-month |
| Home Internet Starter | R339 | R150 | R4 218 | R8 286 | 12 or 24 months (same price on both) |
| Home Internet Shesh@ 200 | R369 | R150 | R4 578 | R9 006 | Month-to-month or 12 months |
| Telkom 5G Internet | R499 | R99 | R6 087 | R12 075 | 24 months |
| Unlimited 5G Home WiFi (unlimited home) | R679 | None | R8 148 | R16 296 | Month-to-month |
| MWeb Openserve Web Connect 10/5 (fibre) | R319 | Not published | R3 828 | R7 656 | Month-to-Month |
| RSAweb Octotel 100/100 (fibre) | R99 for 2 months, then R845 | R250 | R8 898 | R19 038 | Month-to-Month |
Wireless totals are the published monthly rate multiplied out, plus the once-off charge where the operator publishes a figure. Uncapped 20Mbps Pure LTE (on MTN) publishes no once-off charge anywhere we can read, so that total is a recurring-only floor rather than an all-in figure - an unpublished fee is not a fee of zero, and the same is true of any fibre row above whose once-off reads "not published". The published term on Telkom 5G Internet (24 months) outlasts the 12-month column, so that column is what you will have spent by month twelve and not a point at which you can leave. Excluded: MTN Home Internet Ultra, published at R699 on 24 months (R849 on 12 months) - one price field cannot carry two rates, so no total is shown rather than a total on the wrong one. Fibre totals use the same model as every other page on this site: the promo rate for the months the operator states it runs, the standing rate after that, plus the published once-off.
Two things fall out of that table. The first is where MWeb's own fibre sits against the cheapest wireless plan on the page: Uncapped 20Mbps Pure LTE (on MTN) at R7 656 over two years, against MWeb's Openserve Web Connect 10/5 line at R7 656 - the same money to the rand, and the same rand a month. Neither publishes a once-off charge anywhere we can read, so the two totals are built the same way. At the bottom of this market the choice is not mainly about price; it is about whether a mobile cell or a fibre strand reaches you, and which of the two you would rather share.
The second is sharper, and it corrects this page. The cheapest fibre advert we track is the most expensive line in the table over 24 months: R99 a month buys 2 months before the bill becomes R845, which totals R19 038 with its R250 once-off added. Every wireless plan above beats it. That is not an argument for fixed wireless - it is an argument for reading the reversion rate, and it applies to any advertised price on any technology. If you want the fibre line that is genuinely cheapest to own rather than cheapest to advertise, MWeb's Openserve Web Connect line-up is where this table's winner sits, and our full fibre comparison ranks the rest.
When MWeb LTE makes sense
No fibre on your street
If the fibre networks haven't reached your address, LTE gets you online now instead of waiting months for a trench to arrive.
A backup line
Keep a cheap LTE plan alongside fibre so a cable cut or area outage doesn't take the whole house offline.
Renters and short stays
No trenching, no landlord sign-off, no install date. The router works the day it arrives, and you take it with you when you move.
Light to medium use
Browsing, email, a couple of streams and video calls sit comfortably inside the full-speed data on the bigger plans.
If fibre is live in your street, LTE is the wrong buy
Every plan on this page has a fair-use threshold; fibre does not. The cheapest monthly fibre line we verify is 100/100 Mbps Uncapped on Octotel at R99/month, against R319 for the cheapest entry fixed-LTE or 5G plan we checked on 15 October 2026. Fixed wireless earns its place when the trench has not arrived - not when it has.
Should you wait for fibre?
Short version: if fibre is already live at your address, get fibre. It's cheaper per gigabyte, the speed holds up in the evening, and it doesn't care about mobile congestion or a thunderstorm.
LTE earns its place in two situations. The first is when fibre simply isn't there yet - a real position for many homes outside the dense metros. The second is backup: a modest LTE plan sitting behind your fibre line means a cable cut doesn't end the work-from-home day.
If you're not sure which networks reach you, check coverage first, then compare the fibre price against the LTE plan you'd otherwise pay for. Nine times out of ten, once fibre is an option, it wins. Our guide on fibre vs LTE vs 5G digs into the trade-offs.
| Wireless plan | Per month | Published download | Per Mbps | Cheapest MWeb fibre at that speed or faster | Its per Mbps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uncapped 20Mbps Pure LTE (on MTN) | R319 | 20 Mbps | R15.95/Mbps | Openserve Web Connect 20/10 at R369 | R18.45/Mbps |
| Home Internet Starter | R339 | 15 Mbps | R22.60/Mbps | Openserve Web Connect 20/10 at R369 | R18.45/Mbps |
| Home Internet Shesh@ 200 | R369 | 15 Mbps | R24.60/Mbps | Openserve Web Connect 20/10 at R369 | R18.45/Mbps |
| Telkom 5G Internet | R499 | 40 Mbps | R12.47/Mbps | Openserve Web Connect 40/20 at R439 | R10.97/Mbps |
| Unlimited 5G Home WiFi (unlimited home) | R679 | 30 Mbps | R22.63/Mbps | Openserve Web Connect 40/20 at R439 | R10.97/Mbps |
The two columns are not the same measurement and should not be read as one. A wireless figure divides the price by the operator's own headline download, which is a peak on a shared mobile network and, on every plan here whose terms carry a fair-use threshold, stops applying once that threshold is reached. A fibre figure divides by the speed the line is provisioned at, all month, every month. 3 of the 15 wireless plans we verify publish no download speed at all (Rain Unlimited 5G Home WiFi (unlimited home premium), Vodacom Home Internet 5G (entry, per Vodacom's own category listing) and Vodacom Home Internet LTE (entry, per Vodacom's own category listing)), so no per-megabit figure exists for them and none is estimated here. The MWeb column excludes promotional rates on purpose: a per-megabit figure computed off a discount that runs for a few months describes a month rather than a line.
Note that one row runs against this page's own argument, which is exactly why it is worth naming: Uncapped 20Mbps Pure LTE (on MTN) buys a megabit for less than the cheapest standing-rate MWeb fibre line that matches the same speed, and Afrihost publishes no fair-use threshold at all, so that figure holds all month rather than until the allowance runs out. Fibre's advantage is not at the bottom of its ladder - it is above it, where MWeb's Cybersmart 1000/1000 line at R879 buys a megabit for R0.88, against R12.47 for the best megabit any plan in the table above sells - about 14 times the speed for the same rand. The fastest download any wireless plan we verify publishes anywhere is 75 Mbps.
MWeb LTE vs other home wireless
MWeb isn't the only way to get wireless internet at home. If fibre is off the table, it's worth knowing where MWeb LTE sits against the fixed-LTE and 5G crowd. Every price below was read from the operator's own site on 15 October 2026 - these are mobile products and they reprice far more often than fibre, so confirm before you buy.
| Option | Runs on | Entry price | What you actually get |
|---|---|---|---|
| MWeb LTE | MTN | see live page | Fair Use threshold, then a slowdown |
| Uncapped 20Mbps Pure LTE (on MTN) | MTN | R319 | Uncapped, speed-limited to 20 Mbps |
| Home Internet Starter | MTN | R339 | 100GB at full speed, then tiered throttling. 12 or 24 months (same price on both). |
| Home Internet Shesh@ 200 | MTN 5G | R369 | 100GB at full speed plus a 100GB 5G bundle, then throttling. 5G coverage is metro-only. |
| Telkom 5G Internet | Telkom 5G | R499 | 1TB at 40 Mbps, then 50GB at 4 Mbps, then 2 Mbps unlimited. 24 months, R99 activation, no installation fee, 5G router included. |
| Unlimited 5G Home WiFi (unlimited home) | Rain 5G | R679 | Uncapped, no fair-use policy and no throttling. Month-to-month, the101 router included; 2 mobile SIMs included. |
| Supersonic 5G | MTN 5G | No price published | Supersonic publishes no 5G price anywhere on its site. Its own pricing call only runs after an address coverage check, so a quote cannot be seen without submitting your address as a sales lead. Its 5G runs on MTN's network, so MTN's own Shesh@ pricing is the closest sourceable comparison - but it is not a Supersonic price. |
What to actually compare
Almost every wireless plan is sold as "uncapped", and almost none is uncapped the way fibre is. The real differences hide in two numbers that the marketing never leads with:
- The Fair Use threshold - how much data you get at full speed before the line slows. A plan with 600GB at full speed beats one with 300GB, whatever the headline says.
- The throttle speed - what you drop to afterwards. Some providers cut you to 4 Mbps, some to 2 Mbps, and a few (like Vodacom's tiers) stop the connection entirely until the next cycle.
Compare those two, plus coverage, and you'll choose well. On coverage: 5G is faster and lower-latency than LTE, but it's concentrated in the metros - see our what is 5G guide for how the two actually compare - so if you're in a 5G area it's usually the better buy, and if you're not, LTE on a strong MTN signal (which is what MWeb uses) is the realistic pick (TechCentral).
| Plan | Per month | Slowest step its terms name | Cost of that speed | The operator's own wording |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uncapped 20Mbps Pure LTE (on MTN) | R319 | No step-down | R15.95/Mbps, and it holds | Uncapped, speed-limited to 20 Mbps |
| Home Internet Starter | R339 | No speed published | Not computable | 100GB at full speed, then tiered throttling |
| Home Internet Shesh@ 200 | R369 | No speed published | Not computable | 100GB at full speed plus a 100GB 5G bundle, then throttling |
| Telkom 5G Internet | R499 | 2 Mbps | R249.50/Mbps | 1TB at 40 Mbps, then 50GB at 4 Mbps, then 2 Mbps unlimited |
| Unlimited 5G Home WiFi (unlimited home) | R679 | No step-down | R22.63/Mbps, and it holds | Uncapped, no fair-use policy and no throttling |
| MWeb LTE (every plan above) | No price published | 2 Mbps | No price to divide | MWeb publishes the thresholds in full - the Fair Use table above - but no rand figure server-side. |
A throttled plan does not get cheaper when it slows down, which is the point: the same monthly rate buys a fraction of the speed for the rest of the cycle. Rows reading "no step-down" are the two plans whose own terms carry no threshold at all (Afrihost and Rain), so their headline figure holds all month - the only plans on this page for which "uncapped" means what a fibre line means by it. Rows reading "no speed published" name a step-down without naming its speed, and nothing is assumed for them.
Only one of the five plans above states the speed it ends at. On the dearest of those, Telkom 5G Internet, R499 a month is buying 2 Mbps once the allowance is spent - R249.50 a megabit, or roughly 284 times what the best megabit on MWeb's own fibre ladder costs. That is the number the word "uncapped" is doing the work of hiding, and it is the reason the threshold matters more than the headline speed.
MWeb LTE questions
Get MWeb LTE while you wait for fibre
See MWeb's current LTE plans and prices, then check whether fibre is live at your address before you commit.
Fibre already live at your address? Skip LTE and see the best fibre deals