South African mobile users enjoy the same, or even better, mobile speeds than their counterparts in the United States. This is according to MyBroadband’s latest speed test results.

In Q4 2019, MyBroadband performed thousands of download, upload, and latency tests in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

The network tests were conducted using high-end smartphones which ran a custom version of MyBroadband’s Android Speed Test app.

MyBroadband performed similar tests in New York, San Francisco, and Silicon Valley to see how local speeds compare with those in the United States.

For this research, the biggest network operators in South Africa and the United States were used – Vodacom and AT&T.

Results

The research showed that South African mobile users enjoy speeds similar to, and in some cases higher than, their counterparts in the United States.

The average download speed on Vodacom’s network in Johannesburg and Cape Town using a high-end smartphone was 47.8Mbps and 33.8Mbps respectively.

The average download speed on AT&T’s network in New York and San Francisco, in comparison, is 30.3Mbps and 38.6Mbps respectively.

The table below provides an overview of the network performance in the United States and South Africa.

AT&T Network Performance (United States) City Download (Mbps) Upload (Mbps) Latency (ms) San Francisco 38.6 19.6 32.2 New York 30.3 7.0 43.3 Average 34.5 13.3 37.8 Vodacom Network Performance (South Africa) City Download (Mbps) Upload (Mbps) Latency (ms) Cape Town 33.8 14.8 24.4 Johannesburg 47.8 16.7 29.2 Average 40.8 15.8 26.8

Now read: Top download speeds in South African metros