Vodacom will now be offering 5G support for its iPhone 12 users in South Africa.
This is great news as MTN had managed to secure exclusive 5G use for the new iPhones at the time of their launch.
The expiry on this use has now ended and Vodacom, the other major network with 5G capability in the country, if offering it up to those who have already bought any of the iPhone 12 range.
‘If you already own a 5G device, we’ll ensure that your SIM is provisioned for 5G within 24 hours after you’ve activated a Vodacom 5G contract. You just need to be in an area that has 5G coverage to be able to experience the 5G network,’ said the company.
Vodacom did specify that Voice and outgoing SMS services will not be available on 5G but they would be able to receive SMS’s. They also warned that data sharing SIMS wouldn’t be available on the 5G contracts.
5G v 4G: What’s the difference?
5G is a lot faster than its predecessor 4G. People with 5G enabled devices will be able to go about their daily life with a much more seamless connection. The only downfall with 5G is that South Africa does not have 5G coverage everywhere and only in certain areas.
5G works at average speeds of 150-200Mbps, while 4G works at average speeds of only 23-35Mbps.
By default, 5G will reach peak speeds higher than 1Gbps, but basic 4G works at a maximum speed of only 150Mbps, while 4G EVO (a later, faster version of 4G) can reach up to 500Mbps depending on device capability and the number of carriers deployed.
