Download speeds on cell phones are now much faster than wifi in South Africa

(Getty)

Getty Images

• A new survey shows that mobile data connections in South Africa offer higher download speeds than the average wifi connection.
• This places South Africa in a growing minority of countries where the mobile phone is a faster gateway to the Internet than the wifi hotspot.

South Africa is part of a growing minority of countries where mobile data connections are on average faster than wireless access point connections, according to a report recently released by OpenSignal that compared these connections in 80 countries.

"The perception that mobile networks are inferior to wifi has persisted, wrongly," says report author Ian Fogg.

This remains true in most of the countries studied, as was the case everywhere just 10 years ago. But this year, OpenSignal found that in 41% of countries, mobile data is now higher.

See also: It is the slowest 4G mobile phone service of SA: its main competitor is 50% faster

According to OpenSignal, wifi download speeds in South Africa averaged 8.8 Mbps, while average mobile speed was 14.6 Mbps.

The difference between the two is not as clear as in Australia (13 Mbps), Qatar (11.8 Mbps) and Greece – but mobile telephony has a much greater advantage than in countries such as Algeria, Costa Rica and Mexico.

Difference between Wi-Fi and Mobile download speeds in megabytes per second. (OpenSignal)

OpenSignal provides operator signal quality data to users who have installed their application, which offers side-by-side comparisons to help consumers choose an operator. The report relies on more than three billion daily measurements of more than 100 million Android and Apple smartphone users worldwide.

The company said that the quality of the wifi coverage did not have a big influence on download speeds, but that interference between wifi networks in the same place could be affected.

Connecting to the Internet via a cell phone, on the other hand, tends to provide a much more consistent experience as mobile phone networks must license the spectrum they use, Fogg notes.

Receive a single Whatsapp each morning with all our latest news: click here.

Also in Business Insider South Africa: