TT Connect Fibre Network

TT Connect is unusually tidy for a South African open-access network. All 3 resellers - Afrihost, MWeb, Vox - carry exactly the same 7 tiers, from 35/35 to 1000/1000 Mbps, and nobody holds an exclusive rung. On most networks the sellers differentiate by cherry-picking which tiers they stock, which makes like-for-like comparison awkward. Here every tier is contested 3 ways, so the only variables are the monthly price, what happens when a promo ends, and the once-off charge - and on this network that last one is decisive.

Every seller on TT Connect publishes a once-off charge, and they are nothing like each other. The spread between the cheapest and the dearest is R1 486, which is larger than a full year of the monthly differences on most of the ladder. That makes the usual comparison - line up the monthly prices, pick the lowest - actively misleading here.

Work the whole bill through and the ranking changes twice. MWeb advertises the lowest monthly price on all 7 tiers and MWeb is cheapest all-in across the first year on all 7 as well. But Afrihost bills less every month once the promo lapses, so it eventually catches up - and the month it does ranges from 13 to 33 depending on which tier you are on. That is the number nobody publishes, and it is the one that decides which seller is right for you.

The pattern behind the spread is straightforward once you see it: Afrihost has to earn back R1 248 of extra up-front charge out of a monthly saving that differs tier by tier. Where the monthly gap is wide - the top of the ladder - it pays that back fast. Where the gap is narrow, the extra fee takes years to amortise, which is why the crossover on 35/35 Mbps sits all the way out at month 33 while 1000/1000 Mbps crosses over at month 13.

Taking 1000/1000 Mbps - the tier where the choice bites soonest - and billing it out rather than reading the sticker. Both totals include the published once-off charge, so they are directly comparable:

Read the last two columns together rather than either alone. The 12-month column is the one that matters if you might move, switch or be talked onto a different network within the year; the 24-month column is the one that matters if you are settling in. On this tier they give different answers, and the switchover lands at month 13.

Sticker price rises with speed; value per megabit moves the other way. Across the TT Connect ladder the entry line costs R18.83/Mbps while MWeb's 1000/1000 Mbps works out at R2.03/Mbps - the best value on the network, and 89% better per megabit than the entry tier. Paying the least per month and paying the least per megabit are different questions, and on this network they have different answers.

TT Connect is not a network you choose. It is a network your street either has or does not, and its footprint is small and developer-led, concentrated in the East Rand. If your address is also covered by Vumatel, Openserve or Frogfoot, compare across all of them rather than defaulting here - the bigger networks run deeper promotional ladders and carry more sellers, which usually means a lower entry price.

Two specific reasons to look elsewhere even where TT Connect is available. First, the entry price is high for what it is: R659 for 35/35 Mbps is well above the cheapest uncapped lines on the larger networks, so a budget-first household is better served there. Second, the once-off charge is unusually heavy - up to R1 735 - and it is not waived by the free-installation promos that cover most other networks, so a short stay here is expensive in a way it would not be elsewhere.

And one seller to rule out on price alone: Vox is not the cheapest option on a single TT Connect tier - not on the advertised price, not over twelve months, and not over the long run. Vox's own appeal here is the choice of a 1, 12 or 24-month initial term at one price, which is worth something if you need a short commitment; it is not a price argument.

Where TT Connect genuinely earns its place is symmetry. All 21 packages match upload to download at every tier, including the entry rung. If you upload large files, run offsite backups, host anything, or have several people on video calls at once, matched upload at 35 Mbps is worth more than a faster asymmetric line on a cheaper network. That is a real argument for this network rather than a consolation prize.