The verdict is in. South Africa sucks for free wifi. Wifi is available but you almost always have to pay for it, at least in the hostels and coffee shops I’ve been in so far (Big Blue Backpackers in Cape town is one exception… and it’s fast). Even when you’re told you get free wifi, you’re often presented with a voucher for 10mb or 10 minutes of it, instead of the unlimited wifi that I’m used to in the rest of the world.
I spent a good chunk of my day yesterday in a cafe at a shopping mall in Durban working. I got chatting to a guy on his own computer who is a software engineer and was doing some work while his wife shopped. He gave me a bit of a rundown about the state of internet in South Africa and it’s not promising for digital nomads. Basically, there are only a couple of providers so everything is expensive. He also started talking about technical stuff and I sort of tuned out but the gist of it is that unlimited internet in South Africa isn’t readily available and probably won’t be for awhile. You can get it but it’s super expensive, especially when compared to the great deals you can get in the UK and North America, not to mention the fact that it seems readily available everywhere else in the world I’ve been.
So to combat the expensive and sporadic internet issue, I’ve bought one of those USB dongle modem things. The brand is Vodaphone and I was told that it’ll work in other African countries as long as I buy a local SIM card. I’m a bit dubious about that part but if I can get a good amount of use out of it here in South Africa, I will sort the rest out later. The modem itself cost me almost R700 and I had the option of buying a faster one for R1800. I’m not sure of the difference in speeds but the cheaper one is a lot faster than I would have expected. I haven’t tried to download anything but I have made Skype calls with no problems and there’s virtually no wait time as webpages load.
I buy airtime on my pay-as-you go phone, convert it to data using my phone, take my SIM card out of my phone and put it into the USB modem, plug it in, hit ‘connect’ and there ya go – online! The only problem is that I haven’t worked out how long the data lasts for exactly and I don’t seem to have any way of tracking it. Data gets cheaper the more you buy. So I can get the minimum of 9MB of data for R9 and I can buy the maximum of 1.2GB for R289 with a bunch of other options in between. I initially bought 30MB and it lasted longer than expected. I’ve since bought 600MB for R189 and it’s been going strong for days. Although for almost £20, I would hope it’d last me at least a couple of weeks.
Paying for data rather than time means that I can write emails and blog posts without spending anything until I actually post them. If I were planning on making some calls on Skype, doing some downloading or watching videos then I would probably use the hostel’s hourly wifi here instead, but for general internet use, it seems ideal.
This is all new to me but it’s great to know that I can get online anywhere there’s a phone signal. If I decide to rent a place somewhere, suddenly needing wifi isn’t an issue and it opens my options up a lot. Same goes for not having to always look for accommodation with wifi. Plus it means I can hang out in whatever cafe I want to and still get online. I always hate it when I find a great cafe only to discover they don’t have internet and this gets rid of that little problem.
I’ll keep you posted on what I think of this miraculous little device. Here’s hoping it’ll work in Tanzania!
What a bummer! I have a friend who’s heading to South Africa in a month, i’ll be sure to let her know what to expect there. Those little dongle things are pretty swell, I used to support them back when I was doing tech support (not for vodafone). Neat little things, but can be a bugger of a problem if you’re on the cusp between two towers. They might have fixed that problem by now, hopefully you don’t run into any problems with it.
Best of luck!
I am really looking forward to seeing how you get on with your USB modem. We considered buying one in Paraguay but it was quite expensive and when we met people with them they were painfully slow. It sounds like yours is working a lot better and would be so useful for Africa. It definitely gives you a lot of freedom.
how’s things with you. its after midnight and I’m checking a few things and remembered you dad telling everyone about nerdy nomad. he had to spell it every time, i think its his glasgow accent.
I havent read all of your world cup report but i think i detected a lack of enthusiasm.
Send me an email and keep me up to date one what your up to. Thats it im off to bed now, watch yourself and stay safe. I know you know what your doing but its a dad thing (we cant help it).
I know my parents in Tanzania now have a pay-per-megabyte system as well. It works alright, but they pay a premium. Hopefully your little device will work well in TZ too. I’ve heard that the internet in Rwanda is a lot better than other places.
SImcards in laptops and using 3G / 4G is really going to open the World up to nomadic workers.
Africa is particularly good as a lot has been invested in mobile networks due to lack of wired infrastructure.
I worked through my dongle in Bali, via GPRS, and it was fine, and a big improvement on the flakey wifi connections!
that is quite an annoyance. It is true that it is difficult to get more competitive pricing for internet use in some countries especially Africa. You were smart to use Skype. we still have problem areas in the state where all you can get is satellite service and believe me it is almost as bad as dial up. Good luck with it and please post how the data plans match up with your pay as you go plan. I am planning on being in South Africa at the beginning of August for a few weeks.
I’ve heard the same complaint about internet access in South Africa. I was in touch with a woman working for Kiva in East Africa and this is how she stays connected with job, but she mostly uses it in one country because that’s where she’s based. It was going to be our backup plan in Africa as well. I’ll be curious to hear how the dongle thing works going across borders.
Great info – I’ve just started looking into these devices, as finding wifi isn’t always easy or convenient. When we travel, the last thing I want to do is search for a wifi connection. It will be so much better to relieve another annoying problem and just get connected.
I just searched for wireless devices in Europe, and there are lots of choices. I think I’ll go this route next time. It’s much more convenient. Do let us know how this works out for you!
Kirsty, thanks for this info. We’re heading to SA in mid-August and it looks like we are going to be there for 5 weeks, then doing a 3 week overland excursion, then back for another 1 1/2 weeks, so good to know that Wifi is hard to find. If you’re there when we get there, let’s definitely meet up.
While South Africa is certainly getting better in this area, it’s still not up to par. I’ve read a lot about Africa getting some new undersea links that should revolutionize the internet usage in the country. Companies like Seacom have certainly made a lot of gains in the area. But till a few more companies get into the action and spice up the competition, the prices will continue to be an area of monopolization in most of the areas in the country.
Till then,
Jean
Good to see you are having a blast in SA… I’m able to get internet here in Thailand quite easily but somewhat slow, after reading your post & consulting with friends here I made a trip to a local phone store who seems to know his stuff… I managed to get a top of the line USB modem for about $150 about with downloads up to 4mbs add on the unlimited monthly fee at $30 and with luck i should be good to go most anywhere.. the bonus is the sim is interchangeable with my iPhone so for $30 per month unlimited phone & internet.. was told this will work all over SE Asia..
It’s too bad you have to go through all of that trouble just to get on the internet! It must have been really annoying but at least you figured out a way around that situation. It would be convenient for you to rent a place to stay so that you can get your internet connection without a lot of hassle.
You’re going to be afraid. But your happiness is more important than anything else. There is no reason to say yes to anything someone asks you, or to make decisions based on how happy it will make someone else.
I know my parents in Tanzania now have a pay-per-megabyte system as well.
Hi Kirsty,
Akila and I are in SA now and looking at vodaphone. Looks like you have to be a contract customer (not pre-paid) to get data roaming outisde of SA. What has been your experience so far?
Thanks!
-Patrick